Mae West: Deserved Better

MAE WEST starred in "Sextette," the film version of the stage play "Sextet." And a DVD has been released. Many movie buffs have opinions about this motion picture released in 1978.
• • Pop Matters columnist Bill Gibron writes: Now available on DVD for the first time in full blown anamorphic widescreen, "Sextette" suggests that, by the middle of the Me Decade, someone had it in for Mae West. His viewpoint is one reconsideration of this misconceived motion picture.
• • Mae West definitely deserved better . . . • •
• • According to Bill Gibron: Mae West definitely deserved better. Gibron notes: A camp fixture for most of the ‘60s and ‘70s, she had taken her career as controversial early talky “bad” girl and transformed it into a combination of gay icon, culture curio, feminist fixture, and in her mind, still sizzling sex kitten. Never mind the fact that she was starring in vaudeville in 1907, and that the majority of her fame was achieved in the early ‘30s (when she was nearly 40). West was an institution, an example of a boundary pushing beauty that wasn’t afraid to flaunt what proper society (and its so-called moral watchdogs) thought was perverse.
• • Bill Gibron continues: Mae West was more than just her measurements and her ferocious frankness. She was a keen marketer, creating projects for herself when none were available or even being offered. She took her talents to Broadway, to regional theater, she toured the country with her revue, and kept her soon to be celebrated vulgarity as a topic of publicity rag reality. By the time the ‘40s rolled around, she was mostly forgotten, and during the ‘50s, her mantle was moved over to figures more formidable — — such as Marilyn Monroe and Jane Mansfield. Yet via radio or Las Vegas revival, West still kept her star. It may have dimmed a bit, but it certainly still held some show business sway. ... [Source: Bill Gibron's column "Pretty Hate Machine: 'Sextette'" on PopMatters.com; posted on Thursday, 9 June 2011.]
• • R. Mark Desjardins: Thoughts on "Sextette" • •
• • Writing from Vancouver, Canada, R. Mark Desjardins offers his viewpoint on "Sextette," Mae West's final film: A very high quality DVD print of "Sextette" has been released to replaced the previous poor quality version. I have the following comments to share.
• • R. Mark Desjardins writes: Fans of Mae West have suffered long enough viewing inferior prints of her last film, Sextette. Finally a newly remastered version has been released, and this vastly improved version should attract new fans for the woman who was daring enough to stage her play "Sex" sixty years before Madonna published her metal bound book of the same title.
• • It was Mae West's gay connection which helped to keep her front and centre in the collective cultural consciousness and primed for yet another revival. Finally, in 1976, two neophyte producers, Daniel Briggs, twenty-one and Robert Sullivan, twenty-three, announced they were bringing Sextette to the screen. Simultaneous with the news that Sextette was to go into production, came an announcement from Tom Bradley, mayor of Los Angeles, that he was creating a special Mae Day and issuing a proclamation in her honor. Bradley presented West with a scroll acclaiming her "valuable and important role" in the movie industry on Saturday, 6 May 1976.
• • In August, after seeing 36-year-old Timothy Dalton, Mae West was quoted as saying "Don't search any further. He's the man I want. I've always liked Timothy Dalton since The Lion In Winter. He's charming and handsome, and he can act. I was happy we got to work with each other in Sextette."
• • West's publicist, Stanley Musgrove assisted in looking for a composer who could work with West and give her material that would make her look good. In the end, veteran rhythm and blues arranger and producer, Van McCoy was hired to score the film, and his subtle disco arrangements brought a contemporary feel to the picture. West had eight musical numbers in the film and she told Kevin Thomas, "Isn't that funny. Instead of "Wedding March" they play "Hooray for Hollywood." According to Stanley Musgrove, Paul Novak, West's long time companion told him the dailies of Sextette he'd seen "Aren't so good and that the musical numbers will have to save the picture."
• • During an interview for Club magazine, West told a reporter, "I know my rhythm and how to pace a film. At the end of Sextette" they wanted me to do a ballad that ended on a sad note. I told `em, hey, fellas, it'll be too slow. You'll ruin the mood we've established. I know my music. We got to do this right. We need something fast. Later, when we saw the rushes, the producers told me I was right." The soundtrack for Sextette was never officially released; however, Crown International Pictures prepared a publicity kit for the film which included a cassette containing the Van McCoy produced musical numbers featuring Mae West without dialogue overlapping her songs.
• • When asked how she felt about her costars West was upbeat. "We had a good time on the set. It was quite a cast. Dalton, Tony Curtis, Ringo Starr, George Hamilton, Keith Moon, Alice Cooper, George (Raft), all those musclemen, and of course, Dom DeLuise. I think this is the closest anyone's ever came to stealing a picture from me! But he's a doll. And a very funny man. Working with him was one of the great treats of my career."
• • Ringo Starr enjoyed working with West and invited her to a wrap-up gala he threw in a rented house on Woodrow Wilson Drive. "I had this party there and about a hundred people came including Mae West. We had a band and a lot of musicians and rock `n' rollers were there obviously. Mae just sat in a big chair and all these rockers were on their knees to her because she was so great. She had such a huge personality and she could mix with the best of them."
• • Herbert Kenwith first met Mae West when she appeared in Catherine was Great in 1944 and over the years had been her business advisor, director and personal friend. Perhaps he is the closest person alive to be able to speak about what really went on in her mind. Los Angeles Times Film Critic, Kevin Thomas, believed Kenwith knew more about West's insecurities than anyone. He told Thomas that West had asked him to direct Sextette, but he refused because he felt "it wasn't any good, and I told her so." In an A&E Biography on West, Kenwith recalled being with West on the last day of shooting on the Sextette set. "We got into her car. I said nothing about the film. She asked me nothing. The chauffeur was driving. I was sitting on the back seat with Mae and I just continued to look out the left side of the car. Mae was looking out the right side. We didn't talk to one another. I was determined not to talk about the film Without any warning, she put her hand upon mine whereupon I turned to her and she said, `Well dear, that was yesterday. I've got to think about tomorrow.'"
• • Huge pink billboards sprouted around Los Angeles proclaiming "MAE WEST IS COMING" but as summer passed into fall no studio stepped forward to distribute the film. West began to worry the film might sit unseen on a shelf. Warner Brothers agreed to show the film for a limited run in Westwood, but it upset West to discover Sextette would be shown double billed with Outrageous! starring Craig Russell. West showed up for the Westwood showing but Craig Russell did not. Chris Basinger and Robert Duran were in attendance that evening and recalled Outrageous! was shown first. According to Robert Duran, a Mae West insider who attended the event, West did not view Russell's film. "She didn't come into the theater until the intermission. People were out in the lobby and that's when she arrived in the white limousine."
• • In March of 1978, Briggs and Sullivan signed a lease for the Cinerama Dome near Sunset and Vine and held an old-fashioned Hollywood opening complete with floodlights, bleachers and an interview platform for arriving celebrities. Reviews of the film in the Los Angeles press were mixed and even Kevin Thomas, diplomatically stated the film "will be cherished by her fans for whom it was made."
• • While Ken Hughes tried his best directing Sextette, it was slaughtered by critics — — and this time West was the prime target. Friends hid the most savage reviews from her, but West instinctively knew the film wasn't what she hoped it might be. Robert Duran stated that, as far as he knew, Paul Novak kept the bad reviews from West. "Maybe in the old days she read them, but she'd gotten away from that. She knew it was a turkey."
• • Crown-International booked Sextette into the Warfield Theater in San Francisco in November of 1978 and West travelled by automobile for the opening. Hundreds of spectators who couldn't join the 2,200 ticket holders swarmed Market Street, and West and her entourage had to enter through the stage door as a safety precaution.
• • Sextette opened on the East Coast in June of 1979 and was booked in several theaters in New York. Time stated the film was "a work so bad, so ferally innocent, that it is good, an instant classic to be treasured by connoisseurs of the genre everywhere." Reviews like this raised hope in West's mind that the picture might become a cult film similar to The Rocky Horror Picture Show. If West wanted to believe that, and it gave her comfort, her entourage willingly obliged her.
• • • • Written exclusively for the Mae West Blog by Mae-maven R. Mark Desjardins.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Marlo Manners: Wow! All this meat and no potatoes!
• • Marlo Manners: Is that a gun in your pocket — — or are you just glad to see me?
• • Marlo Manners: Marriage is like a book. The whole story takes place between the covers.
• • [Source: Mae West wrote her own lines for "Sextette," 1978.]
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • From Oklahoma, James D. Watts, Jr. writes: Sara Wilemon first became interested in the subject while researching a role for a comedy written by Mae West. Since then, she's been a part of a local troupe Eye Candy Burlesque (which, along with the Horsemeat Flea Circus, is presenting "School for Red Hot Mamas"), and has performed in Kansas City, Dallas and San Francisco. "When I've attended shows in other places, they're usually held in bars," she said. "One of the great things about having this show in a theater is, first of all, you can do things like sketches, dialogue, things like that. It gets closer to the real spirit of burlesque. ...
• • Source: Article: "Backstage: Nightingale burlesque show 'School for Hot Mamas' labor of love" written by James D. Watts, Jr. for Tulsa World; posted on 9 June 2011
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started seven years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 1958th blog post. Unlike many blogs, which draw upon reprinted content from a newspaper or a magazine and/ or summaries, links, or photos, the mainstay of this blog is its fresh material focused on the life and career of Mae West, herself an American original.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West: # 1893 Encore

The MAE WEST BLOG is celebrating a special anniversary this week — — in honor of blog post # 1893. To mark this occasion, a number of Mae-mavens offered their Westian wisdom inspired by the Brooklyn bombshell who was born in the year 1893.
• • • What is Mae West's legacy, in your opinion, and is she still relevant?
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
• • Muir Hewitt, Art Nouveau glassware specialist, City of Bradford, England
• • Regarding her LEGACY and her relevance — — It was during the making of "Myra Breckinridge" that I first became aware of this astonishing American. I was fascinated by the photographs taken by Terry O Neill during the production of this movie (based on Gore Vidal's bestseller). Those photos showed her apparently ageless look and the glamour she exuded. Then I watched "I'm No Angel" and loved her persona — — the fearlessly clever gal from the wrong side of the tracks always equipped with a ready comeback.
• • I also liked the sassy brassy nature of her one-liners, her f-off attitude. And in her approach to men, Mae West was almost a gay man in a woman's body offering lines such as "Never mind about the six feet — — let's talk about the seven inches!" and "Is that a gun in your pocket or are you just glad to see me?"
• • She acknowledged the desire in sex, she wasn't afraid of censorship, and she was Madonna Ciccone-like long before that newcomer from Michigan came on the scene. Mae West was sexually forthright and not afraid to speak her mind — — remarkably "modern" for a female born in 1893.
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
• • More guest commentators to follow tomorrow!
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • Neo-burlesque performer Dita Von Teese was interviewed by an Irish reporter, who wrote this: One of the focal points of Dita Von Teese’s residence is the bedroom. The star says that some of its features were inspired by the iconic, sassy actress Mae West. “I wanted a legendary bed. Mae West had lots of mirrors in her bedroom. Mae would say, ‘I always like to know how I’m doing.’… I was worried about my bed being a scratching post for my two cats Aleister and Herman, but it seems to be OK,” Dita added. ...
• • Source: Article: "Dita Von Teese: I don’t want a modern man" written by staff, The Independent [Ireland]; posted on 8 April 2011
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started seven years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 1895th blog post. Unlike many blogs, which draw upon reprinted content from a newspaper or a magazine and/ or summaries, links, or photos, the mainstay of this blog is its fresh material focused on the life and career of Mae West, herself an American original.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West: Takes It Off

When MAE WEST was working in burlesque in the mid-1920s, she used a big powder puff and shook her talcum all over the men in the first row. A 30-year-old Boston native, whose stage name is Dizzy Von Damn, channels the vivacious Brooklyn bombshell in her act: Uncommon Burlesque. Naturally, you want to know more, yes?
• • Kelli Skye Fadroski writes: The lights dim, the music slows down a beat and a spotlight beams brightly on the night’s hostess, Dizzy Von Damn, dolled up this particular evening in tribute to one of her favorite Hollywood sex symbols, Mae West. A commanding presence, Von Damn is quick-witted and above all confident as she and her entourage of seasoned performers fearlessly takes to the small stage at the Commonwealth Lounge in downtown Fullerton, entertaining with skits as humorous as they are saucy.
• • Kelli Skye Fadroski adds: This is Uncommon Burlesque, a traveling production from Von Damn that appears . . . in Fullerton and . . . in Newport Beach. Working with a rotating group of ladies at each location, Von Damn has built up a strong network of budding burlesque stars from as nearby as Los Angeles to as far away as New Zealand. ...
• • Source: "Uncommon Burlesque spices up O.C. nightlife" written by Kelli Skye Fadroski for The Orange County Register; posted on 30 March 2011.
• • 31 March 1912 • •
• • The end of March signaled the beginning of excitement down at "The Corner" [Seventh Avenue and 42nd Street]. The New York Times announced on 31 March 1912 that "Mae West and Her Boys" would take the stage at Hammerstein's Victoria.
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • Stephen Battaglio introduces his TV Biz column like this: Mae West once said, "All discarded lovers should be given a second chance, but with somebody else." Several TV networks couldn't agree more. ...
• • Source: "The Biz: Second-chance Successes" written by Stephen Battaglio, TV Guide; posted on 30 March 2011
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started seven years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 1885th blog post. Unlike many blogs, which draw upon reprinted content from a newspaper or a magazine and/ or summaries, links, or photos, the mainstay of this blog is its fresh material focused on the life and career of Mae West, herself an American original.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West: Booked by Bohm

From 1912 — 1916, MAE WEST had an ally in vaudeville: her well-connected booking agent Frank Bohm.
• • When the Brooklyn-born tough chick was 19 years old, she described herself as "a hard-boiled, wise-cracking kid, doing anything to get a laugh."
• • Born in Hungary in 1883/4, the 29-year-old booking agent at first struck Mae as brash and rude; when first introduced, he didn't even bother to remove his hat. But he was soon exerting his influence, cautioning her against being a sidewalk cut-up and giving away her good stuff for free.
• • And not long after, Mae was influencing Bohm; she confided that the married man (with a pregnant wife) was "in trouble" over her. Soon they were sitting in a Times Square restaurant having dinner when Frank Bohm presented Mae with a diamond ring as he implored her not to encourage a rival agent: Joseph M. Schenck, the Loew circuit booking manager.
• • Mae's career took flight under Frank Bohm. In 1912, he arranged for her to appear on sheet music for "Cuddle Up and Cling to Me" with the "Girard Boys." Shortly after, he encouraged her to go out as a single in variety, promising her $350 — $500 week. And knowing she was special in his eyes, Mae took full advantage of this stepping stone.
• • Mae West claimed that her father went into real estate when she signed with Frank Bohm.
• • When Guido Deiro and Mae were hot and heavy over each other, it was Bohm who was booking them both — — "engaged jointly as headline features" for 40 weeks on the prestigious Loew circuit.
• • Under Bohm's careful grooming, Mae transformed herself into a headliner for Manhattan's American Roof Theatre in January 1915 where she performed Sheldon Brooks's "Balling the Jack" and her trademark number "I've Got a Style All My Own."
• • Unfortunately, the agent who was so "generous, vital, and adoring" to Mae was cut down by tuberculosis of the spine when he was only 33 years old. Frank Bohm died in the month of March — — on 9 March 1916.
• • By March 1916, however, Mae West had fallen off the pathway to stardom. From applauded headliner at a good theatre a few steps away from Broadway in January 1915, by March 1916 Mae was slaving away at Pittsburgh's Victoria Theatre, performing in cheap, third-rate burlesque. Drat.
• • Mae West and Grapes • •
• • The name Mae West, controversial stage and film star of the early 20th century, conjures up visions of grapes. “Beulah, peel me a grape,” she said in the 1933 movie “I’m No Angel.” ... [Source: "Who and what in food lore" written by Page H. Onorato for The Dispatch; posted on Tuesday, 8 March 2011].
• • Quote, Unquote in the United Arab Emirates • •
• • 'Too much of a good thing is wonderful," the legendary Hollywood actress Mae West once said. It is arguable, however, whether the rapier-tongued diva would still have the same opinion had she spent a few hours waiting for a taxi under the scorching mid-summer UAE sun . . . [Source: Here comes the sun: National Editorial; The National in Abu Dhabi, UAE; posted on 9 March 2011].
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West: Sarasota, Florida

If you are spending this weekend in Sarasota, then come up and see MAE WEST in a gaudy, bawdy show featuring the striptease and the best of burlesque.
• • Mae West featured in "The Blue Review" • •
• • Graceful moves of the tap-dancing World War II veteran will make you look closer at 90-year-old show-stopper Cliff Bermann. The genial charmer has been cast in "The Blue Revue," where he will (among his other roles) impersonate W.C. Fields opposite 81-year-old Selene Hawkins' as Mae West. Doing a vaudeville style skit, they will banter with each other, saying things like:
• • Him: "Goodness! What beautiful diamonds!"
• • Her: "Goodness had nothing to do with it."
• • These agile and personable golden agers, members of a vivacious troupe called The Sarasota Senior Theatre, will entertain all weekend long in Florida in a pelvis-grinding variety extravaganza that features stripteasers, Sally Rand fan dance numbers, and lots of high kicking fun — — organized and produced by Bill Bordy.
• • What: The Sarasota Senior Theatre performs "The Blue Revue"
• • Where: Booker High School Theater, 3201 Orange Avenue, Sarasota, FL
• • When: February 25th — 27th, 2011 [Friday Feb. 25th and Saturday Feb. 26th at 8:00PM, Sunday Feb. 27th at 2:00PM]
• • Details: T. 941-755-6864
• • Tell them you heard about it on the Mae West Blog.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West: Lyrical

There's a lot of MAE WEST going around. She's on the turntables thanks to "Wild Christmas" collectors. Additionally, "Burlesque" star and singer Christina Aguilera [born in 1980] has brought fresh interest to "A Guy What Takes His Time." It's positively lyrical.
• • Meanwhile, across the channel in Great Britain, trend-spotter Ian Gillespie, searching for a catch phrase to call his own, warmly recalls Mae. Ian Gillespie writes: There was a time when only celebrities and corporations needed catchphrases. If, for example, you were a 1930s Hollywood sex symbol with a penchant for naughtiness like Mae West, your catchphrase would be, "Why don't you come up and see me sometime?" The Lone Ranger had a catchphrase ("Hi-yo Silver, away!"). So did comedian Rodney Dangerfield ("I don't get no respect."), actor Robert De Niro ("You talkin' to me?"), and veggie vendor the Jolly Green Giant ("Ho Ho Ho") — — although I understand he and Santa's people have been involved in a lawsuit over that for decades.
• • Ian Gillespie notes: Of course, it wasn't just people that needed catchphrases. Companies needed them, too. If you made running shoes like Nike, your catchphrase could be, "Just do it!" (Which quite frankly, could've also worked for Mae West if she weren't being so coy.) . . . .
— — Excerpt: — —
• • Article: "This catchphrase column is The Real Thing™"
• • By: IAN GILLESPIE, The Flip Side
• • Published by: The London Free Press [Great Britain] — — www.lfpress.com
• • Published on: 18 December 2010
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West: Burlesque Babes

No prude, MAE WEST did not hide the fact that she had worked in Burlesque as well as in Vaudeville.
• • An interesting article by Divinity Rose discusses these forms of popular entertainment and their individual appeal. Divinity Rose writes: One of the first specific applications of "vaudeville" to describe a variety show was by "Sargeant's Great Vaudeville Company" in Louisville in 1871. The word “vaudeville” carried with it the sophistication and romance associated with Paris. We have seen one theory for the word's origin, the troubadours of the Val-de-Vire region of France. Another theory is that it comes from voix de ville, meaning “voice of the city.” Seen in this light, the phrase reminds us of vaudeville's identity as a folk form, an expression of the people's voice. The word “vaudeville” distinguished the new business from variety, which was used by some people like a curse word. Vaudeville is where Marx and Chaplin — — along with Mae West, Harry Houdini, Milton Berle, and countless others got their start.
• • Divinity Rose adds: Burlesque was a little different than Vaudeville. Burlesque had a lot of comedy, charm, and girls taking off their clothes. When it began, it was about witty and charming women and clever comedy. Although, performers in Vaudeville often looked down on Burlesque, many great comedy acts polished their performances there. Burlesque offered stable work during tougher times, and so many bigger acts performed in burlesque shows under aliases. . . .
— — Excerpt: — —
• • Article: "Vixens and Vaudeville Part 1: The history of Vaudeville, Burlesque and the Vixens"
• • Written by: Divinity Rose
• • Published on: Monday, 1 November 2010
• • Published by: Louisville.com
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West: Burlesque

MAE WEST must surely be smiling about the new assemblage about to be released on Monday, 22 November 2010. RCA Records has chosen that date to debut "Burlesque" — — which is the soundtrack to the Sony Pictures motion picture "Burlesque," starring Christina Aguilera, Cher, and Julianne Hough.
• • Instead of recalling that the Brooklyn bombshell slipped away from our embrace on 22 November 1980, this year uncorks old wine in new bottles. Aguilera does a remake of a Mae West classic "A Guy What Takes His time" as well as as Etta James's "Something's Got A Hold On Me" and "Tough Lover"; new recordings performed and co-written by Aguilera will be seamed into more familiar material.
• • On 24 November 2010 the motion picture "Burlesque" will bump and grind through a robust premiere.
• • Mae worked in burlesque, an entertainment form that's lately come back in style.
• • Inspired by a real-life historical figure . . . • •
• • The Victoria Times Colonist in Victoria, Canada reported that "The Cursed Cabaret of Kelowna Day Taylor," an audience participation stage show, continues through 31 October 2010.
• • According to Times Colonist columnist Adrian Chamberlain: The musical is about a corporate fundraiser haunted by the ghost of a speakeasy queen, Kelowna Day Taylor. Playwright Karen Lee Pickett, who wrote the book and lyrics, says the character is inspired by a real-life historical figure: Texas Guinan. She was a silent film actress who famously ran a New York City nightclub during Prohibition. She died in Vancouver in 1933. The larger-than-life Guinan was portrayed in several movies, including "Splendor in the Grass" [1961] and the 1932 film "Night After Night," with Mae West playing a Guinan-like character.
• • "Night After Night" premiered on 30 October 1932 and launched the cinema success of Mae West seventy-eight years ago.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West: Naked Girls Reading

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Mae West: Mammaries Memory

Memories of mammaries and the glory days of MAE WEST are being invoked as people prepare for "The Big Reveal," Jim Thorpe’s First Annual Burlesque Festival this weekend.
• • 2-Day Benefit for Mauch Chunk Opera House, Jim Thorpe, PA • •
• • According to an article in The Weekender, The Mauch Chunk Opera House, where the main event will be located, is one of America’s oldest vaudeville theaters. Opened in 1881, the opera house was a regular stop on the vaudeville circuit and has hosted legendary performers such as Mae West, Al Jolsen, W.C. Fields, and others.
• • Kenny Luck writes: In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, burlesque evolved as a working-class alternative to upper-class entertainment. Its popularity was fueled by exposing Victorian-era sexual taboos. However, the good times would not last. By the early 1930s, Burlesque began to fade in the collective consciousness as new forms of entertainment — and sexuality — emerged. Burlesque morphed into the striptease, while the more interesting artistic and creative aspects of the show disappeared.
• • Kenny Luck adds: However, by the mid-1990s a neo-burlesque revival was beginning to blossom with a new generation of performers such as Dita Von Teese leading the way. A major motion picture entitled “Burlesque” starring Cher and Christine Aguilera, is set to debut in November. ...
• • For details about the fundraiser taking place in Pennsylvania on March 26th — 27th, see the publication below.
— — Excerpt: — —
• • Article: "The best of burlesque"
• • Byline: Kenny Luck
• • Published in: The Weekender (Wilkes-Barre, PA) — — www.theweekender.com
• • Published on: 23 March 2010
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
• • Tell them you heard about it on the MAE WEST BLOG.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West: Jack Howard

An old vaudevillian who worked for years with MAE WEST has escaped attention. Until now.
• • Written by and starring Mae in the title role, "Diamond Lil" enjoyed its first successful Broadway run from 9 April 1928 — September 1928 at the Royale Theatre.
• • Jack Howard has the distinction of being the only original cast member from the 1928 production who also appeared in each and every Broadway revival of this show.
• • In "Diamond Lil," a Bowery-situated melodrama, the roly-poly singer played the role of Bill.
• • Born as John E. Jenkins, the performer had adopted the stage name of Jack Howard by the time he made his debut on The Gay White Way during the springtime of 1913 in "The Geisha," a musical comedy. Often cast as an authority figure, Howard was seen in "Little Ol' Boy" [1933] in the role of a Penitentiary Guard; in "Hold Your Horses" [1933] as Diamond Jim Brady; during the 1939 World's Fair as P.T. Barnum in "American Jubilee"; in "High Kickers" [1941—42] as a Police Chief.
• • From 1942—45 he gave up acting to become Chief Engineer on a Liberty ship before heading back to Times Square, where he was seen in the short-lived flop "A Place of Our Own" [1945] and Mike Todd's "Up in Central Park" [1947].
• • Burlesque and the Bowery • •
• • Before his featured roles in the legit, Jack Howard was a vaudeville and burlesque headliner from 1905. In 1920, he copyrighted his comedy sketch "On the Bowery." [Perhaps Mae West went to see this since she was fascinated by the old glory days of the Bowery.] In April 1931, Howard wrote "Lonesome Life," a song he performed as well as licensed.
• • Mae West was loyal to the variety artist veterans who came up the ranks in show business with her — — and this long-standing hire, who reclaimed his role in the 1949, 1950, and 1951 mainstage productions of "Diamond Lil," is but one example.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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• • Photo: • • Mae West • • 1928 • •
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Mae West: Blame Bridgeport

MAE WEST might have put the blame on Bridgeport — — but did she go back to bedevil a playhouse?
• • During the early 1920s, impresario Sylvestre Poli brought the Poli Palace to the Nutmeg State.
• • Designed by architect Thomas W. Lamb and eventually renamed Loew's Palace Theater [1325 Main Street, Bridgeport, CT 06604], this landmark was the biggest movie theater ever erected in Connecticut — — and the largest among Bridgeport's 20-plus theaters. Poli's was actually one of two theaters built inside a single building (the other being the Majestic).
• • Despite the public's curiosity about the controversial vaudevillian Mae West, and her latest play "The Drag," Jim Timony could only manage to secure half a week at Poli's Park, which was then in use as a burlesque house in Bridgeport. It was a dreary and wintery Monday on 31 January 1927 when the Morals Production Company hoisted a banner over the trolley cars criss-crossing Main Street. Pedestrians were intrigued by this saucy announcement: "The Drag" by the author of SEX — — more sensational than Rain or The Captive!"
• • While they were lodging at the Arcade Hotel, Beverly West and Edward Elsner (Mae's sister and director) were arrested at 5 AM on 2 February 1927. Both the play and the arrest were the talk of Bridgeport.
• • Ghost-busting and career-boosting • •
• • Currently researching a local squad of spirit-chasing cops, whose haunts are the historic Bridgeport theaters, John Burgeson has alerted readers of The Connecticut Post to the intersection of ghost-busting and career-boosting aims currently afoot on Main Street.
• • Writing from Bridgeport, John Burgeson asks the famous question: When the ghosts that haunt Bridgeport's old Poli Palace theater get out of line, who you gonna call?
• • Why the cops, of course — — or, more specifically, the East Coast Paranormal Police.
• • Now, the newly formed ECPP might have a shot at fame. On Monday, a TV producer was in town to shoot footage of the ghost-hunting cops in action inside the Poli Palace and Majestic theaters downtown on Main Street, two long-abandoned, historic showplaces that score high on the creepiness scale.
• • "Today, we're doing a pitch tape for a new show we have in mind," said Rob Johnson, a production coordinator for Pangolin Pictures. "We understand that the Poli Palace might be haunted and Jim Myers suspects that there might be a poltergeist here."
• • Jim Myers, a 12-year veteran with the Bridgeport Police Department, is the man behind the ECPP, which has been getting help from one of the heavy hitters in the ghost-hunting business, famed psychic and Monroe resident Lorraine Warren.
• • Pangolin Pictures, which has three Emmy Awards to its credit, is primarily a producer of nature films for cable networks. These include "Tarantulas: King of Spiders" and "Jaws and Claws."
• • Johnson notes that while there are other ghost-hunter shows, Pangolin likes the fact that Myers uses "police training" to investigate strange occurrences.
• • "We think that's an interesting angle that will be new to paranormal shows," he said. "In 'Ghost Hunters,' they're plumbers by trade. Jim's group all have had police training."
• • On Monday, Johnson and his assistant, Gina Fitch, were busy shooting footage of Myers and his 11-person team as they explored the dusty innards of the Poli Palace and two attached buildings, the Majestic theater and the Savoy Hotel.
• • In 2007, the direct-to-video cop action flick starring Steven Seagal shot in downtown Bridgeport included scenes filmed at the Poli and Majestic theaters. The showcases continued screening movies sporadically into the early 1970s, long past their glory days as venues for elaborate live entertainment, and later for first-run Hollywood movies. Through the early 1950s, it wasn't unusual for movie stars to turn out on opening night to boost attendance.
• • While plans have been floated over the years to restore the theaters, nothing has ever become of them. Johnson hopes that the pitch tape, which will be about five minutes long, will be pedaled to the various cable channels, such as Discovery, National Geographic Channel, TLC, the History Channel and so forth. He said that it may take six months or longer for the channels to decide whether to proceed with the idea.
• • "It's just a quick piece to show Jim and his team, and what they can do," Johnson said, "and to show the network what it would look like as a series."
• • If a network picks up the idea, the ECPP would be central to the show, which would follow the team as it checks out various reports of paranormal activity up and down the East Coast, Johnson said.
• • Bridgeport City Historian Mary Witkowski, also interviewed Monday by Johnson, said there's no shortage of reasons why there might be strange goings-on inside the theaters.
• • Mae West: Is that you? • •
• • "First it could be the Golden Hill Paugusset [Indian] tribe, whose graves may have been disturbed when they built there. It could be Dutch Schultz, the rum-runner who was murdered in New Jersey — — he did a lot of business in Bridgeport back in the 1930s. Or, it even could be Mae West ---- she had performed here, got into trouble and spent the night in jail," Witkowski said. "Maybe she wants to get back at us."
• • Myers said he has 16 to 18 members in the ECPP, and all are trained in police work. "I actually come in here on a weekly basis because the city gave me the key, so I can keep an eye on the place," Myers said. "I've seen a couple of photos that were taken here that were pretty strange."
— — Source: — —
• • Article: "Ghost-hunting cops haunt historic Bridgeport theaters"
• • Byline: By John Burgeson
• • Published in: The Connecticut Post — — www.connpost.com
• • Published on: 11 May 2009
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
• • The arrest at the Arcade Hotel after "The Drag" is dramatized in the play "Courting Mae West." Beverly's drunken antics and Mae's strategies are featured in Act I, Scene 2. You can watch a portion of this surprising scene on YouTube.
• • The "scene of the crime" is still in business: Arcade Hotel — 1001 Main St, Bridgeport, CT 06604; Tel (203) 333-9376.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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• • Photo: • • Mae West • • Poli's and Main Street in 1927 • •
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Mae West: Finalized

There was a great deal of mayhem in the life of MAE WEST when her marriage to Frank Wallace was first exposed — — and divorce proceedings began.
• • As all Mae-Mavens know, on the morning of 11 April 1911, a teenager wed her 21-year-old co-star Frank Wallace [birthname: Frank Szatkus] in Milwaukee. He and Mae West had been performing at the Big Gaiety Theatre there, part of the Columbia Amusement Company, an Eastern burlesque wheel run by Henry Jacobs and John Jermon.
• • Mae, who was still 17 when they eloped, had met the entertainer the previous year. Matchmaker Matilda West had gone backstage to tell this soft-shoe artist that she had a youngster who was a “comer” — — a good partner to pair up with.
• • A dark-haired, wiry acrobatic dancer, Frank was determined not to follow the example of his sedentary father, a Lithuanian tailor from Queens, New York. Threading his way through the vaudeville and burlesque circuit, he shared the bill with Mae West and Willie Hogan at Canarsie’s Waldo Casino in Brooklyn. In those days, they often rehearsed in the basement of the house that belonged to Mae’s parents. Following rehearsals, Matilda would serve a Bavarian supper of pig’s knuckles and sauerkraut.
• • When singing ragtime favorites — — like “Ragtime Rosie Ragged the Rosary” and “Everybody’s Doin’ It” — — West and Wallace consciously imitated black performers, sliding, shuffling, and stepping in a sultry, passionate, smooth style that brought them bookings in Brooklyn, New Jersey, and Philadelphia.
• • According to Frank Wallace, after a few weeks of rehearsal, “we went on the Fox circuit. Later we signed with Jacobs and Jermon, the burlesque producers.”
• • Mae claimed she only wanted to sleep with Frank, not tie the knot. However, Etta Woods, an older singer on the bill with them, persuaded Mae that it was better to be married in case she got pregnant accidentally. After they said their vows, Mae insisted that the marriage be kept a secret from her family and their booking agents.
• • The length of their tour in “A Florida Enchantment” lasted a few months, after which Mae returned to her parents in Brooklyn and encouraged Wallace to join a different road company, which he did.
• • West and Wallace never lived together as man and wife. Their secret elopement only came to light when Mae became a Hollywood headliner in the 1930s and Frank, run down at the heels and looking for a meal ticket, decided to sue his successful wife.
• • The final divorce decree was granted in the month of May — — on 7 May 1943.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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• • Photo: • • Mae West • • in Milwaukee Gaiety 1911 • •
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Mae West: Frank Bohm

From 1912 — 1916, MAE WEST had an ally in vaudeville: her well-connected booking agent Frank Bohm.
• • When the Brooklyn-born tough chick was 19 years old, she described herself as "a hard-boiled, wise-cracking kid, doing anything to get a laugh."
• • Born in Hungary in 1883/4, the 29-year-old booking agent at first struck Mae as brash and rude; when first introduced, he didn't even bother to remove his hat. But he was soon exerting his influence, cautioning her against being a sidewalk cut-up and giving away her good stuff for free.
• • And not long after, Mae was influencing Bohm; she confided that the married man (with a pregnant wife) was "in trouble" over her. Soon they were sitting in a Times Square restaurant having dinner when Frank Bohm presented Mae with a diamond ring as he implored her not to encourage a rival agent: Joseph M. Schenck, the Loew circuit booking manager.
• • Mae's career took flight under Frank Bohm. In 1912, he arranged for her to appear on sheet music for "Cuddle Up and Cling to Me" with the "Girard Boys." Shortly after, he encouraged her to go out as a single in variety, promising her $350 — $500 week. And knowing she was special in his eyes, Mae took full advantage of this stepping stone.
• • Mae West claimed that her father went into real estate when she signed with Frank Bohm.
• • When Guido Deiro and Mae were hot and heavy over each other, it was Bohm who was booking them both — — "engaged jointly as headline features" for 40 weeks on the prestigious Loew circuit.
• • Under Bohm's careful grooming, Mae transformed herself into a headliner for Manhattan's American Roof Theatre in January 1915 where she performed Sheldon Brooks's "Balling the Jack" and her trademark number "I've Got a Style All My Own."
• • Unfortunately, the agent who was so "generous, vital, and adoring" to Mae was cut down by tuberculosis of the spine when he was only 33. Frank Bohm died on 9 March 1916.
• • By March 1916, however, Mae West had fallen mightily off the wagon to the stars. From applauded headliner at a good theatre steps from Broadway in January 1915, by March 1916 Mae was slaving away at Pittsburgh's Victoria Theatre, performing in cheap, third-rate burlesque.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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• • Photo: • • Mae West • • 1912 • •
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