Mae West: A French Wench

French Accents Gild an Annual Tribute to an American Screen Queen
Gauloise Glamour at Mae West Gala Salutes the Actress’s Alsatian Heritage


New York, NY — She got it from her granny. MAE WEST [1893-1980] insisted that her passion for fashion and finery was instilled by her maternal grandmother Christiana Brimier, a native of the Alsace province of France, who also influenced her own daughter Matilda West [1870-1930]. Matilda taught Mae to speak French, which came in handy onstage. In 1919, for instance, Variety praised the 26-year-old’s vaudeville routine that included a French dialect number. In the Broadway show “The Mimic World of 1921,” Mae was cast as La-Belle, a Parisian damsel who aroused many ooo-la-las at the Century Roof, and a Proust-worthy coquette named Madelon. In 1922, Mae introduced her new act at the Riverside Theatre, portraying a French prima donna of temperament.
• • New Yorkers can feast on these rare archival images at Village Restaurant [62 West Ninth Street, NYC] during a free exhibition in August. “Onstage Outlaws: Mae West and Texas Guinan in a Lawless Era” opens to the public after a Gala Roaring-20s theme Press Preview on Mae’s birthday August 17, 2006. There is NO charge to view this historic installation.
• • Chef Stephen Lyle, born in Paris and trained at L’ Ecole Hoteliere in Nice, is sure to give the Annual Mae West Gala a French twist. In 2000, when he opened Village (after his long success at hipster-haven Odeon), Lyle began restoring the dining room to its original 1917 elegance when it had been Paul and Joe’s French-Italian Restaurant. During the Jazz Age, Mae West dined here many times. And while there are no written records of what she ordered at Paul and Joe’s, her old friends do remember her fondness for good champagne.
• • “Mae loved a good glass of bubbly,” said Van Panopoulos, owner of the former speakeasy Frankie and Johnny’s, who used to rub shoulders with Mae at Billy Reed’s Little Club during the 1950s. “I can close my eyes and picture her, savoring her lasagna, her champagne bottle ready in an ice bucket,” recalled Aldo Leone, manager of Bill’s Gay Nineties, who waited on Mae whenever she dined at his grandmother’s midtown eatery, Mamma Leone.
• • To commemorate Mae’s French roots and fine taste, Perrier Jouët Grand Brut will be served at the Press Gala. Imported to the United States since 1837, this brand unites the lightness of traditional Brut with the elegance and brightness of the finest Champagnes. Mae might very well have enjoyed its bouquet during her Broadway years. And chef Stephen Lyle chose Perrier Jouët Grand Brut to be served at his own wedding reception.

______________"Newseum"_________________
• • In honor of Mae’s love of exquisite fabrics and stylish fellows, a French blue silk twill bowtie will be inside the giftbags given to the news reporters, VIPs, and celebrities on August 17, courtesy of Beau Ties Ltd. of Vermont. A special limited edition of their pattern NEWSEUM, with its witty landscape of vintage typewriters, microphones, and radios, will enlist the heart of anyone who longs to put the “ME” in media. These bowties, enthusiastic exhibitionism at their most engaging, will be featured in photographs taken at this event and posted on the website, thanks to Beau Ties Ltd. of Vermont. Visit them online: www.beautiesltd.com.
• • The "Newseum" tie is at http://www.beautiesltd.com/PRODUCT.ASPX?pn_deptid=2074
• • Many of Mae West’s secret loves will be revealed on Sunday August 20th during a walking tour followed by brunch at Village Restaurant. Fee [tour + brunch] will be $25. Brunch guests can enjoy the FREE exhibition with or without the tour. Information: 212-505-3355.
• • • • Media inquiries welcome. • • • •
• • Images: maewest.blogspot.com — texasguinan.blogspot.com
• • The Annual Mae West Gala always takes place in a venue that the actress had frequented.
• • • • COURTING MAE WEST, LLC, based in Manhattan, is an off-Broadway producing outfit whose mission is to increase opportunities for women and female-driven plays.
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
• • Source: Village Restaurant [62 West Ninth Street, NYC] • •
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Mae West
• • Photo: Mae West • • "Newseum" courtesy of Beau Ties Ltd. of Vermont • •
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Mae West.

Marnie Baumer's Mae West Medley

Mayhem Borrows an Angel’s Voice
“The Blonde Baumer” Seizes the Scarlet Sisterhood with a Sizzling Tribute to Mae West

New York, NY — Songbird MARNIE BAUMER (nicknamed “The Blonde Baumer” by her fans) has a bookshelf rammed with awards. Her muscular soprano — rich, creamy, and totally secure in its high-wired technique — has been appreciated by the Broadway hit-machine Steven Schwartz along with theatre-goers and ticket-holders at Town Hall, Weill Recital Hall, Yale University, and London’s Covent Garden Theatre Museum.
• • Baumer has a trained stairmaster’s voice, equally capable of ascending into the celestial realms, resuscitating a Moliere classic, or retooling Betty Boop’s cheeky repertoire.
• • Though best known for her tribute to women in animated films, on August 17th Marnie Baumer seizes her place in the scarlet sisterhood when she performs a sultry MAE WEST MEDLEY during the actress’s annual birthday gala in a former speakeasy.
• • • • During the 1920s, MAE WEST [1893-1980] heard “Frankie and Johnny” performed at Diamond Tony’s, a saloon on the Coney Island boardwalk. The Civil War Era folksong [about a heartbreaker and the quick-trigger gal who marries his manhood to a bullet] became stardusted when Mae sang it onstage in her Broadway hit “Diamond Lil.” This plain jane in the public domain became her signature show-stopper.
• • • • “A Guy What Takes His Time” (written for Mae by Ralph Rainger) serenades the ideal lover who is not quick on the trigger, and perfect for “a demon for slow motion.”
• • • • “My Old Flame” (written for Mae by Arthur Johnston and Sam Coslow) revisits a fascinating fellow who could ferry a pillow-partner clear across the Milky Way.
• • Celebrating mayhem on the mattress, says Marnie Baumer, is the fun of reprising these old standards. “I can’t get them out of my head,” she admits. Pianist ELLIOT PAUL will accompany her on the keyboard. Listening will be Mae West die-hards such as STEVE ROSSI, who performed with the movie queen in Las Vegas nightclubs, and broadcast legend JOE FRANKLIN, who interviewed the icon for his WOR TV show.

• • Perrier-Jouet champagne, Hendrick’s gin, and a “Cos-MAE-Politan” made with Boru’s vodka will fuel the merrymaking along with chef Stephen Lyle's delicious specialties. The media and celebrity guests will raise their glasses at a Roaring 20s-theme gala during a sneak preview of "Onstage Outlaws: Mae West and Texas Guinan in a Lawless Decade." This exhibition of rare photographs, archival images, and theatre memorabilia will be open to the public August 18-31 at VILLAGE RESTAURANT [62 West 9th Street]. There is NO charge to view this installation.
• • Media inquiries welcome. Event Images: maewest.blogspot.com — texasguinan.blogspot.com
• • The Annual Mae West Gala always takes place during August in a New York City venue that the actress had frequented.
• • COURTING MAE WEST, LLC, based in Manhattan, is an off-Broadway producing outfit whose mission is to increase opportunities for women and female-driven plays.
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
• • Source: Village Restaurant [62 West Ninth Street, NYC] • •
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Mae West
• • Photo Credit: Marnie Baumer • photographer Michael Ian • •
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Mae West.

The "Cos-MAE-politan" Debuts

Celebrity Chef Fits Class in a Glass
The “Cos-MAE-politan” Debuts on Mae West’s Birthday in New York


New York, NY — Celebrity chef Stephen Lyle passes Barbra Streisand en route to his kitchen at Village Restaurant, across the street from Jefferson Market Library [a former courthouse]. A photo of the songbird during her Broadway boom graces the entry to the dining salon because the teenager was discovered in this location (June 1960) — then known as The Lion. Joan Rivers launched her career at The Lion as well. History hits the spot on the menu. During the 1920s this storied location had housed Paul and Joe’s, a French-Italian restaurant that was frequented by Jack Dempsey, Mae West, and other jazz age notables. In fact, because Mae West watched famous drag queens perform here, she based her play "The Drag" on the colorful scene. "The Drag" led to Mae West being arrested and incarcerated at Jefferson Market Court and Jefferson Market Jail in 1927.
• • On Thursday August 17th, 2006 — Mae West's birthday — Lyle invites the news media to toast the blonde bombshell from Brooklyn with a new cocktail he created: the “Cos-MAE-politan.” Here’s his recipe:
1 ½ oz Boru Crazzberry Vodka
1 oz cranberry juice
½ oz Cointreau [or Triple Sec]
½ oz fresh lime juice
fresh raspberry garnish

• • The news media and a roomful of celebrity guests will raise their glasses at a Roaring 20s-theme gala that evening during a sneak preview of "Onstage Outlaws: Mae West and Texas Guinan in a Lawless Decade." This exhibition of rare photographs, theatre memorabilia, and colorful illustrations will be open to the public from August 18th - 31st at Village Restaurant [62 West 9th Street]. There is NO admission charge to view it.
• • Vintage views [1909 - 1930] of the two friends showcase the theatrical side of these two actresses who performed on the same stages. Though TEXAS GUINAN [1884-1933] is remembered as a speakeasy hostess, in fact, she starred in more than 30 films and had leading roles in Broadway musicals. And though MAE WEST [1893-1980] is an icon of the silver screen, she performed live in vaudeville and on Broadway.
• • On Sunday August 20th there will be a Mae West and Texas Guinan brunch at Village preceded by a guided tour. The fee [tour and brunch] is $25. Brunch guests can enjoy a FREE exhibition whether or not they take the tour. Info: 212-505-3355.
• • Media inquiries are welcome.
Images: * maewest.blogspot.com and * texasguinan.blogspot.com
• • COURTING MAE WEST, LLC, based in Manhattan, is an off-Broadway producing outfit whose mission is to increase visibility and opportunity for women and women-driven stories in the theatre.
• • Source: Village Restaurant [62 West Ninth Street, NYC] • •
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Mae West
• • Illustration: The "Cos-MAE-politan" cocktail named for Mae West • •
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Mae West.

Mae: Contrary in Greenwich Village

Mary and Mary (-Jane) — — Quite Contrary

The law and Lady Luck played a role when Marie Guinan [1884-1933] and Mae West [1893-1980] reinvented themselves in Greenwich Village.

• • In 1907, a demure 23-year-old Sunday schoolteacher rented a $2/ week room [72 Wash. Sq So] and assumed a louder identity: TEXAS Guinan. The neighborhood suited her. Even while earning a Park Avenue income ($700,000 in 1927, i.e., $5.5 million today), Tex kept her West Eighth Street duplex.
• • After singing in several main-stem musicals, Tex starred in 30+ silent Westerns [1917-21] in Hollywood. In 1922, Tex returned to The Big Apple where nightlife had changed. Speaks — — all the rage — — had no entertainment, she noticed when visiting a Washington Square So. club run by her neighbor Barney Gallant (formerly Eugene O’Neill’s roommate). Gallant’s barstools were warmed by Walter Winchell, literati from The New Yorker, and big spenders.
• • Now 38 years old, Tex began to orchestrate whoopee for clubs — — herself on center stage. Soon she was in the money, in the paddy wagon, and in the headlines. News of her arrests and antics fanned her fame.
• • • • Village sites linked to Texas Guinan include her former homes, where her friends and showgirls lived, her church, her bank, and where the diamond-draped speakeasy queen garaged her 2 armored cars.
• • • •


• • Mary-Jane West [1893-1980] — stage name Mae West — reinvented herself in Greenwich Village as playwright Jane Mast. Billed as the “baby vamp” in Brooklyn in 1899, the singing comedienne did not enjoy a steady rise to stardom a la Texas Guinan. Instead she performed in vaudeville and on Broadway for 20+ years without making headway.
• • In 1920, Savoy and Brennan put the Greenwich Village Theatre on the map with The Greenwich Village Follies. July 1922, Mae rehearsed The Ginger Box Revue there. In Act 2, Mae sang “Eugene O’Neill, You’ve Put a Curse on Broadway” as she spoofed The Hairy Ape [debut: Provincetown Players March 9, 1922]. But The Ginger Box was a flop. After Mae turned 30, she had few bookings [1923-25]. Encouraged by her mother, the actress began writing (penname: Jane Mast).
• • Her play Sex premiered April 1926; though critics bashed her, the box office boomed for 11 months. Jim Timony urged her to launch another show. For inspiration, Mae visited Paul & Joe’s [62 W. 9th St.]; a restaurant by day, after dark it became a famous gay cabaret. Mae auditioned 50 gay men she met there for The Drag. To keep The Drag off Broadway, police arrested Mae and the cast of Sex February 9, 1927, and locked her up in Jefferson Market Jail, where she mined material for Diamond Lil. News of her unjust imprisonment and trials made Mae West a household name.
• • • • Village sites linked to Mae West include clubs, eateries, cells, etc.
Mae West and Texas Guinan BRUNCH and TOUR on Sunday August 20, 2006. Reserve at Village Restaurant [62 West 9th Street, NYC]: 212-505-3355.
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Mae West
• • Photo: Mae West • 1928 • Mae set the play in Suicide Hall [295 Bowery]
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Mae West.

Mae West: Courtroom Confidential

HOLLYWOOD | COURTHOUSE CONFIDENTIAL
Arrested development
Now as then, celebrity scandals make for splashy news.
PHOTO GALLERY: Hollywood in the courtroom
- - excerpt - -

Nothing feeds our schadenfreude more than a good celebrity scandal. To watch the mighty, glamorous and rich stumble is a reality soap opera unparalleled by anything that the studios can dream up. Since Hollywood's birth, the peril of potential pitfalls has added an effervescent thrill to celebrity. After all, early Hollywood megastar Fatty Arbuckle was destroyed by the allegation that he raped a woman at a debauched party. And he was acquitted! Today, the public has shown increasing fickleness about what scandal might actually succeed in alienating its affections.
• • SHE'S NO ANGEL • •
Jailed in New York for her play "Sex" and up against censors again with the play "The Drag," Mae West defends herself in 1930 in one of many cases brought against her for obscenity.
Source: http://www.calendarlive.com/
• • Published: L.A. TIMES 21 May 2006
[Verdict in Mae's 1930 trial: NOT guilty. Mae West did not go to Hollywood until 3 years later. The Jefferson Market courtroom headlines made her famous - - not Paramount, thank you very much.]
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Mae West
• • Photo: Mae West on trial • Jefferson Market Court [Los Angeles Times: 1930]
• •
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Mae West.

Mae: Washington Square Woman

It was 80 years ago when Mary-Jane West [1893-1980] - stage name Mae West - reinvented herself in Greenwich Village as the playwright Jane Mast.
• • Billed as the "baby vamp" in Brooklyn when she launched her career at age 6 in 1899, the singing comedienne did not enjoy a steady ascent upwards a la Texas Guinan. Instead she performed on the vaudeville circuit, and in main-stem revues and musicals for twenty-seven years without making career headway.

• • Shortly after Mae turned 30, she hit bottom: during 1923, 1924, and 1925 legit theatres were refusing to book her - and she had to resort to taking bit parts in burlesque under the name MAY West. Her mother encouraged her to produce her own material, so Mae began writing under the penname Jane Mast.
• • For inspiration, Mae West and Jim Timony visited Paul & Joe's [62 West 9th Street]; an Italian-French restaurant by day, after dark it became the most popular gay cabaret in Greenwich Village. Mae recruited 50 drag queens there, and invited them to audition for her next play: The Drag: A Homosexual Comedy in Three Acts. To scare Mae from bringing The Drag to Broadway, the police arrested her and the cast of Sex on February 9, 1927, and locked her up in Jefferson Market Jail.
• • • Greenwich Village addresses linked to Mae West • • •
* * * Jefferson Market Jail - Mae spent the night of Feb. 9, 1927 in a cell with no seating and wall-to-wall prostitutes, thieves, and drug addicts
* * * Jefferson Market Court - Mae was on trial here 1927-1930
* * * Paul & Joe's [62 West 9th Street] - Mae wrote The Drag based on the scene
* * * Greenwich Village Theatre [7th Avenue and Christopher St.] - Mae rehearsed The Ginger Box Revue there
* * * Cinderella Club [82 West 3rd Street] - Mae saw gay revues there and discovered performers whose careers she helped launch.
* * * McGurk's Suicide Hall [295 Bowery] - Mae set her play "Diamond Lil" here; listen to Mae sing "Frankie & Johnny," her hit song from this melodrama: http://www.electricearl.com/RA-MW-01.ram
• • • • • •
• • More Mae West - - and Texas Guinan - - locations will be covered on the tour Sunday August 20, 2006. Reserve at Village Restaurant.
• • WALKING TOUR is part of the ANNUAL MAE WEST GALA.
• • WHEN * WHERE * WHAT: Sunday August 20, 2006 at 12 noon, "Mae West and Texas Guinan in Greenwich Village during a Lawless Decade," a tour of the Washington Square area with an emphasis on locations linked to the transgressive careers of Mae West and Texas Guinan during the Roaring 20s. Meet at Village Restaurant, 62 West 9th Street [near Sixth Avenue], where a free exhibition of rare archival images of MAE WEST and TEXAS GUINAN can be viewed from August 17th until August 31st during restaurant hours.
• • Fee includes BRUNCH at Village + gin cocktails right after tour: $25.
• • Rain or shine.
• • Reservations: (212) 505-3355.
• • Subway: IND to West Fourth Street station; PATH Train to 9th Street
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Mae West
• • Photo: Greenwich Village Theatre • Mae West rehearsed The Ginger Box Revue here in 1922 •
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Mae West.

Mae: A Colorful Life

Come up and see Mae - - in color and black and white.

• • In honor of MAE WEST’s birthday on August 17th, an historic installation of archival images will have its official PRESS OPENING at a gala cocktail party for the media on that Thursday evening.

• • "Onstage Outlaws" focuses on the careers of two transgressive actresses - - MAE WEST and her friend TEXAS GUINAN - - during Prohibition in New York City.

• • The FREE installation will be on view to the public from Friday 18 August 2006 until the end of that month at Village Restaurant [62 West 9th Street], a popular eatery in Greenwich Village owned by celebrity chef Stephen Lyle.
• • Sunday 20 August 2006 there will be a MAE WEST BRUNCH and tour in Greenwich Village. Make reservations via Village Restaurant: 212-505-3355.
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Mae West
• • Painting • Mae West •
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Mae West.

Mae West: Trial in 1928

In 1928-1930, MAE WEST spent a lot of time on trial at Jefferson Market Court facing obscenity charges, and being threatened with another jail term. [Mae had been imprisoned twice in 1927 for obscenity.]

• • In honor of MAE WEST’s August 17th birthday, an historic installation of archival images will have its official PRESS OPENING at a gala cocktail party for the media on that Thursday evening.

• • "Onstage Outlaws" focuses on the careers of two transgressive actresses - - MAE WEST and her friend TEXAS GUINAN - - during Prohibition in New York City.

• • The FREE installation will be on view to the public from Friday 18 August 2006 until the end of that month at Village Restaurant [62 West 9th Street], a popular eatery in Greenwich Village owned by celebrity chef Stephen Lyle.
• • Sunday 20 August 2006 there will be a MAE WEST BRUNCH and tour in Greenwich Village. Make reservations via Village Restaurant.
• • • Sponsorship & media inquiries welcome. • • •
• • COURTING MAE WEST, LLC, based in Manhattan, is an off-Broadway producing outfit whose mission is to increase visibility and opportunity for women and women-driven stories in the theatre.
• • COURTING MAE WEST, LLC
• • Sponsorship Coordinator:
• • Conrad Bradford
• • 917-403-0890
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Mae West
• • Photo • Mae West • 2 October 1928
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Mae West.

Mae's Uninhibited Exhibition

New York Secrets Revealed After 80 Years
An exhibition of rare archival images will unlock the hidden history.

New York, NY (PRWEB) April 15, 2006 -- Secrets suppressed for eighty years and more will be disclosed this summer when an exhibition of rarely seen photographs, theatre memorabilia, and colorful illustrations will open to the public in Greenwich Village during the month of August.
• • "MAE WEST and TEXAS GUINAN: The Can-Do Duo: Greenwich Village Spirit during the Jazz Era" will focus on vintage views [1909 - 1930] of the two friends as well as the buildings that shaped their careers -- along with unusual archival illustrations that showcase the theatrical side of these two actresses who often performed on the same stages.
• • Though TEXAS GUINAN [1884-1933] is remembered as a speakeasy hostess, in fact, she starred in over two dozen films and had leading roles in musicals at the Manhattan Opera House, Keith and Proctor’s Fifth Avenue Theatre, the Hippodrome, the Winter Garden, and the Shubert Theatre. And though MAE WEST [1893-1980] is immortalized as an icon of the silver screen, she performed live at Keith and Proctor’s Fifth Avenue Theatre, the Winter Garden, the Shubert Theatre, Hammerstein’s Victoria, the Folies Bergere, the Century Roof, the Casino, the Royale, the Polo Grounds, and other venues that too often met the wrecker’s ball.
• • And when they were in front of an audience, MAE WEST and TEXAS GUINAN often tried to outdo other entertainers.
* * * Did you know that Texas Guinan performed at The Fifth Avenue Theatre suspended in an airship?
* * * Did you know that Mae West performed in drag and in blackface?
A sampling of these historic images is online - - http://MaeWest.blogspot.com - - http://TexasGuinan.blogspot.com - - so come up and see Mae and her friends.
• • In honor of MAE WEST’s August 17th birthday, this historic installation will have its official press opening at a gala cocktail party on that Thursday evening.
• • The installation will be on view to the public from Friday August 18th, 2006 until the end of the month at a popular location in Greenwich Village.
• • Sponsorship and media inquiries are welcome.
• • COURTING MAE WEST, LLC, based in Manhattan, is an off-Broadway producing outfit whose mission is to increase visibility and opportunity for women and women-driven stories in the theatre.
• • COURTING MAE WEST, LLC
• • Sponsorship Coordinator:
• • Conrad Bradford
• • 917-403-0890
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Mae West
• • Photo • Mae West • 1919
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Mae West.

Mae West: April Foolin'

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Mae West
• • Photo • Mae West •
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Mae West.

Mae: Boxing Rings

The daughter of a former boxer, MAE WEST was taken to the gym and boxing ring by her father from when she was four years old. She developed a love for prize fights and champions often came to her stage shows - - such as Jack Dempsey, Heavyweight Champ, who attended the premiere of "The Mimic World 1921" and went backstage to meet Mae. All her life, Mae could be found at ringside as well as at racetracks. This article recalls the days when Mae West and other celebrities enjoyed matches in California.

• • • This city was full of fight • • •
Before football came and went, before the Dodgers and Lakers, boxing was the center of the Los Angeles sporting world.
By Steve Springer, Times Staff Writer

• • FOR America's big-league sports, L.A. was a distant outpost for the first half of the 20th century, impressive for an off-season vacation, impractical as a home base. Before jet travel, any team moving to the West Coast would have presented a scheduling nightmare. . . .
• • But boxing was different. Unencumbered by the need to regularly transport a full team a thousand miles or more, boxing found its way here even before the start of the last century. . . .
• • Since the Olympic Auditorium and the Forum went dark in the last decade, in terms of regularly scheduled matches, there has been no major venue for a promising fighter to polish his skills as he moved from club fighter to headliner.
• • It was far different a century ago. . . .
• • By 1914, the state had put strict regulations on the sport. Fights were limited to four rounds, purses to $25. ...
• • On Aug. 4, 1925, L.A.'s boxing mecca, the Olympic Auditorium, opened on the corner of 18th and Grand.
• • "The Auditorium blazed with glory on its opening night," according to an article the next day in The Times, "the light of many electric lights surpassed only by the sparkling jewels that adorned the persons of several of our well-known citizens and citizenesses. Hollywood and the moving picture colony slipped into their tuxedos and formal apparel and blessed the ringside by their presence."
• • In the early days of the Olympic, Mae West, Lupe Velez, Ruby Keeler, Al Jolson and later Robert Taylor and Barbara Stanwyck could be found in the good seats.
• • By the middle of the last century, a fight fan could be entertained all week without leaving the area. Ocean Park Arena in Santa Monica had fights on Tuesdays, the Olympic on Thursdays and Hollywood Legion Stadium on Saturdays.
• • And the famous and the infamous tagged along, especially at Hollywood Legion Stadium, where entertainers Bob Hope, Frank Sinatra, Jolson, Eddie Cantor, and George Raft rubbed elbows with mobsters such as Mickey Cohen....
printed: 30 March 2006
- - excerpt from http://www.latimes.com/ - -
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Mae West
• • Photo • Mae West • wrestler Vincent Lopez in 1955
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Mae West.

Mae: Jefferson Market 1927

It was March 1927 and the trial at Jefferson Market Court House on Sixth Avenue was drawing bigger crowds than Broadway shows. Each day the dailies reported on the dramatic trial. By late March it was getting to be obvious that the outlook would be dark for actress MAE WEST and her co-star BARRY O'NEILL, who were being tried for presenting an obscene play "Sex" at Daly's 63rd Street Theatre. [This play had been seen by the public for the past 10 1/2 months before the raid on 9 February 1927.]

• • Though this play had been approved by TWO play juries and had a license from the police department, it was coming up to be an election year and Mayor Jimmy Walker was being pressured by The Society for the Suppression of Vice to "clean up" the stage.
• • What were the dirtiest words on the Rialto? Looks like they were MAE WEST.
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Mae West
• • Photo • Mae West • in March 1927
• • Illustration • Mae West • by Michael DiMotta
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Mae West.

Mae Redux: 12 December 1937

Applause for Patrick Horne, a 27-year-old filmmaker from North Carolina who may not yet know how to spell "Chase & Sanborn," but who revived the famous 1937 radio skit from Edgar Bergen's program in a new 18-minute film. And a Christian actress Patrick Horne cast viewed ONE — — yes, just one Mae West film to prepare for her role as the temptress Eve in Arch Obler's "Garden of Eden" parody that got the Brooklyn Bombshell banned from the airwaves. Author Arch Obler was neither fined nor banned, however. Perhaps thinking of her hometown, Mae West tells the serpent, "I feel like doin' a Big Apple." Mae's suggestive adlibbing with ventriloquist dummy Charlie McCarthy also outraged the advertisers, who began firing up phonecalls before the 60-minute segment ended. Is this section included in the 18-minute adaptation? Stay tuned.
• • • Film recreates scandalous '37 radio show • • •
By Dawn DeCwikiel-Kane, Staff Writer
GREENSBORO -- The scene: Dec. 12, 1937, in a Hollywood radio studio.
• • Stars Mae West and Don Ameche perform a comic takeoff on Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden during the live radio broadcast of "The Chase and Sanbourn [sic] Hour."
• • Ameche has been told that West will play Eve straight, without her signature suggestive nuances. She doesn't. Her burlesque, ad-libbed delivery brings a nationwide uproar, an FCC condemnation and the end of West's radio appearances.
• • The scene: Saturday at The Scene on South Elm, a downtown performance space [in North Caolina], 68-plus years later.
• • Filmmaker Patrick Horne has turned the interior into a tiny Garden of Eden. His cast and crew film a movie re-enacting that infamous radio broadcast.
• • When complete, Horne plans to submit his 18-minute movie to film festivals and to the Sundance Channel, a cable network that airs independent films.
• • Horne, 27, and his company, "Speak-It!" Pictures, are part of the Triad's growing community of young filmmakers.
• • He envisioned this film after hearing a recording of the 1937 radio show and researching the controversy.
• • "I don't think 1930s America was ready for this script," Horne says.
• • "All of this anger was directed at a woman who was just having fun with the script. I think we are putting right what was once wrong, and giving the broadcast a new dimension for audiences that can now accept it."
• • He selected actor Leanne Bernard of Cary to play Mae West, and Elon University sophomore John Say to portray Don Ameche.
• • Adding a campy twist, he asked female impersonator James Rainey to play actor Dorothy Lamour, who sings in the broadcast before the skit.
• • Kevin Chamberlain came from Ohio to play Wendell Niles, the radio announcer. While students together at Ohio University, Chamberlain and Horne worked on a short film that won Horne a regional Emmy in 2002.
• • Horne himself played the snake in the Garden of Eden.
• • Actors dressed and acted their parts, but lip-synched their lines to the original broadcast.
• • To prepare, they had listened to the original show repeatedly to get their timing just right.
• • Bernard wanted to capture West's mannerisms - - hands on hips, eyes frequently casting left, her pauses, her suggestive smile. So she watched her 1940 film, "My Little Chickadee."
• • "I just thought it was so intriguing to play such a glamorous icon in movie history," Bernard said as makeup artist Kenzie Clark curled Bernard's hair, West-style.
• • Say said he was attracted to participate by Horne's unique concept, and to add a movie role to his acting credits.
• • "I think this will get noticed for its originality," Say said.
• • To re-create West, Bernard donned a red sequined and feather-trimmed gown. Say wore a suit to introduce West and Niles at the start, then switched to a costume of fake fig leaves.
• • In the skit, Eve is bored in the Garden of Eden. But Adam won't leave the good life. Adam tells her that they'll be evicted if they eat fruit from the appletree. So Eve recruits a snake to squeeze through a picket fence to steal an apple.
• • "I'm, I'm stuck!" the snake says in one suggestive exchange.
• • "Oh, shake your hips," Eve says. "There there, now you're through!"
• • Before she auditioned for the Mae West role, Bernard said, she heard that the radio broadcast had been controversial.
• • "Being a Christian, I was a little intimidated," she said.
• • "But once I read the script, I realized it had been judged by standards back then," she said.
• • "By today's standards, it's not scandalous at all."
BY: Dawn DeCwikiel-Kane [T. 373-5204; E. dkane@news-record.com]
Published: Sunday 26 March 2006
© 2006 News & Record 200 East Market Street, Greensboro, NC 27401
336-373-7000 or 800-553-6880
• • http://www.news-record.com/ • •
• • Speak It! Pictures, LLP • Tel: 336.253.1644
Production Office Address: 1006 Walker Avenue, Suite 8; Greensboro, NC 27403
• • Patrick Horne - patrickontheplanet@hotmail.com
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Mae West
• • Photo • Mae West • in 1937
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: Royale Theatre 1928

Opened 11 January 1927, this is how the Royale Theatre [242 West 45th Street] looked when new. Designed by architect Herbert J. Krapp and built by the Chanin brothers, who ran it from 1927 - 1930, this playhouse has about 1100 seats.


In March 1928, when MAE WEST began preparing the space to look like McGurk's Suicide Hall on the Bowery, theatre critics and audience had no idea of the outstanding triumph that was to come.
• • MAE, a gal ahead of her time, marked a new phase of forward momentum in her career when she took a step backwards to recreate the turn-of-the-century "Lillian Russell look" onstage that she would, in fact, preserve throughout her silver screen career. Her father Jack gave his wife Matilda the nickname "Champagne Til" and MAE toyed with the idea of titling her play "Champagne Til" instead of "Diamond Lil."
• • To the end of her day, MAE's image was "Diamond Lil" - - "the finest woman who ever walked the streets" - - as much as her signature song became "Frankie and Johnnie," performed in this drama along with other numbers.
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Mae West
• • Photo • Mae West • in 1928
NYC
Mae West.