Mae West: Benjamin F. Keith

MAE WEST was occasionally booked on the prestigious Keith circuit by Benjamin Franklin Keith, who was born in late January [26 January 1846 — 26 March 1914], a vaudeville theatre owner.
• • Before Mae worked for B.F. Keith, she fell in love with live entertainment by watching variety acts with her mother on several Brooklyn stages. And what pleasure palaces Mae and Matilda West had waltzed into. [Matilda West died on 26 January 1930.]
• • When Mae was 18 years old, not far from the elevated train's Gates Avenue station (at Broadway in Bushwick) a superb playhouse debuted: a Beaux Arts confection with Egyptian goddesses positioned on white-glazed terracotta oculi that are, simultaneously, embraced by gigantic cupids. Taken over by B.F. Keith a year later (and eventually renamed the RKO Bushwick Theatre), this was situated on a corner lot where Broadway met Monroe and Howard.
• • The Bushwick was built by showman Percy Williams — — using the popular theatre designer William McElfatrick as his architect — — and first opened on 11 September 1911 as a vaudeville house. Architect William McElfatrick was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana in 1854.
• • In 1912, Percy Williams sold it to B.F. Keith.
• • On March 26, 1914, the little loved founder of the Keith circuit died in Florida, his 28-year-old bride nearby — — perhaps already planning for her well-cushioned widowhood.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • The Bushwick [1396 Broadway at Howard Street] • •
NYC
Mae West.

Mae West: B.F. Keith

MAE WEST was occasionally booked on the prestigious Keith circuit by Benjamin Franklin Keith [26 January 1846 — 26 March 1914], a vaudeville theatre owner.
• • Before Mae worked for B.F. Keith, she fell in love with live entertainment by watching variety acts with her mother on several Brooklyn stages. And what pleasure palaces Mae and Matilda West waltzed into.
• • When Mae was 18 years old, not far from the elevated train's Gates Avenue station (at Broadway in Bushwick) a superb playhouse debuted: a Beaux Arts confection with Egyptian goddesses positioned on white-glazed terracotta oculi that are, simultaneously, embraced by gigantic cupids. Taken over by B.F. Keith a year later (and eventually renamed the RKO Bushwick Theatre), this was situated on a corner lot where Broadway met Monroe and Howard.
• • The Bushwick was built by showman Percy Williams — — using the popular theatre designer William McElfatrick as his architect — — and first opened on 11 September 1911 as a vaudeville house. Architect William McElfatrick was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana in 1854.
• • In 1912, Percy Williams sold it to B.F. Keith.
• • On March 26, 1914, the little loved founder of the Keith circuit died in Florida, his 28-year-old bride nearby — — perhaps already planning for her well-cushioned widowhood.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
________
Source:http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West's neighborhood playhouse • • 1911 • •
NYC
Mae West.

Mae: "And Then" 1913

In 1913, as MAE WEST headed towards her 20th birthday, she was mastering the trick of taking a word or a phrase and inflecting it with something "sextra." Here are lyrics written by Alfred Bryan:
• • • And Then • • •
• • First we had a talk — — and then,
• • We sat by the fire — — and then,
• • It was getting warm and so,
• • We drew our chairs away from the fireglow.
• • Mother said: "Good night" — — and then,
• • We turned down the light — — and then,
• • We cuddled closer together,
• • And then we talked about the weather,
• • Yes we did (Yes we did!) — — not then.

• • Mae West performed the song in 1913 at Hammerstein's Victoria — — in their Roof theatre [Broadway and 42nd Street]. The top vaudeville house on the East Coast, it had 950 seats and was designed by J. B. McElfatrick & Sons. Hammerstein's Victoria was demolished in 1915.
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Mae West
• • Photo • Mae West • in 1913
NYC
Mae West.

Mae West: Wishbone

An ex-vaudevillian described Hammerstein's Victoria, where MAE WEST was booked eleven times, as "a big, tinkling pearl box — — all in white and gold with the opals of electricity studding it in profusion."
• • In 1899 this Victorian-style show palace was built by J. B. McElfatrick & Son for Oscar Hammerstein I. Its "Venetian Terrace Roof Garden" (originally a café and petting zoo) was converted to a theatre in 1901. "The Corner" was the TOP place to be billed.

• • In 1912, Mae West got her first major vaudeville break: a spot on the bill at Hammerstein's Victoria. Though Billboard gave her performance mixed reviews [12 May 1912], for Mae Thanksgiving arrived early. At last she was in a league with top-ranked headliners such as Eva Tanguay, Sophie Tucker, Fanny Brice, and Nora Bayes.
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Mae West
Photo: the Roof at Hammerstein's Victoria [1473-1481 Broadway / 201-205 West 42nd Street] closed in 1915 and was demolished shortly after.
Mae West.