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Not unlike Kris Humphries, 26, who has decided to seek an annulment of his sham marriage to Kim Kardashian, 31, on the basis of fraud, MAE WEST's storyline for "I'm No Angel" had her character Tira haul a handsome fiance into court for breach of promise.
• • Actor Gregory Ratoff played the prosecutor; Walter Walker, age 69, was the kindly old magistrate; and Cary Grant portrayed Jack Clayton, who is being sued for breach of promise.
• • A box office bonanza, "I'm No Angel" premiered on 14 October 1933 at the Paramount Theatre during the Great Depression.
• • Walter Walker [1864 — 1947] • •
• • Native New Yorker Walter Walker was born on 13 March 1864 and began working in front of the camera in 1917 when he was 53 years old. Over the next three decades, he was featured in 95 motion pictures, often in authority roles. From 1917 — 1947 he would be cast as a mayor, governor, senator, judge, lawyer, physician, Secretary of War, Benjamin Franklin, capitalist, priest, etc.
• • Walter Walker was seen briefly in three different comedies that starred Mae West. In addition to sitting on the bench in "I'm No Angel," he was the New Orleans Admirer in "Belle of the Nineties" [1934], and Andy Kelton in "Go West Young Man" [1936]. Did you recognize the familiar face of "his Honor" in the other two movies?
• • Employed in Hollywood until the very end, Walter Walker died in Honolulu, Hawaii in the month of December — — on 4 December 1947. According to his obit in The New York Times, his wife and a daughter (Mrs. L.H. Riley) survived him. He had been visiting his daughter and her husband, Lieut. Col. Riley, when he passed away. He was 83 years old.
• • In December, Let's Remember Archie Mayo [1891 — 1968] • •
• • Born in New York City, Archie Mayo [29 January 1891 — 4 December 1968] was a stage actor who relocated to the West Coast in 1915 and soon began working as a film director.
• • Mayo directed the speakeasy motion picture "Night After Night" [1932] — — a George Raft vehicle that did more for Mae's career than for the tough guy actor known best for "Scarface."
• • Mayo retired in 1946 — — shortly after completing A Night in Casablanca with the Marx Brothers and Angel on My Shoulder with Paul Muni, Anne Baxter, and Claude Rains.
• • Archie Mayo died in Guadalajara, Mexico in the month of December — — on 4 December 1968. He was 77. Mayo has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
• • On 4 December 1888 • •
• • Irish actor Colin Kenny, who was seen with Mae West in "The Heat's On," was born in Dublin on 4 December 1888.
• • On 4 December 1944 • •
• • The photographer Arthur Fellig, more commonly known as Weegee, made his silver gelatin prints sing and knew how to cleverly caption his portraits for large-format magazines such as Life and Look. On 4 December 1944, Weegee took himself downtown to the "poor man's Stork Club" — — i.e., Sammy's Bowery Follies, which somehow became a refuge for him. Sammy employed many old vaudevillians in his nightly stage shows. This was the spot for numerous humanistic and playful images such as a photo he took on December 4th of Sammy's "Mae West" — — the boisterous Bowery entertainer Norma Devine.
• • Mae West would visit her old colleagues at Sammy's place, whenever she was in town.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "I'm no angel."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • An article by Associated Press mentioned Mae West and her Hollywood attire.
• • A Los Angeles based stringer from AP wrote: Buxom Mae West, colorfully attired in a typical Hollywood outfit of lounging-pajamas, gave a deposition today preliminary to trial of the suit of Frank Wallace, who claims she is his wife.
• • AP noted: Miss West gave the deposition behind closed doors in the office of A. M. Blount, counsel for Frank Wallace. She was dressed in blue lounging pajamas, blue silk sandals, white hat, and carried a white handbag. ...
• • Source: Article: "Buxom Mae West Gives Trial Deposition" written by AP; published on 8 May 1937
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started seven years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 2135th 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
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • 1933 • •
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Mae West.
MAE WEST told the court they couldn't put anything over her — — including an umbrella.
• • It was November 1936 when Supreme Court Justice Joseph M. Callahan ordered Frank Wallace to supply further information concerning his alleged life with the buxom actress. Callahan gave Wallace, who sought a judgment declaring him to be Miss West's husband, until 27 November 1936 to serve and file an affidavit saying: Whether the plaintiff claimed he and the defendant actually lived together as husband and wife in the state of New York since 1911 . . . and, if so, to specify the times and places where such residences occurred.
• • The justice's order for additional information resulted from Miss West's refusal to appear in the New York court which, she said, had no jurisdiction over her.
• • In November, Let's Remember Eugene O'Neill [1888 — 1953] • •
• • At a time when City Hall was monitoring "dirt plays" and policing the ever present threat of theatrical innovations, both Eugene O'Neill and Mae West aroused the finger shakers in the New York City mayor's office. Joab Banton, N.Y.'s District Attorney, was especially severe on both playwrights. "Desire under the Elms" [produced in 1924] really got Banton's knickers in a knot. This drama was "too thoroughly bad to be purified by blue pen," said Banton.
• • Eugene O'Neill was born in New York, NY on 16 October 1888 and introduced to the theatre world via the Provincetown Playhouse during the 1920s. The Pulitzer-winning "Beyond the Horizon" [published in 1920] was O'Neill's first important play.
• • Though Mae found O'Neill's outlook depressing, she was well aware of his enormous popularity and made sure to go and see his plays. In 1922, she rehearsed the song "Eugene O'Neill, You've Put a Curse on Broadway" for "Ginger Box Review."
• • "Mae West was better suited to writing gritty realism than Eugene O'Neill," explains Frank Cullen in the book "Vaudeville, Old and New" [2007].
• • It was during the eleventh month that the prize-winning dramatist died — — on 27 November 1953. He was 65 years old.
• • On 27 November 1932 in Hollywood • •
• • Jon Tuska, writing about "She Done Him Wrong," notes that production commenced on 27 November 1932, and concluded in December of that year.
• • 27 November 2007 • •
• • Released by the U.K. publisher St. Martin's Griffin on 27 November 2007 was "Mae West: It Ain't No Sin" by the biographer Simon Louvish. The paperback edition had 491 pages.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "I don't read. Never have and guess I never will. I write in my books what I learned myself, from life."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • A review of "The Heat's On" mentioned that Mae West was "nearly crowded out."
• • The N.Y. Times noted: Even so, the sumptuous siren — — and Victor Moore and William Gaxton, as well — — is nearly crowded out of her own picture by a series of dull production numbers. Miss West, you see, is the turbulent musical comedy star caught in the intrigues of two rival crooked producers, and the plot has been used as little more than an excuse to place Hazel Scott, Xavier Cugat and some lesser folk through their paces — — none of which are particularly startling. ...
• • Source: Film Review written by T.S. for The N.Y. Times; published on 26 November 1943
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started seven years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 2128th 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/
________
Source:http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • 1936 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest
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Mae West.
On orders from MAE WEST herself, her publicity department does not write stories about her anymore.
• • To those who ask for interviews, manager James Timony tactfully explains that Mae is extremely busy writing the next scenario. There has been, Mae and her studio have concluded, "Too much West."
• • Mae's appearance in court here for several days, to tell how she was robbed of diamonds and money, was of no little concern to herself, her manager, and her studio — — but not so much for reasons of justice as for those of career. She knew beforehand that she'd be quoted and photographed, the very things she had been trying to avoid. . . .
• • As to the effect of this publicity, consider the declaration of a former West admirer and inveterate picture-goer, who told me: "I haven't seen the new Mae West picture. I've read so much about her and seen her photographs so often that I don't want to see 'I'm No Angel'!"
• • This attitude is one which Mae and Paramount fear may become too prevalent. If it does gain ground, the excellence of future Mae West pictures will be of little matter.
— — Excerpt: — —
• • Screen Life in Hollywood by Hubbard Keavy [1934]• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • none • •
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Mae West.
In January, MAE WEST would reminisce about a fearless, financially flush female who loyally backed her Broadway productions, and who also knew Jefferson Market Court, the Federal Court House, judges, and Dry Agents intimately during the Roaring 20s.
• • Greenwich Village resident Texas Guinan [1884-1933] always insisted that she didn't have to sell the hard stuff because she got as much for sparkling water as people paid for Scotch before Prohibition. She said her clients brought their own hooch on their very own hips, and what could she do except provide set-ups? Of course, you could buy a "booster" in her gin-joints if you knew the headwaiter, or if you looked as if you knew him, or if you knew somebody who was pretty sure he knew him, or maybe if you were good and thirsty and didn't have the seedy look of the Dry Agent.
• • Often in a tight spot due to her night spots, Texas had more than her share of arrests and padlocks and paddy wagons.
• • Returning to her speak after winning an acquittal at court once, Texas sang this ditty:
Judge Thomas said, "Tex, do you sell booze?"
I said, "Please, don't be silly.
I swear to you my cellar's filled
With chocolate and vanilly!"
• • A woman of courage and charm if not convictions, her birthday is 12 January 1884.
• • Let's give the little lady a nice big hand!
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • Texas Guinan • • 1930 • •
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Mae West.
For the record, MAE WEST began making films in 1932 — — not the 1920s. 
• • Director Todd Stephens credits the screen queen with being his muse and guidepost. A recent article in the Sydney Star Observer, written by John Burfitt, offers Stephens's comments on his idol.
• • This is an excerpt from an interview by Australian columnist John Burfitt:
• • While filming Another Gay Movie, director Todd Stephens believed the project had an unexpected guardian angel watching over it.
• • For a film depicting a group of young gay men’s desperate efforts to lose their virginity, Stephens believed it is appropriate that guardian angel was the long-dead screen siren, Mae West — — the woman who introduced sex to the movies in the 1920s [sic], and scandalised Hollywood as a result.
• • Todd Stephens is a Mae West fan, and even has some of her old furniture in his apartment. But while he was filming Another Gay Movie, he discovered an even closer connection with West.
• • “She was one of my big idols as I was growing up, and a big influence on me,” Stephens says from his New York home.
• • “When I was living in Hollywood while making this film, I discovered I was living right next door to where Mae lived for 50 years, and that was a total coincidence. I liked that as this is a very sex-positive movie, and certainly Mae was into that.
• • “She never apologised for exploring sexuality on screen, and neither do I with this film. So I felt I had her spirit watching over me the entire time I was making this film.”
• • . . . Another Gay Movie, which played at the recent Mardi Gras Film Festival, will be released on DVD 18 April 2007.
• • Source: Sydney Star Observer — — /www.ssonet.com.au — — Issue 860
• • Published on 29 March 2007• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/________
Source:http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xmlMae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • defending herself at Criminal Court for writing a gay play • • October 1928NYC
Mae West.
Mae West's "Pleasure Man" trial began on 16 March 1930.
• • The courtroom proceedings had a certain entertainment value. Cast member Chuck Connors II sang the controversial "She's the Queen of the Beaches" for Judge Amedeo Bertini and the jury. Though somber, bereaved, and wearing mourning for her late mother, Mae West had to stuff a black handkerchief in her mouth to keep from laughing at this performance.
• • Actor Alan Brooks [1888-1936] - - who played the title role in "Pleasure Man"- - swore on the witness stand that he was astonished to discover that his character had died from being castrated. The debonair 42-year-old leading man testified in smart-looking spats and a gorgeous suit.
• • Performer, director, and writer Alan Brooks was born in New York City on 25 January 1888 as Irving Hayward.
• • Alan Brooks made his Broadway debut - - on his 21st birthday - - playing a tutor in the musical "Stubborn Cinderella" (which ran from 25 January 1909 - 10 April 1909).
• • On 1 October 1928, Alan Brooks played the role of Rodney Terrill in Mae West's "Pleasure Man," which was raided during its premiere at the Biltmore Theatre. The play was completely shut down after its second performance.
• • His last Broadway show was "The Metropolitan Players" (December 1932) and, ironically, he played the Counsel's Opinion.
• • At age 48 Alan Brooks died 29 September 1936, Saranac Lake, NY.• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/________
Source:http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xmlMae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • Alan Brooks [wearing spats] during the trial • • 1930 • •
NYC
Mae West.
Not unlike Kris Humphries, 26, who has decided to seek an annulment of his sham marriage to Kim Kardashian, 31, on the basis of fraud, MAE WEST's storyline for "I'm No Angel" had her character Tira haul a handsome fiance into court for breach of promise.
