Mae West: Monkey Died

In 1934, Picture Play, piqued by a New York newcomer’s meteoric rise, pondered this: “Is MAE WEST a Fizzle? A bold discussion of an important question!” This is Part 15 of 29 segments.
• • Is Mae West a Fizzle? • •
• • Mae West: When her beloved monkey died • •
• • Dorothy Herzog wrote: Mae West was as nervous as a kitten until she knew for certain the critter would be worked into the picture.
• • Dorothy Herzog wrote: Of course, many people are superstitious. But a flock of superstitions that become a positive burden rest heavily on one's nervous system.
• • Dorothy Herzog wrote: Everyone concerned with "I'm No Angel" was regretful when Mae's monkey died just as the picture was finished, but they all wondered what would have happened had the monkey died before it was completed.
• • Mae West: Grief-stricken, she missed a preview • • …
• • This will be continued on the next post.
• • Source: Picture Play; issue dated for May 1934.
• • On Tuesday, 7 February 1933 • •
• • It was on Tuesday, 7 February 1933, that Mae recorded "A Guy What Takes His Time" (one of her saucy hits from "She Done Him Wrong") for Brunswick Records.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •

• • In 1969, Mae West and one of her black monkeys appeared on the cover of Life Magazine, an arresting bedroom image for sure.  
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: “Pills, I never take them. I don’t even take vitamin pills because who knows what’s in them?”
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • A fan magazine reviewed a Mae West starrer.
• • “Go West, Young Man” (Paramount) starring Mae West • •
• • Modern Screen wrote: Others in the cast are Lyle Talbot, Jack LaRue, Margaret Perry, and Etienne Girardot.
• • Modern Screen wrote: The picture is mildly vulgar in the best Mae West tradition, but it doesn't rank with this season's better comedies. …
• • Source: Modern Screen; published in the issue dated for February 1937
• • The evolution of 2 Mae West plays that keep her memory alive • •
• • A discussion with Mae West playwright LindaAnn LoSchiavo — —
• • http://lideamagazine.com/renaissance-woman-new-york-city-interview-lindaann-loschiavo/
• • The Mae West Blog celebrates its 17th anniversary • • 
• • Thank you for reading, sending questions, and posting comments during these past seventeen years. Not long ago, we entertained 3,497 visitors. And we reached a milestone recently when we completed 4,800 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started seventeen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 4,925th 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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• • Be sure to bookmark or follow The Mae West Blog
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • front page in 1969 • •
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Mae West: Fond of Fighters

Reporters who met MAE WEST during the 1920s and early 1930s — — before stardom cloaked her utterly — — have a refreshingly different take than those who met her as a bonafide movie queen.
• • New York Herald Tribune reporter Stanley Walker came up to see Mae West often in New York.
• • A section in Stanley Walker’s 1935 memoir discussed Mae West. This is Part 9 of 19 segments.
• • “Sex Comes to America” • •
• • Miss West is fond of fighters • •
• • Mae’s mother, Matilda Delker • •

• • Stanley Walker wrote: Miss West's mother was Matilda Delker West, a French actress [sic] reputedly of Jewish blood, who died in 1930. Battling Jack, who became a chiropractor [sic], died in Hollywood in 1934. Miss West is fond of fighters, and tries to give as many of them as possible parts in her productions.
• • Editor’s note: Notice there is no mention here of the later added name: “Doelger.”
• • Stanley Walker wrote: At the prize-fights, Miss West is usually accompanied by James Timony, a large red-faced man who has been associated with her since 1926.
• • the principal financial backer of “Sex” was Owney Madden • • . . .
• • This long chapter by Stanley Walker will be continued on the next post.
• • Source: Chapter “Sex Comes to America” from "Mrs. Astor's Horse" written by Stanley Walker [NY: Frederick A. Stokes, 28 October 1935, 320 pages].
• • On Tuesday, 24 March 1970 in Look Magazine • •
• • "Raquel Welch, Mae West Talk about Men, Morals and Myra Breckinridge," on page 45 in Look Magazine's weekly issue dated for Tuesday, 24 March 1970.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • It takes more than merely acting to become a national figure — an emblem — which, strange and contradictory as it may seem, is exactly what Mae West is.
• • Describing her attraction to fellows in uniform, Mae West told a Hollywood newsman this: "I even choke up when I see The Good Humor Man."
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "I like restraint if it doesn't go too far."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • A London newspaper discussed Diane Arbus and Mae West.
• • Mae West’s monkeys were Toughie and Pretty Boy • •
• • Nicholas Haslam wrote: While I was the Art Editor of Show Magazine in New York during the 1960s, I commissioned the great Diane Arbus to photograph the (by then) forgotten Mae West (Books, 16 March) at her home in Los Angeles.
• • Nicholas Haslam wrote: The results revealed that Miss West had a fearsome fetish for symmetry — matching grubby white grand pianos bearing vast identical plaster statues of her naked self, duplicate papier-maiché urns of dusty mock camellias, place settings mirrored either side of the plates, etc. 
• • Nicholas Haslam wrote: Mae West also slept between two (real) apes called Toughie and Pretty Boy. . . .
• • Source: Letter (page 29) in London's Spectator; published on Saturday, 23 March 1996 
• • The evolution of 2 Mae West plays that keep her memory alive • •
• • A discussion with Mae West playwright LindaAnn LoSchiavo — —
• • http://lideamagazine.com/renaissance-woman-new-york-city-interview-lindaann-loschiavo/
• • The Mae West Blog celebrates its 15th anniversary • • 
• • Thank you for reading, sending questions, and posting comments during these past fifteen years. Not long ago, we entertained 3,497 visitors. And we reached a milestone recently when we completed 4,400 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started fifteen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 4,437th 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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• • Be sure to bookmark or follow The Mae West Blog
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • with Matilda West in 1927 • •
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Mae West: Junior, a Monkey

Reporters who met MAE WEST during the 1920s and early 1930s — — before stardom cloaked her utterly — — have a refreshingly different take than those who met her as a bonafide movie queen.
• • New York Herald Tribune reporter Stanley Walker came up to see Mae West often in New York.
• • A section in Stanley Walker’s 1935 memoir discussed Mae West. This is Part 5 of 19 segments.
• • “Sex Comes to America” • •
• • a monkey named Junior and a small Chihuahua dog • •
• • Stanley Walker wrote: The other occupants of the apartment are a monkey named Junior and a small Chihuahua dog.
• • Stanley Walker wrote: An oversized bed dominates the bedroom. It is white and frilly, with a regal canopy, and stands on a dais carpeted with another white bearskin. A huge mirror is embedded inside the canopy so she can survey her famous figure as she lies outstretched in one of her favorite black lace nightgowns.
• • Mae’s Manhattan bedroom • •

• • Stanley Walker wrote: During her "Sex" and "Diamond Lil" days in New York, her bed was of carved wood with a velveteen canopy of green and gold attached to a six-pointed coronet. A tall pier glass stood opposite the foot of the bed and was adorned with a crest designed by Mae, which bore the legend, "Mae West, Sex, Diamond Lil."
• • Mae has a keen appreciation of her body • • . . .
• • This long chapter by Stanley Walker will be continued on the next post.
• • Source: Chapter “Sex Comes to America” from "Mrs. Astor's Horse" written by Stanley Walker [NY: Frederick A. Stokes, 28 October 1935, 320 pages].
• • On Wednesday, 18 March 1953 • •
• • ”New Film Star” • •
• • It was on Wednesday, 18 March 1953 that folks were reading about a new motion picture based on the life story of Mae West.
• • Hollywood gossip columns announced this: Her name is Pat Morrissey. She is a 24-year-old singer with platinum blonde hair and big dark eyes. She expects soon to star in a film of the life of Mae West.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Mae West signed a new contract with Paramount which calls for two pictures a year from her for the next four years. The actress has the option of writing her own stories, selecting her own cast, and working for a percentage of the grosses on the eight pictures, under the terms of her new deal.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "It takes two to get one in trouble."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • The Chief Executive Magazine mentioned Mae West.
• • Dr. Meera Viswanathan, Head of School at Ethel Walker said: The great Mae West once noted, “Good girls go to heaven, bad girls go everywhere.”  Surely, we want girls and women to be cosmopolitan, worldly, in the best sense of the word.  …
• • Source: Chief Executive; published on Friday, 6 March 2020
• • The evolution of 2 Mae West plays that keep her memory alive • •
• • A discussion with Mae West playwright LindaAnn LoSchiavo — —
• • http://lideamagazine.com/renaissance-woman-new-york-city-interview-lindaann-loschiavo/
• • The Mae West Blog celebrates its 15th anniversary • • 
• • Thank you for reading, sending questions, and posting comments during these past fifteen years. Not long ago, we entertained 3,497 visitors. And we reached a milestone recently when we completed 4,400 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started fifteen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 4,433rd 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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• • Be sure to bookmark or follow The Mae West Blog
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • at home in 1933 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest

Mae West: Texas Tour

Where was MAE WEST going, wearing such a charming hat, on Monday, 13 March 1939?
• • "Mae's Latest" • •
• • Madera Tribune wrote:  Latest photo of Mae West, who hasn't been doing much lately In a professional way, taken at Los Angeles as she left for an extended personal appearance tour in Texas and possibly later in London.
• • Source:  Madera Tribune; published on Monday, 13 March 1939.
• • On Thursday, 14 March 1935 • •
• • An amusing article ran today: "Mae West Knows Just How Santa Feels about Letters." This appeared as part of a column syndicated by United Press, reprinted widely, on Thursday, 14 March 1935.
• • On Saturday, 14 March 1936 in Motion Picture Herald • •
• • An article about "Klondike Annie" (and the censorship battles over the film) was featured in Motion Picture Herald in their issue dated for 14 March 1936.
• • On Sunday, 14 March 1937 • •
• • It was Sunday, 14 March 1937 when Mae West signed a check (number 581) from her account at California Bank to Mr. William Mutara for his salary for the week of March 14th, 1937; the amount was $24.75. 
• • This check was sold to a collector for $96.00.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •

• • "Mae West’s Stiffs" probes the enigma of sex under the gaze of two of the most unlikely but perfectly matched women, the ever available Mae West, who confessed to Diane [Arbus] that she had never allowed a man to sleep in the same bed as her; and Diane Arbus, a young woman whose fascination with the most intimate details of our lives led her on a journey into one of the strangest places on earth, the bedroom.  
• • Image: Mae West poses in bed with her pet woolly monkey, Los Angeles, 1969
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said:  "I have an extra thyroid gland.  It gives me twice the energy and twice, the, you know, everything else I guess."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • A London newspaper interviewed Mae West.
• • Caroline Boucher wrote: When it was time to go I signed her visitors' book, which seemed all the wrong way round. Her parting shot was to give a thumbs-up to the women's movement – "I'm a liberated woman, I did everything I wanted. And I never wanted children. They'd have taken my mind off myself."  . . .
• • Source: "My tea with Mae West" for The Guardian; published on  Saturday, 13 March 2010 
• • The Mae West Blog celebrates its 11th anniversary • •
• • Thank you for reading, sending questions, and posting comments during these past eleven years. The other day we entertained 3,497 visitors. And we reached a milestone recently when we completed 3,300 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • • 
• • The Mae West Blog was started ten years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 3397th 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 • • in 1969 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest
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Mae West: Backseat Bling

The Midwest headline read "MAE WEST Shoes."  The Daily Illini, the student newspaper of the University of Illinois, often ran items about the iconic star of stage and screen.
• • On October 10th, The Daily Illini pondered this:  Will the co-eds at Illinois adopt the latest style shoe known as the Mae West?  This shoe is high calf and laces up the front through open straps.
• • Source: Item in The Daily Illini; published on Tuesday, 10 October 1933.
• • On Monday, 10 October 1932 • •
• • On Monday, 10 October 1932 readers of The L.A. Times noticed this peculiar headline and sub-head: "Gem Missing — — Monkey Has It!  Mae West's Pet Chews on Diamond."
• • "What's that monkey eating?" the security guard asks in the article.
• • "Whee, he's got the diamond," screams Mae West.  "But don't get excited.  If he swallows it, I'll buy it."
• • Unsaid by The L.A. Times, and still unknown to the general public, was Mae's curious habit of meeting merchants in automobiles whether the vendor was a saleslady from Bullock's, who climbed into the backseat with an armful of garments, or the anxious diamond dealer Isaac Licht, who turned up with bodyguards.
• • Actors who worked with Mae knew the truth: Mae was extremely near-sighted and refused to be seen in public wearing eyeglasses.  Self-conscious about her vision problems, Mae felt that at least in her own backseat, she could control the distance.
• • On Tuesday, 10 October 1933 in Variety • •
• • Many articles appeared in the trade magazine Variety testifying to the run-away success "I'm No Angel" had become, thanks to Mae West.  "'Angel' Forces Open a Second House for Day-and-Date Run" was printed in Variety on Tuesday, 10 October 1933.
• • On Wednesday, 10 October 1934 • •
• • William Troy reviewed "Belle of the Nineties" for The Nation, who ran it in their issue dated for Wednesday, 10 October 1934.
• • On Friday, 10 October 1969 • •
• • The lengthy article "Mae West Draws Support From Young as Well as Old" was written by Rick Du Brow and syndicated to many papers including the Oshkosh Daily Northwestern on Friday, 10 October 1969.
• • Recalling an earlier conversation with the movie queen, Rick Du Brow wrote:  At that interview by the way, I inquired if she could cook and she replied, "Honey, nobody ever asked me."  The lady is news plain and simple whatever she does. ...
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Nicodemus, colored singer and dancer in Duke Ellington's orchestra, recently signed by Emanuel Cohen, president of Major Pictures, for Mae West's next film, will leave for Hollywood  on Thursday by airplane.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said:  “Love isn't an emotion or an instinct — — it's an art."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • The Film Daily mentioned Mae West.
• • Ralph Wilk wrote:  Emanuel Cohen will start production today, his birthday, on the new Mae West picture, "Personal Appearance," for Paramount release.
• • Lyle Talbot is a late addition to the cast. The company, on location at Corona, will have a birthday party for Cohen.
• • Ben Piazza is executive assistant with the Cohen unit, known as Major Pictures Corp., with Joe Nadel as production and business manager, David Sussman as technical assistant, Karl Struss as first cameraman, and Vic Shapiro handling publicity.
• • Source: Item in Film Daily; published on Wednesday, 5 August 1936
• • The Mae West Blog celebrates its 10th anniversary • •    
• • Thank you for reading, sending questions, and posting comments during this past decade. The other day we entertained 1,223 visitors. 
• • By the Numbers • • 
• • The Mae West Blog was started ten years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 3023rd 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 • • in 1932 • •
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