Mae West: Midnight Bell

Seventy-five years ago, The Post-Bulletin in Rochester, Minnesota, was alerting people to MAE WEST at the witching hour.
• • Amusingly, the editors called the motion picture "Bell of the Nineties" [sic], a title that brings to mind "A Bell for Adano" [1945] or even "Bells of St. Mary's" [1945]. No one can quite ring the bell like the Brooklyn bombshell, however.
• • • • 1934 — — 75 years ago • • • •
• • The Chateau Theatre will have a midnight show featuring Mae West in "Bell of the Nineties" [sic].
• • Wanted: Man to work service station; $50 weekly to start.
• • For sale: 1930 DeSoto, new tires and paint, $150.
— — Excerpt: — —
• • Article: "Local News: The Day in History, October 6"
• • Published in: The Post-Bulletin — — Rochester, MN 55903-6118
• • Published on: 6 October 2009
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West: 6 October 1933

The excitement and anticipation built for the opening of "I'm No Angel" — — written by and starring MAE WEST, and featuring Cary Grant, Gregory Ratoff, and even one of Mae's monkeys.
• • Directed by Wesley Ruggles, this Paramount Pictures favorite was originally released with great fanfare on 6 October 1933 — — 76 years ago. A classic comedy, the picture has stood the test of time.
• • How many times have you seen it? And have you ever wondered what the costumes would have looked like in color?
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West: Comic Erotic

An article on pornography (from the viewpoint of an East Indian) mentioned MAE WEST's humor as an example of the comic-erotic.
• • In the opinion of Jug Suraiya: The comic and the erotic make for excellent bedmates; the pornographic is deeply incompatible with both. The pornographic is a four-letter word scrawled on the wall by a semi-literate vandal. The comic-erotic is the same four-letter word, deliberately misspelt as 'FCUK', on a designer T-shirt. The pornographic is the blunt instrument of an exposed erection; the comic-erotic is Mae West's famous line, "Is that a gun in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?"
• • Jug Suraiya explains: The pornographic diminishes and ultimately denies the life force of the sexual impulse; the comic-erotic glorifies it. To use a political analogy, pornography is like a totalitarian state: remorselessly drab, one-dimensional and monochromatic, tolerating no shades of hidden meaning. The comic-erotic — — sexually loaded with double meanings and puns — — is like a rowdy, raucous democracy, full of irrepressible life. ...
— — Excerpt: — —
• • Article: "Corn vs Porn"
• • BY: Jug Suraiya
• • Published in: The Times of India — — timesofindia.indiatimes.com
• • Published on: 5 October 2009
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West: Shades of Safire

Imagine it's 1949 and you're about to come face to face with MAE WEST.
• • Sixty years ago, William Safire, then a cub reporter, went to Times Square where the Brooklyn bombshell was starring in a revival of "Diamond Lil.'' The Bowery queen's leading man in those post-war years was handsome Richard Coogan — — better known as TV's "Captain Video" than as the rialto's Captain Cummings.
• • According to Safire, Miss West, from her reclining position on a chaise longue, looked up at me with an expression of ''Have I sunk to this? They're sending the office boy?'' Worse, my first question was painfully puerile: what was it like to play opposite the hero of thousands of kids, Captain Video [New Jersey native Richard Coogan]?
• • Mae thought about that. Then, coming to a decision, she changed her expression. Batting those long false eyelashes, she looked at the ceiling and murmured, ''Mmmm . . . suppose you ask Captain Video . . . mmmm . . . how does it feel to play opposite . . . Mae West!''
• • She had caught the editor's angle, as I had not: send an innocent to the symbol of sin. She would play along for publicity's sake, presuming her persona would sell more tickets than her person.
• • Shimmy Sha-wobble • •
• • As she rose to usher me out, I dared ask if she ever did the shimmy onstage. ''In an Ed Wynn show ['Sometime'], I did a shimmy. But never'' — — Miss West reached up to brush an imaginary blonde hair off my shoulder, a touch I can feel right now — — ''never did I do the shimmy shewabble!''
• • William Safire clarified this narrative for his New York Times readers back in the year 2000: The shimmy sha-wobble is "a shimmy with bumps and grinds. Low class. Not our Mae."
• • William Safire was born on 17 December 1929 in Mae's hometown — — New York City. The youngest of three sons of Oliver C. and Ida Panish Safir [an "e" being added on to clarify pronunciation], Safire graduated from the Bronx High School of Science and attended Syracuse University. However, he quit after his second year in 1949 to take a job with Tex McCrary, a columnist for The New York Herald Tribune who hosted radio and television shows; the young legman interviewed Mae West, Lucky Luciano, and other known names.
• • William Safire called himself a pundit and defined his political stance as "a libertarian conservative." If this position supported individual freedom and minimal government, which it seems to suggest, then he would have seen eye to eye with the screen queen.
• • The versatile journalist and former publicist had been President Richard Nixon's speechwriter. He won a Pulitzer Prize during his tenure with The New York Times. Keeping his pen and mind moving, he also wrote novels, books on politics, and numerous columns on language usage.
• • Last Sunday, the lively and prolific 79-year-old Safire came to the final end of his sentence while at a hospice in Rockville, Maryland. Cause of death was pancreatic cancer.
• • And, by the way, the shimmy sha-wobble — — a shimmy with bumps and grinds — — is the kind of titillating dance that Mae excelled at, got fired for, and was still performing at a Masquers event in 1973.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West: Reading

According to The Phoenix, former kiddie-TV host Gene London is opening his closet — — to reveal his MAE WEST collection.
• • His eye-catching "Movie Star Costume Show" just opened in Reading, Pennsylvania. You can see Mae's classic costumes along with outfits expressly designed for the big screen from now until spring of next year.
• • Quoting directly from The Phoenix here: I talked to Gene London at his Reading, PA climate-controlled studio where he has stored the exquisite movie star costumes he will be sharing with the public on October 2 at the Reading Public Museum. The exhibit will run until May 2010 partnered by Albright College [located at 13th and Bern Streets in Reading, PA 19612]. His knowledge of former movie stars and their costumes ignited memories of their movies that I watched in 1930, 1940, 1950 and on reruns today. ...
• • Featured in a gala "Movie Star Costume Show" are fancy threads worn by Mae West, Ingrid Bergman, Joan Crawford, Bette Davis, Jean Harlow, Judy Garland, Rita Hayworth, Grace Kelly, John Wayne, Madonna, Marilyn Monroe, and even John Wayne.
— — Excerpt: — —
• • Article: "Time Capsule Gene London's red carpet affair"
• • Published in: The Phoenix [225 Bridge Street, Phoenixville, PA 19460] — — phoenixvillenews.com
• • Published on: 26 September 2009
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West: Gay Blades

MAE WEST's gay play "Pleasure Man" had a $200,000 box office advance when it premiered at the Biltmore [West 47th Street] on 1 October 1928. The police raided the show, however, and padlocked the production the same night. Gay plays were an easy target — — since homosexuals were considered degenerates during the Roaring 20s and degeneracy was prohibited on the legitimate stage, according to the New York State Penal Code.
• • It was eighty-one years ago — — on 2 October 1928 — — when Mae West appeared in court to answer charges that she had written and produced an "immoral" play. Wire services sent out her photograph, explaining that the entire cast had been arrested after one opening performance. The players were later released on bail. Mae, of course, was becoming a familiar face at Jefferson Market Court [then located on Sixth Avenue and West Ninth Street in Greenwich Village]. This was the same judicial complex in which she had been tried for her play "Sex" — — and had been found guilty.
• • The infamous raid at the Biltmore is dramatized in the play "Courting Mae West." In "Courting Mae West," Texas Guinan visits Mae West backstage at the Royale Theatre to warn her about the raid.
• • Opened in 1925, the Biltmore also launched a number of successes, most notably "Brother Rat" (with Jose Ferrer); "See My Lawyer" (with Milton Berle); and the long-running tribal rock musical of the 1960s "Hair."
• • After years of neglect, the Biltmore was magnificently renovated and became the Tony Award-winning Manhattan Theatre Club's Broadway headquarters. It was decided that the playhouse will be renamed the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre in recognition of the pioneering Broadway publicist.
• • Friedman represented Mae West along with a long roster of notable names. An impressive bronze plaque, currently affixed to the front wall, bears a flattering likeness of the man along with a short bio.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West: 1 October 1928

When it premiered at the Biltmore Theatre on 1 October 1928, MAE WEST's gay play "Pleasure Man" had a $200,000 box office advance. The police raided the show, however, and shut it down the same night. Perhaps this was an easy target, since the Biltmore Theatre was on the same block as the precinct: 47th Street, west of Broadway.
• • The infamous raid at the Biltmore on 1 October 1928 is dramatized via a backstage visit to Mae's dressing room at the Royale Theatre, as the actress prepares to go onstage as the diamond-draped Bowery queen and consort of mobster Gus Jordan.• • "Courting Mae West" is seeking a co-producer and backers for a for-profit production.
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
• • "Courting Mae West" — — excerpt from ACT II, Scene 1 • •
• • • MAE WEST
That you, Jim?
• • • TEXAS GUINAN (TEXAS, age 44, enters MAE’s room clad in furs and diamonds)
The “butter and egg man” sent me, angel-pie.
• • • MAE WEST
The speakeasy hostess film-star herself! Still shooting in Flatbush? How’s it rolling, Texas?
• • • TEXAS GUINAN
It’s top-hat heavy. There’s a comical danse macabre with a District Attorney and a Judge.
• • • MAE WEST
Legal beagles! Don’t spoil my mood. Backers shouldn’t come backstage. It’s unlucky.
• • • TEXAS GUINAN
Pat from Variety visited the set of Queen of the Night Clubs. I steered her to your show tonight.
• • • MAE WEST
Oy! Variety’s always given me a black eye in print. They get my knickers in a knot.
• • • TEXAS GUINAN
This chick is a FAN. Pat admires the up-from-nothing Fellatio Alger characters in your plays.
• • • MAE WEST
My stomach’s full of “opening night” butterflies. Got enough congrats to wallpaper with.
(MAE shows TEXAS telegrams that arrived via Western Union)• • • TEXAS GUINAN (TEXAS examines the telegrams)
• • • MAE WEST (MAE puts on stage jewelry for her role as the star of Diamond Lil)
Bet it warms Pat’s heart — to sit with you, basking in the glow of your investment-grade jewelry.
• • • TEXAS GUINAN
We would’ve had yuks. (pause) But you’ll be busy tonight — a little grape told me as it whined.
• • • MAE WEST
The Bowery Queen here is about to go on! Diamonds is my career…. NIX the BAD NEWS!
• • • TEXAS GUINAN
You need to know! Before he left for D.C., our Mayor gave his okay for a raid — at the Biltmore.
• • • MAE WEST (MAE is outraged and jumps out of her seat)
WHAT! It’s our opening night at the Biltmore! Tex, who told you there’ll be a raid tonight?
• • • TEXAS GUINAN
Walter Winchell doesn’t call me the gatekeeper of gossip for nothing.
• • • MAE WEST
Pleasure Man has a $200,000 advance. Who wants to sink my ship on its maiden voyage?
• • • TEXAS GUINAN
It’s pressure from the Prevention of Vice cranks. They’d convict the 12 apostles, if they could.
• • • MAE WEST
Convict! Stop with the unlucky words. My mother suffered when they jailed me last year.
• • • TEXAS GUINAN
I’ve learned to see the sunny side. Prison is one place where my diamonds seem safe.
• • • MAE WEST
Sunny! My trial ate my bankbook. I wanted to buy my parents a house. Now another raid!
• • • TEXAS GUINAN
Scandal is a career move. This time play the damsel in distress on the witness stand.
• • • MAE WEST
Mae West doesn’t do PATHETIC. (pause) Tex, what can be done to trouble-shoot this?
• • • TEXAS GUINAN
Honey-child, the problem with trouble-shooting is that, invariably, trouble shoots back.
• • • MAE WEST
Aww! My butterflies just went into battle formation. Diamond Lil goes on in thirty minutes.
• • • TEXAS GUINAN
Relax. You’ll get fried on the front page and it’ll boost your box office higher than a zeppelin.
• • • MAE WEST
Our Biltmore premier was sold out. An injunction can keep the show on — maybe. (MAE exits, bad posture revealing her agony from stomach cramps)
• • • TEXAS GUINAN
Never met a chick who was hurt by a headline. Give the little girl a nice big (pause) handcuff. (TEXAS exits with great style)
• • • • • • [LIGHTS: dim lights in MAE’s dressing room, Royale Theatre]
— — Excerpt: — —
• • • © "Courting Mae West: Sex, Censorship, and Secrets" by LindaAnn Loschiavo
• • • This play is protected under U.S. copyright law.
• • • NO permission is being given to duplicate this text anywhere else. Thank you.
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/________
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Mae West: Pleasured

Playbill's popular feature "Today in Theatre History" mentioned MAE WEST, who tried to make Broadway more BROAD-minded.
• • According to Playbill, in 1930, "A hung jury frees Mae West of obscenity charges for her play, Pleasure Man." Unfortunately, Playbill always gets the date wrong. This event took place on 4 April 1930. Variety and The New York Times are among dozens of newspapers that reported this event in their editions during the first week of April in 1930.
• • "Hung" was an adjective the darling of Broadway had enormous fondness for. Ah, the quick ignitions of certain words turning inside.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West: 1934 Duesenberg

In Murphys, California, the crowds applauded when the judging panel gave the trophy to a stunning convertible originally owned by MAE WEST in Hollywood — — at a beauty pageant for creations with rubber tires.
• • According to MyMotherLode News, shades of Mae West were in evidence Saturday afternoon as a 1934 Duesenberg Model J Murphy once owned by the "Why Don't You Come Up And See Me Sometime" actress captured the Open Car honors at the 13th Annual Ironstone Vinyards Concours d'Elegance, writes Bill Johnson.
• • The Duesenberg (pictured) is owned by Stephen Finn of Los Altos. He also captured first place honors in the Class C American Classic Open Division. ...
• • Overall there were 314 entries in the 31 classifications including antique motorcycles.
— — Excerpt: — —
• • Article: "Shades Of Mae West At Concours d'Elegance"
• • BY: Bill Johnson | MML News Director
• • Published in: MyMotherLode News — — www.mymotherlode.com
• • Published on: 27 September 2009
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
• • Photo: 1934 Duesenberg Model J Murphy
• • Photo Credit: Bill Johnson | MyMotherLode News
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West: Harlem's Bars 1931

On September 28th MAE WEST's latest play was reviewed by Time Magazine's critics. Here's the view from an aisle seat.
• • The Theatre: New Plays in Manhattan: 28 Sep. 1931, Time Magazine • •
• • "The Constant Sinner" • •
• • Three seasons ago Mae West's lusty singing of "Frankie and Johnnie" and the nostalgic flavor of bar and brothel scenes made Diamond Lil a Broadway hit. In The Constant Sinner, which Mae West wrote from her own novel, the bars and brothels are Harlem, 1931, and Mae West does not sing. But The Constant Sinner is no tame play, nor is it a dull play.
• • Though handicapped by a more effete period, Mae West in some of her lines attains the lush bawdiness of her earlier production:
• • "That dame [Cleopatra] went in for everything . . . she even went to bed with snakes."
• • "I never turn anything down but the bed-covers."
• • She plays the part of Prostitute Babe Gordon with a forthright enthusiasm, sometimes tempered by irony, as in the curtain line, after she has convinced her husband that she is not living with another man (which she is) and the husband has mouthed a few platitudes about Faith. Says Babe Gordon: "I used to know a fine poem about Faith. It begins — Oh, Hell! I've forgotten it."
• • [Review printed on Monday 28 September 1931, Time Magazine]
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
• • Excerpt from Babe Gordon by Mae West [NY: The Macaulay Company, 1930] • •
• • • • "Well, it was a woman. A beautiful woman. She was seated at a table in a corner of the room with a big negro — — actually enjoying him, fascinated by him."
• • • • "Do you mean that stunning blonde woman in an ermine wrap?" asked Jack Rathburne. "I did notice her, but I didn't see the negro."
• • • • "Well, he came in later," explained Wayne Baldwin. "Come to think of it, you were at the opposite side of the table. Your back was to them. How in the name of all that's decent, Jack, could a woman like that, obviously a person of refinement, allow a black to make love to her?"
• • • • Jack crushed out his cigarette in a green-glass tray.
• • • • "A matter of taste, Wayne. In this case, a very depraved taste."
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West: Frank Liberman

"Goodness Had Nothing to Do with It" was MAE WEST's letter to the world. Released in hardcover fifty years ago by the Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey imprint Prentice Hall, this meaty memoir has also been done as a paperback by Avon Books [December 1959] and in more recent reissues. If you own a first edition, then your copy has a pale-lavender cloth with white lettering on the spine and a startling image of the star posing in her boudoir on the dust jacket, which promises some thrills and "Gives you the behind-the-headlines details of a glamorous star's spectacular life and career."
• • Hollywood publicist Frank Liberman helped promote the bio half-a-century ago. Word comes that Liberman, who had Parkinson's disease, died of pneumonia at age 92 on Sunday at Providence Tarzana Medical Center.
• • A native New Yorker like Mae, he was born in The Big Apple on 29 May 1917 and was raised in White Plains.
• • After college, he learned about writing copy while employed by the New York Daily News. He soon joined Warner Brothers and worked his way up. After serving as an Army public relations officer [1941 — 1946], Liberman rejoined Warner Brothers, where he was engaged as a unit publicist before establishing his own firm, Frank Liberman and Associates, in 1947.
• • As a publicist, Liberman represented movies and stars; for 41 years he was Bob Hope's flack and Phyllis Diller's for 33. Other celebrity clients included Robert Goulet, Henry Fonda, Nat "King" Cole, Tony Bennett, Charles Bronson, Joan Blondell, Jack Paar, Harry Belafonte, Steve Allen, David Janssen, Dorothy Lamour, Joey Bishop, William Shatner, Mike Nichols, and the songwriting team of Jay Livingston and Ray Evans.
• • Hired to beat the drums for Mae West's 271-page memoir, he also pushed the biographies of Ethel Merman and Gig Young — — as well as four of George Burns' books, four of Diller's and five of Hope's — — during his five decades in the business.
• • Maybe goodness had nothing to do with it but Frank Liberman was known for his tact, charm, goodwill, and a reputation for decency. This gentleman will be missed.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West: Oakmont Elks' Belle

The Keystone State will feature MAE WEST, Little Orphan Annie, Elvis, and other American idols tomorrow night.
• • According to the Valley Dispatch News, Kathleen Sayers will be playing Mae West in the Oakmont Elks production of "Oldies With a Twist," an oldies event to be held this Saturday in the organization's Oakmont home. The dance will feature about seven nontraditional skits in which members perform in costume as some of their favorite singing stars.
• • Journalist Rex Rutkoski writes: In addition to the Village People, there will be "visits" from Mae West, Elvis Presley, Johnny and June Carter Cash, Little Orphan Annie, and a surprise vocalist from "Smokey Joe's Cafe," Elk Doug Fletcher says.
• • Rex Rutkoski offers this background: Marilyn McNally of Upper Burrell originated the "Oldies" idea about six years ago by spoofing some of the songs at the dances. "Two of my friends and I called ourselves 'The Stuff Shells' and performed a song by the Shirelles," she recalls. The idea caught on, and other Elk members decided to join in. The acts and performers have changed through the years, but it remains a good time for a good cause, she adds. Most of the performers also take part in the lodge's popular murder mysteries. "They are a group of talented and fun-loving people," McNally says. "It's very entertaining and more fun than a regular oldies dance." Elk Doug Fletcher of Oakmont agrees: "We are blessed with a number of outgoing personalities who jump at the chance to go before an audience. None are professionals, which seems to help rather than detract. We seem to have a level of camaraderie that makes it work for us."
• • "Oldies with a Twist" event on Saturday in the organization's Oakmont home will benefit the charity work of the Elks. Tell them you heard about it on the Mae West Blog.
• • When: 8 o'clock on Saturday evening — — 26 September 2009
• • Where: Oakmont Elks, 106 Washington Avenue, Oakmont, Penna. 15139 — — RSVP: 412-828-1668
• • Photo Credit: Louis B. Ruediger | Valley News Dispatch
— — Excerpt: — —
• • Article: "Oakmont Elks offer fun with a 'Twist'"
• • BY: Rex Rutkoski | Staff Writer
• • Published in: The Valley News Dispatch — — 210 Fourth Avenue, Tarentum, PA 15084
• • Published on: Thursday, 24 September 2009
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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• • Photo: • • Mae West • • played by saucy Kathleen Sayers • •
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Mae West: In Middletown

The Garden State will host classic motion pictures from the 1930s starring MAE WEST, Cary Grant, and others.
• • Middletown Township Public Library, a busy book-lovers junction in leafy Monmouth County, will channel that Tinseltown vibe during October when they present "Friday Afternoon at the Movies — Coffee, Dessert, and a Cool Classic Comedy with Victor Zak." A veteran journalist and film critic, Zak will enlighten the audience with anecdotes about the actors, directors, writers, and studios that supplied polish and pizazz during Hollywood's glory days before each screening.
• • This exciting series will begin at 2:00 PM on Friday 9 October 2009 with "I'm No Angel" [1933] — — written by and starring Mae West, and featuring Cary Grant, Gregory Ratoff, and even one of Mae's monkeys.
• • Directed by Wesley Ruggles, this Paramount Pictures favorite was originally released with great fanfare on 6 October 1933 — — 76 years ago.
• • Screen classics shown next month will include "The Awful Truth" [1937] with Cary Grant and Irene Dunne; "Libeled Lady" [1936] starring Spencer Tracy, Jean Harlow, William Powell, and Myrna Loy: and Greta Garbo in "Ninotchka" [1939].
• • Journalist and film commentator Victor Zak is the former travel editor for Gannett newspapers in New Jersey.
• • HERE: Middletown Township Public Library [55 New Monmouth Road, Middletown, NJ 07748]. The Main Branch is located just east of Route 35.
• • Take your questions directly to the library: 732-671-3700, ext. 333.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West: Warren William

In one motion picture Warren William played the meddlesome publicist of MAE WEST.
• • Born in December 1894 in Minnesota as Warren William Krech, the aspiring thesp attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and, like Mae, he appeared in several plays on Broadway during the 1920s. He was even seen opposite the engaging "Perils of Pauline" star Pearl White in her last serial photoplay, "Plunder" [1923].
• • "The Perils of Mavis Arden" or rather "Go West, Young Man" was a contemporary comedy based on a long-running Broadway hit "Personal Appearance," which starred Gladys George.
• • Paramount Pictures released this misfit on 18 November 1936.
• • Every so often comes a time when the normal rules of life are suspended, when some sort of force brings deprivation, distress, suffering — — or extreme inconvenience. For Americans, it was the dangerous economic swordplay of the Depression when industrial production was halved, disposable incomes greatly declined, stock prices plunged to one-tenth their skyscraping pre-Crash height, and the unemployed rolls swelled to more than ten million.
• • For the screen queen Mavis Arden, normality went on the rocks while being stranded at a remote rural boarding house while on her personal appearance tour to publicize the film "Drifting Lady." All dressed up and stuck in the boondocks!
• • Comedies find fun in contrasts — — a tall, dark, youthful Cary Grant paired with a sexually savvy mature siren, for instance, in "She Done Him Wrong." Marshaling his willpower and armed with his patrician looks and polish, the tall, dark, and scheming Morgan is a press agent who feels well-equipped to prevent a temperamental movie star from marrying while under studio contract. Morgan also stage manages behind the scenes to keep the man-hungry Mavis single and unavailable to men (not unlike Mae's real-life manager Jim Timony and stage mother Matilda West).
• • Often cast as an amoral, aggressive, heartbreaking rogue without a conscience, when the cameras weren't rolling the six-foot-one gentleman was a shy, retiring type who remained married to the same woman and worked on patented inventions in his spare time. Speaking of him, five-time Warner Brothers co-star Joan Blondell told an interviewer that Warren William "was an old man even when he was a young man."
• • His busy career, aided by his deep, mellifluous, muscular speaking voice, was cut short by cancer of the bone marrow (multiple myeloma). Warren William died in Hollywood during the month of September — — on 24 September 1948 at age 53.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West: Murphys, California

On Saturday 26 September 2009 you'll have a chance to see a snazzy 1930s convertible owned by MAE WEST — — and contribute to a worthy cause.
• • Murphys, California is the home of Ironstone Vineyards, the 20-acre winery that will be hosting their 13th annual day-long Concours d' Elegance vintage car show from 10:00 AM. Automobile awards will be offered in several categories.
• • According to Ironstone Concours Foundation President Gail Kautz, this year's automotive beauty pageant will feature hundreds of classics including a 1935 convertible owned by Mae West; the singular 1937 airomobile built to compete with Volkswagen; one Rolls Royce "shooting brake" (a station wagon), a small number of classic boats, antique motorcycles from the "Let's do the Charleston" interval, the Prohibition Era, and the World War II years.
• • Yearly in September, the Ironstone Concours d’Elegance unfolds on the winery’s manicured lawns, lakeside property nestled in the green-and-golden Sierra foothills. Taking place in California’s notable gold-rush country, the Concours d' Elegance aims to entertain car buffs while it also raises money for 4-H and Future Farmers of America, provides funding for the Calaveras County Fair, offers an endowment for the State Guide Dog Program — — and even grants a $2,000 scholarship for the winner of the State Fair Youth Horse Show and a $5,000 scholarship for the winner of the State Fair Scholarship Program.
• • Mae West — — who never met a dog, a horse, a monkey, or an animal she didn't adore — — would have approved.
• • For details, contact the Ironstone Foundation in Murphys, California — — T. (209) 785-4234.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West: Harry Warren

During the revival of "Diamond Lil," featured with MAE WEST, was Harry Warren.
• • Born (like Mae) during 1893 in Brooklyn, New York, Harry Warren [1893 — 1981] performed in the Naughty 90s comedy-melodrama in the role of Jerry.
• • Harry Warren — — who died on 22 September 1981 — — was featured in three different productions of Mae's Broadway blockbuster: 14 September 1951 — 10 November 1951 at the Broadway Theatre; 7 September 1949 — 21 January 1950 at the Plymouth Theatre; 5 February 1949 — 26 February 1949 at the Coronet Theatre.
• • Built in 1924, the Broadway Theatre [1681 Broadway at West 53rd Street] was constructed as a 1761-seat house; "Shrek, the Musical" is playing there now.
• • Built in 1917, the Plymouth Theatre [236 West 45th Street], which seats 1093, was renamed the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre in 2005.
• • Built in 1925, the Coronet Theatre [230 West 49th Street], which seats 1108, was renamed the Eugene O'Neill Theatre in 1959.
• • Mae West broke her ankle on 26 February 1949, causing the performances to halt and putting Harry Warren back on the unemployed list, temporarily. However, he was rehired for the September 1949 run and rejoined the crew in Gus Jordan's Bowery Saloon — — sixty years ago this month.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West: Embers of September 21

In September 1934, MAE WEST was involved in promoting her fourth feature for Paramount Pictures: "Belle of the Nineties." This motion picture was released on September 21st. And here is the review published in The New York Times on 22 September 1934. "Of course, Miss West is her own plot," wrote critic Andre Sennwald.
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
• • Mae West and Her Gaudy Retinue in "Belle of the Nineties"
• • By ANDRE SENNWALD

• • Although Mae West has graciously permitted the New York censors to make an honest woman of her in her new picture, she has not adopted the emblematic blue-nose. Back in the days when "Belle of the Nineties" — alias "Belle of New Orleans" and "It Ain't No Sin" — was locked in a death grip with the local censorship board, one of the major points of dissension was the shocking fade-out in which Miss West won her man without the assistance of a justice of the peace. In the new and approved version there is a wedding ceremony and Miss West is now safe for her large following to visit.
• • It is pretty futile to strive for an air of detachment toward Miss West and her new work. A continuously hilarious burlesque of the mustache cup, celluloid collar, and family entrance era of the naughty Nineties, it immediately takes its place among the best screen comedies of the year. Its incomparable star has been bolstered by a smart and funny script, an excellent physical production, and a generally buoyant comic spirit. There are gags for every taste and most of them are outrageously funny according to almost any standard of humor.
• • Arthur Johnston and Sam Coslow have provided four crimson chansons — "My Old Flame," "Troubled Waters," "My American Beauty," and "When a St. Louis Woman Comes Down to New Orleans" — which are quite perfect, and Miss West delivers them in her inimitable adenoidal contralto.
• • Amid the lithographic Police Gazette settings of the Sensation House in New Orleans, Ruby Carter (in Miss West's classic person) rules the sporting world with queenly insolence. As she herself sagely observes, "It is better to be looked over than to be overlooked" — — and her serpentine gowns, hayloft coiffure, and hour-glass figure insure her against neglect. Ruby's expressed preference is for two kinds of men — domestic and foreign — and the gentlemen moths, in their tight pants, bowler hats, and Ascot cravats, flock to the flame. Even the bartenders with their walrus mustaches and spit-curls silently yearn for her.
• • Of course, Miss West is her own plot, but there are a fixed prize-fight, some stolen jools, an envious siren, a fire, and a pair of rival claimants for her affections to add the necessary business. While Ruby's personal philosophy is, in her own words, to keep cool and collect, she has a healthy admiration for a good man, and the Tiger Kid fills the bill. Sinister interests conspire to separate them, and Ruby Carter is forced to fight for what she politely refers to as her honor against the evil and wax-mustached Ace Lamont, proprietor of the Sensation House. This last is of a vintage so objectionable as to cause the amiable Ruby to remark, "His mother should have thrown him away and kept the stork."
• • Roger Pryor as the Tiger Kid, John Miljan as the contemptible Ace, and Katherine DeMille as the jealous mistress of Ace Lamont all contribute excellently to the comedy, while Duke Ellington's boys provide the sulphurous musical background for Miss West's songs. If the great lady's public expects a cool and reasoned appraisal of "Belle of the Nineties" this morning, it will have to be disappointed. Not being immune to the common human failing of magnifying the virtues of the past, this reporter will always consider "She Done Him Wrong" her greatest show. At any rate, her present masterpiece is superior on every count to "I'm No Angel." As for its morality, you have Miss West's own testimony, when she tells an overwrought admirer, "Remember, I'm a lady, you worm."
• • You will have to take her word for it.
• • BELLE OF THE NINETIES, adapted from a story by Mae West; music and lyrics by Arthur Johnston and Sam Coslow; directed by Leo McCarey; a Paramount production. At the Paramount.
• • Source: The New York Times
• • Critic: Andre Sennwald
• • Originally published on: 22 September 1934
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West: Ollie Burgoyne

Avid theatre-goer MAE WEST could spot charisma in a performer. As a 10-year-old child she fell under the spell of Bert Williams, mesmerized by his musical "In Dahomey" at the New York Theatre in 1903. The production of "In Dahomey" also included a talented actress-dancer, a black performer Mae would cast in her Harlem comedy "The Constant Sinner."
• • Performed on Broadway during the autumn of 1931 [from September 14th until November], this controversial bi-racial show was on stage 78 years ago at the Royale Theatre, 242 West 45th Street, with Mae West starring as Babe Gordon and Ollie Burgoyne featured in the role of Clara.
• • By mistake, the Internet Broadway Database lists Ollie Burgoyne as a MALE performer who was cast in SIX shows — — always in a female role. Time to meet the real Miss Burgoyne, who played in ten shows on The Great White Way and in other countries.
• • Olga "Ollie" Burgoyne • •
• • Ever notice how some theatrical reputations mimic a red poppy — — a vehement presence, brief, glorious, and dismembered in seconds?
• • Almost unknown today, versatile, graceful, ambitious, supremely talented Olga "Ollie" Burgoyne was part Russian and part Creole. Born on 13 June 1878 in Illinois, she had been an entertainer in Russia before joining the British-based cast of "In Dahomey," an operetta written by Bert Williams and George Walker. An outstanding success in the West End, "In Dahomey" came to London from New York City in 1903 and played at the Shaftesbury Theatre for nearly a year. When the acclaimed U.K. production finished, many of the performers created individual acts or assembled their own teams and toured. Heading one of these twosomes was the 27-year-old firecracker Olga Burgoyne who, with her partner, Usher Watts, formed the Duo Eclatant, according to Afro-American theater researcher Helen A Johnson. "Burgoyne was not only an entertainer in Russia, but a business woman as well," notes Johnson. "She was the owner of the Maison Creole, an elegant shop for women in St. Petersburg. She operated it until the war began — — while she was taking the baths in Austria."
• • Pursuing the course of an entrepreneur and entertainer could not have been easy for a Caucasian vaudevillian much less a dark-skinned female. Neverthless, Ollie Burgoyne earned respect for her work and was lauded as one of the eight major African American dancers/ choreographers of the Harlem Renaissance; she ranked in an elite group that comprised Helmsley Winfield, Edna Guy, Randolph Sawyer, Asadata Dafora, Katherine Dunham, Charles Williams, and Pearl Primus.
• • In March 1931, Ollie was performing in Yonkers, NY with a dance company called the Bronze Ballet Plastique. Since their performances went unnoticed, the group reinvented themselves as the New Negro Art Theater Dance Group. Billed as "The First Negro Dance Recital in America," Hemsley Winfield and Edna Guy, along with Ollie Burgoyne and 17 other dancers, opened at Chanin's Theater in the Clouds [NYC].
• • Ollie's dramatic training and the pleasing curves of her hipbones' kettle raised the heat at auditions. Appearing in ten Broadway productions from 1926—1937, her credits included: "Lulu Belle" [1926]; "Tired Business Man" [1929]; "Make Me Know It" [1929]; "The Constant Sinner" [1931]; "Blessed Event" [1932]; "Run, Little Chillun" [1933]; etc.
• • In the sophisticated romantic screen comedy "Laughter" [1930], starring Fredric March, Nancy Carroll, and Frank Morgan, Ollie had a bit part as a maid named Pearl.
• • Age did not slow her down. In April 1936, when she was 58, she was featured in "Mississippi Rainbow" [a show also known as "Brain Sweat"], which was seen at the John C. Brownell Lafayette Theatre, Harlem Unit, NYC.
• • As a sought-after choreographer and an instructor, Ollie Burgoyne worked behind the scenes in the motion picture industry as well, teaching Russian dances to American dancers.
• • In 1973, the vibrant 95-year-old died in the United States.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West: First Edition

In addition to the captivating hand-colored MAE WEST lobby cards being auctioned today, there's been an update.
• • Noteworthy items from the collection of Bill Morrison include a signed first-edition copy of the book The Constant Sinner, by screen siren Mae West (1930); and a signed first-edition copy of Ayn Rand's For The New Intellectual: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand (1961). These additional details come from Auction House PR on behalf of Leland Little Auctions & Estate Sales.
• • Mae West memorabilia, stage and Hollywood keepsakes, and entertainment collectibles are up for grabs on Saturday, 19 September 2009. The auction is being held in the firm's new gallery: 620 Cornerstone Court in Hillsborough, North Carolina. Online bidding will be helmed by LiveAuctioneers.com — — T. 919-644-1243.
• • Tell them the Mae West Blog sent you a-bidding, a bouquet of fresh greenbacks waving over your head.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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