Mae West: Come Over

It was July 18th, the summer of 1922, and MAE WEST was a month away from celebrating her 29th birthday.
• • Hungry for stardom and with her best years in variety behind her, Mae was being forced into a role that scared her: the unemployed. Then suddenly there was a chance to star in a "sparking musical revue in two acts and 20 scenes" — — The Ginger Box — — and fast-talking Paul Dupont was promising he could make her a star.
• • According to biographer Emily Wortis Leider: The Ginger Box served up wall-to-wall Mae West. In addition to featuring her as Circe, turning her lovers into swine, it presented Mae West as a Broadway vamp (played to Harry Richman's victim), Mae West singing "I Want a Cave Man," Mae West clowning to Tommy Gray's "I'm a Night School Teacher," and torching a song whose regretful tone she would later rule out: "Sorry I Made You Cry."
• • The numbers were staged by Broadway director and choreographer Larry Ceballos [1887 — 1978]. At five-feet-four, the Chilean dance master was barely taller than Mae. But since Larry Ceballos had collaborated before with the Austrian composer Arthur H. Gutman [1891 — 1945], Dupont managed to drag both of these worthy gentlemen onboard for his ill-starred maiden voyage.
• • The libretto credit went to Paul Dupont, and the music credit went to Arthur H. Gutman. Promotional material printed by Jerome H. Remick & Co. indicated the first number was to be Mae's introductory song "Come Over" followed by "Canoodle-Ooodle-Oo," then "Eugene O'Neill, You've Put a Curse on Broadway" — — also meant for Mae. Four more songs were prepared for either a soloist or the ensemble; these were: "California Poppy," "Sister Teams," "Big Chief Hooch," and "Cottage for Two."
• • "Come Over" [Dupont and Gutman 1922] • •
• • To put it mildly, "Come Over" is an underwhelming curtain-raiser. Mae West has pretty predictable pap to put across with lyrics like these:
• • • • I'm looking for a daddy dear, to cuddle up and cuddle me,
• • • • If you will come on over here, how happy we will be.
• • • • I'll show you the way to love every day,
• • • • You'll learn a lot from me . . .
• • Despite an optimistic rehearsal period in the Village, major troubles were afoot, and soon revealed themselves during a two-performance try-out in Connecticut. Also, the flam-flam producer Paul Dupont [real name: Edward Perkins], who was perpetually short of funds, would vanish, leaving unpaid debts and I-owe-you notes to his cast.
• • "Ginger Revue Now a Pepless Stew as Promoter Disappears" announced the New York Daily News [13 August 1922]. Thirteen Equity actors sued Perkins to recover their salaries — — but not Mae, who was to have received a percentage of the box office.
• • Greenwich Village Theatre: 1917 — 1930 • •
• • The Greenwich Village Theatre was made famous by female impersonator Bert Savoy, who performed in the acclaimed "Greenwich Village Follies" there, an annual revue that was so popular that it moved to Broadway.
• • Located until 1930 on the western side of Seventh Avenue South where Christopher Street kisses West Fourth, it faced Sheridan Square and a green oasis of a local park.
• • During the 1920s, the outstanding success of this cultural outpost put Sheridan Square on the map as a mecca for avant-garde entertainment.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West: In Harper's Bazaar

Harper's Bazaar, inspired by MAE WEST, just embarked on a totally a-MAE-zing fashion fling with Paramount Pictures based on some of the movie queen's classic comedies.
• • Made up as the Brooklyn blonde is the seductive model Laetitia Casta in a special editorial feature by Jean Paul Goude.
• • In the lion cage, Laetitia Casta — — as Tira in I'm No Angel — — disarms her prey by wearing baby blue do-or-die-devastating daywear by Dior. (Why does this remind me of the soap opera "Dallas"?)
• • Laetitia Casta is even more stunning as Ruby Carter in Mae's outrageous gravity-defying millinery from Belle of the Nineties — — and those floor-dragging furs would have suited Mae's director and set designer back in 1934.
• • Model.com remarked: "Known for her bawdy humor and come-hither attire, Mae West was the perfect muse for the sexy story which features a slew of over the top couture pieces. It doesn’t get more lavish than Laetitia acting as tiger trainer in head-to-toe Dior. ..."
• • Race down to your favorite news seller to see the latest issue of Harper's Bazaar, which captures Laetitia having fun and looking sensational as she preserves many more of Mae’s silver screen images. The two images we reproduced here, from I'm No Angel [1933] and Belle of the Nineties [1934], are merely an appetizer course. Go savor the entire Hollywood-hewn buffet.
• • A big kiss goes to X, the magazine [xthemagazine] for drawing our attention to this MAE-maven's delightful photo feature published by Harper’s Bazaar.
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
• • In September 1934, Mae was 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: Greenwich Village Theatre

It was 1922 during the month of July — —and MAE WEST was rehearsing a new show built around her special talents, running through her numbers with pianist Harry Richman and the rest of the cast in Greenwich Village across the street from Sheridan Square Park.
• • That summer, New York's air was jagged with mosquitoes as shadows stretched across vaudeville, slowly going under, a bare bright emptiness in its future.
• • Expanding her horizons, Mae had written "The Ruby Ring" [1921] and "The Hussy" [1922] and she also was very excited about starring in "The Ginger Box Revue," scheduled to open in August 1922 at The Greenwich Village Theatre on Seventh Avenue South between West Fourth Street and Christopher Street.
• • Built in 1917 by the architect Herman Lee Meader, this modest-size playhouse [425 seats] was the dream of Mrs. Marguerite Abbott Barker, who felt there ought to be alternatives to a male-dominated theatre scene.
• • In 1923, a local literary magazine wrote this: The Greenwich Village Theatre is still the home of experimental plays or rather plays that are for the limited, discerning public. And Marguerite Abbott Barker [d. 1930], who built this theatre, should always be remembered as the great benefactor of the Village, for as it is written among the Sumarians, nobody ever got rich educating the public above their usual banal or to speak ephemerally, banal tastes. ... [from The Quill, September 1923 issue].
• • The dreamed-of outcome was not to be — — and the cast was left with no income — — but Mae West was enthusiastically working on her dance numbers that July, imagining the applause that would greet her efforts.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West: West Cafe in Williamsburg

In honor of MAE WEST, indie filmmaker Esther Bell will launch a Brooklyn coffeehouse next month [August 2010] — — West Café — — on Union Avenue near Ainslie Street, in Williamsburg where tapas, pastries, wine, and beer will be served. The talented Ms. Bell, who has a red carpet resume that includes documentaries for Current TV and IFC, HBO TV episodes, and some feature films, and who knows about good timing, has scheduled her grand opening to coincide with the movie queen's 117th birthday on August 17th.
• • Though the West family hung their hats at a few addresses in Brooklyn, they never never ever ever lived on Berry Street — — though one Kings County eatery falsely claims that Mae once lived upstairs — — so it's quite refreshing to hear that Esther Bell is a truthful person who is not trying to create more "address distress" by saying that Mae West was once a resident of Ainslie Street or of Union Avenue. [Nope, Esther didn't — — and Mae wasn't.]
• • Berry Street residents have been lying for years. Hmmmm. Oh, well, if you don't know that baby Mary Jane West was delivered at home by a midwife in Bushwick, then you need to read more — — and we do not need to hear about meaningless menus that misrepresent the facts to customers, thanks a berry bunch.
• • The New York Post picked up Aaron Short's delightful interview with the tyro restaurateur, a bite-size portion of which is below.
• • Aaron Short wrote: Independent filmmaker Esther Bell is hanging up her film reels to open West Café, a Williamsburg café named in honor of Brooklyn’s vaudevillian icon Mae West.
• • Aaron Short explained: When it opens in August, the restaurant, located on Union Avenue near Ainslie Street, will serve coffee and pastries, as well as host an even more delicious salon-style discussion series, hosted by many of Bell’s famous friends — — accumulated from two decades of working in the city’s film and television industry. ...
• • Aaron Short noted: Bell, a 15-year Williamsburg resident, is naming the bar after another North Brooklyn product — — her film hero, Mae West. Some sources claim the sultry silver screen star was born in an apartment over the Berry Street restaurant Teddy’s [sic] — — and she lived in Greenpoint and Williamsburg before making it big (both in film and in person).
• • “I’ll have an homage to her that embodies the period she’s from and her spirit,” Esther Bell informed Aaron Short. “She’s one of the first artistic pioneers in our neighborhood.” . . .
— — Excerpt: — —
• • Article: "Go West, artsy Brooklynites! — — Mae West inspires new film industry cafe"
• • Byline: Aaron Short | Courier-Life | Email: ashort@cnglocal.com
• • Published in: The New York Post — — www.nypost.com
• • Published on: 14 July 2010
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West: WBAI-FM on July 14

MAE WEST, the performer and the activist, will be the topic for discussion today on the radio.
• • Wednesday 14 July 2010 at 11:00 AM on WBAI-FM • •
• • Live from New York City, dramatist-journalist LindaAnn Loschiavo will be interviewed by the WBAI Women's Collective along with actress-singer Maggie Worsdale, who performs as Sophie Tucker with The Gaudy Girls. This monthly radio segment, airing on WBAI Radio In NYC every second Wednesday of the month at 11:00 AM, 99.5FM, and streaming live worldwide at wbai.org, can be heard online at the station's web site.
• • Ms. Loschiavo and Ms. Worsdale will discuss the trailblazing careers of Mae West and Sophie Tucker as well as the importance of the Annual Mae West Birthday Tribute every August, now in its sixth year, with veteran broadcast journalist and producer Prairie Miller.
• • Taking Feminist Radio to the next level... The Women's Collective covers the entire spectrum of political, cultural, and intellectual issues crucial to women's lives, from feminism and revolutionary global sisterhood to critical aspects of movement building, the mind, body and yes, men! In the belief that debating and dialogue-ing with men, including our He Said, She Said... online column at Criticalwomen.net, is an essential component of Feminist Radio.
• • BIO: Prairie Miller is a multimedia film journalist. Over the past decade, she has been a producer at WBAI for Talk In The Morning, Soundtrack, Wakeup Call and Reel Women. She is currently film reporter for the Tuesday Afternoon Arts Magazine, and a producer and co-host of the WBAI Women's Collective Show. Prairie has written articles and poems here and internationally, and aspires always to the excavation of the lyrical muse in journalism and the poetry in history. She is also the recipient of the International Writers And Artists Association's Excellence in Journalism Award for her WBAI coverage of Javier Corcuera's film, Back Of The World (La Espalda Del Mundo). The Award is bestowed for "distinguished literary, intellectual, artistic and humanistic contributions." Prairie has two published poetry collections, Legends [John Brown Press], and Arguments With America [Pemmican Press]. She is a member of The Women Film Critics Circle, The Broadcast Film Critics Association and The James Agee Cinema Circle of political film critics worldwide.
• • Come up and tune in to WBAI (at wbai.org) on Bastille Day, when fireworks are always expected.
• • Tell them you heard about it on the MAE WEST BLOG.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West: George E. Carey

In 1978, George E. Carey was cast in "Sextette" as Dockweiler, an anxious State Department official who needs a favor from Marlo Manners played by MAE WEST. Born in Detroit during the month of July — — on 13 July 1924 — — the bit part player was surrounded by marquee names who were navigating a nettlesome plot.
• • In "Sextette," conjugal bliss is being interminably delayed for the busy bride. Installed at the same hotel is the Sussex Court, occupied with an international conference led by the avuncular American diplomat Chambers (Walter Pidgeon, in his last performance) — — and, wouldn't you know it? One of their delegates is stubborn Soviet ‘Sexy’ Alexei Karansky (Tony Curtis), a former lover of Marlo’s who has refused to vote ‘da’ on a resolution of tremendous importance to world peace.
• • Dockweiler approaches Marlo’s manager Turner (Dom DeLuise) with an urgent plea from Uncle Sam: can his client somehow entice Alexei Karansky into, mmmm, changing his vote? In between trading yearning glances with her handsome groom and fending off former husbands, Marlo now has to consider her duty to The White House and the Secretary of State, for heaven's sake. It's enough to make a lady's bridal lace go limp.
• • According to All Movie Guide writer Sandra Brennan: Supporting actor and producer George Edward Carey appeared on television and in feature films. Fans of the ABC soap opera General Hospital may know him for having played Lamont Corbin. Carey's 30-plus film credits include The Gallant Hours (1960), Sex and the Single Girl (1964), and The Thing With Two Heads (1972). He has produced and written screenplays for two films, Weekend With the Babysitter (1970) and Chrome and Hot Leather (1971). Carey often guest starred on TV and also worked in commercials.
• • On 21 November 1994, George E. Carey died in Palm Springs, California at the age of 70.
• • Wednesday 14 July 2010 at 11:00 AM on WBAI-FM • •
• • Live from New York City, dramatist-journalist LindaAnn Loschiavo will be interviewed by the WBAI Women's Collective along with actress-singer Maggie Worsdale, who performs as Sophie Tucker with The Gaudy Girls. This monthly radio segment, airing on WBAI Radio In NYC every second Wednesday of the month at 11:00 AM, 99.5FM, and streaming live worldwide at wbai.org, can be heard online at the station's web site.
• • Ms. Loschiavo and Ms. Worsdale will discuss the trailblazing careers of Mae West and Sophie Tucker as well as the importance of the Annual Mae West Birthday Tribute every August, now in its sixth year, with veteran broadcast journalist and producer Prairie Miller.
• • Taking Feminist Radio to the next level... The Women's Collective covers the entire spectrum of political, cultural, and intellectual issues crucial to women's lives, from feminism and revolutionary global sisterhood to critical aspects of movement building, the mind, body and yes, men! In the belief that debating and dialogue-ing with men, including our He Said, She Said... online column at Criticalwomen.net, is an essential component of Feminist Radio.
• • BIO: Prairie Miller is a multimedia film journalist. Over the past decade, she has been a producer at WBAI for Talk In The Morning, Soundtrack, Wakeup Call and Reel Women. She is currently film reporter for the Tuesday Afternoon Arts Magazine, and a producer and co-host of the WBAI Women's Collective Show. Prairie has written articles and poems here and internationally, and aspires always to the excavation of the lyrical muse in journalism and the poetry in history. She is also the recipient of the International Writers And Artists Association's Excellence in Journalism Award for her WBAI coverage of Javier Corcuera's film, Back Of The World (La Espalda Del Mundo). The Award is bestowed for "distinguished literary, intellectual, artistic and humanistic contributions." Prairie has two published poetry collections, Legends [John Brown Press], and Arguments With America [Pemmican Press]. She is a member of The Women Film Critics Circle, The Broadcast Film Critics Association and The James Agee Cinema Circle of political film critics worldwide.
• • Come up and tune in to WBAI (at wbai.org) on Bastille Day, when fireworks are always expected.
• • Tell them you heard about it on the MAE WEST BLOG.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West: Ric Drasin

In 1978, Ric Drasin was cast as an Olympic weightlifter in "Sextette," where he traded quips with MAE WEST in her final screen performance. Born during the month of July — — on 12 July 1944 — — the handsome six-footer is celebrating his 66th birthday today.
• • Hailing from Bakersfield, California, this very versatile gentleman calls himself an artist and actor as well as a stuntman, writer, personal trainer, former bodybuilder, and retired professional wrestler.
• • It was Ric Drasin who designed both the original Gold's Gym logo — — a cartoon sketch of a bald weightlifter — — and the World Gym gorilla logo. Arnold Schwarzenegger was Drasin's weight training partner for four years at the original Gold's Gym in Venice, California.
• • Drasin wrestled professionally for 36 years (1965 — 2001) while also winning titles in amateur bodybuilding contests during his younger years. Though Drasin retired from the ring at age 57, he remains active as a professional wrestling instructor. He is also a Specialist Reserve Officer with the Los Angeles Police Department and a spokesperson for Gold's Gym International; he also continues his work as an artist, actor, and author.
• • On this magazine cover, Ric is on the extreme right. Happy Birthday, tall, dark, and handsome!
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West: 47th Street

There's so much MAE WEST history on certain blocks in her hometown that there ought to be a signpost or two.
• • What is it, for instance, about West 47th Street? Not only does this block have numerous sites with an intriguing back-story, it is also notable for its links to Mae West and Sophie Tucker. In honor of Mae’s upcoming birthday, here is a self-guided tour of West 47th in midtown Manhattan.
• • 412 West 47th: Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant launched The New Yorker here in 1925, a weekly that often reviewed the shows Mae West and Sophie Tucker were in.
• • 345 West 47th: The New York City Police Department's 16th Precinct sent a Black Maria to haul in Mae West after undercover officers raided her play "Sex" in February 1927. This scene was repeated after the cops raided Mae's gay play "Pleasure Man" in October 1928. Mae West had to arrange bail from West 47th Street.
• • 339 West 47th: Actors Temple [Congregation Ezrath Israel] was founded in 1917 and became a spiritual home for Jews working on Broadway such as Sophie Tucker, Jack Benny, Edgar G. Robinson, Red Buttons, Shelley Winters, The Three Stooges, and other vaudevillians who were also colleagues of Mae West.
• • 261 — 265 West 47th: The Biltmore Theatre was raided when Mae's gay play "Pleasure Man" had its opening night here in October 1928.
• • 1580 Broadway at West 47th: In the 1920s it was the Palais Royale, with the Moulin Rouge in the basement. Then from 1936 to 1940 it was the Cotton Club's post-Harlem home, featuring stars like Cab Calloway, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, all of whom worked with Mae West. From 1942 to 1969, it was the Latin Quarter nightclub (run by Lou Walters, Barbara Walters' father). During the 1950s, both Sophie Tucker and Mae West were booked here.
• • 1568 Broadway at West 47th: Doubletree Guest Suites Times Square Hotel, built in 1991 as the Embassy Suites to a Fox & Fowle design, envelopes the old Palace Theater, built in 1913 by Kirchoff & Rose. During its heyday it was every vaudevillian's dream to play The Palace. Among those who made it were Sophie Tucker, W.C. Fields, Fanny Brice, Will Rogers, Eddie Cantor, Bob Hope, the Marx Brothers, and Mae West (accompanied by pianist Harry Richman), who starred here in 1922.
• • 707 Seventh Avenue at West 47th: "Introduced with great success by Mae West" announced the song sheet for "Cuddle Up and Cling to Me," with lyrics by Stanley Murphy [1875 — 1919] and music by Henry I. Marshall, which was newly distributed in 1912 by Charles K. Harris. The celebrated composer and music publisher from Chicago was now running his Manhattan operation from the Columbia Theatre Building at 707 Seventh Avenue.
• • West 47th Street's Diamond District: This block ranks with Antwerp, Belgium, and Ramat Gan, Israel, as one of world’s major diamond trading centers. Sophie Tucker's success as an entertainment headliner financed a personal treasure chest of gems at a time when performers wore their own jewelry onstage. Mae West's love of sparklers inspired her most successful stage play "Diamond Lil." Pick any scene in the 1933 motion picture "She Done Him Wrong" (based on the play) and watch those solitaires and brilliants flash onscreen.
• • • • West 47th Street on 14 August 2010 • • • •
• • And the live entertainment will flash and sparkle also on Saturday August 14, 2010 when two swell broads head back to Broadway — — Sophie Tucker along with Mae West.
• • Continuing her custom of commemorating the birthday of Mae West, playwright LindaAnn Loschiavo has a most exciting late-night treat in store this year: The Gaudy Girls, two talented beauties who perform the best-loved songs made famous by Sophie Tucker and Mae West. As part of their repertoire, the ladies will spotlight a tribute to the NYC-based composers and lyricists who created popular numbers such as "My Yiddishe Momme," "Red Hot Mama," "Everybody Shimmies Now," "My Old Flame," "Baby, It's Cold Outside," and more.
• • It's one night only so plan to come up and see Mae — — and Sophie. Details below.
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
• • WHERE: ACTORS TEMPLE, 339 West 47th Street, New York, NY 10036 [where SOPHIE TUCKER was one of their first vaudeville members in 1923]
• • WHO: MAE WEST [Anne Marie Finnie], SOPHIE TUCKER [Maggie Worsdale], presented and introduced by playwright LindaAnn Loschiavo
• • WHAT ELSE: Shimmy lessons, raffle prizes, goodies, and a chance to win deluxe European scarves featuring MAE WEST’s quotes.
• • SUBWAYS: IND: C, E to West 50th Street station; BMT: N, R, W to West 49th Street station — — exit on the West 47th Street side.
• • GENERAL ADMISSION: $15. VIP service and Group Sales available.
• • URL: TheGaudyGirls.com
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
• • Tell them you heard about it on the MAE WEST BLOG.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West: July 12th at BAM

MAE WEST and Cary Grant are back and BAM's got 'em.
• • According to the Brooklyn Academy of Music's press office: This sequel to last year’s Cary Grant Cinema Series presents more films starring the inimitable leading man, whose iconic blend of elegance, comic timing, and flawless physique led Howard Hawks to declare him “by so far the best that there isn’t anybody to be compared to him.”
• • Critic Pauline Kael, a big Diamond Lil fan, wrote: "Mae West, the great shady lady of the screen, wriggles and sings ‘Easy Rider’ and seduces. A classic comedy and a classic seduction."
• • BAM's publicity staff had this to say about "She Done Him Wrong," directed by Lowell Sherman: "Why don't you come up sometime and see me?" Mae West oozes sex while firing off brazen double-entendres in this racy pre-Code classic — — her first, finest, and most jaw-droppingly salacious vehicle. West plays Lady Lou, a singer at the Gay Nineties Saloon, where she croons suggestive numbers like "Frankie and Johnny" and the shockingly sleazy “Where Has My Easy Rider Gone?” while also finding time to seduce an upstanding young temperance-leaguer (Grant) investigating the bar for corruption.
• • WHEN: This Monday, 12 July 2010 at 6:50pm and 9:30pm — — Double Feature with "Hot Saturday" starring Cary Grant, Nancy Carroll, Randolph Scott.
• • WHERE: BAMcinématek | Repertory | BAM Rose Cinemas, 30 Lafayette Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11217-1486.
• • Tell them you heard about it on the MAE WEST BLOG.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West: Pasadena Double Feature

MAE WEST is headed to the Old Pasadena Film Festival this month.
• • According to Steve Mulheim, who staged this year's femme-in-focus film fest — — which will be offered at One Colorado and other nearby locations — — this free outdoor annual event that runs for three weeks is the biggest cinema series of its kind in California.
• • Mulheim, the president and CEO of the Old Pasadena Management Association, said the organizers decided to celebrate some of the first ladies of filmdom. Kicking off the fun at 8:30 PM on Thursday, 8 July 2010 was Diane Keaton starring in "Annie Hall" [1977]. Additionally, audiences are being treated to special enhancements such as a spirited live silent movie accompaniment by the Malibu Coast Chamber Orchestra. As viewers watch Mary Pickford shake her curls through "Willful Peggy" (and a number of shorties) on Friday, July 9th, the musicians will provide a novel soundtrack.
• • Crowd-pleasing selections will be screened every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday through the end of July 2010.
• • The star vehicles for actresses will include these memorable screen gems: Mae West in "She Done Him Wrong"; Katherine Hepburn in "Bringing Up Baby"; Bette Davis in "All About Eve"; Marilyn Monroe in "How to Marry a Millionaire"; Meryl Streep in "Death Becomes Her"; Barbra Streisand in "The Way We Were"; and others.
• • • • Mae West Double Feature • • • •
• • On Friday, 30 July 2010 movie buffs should prepare a generous bag of popcorn for the Mae West Double Feature.
• • Here's the description provided by the Pasadena organizers who made the schedule:
• • • • "She Done Him Wrong" (1933) — — Starring Mae West and Cary Grant, "She Done Him Wrong" follows New York singer and nightclub owner Lady Lou after her former boyfriend escapes from jail convinced that she has been unfaithful. Written by Ms. West about the story of famed Diamond Lil, She Done Him Wrong is on the American Film Institute’s list of 100 Greatest Comedies, and contains some of Mae’s most famous lines, pushing the censors of the time to their limits!
• • • • "I’m No Angel" (1933) — — Again starring Mae West and Cary Grant, carnival dancer Tira devises a shocking new act which gets her to New York and into the company of a bevy of rich young socialite men in "I’m No Angel." Written by Mae West, "I’m No Angel" maintained her reputation with cinematic censors.
• • WHERE: One Colorado Courtyard, 41 Hugus Alley — — on 30 July 2010 at 8:30pm. Info: 626.356.9725.
• • Tell them you heard about it on the MAE WEST BLOG.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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• • Photo: • • Mae West • • as Tira the incomparable, 1933 • •
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Mae West: Coney Island Kootch

Let's reflect on an American songwriter whose amusing way with a song intrigued a very perky Brooklynite long before she became MAE WEST.
• • Born in July, Harry Von Tilzer [8 July 1872 — 10 January 1946] was known for his popular slightly naughty novelty songs such as "Mariutch Make-a the Hootch a-ma-Cooch in Coney Island" [published in 1907 but probably written earlier] — — about the savvy Italian girl who became a side-show sensation when she realized you didn't need feet in order to dance.
• • "Mariutch" was performed by an aspiring vaudevillian "Baby May, Song and Dance" when her parents would enter their daughter in amateur contests in Brooklyn. Her rendition of this Italian dialect number often won a prize and no doubt the seductive wiggling helped generate applause.
• • "Even as a child," Beverly told a reporter, "my sister's songs were risque."
• • What we are not told is who taught a little girl how to shimmy and be sultry onstage. Nor is there a West family recollection in print about which parent chose the sheet music, helped "Baby May" rehearse it, or coached her on the Italian dialect pronunciation. Could it have been Matilda, raised in Bavaria, with her heavy German accent? Or was it John West, raised near the docks on Avenue D in Manhattan, who sparred and boxed with Italian immigrants and other ethnics and, therefore, could imitate them?
• • Focused also on the bright lights and the marquee was Harry Von Tilzer, who was born in Detroit under the name Harry Gummbinsky (which he shortened to Harry Gumm before later taking the "Von Tilzer" monicker under which he became famous). At age 14 he had joined a traveling circus, where he took his new name. He began playing piano and calliope while creating new tunes and incidental music for shows. After writing many songs (often in partnership with Andrew B. Sterling), hits that were performed by well-known vocalists, Harry Von Tilzer achieved his share of good fortune.
• • Harry's niece Frances Gumm went on to fame as the renamed Judy Garland.
• • Mae, eternally inspired by her childhood visits to Coney Island, began her famous motion picture "I'm No Angel" [1933] with a kootch dancer in a side-show. She named the character Tira but it's clear how this got started years before.
• • If you like frisky songs, come up and see Mae on her annual birthday celebration in New York City on 14 August 2010. Tickets are now on sale — — www.TheGaudyGirls.com — — and you'll enjoy their bawdy, gaudy, naughty way with a song.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West: 1916's Best Man

Matilda West urged MAE WEST to put together a sister act with Beverly in 1916.
• • In July of that year "Mae West and Sister" appeared at Keith and Proctor's Fifth Avenue Theatre [27-31 West 28th Street, between Fifth Avenue and Broadway]. On the same bill was a Fatty Arbuckle film, a Keystone comedy.
• • Mae and Beverly's vaudeville turn included popular ragtime songs by black composers such as Shelton Brooks, numbers that Mae had previously found success with such as "They Call It Dixieland" and "Walkin' the Dog," their finale, for which Mae appeared in a man's tuxedo and top hat and Beverly wore feminine frills.
• • But the New York City critics remained dismissive, underwhelmed, and even contemptuous.
• • Variety, 7 July 1916 • •
• • Sime Silverman sniffed and snorted behind his keyboard like an overheated carriage horse. "Unless Miss West can tone down her stage presence in every way," he sneered, "she just might as well hop right out of vaudeville and into burlesque." And if the unabashed Brooklynite was going to continue to be so disarmingly aggressive, Sime scolded Mae by suggesting that she should get up onstage next time in "men's dress altogether."
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West: Jack's Hula Lou

MAE WEST sang several songs by Jack Yellen and Milton Ager.
• • Born in Poland during the month of July — — on 6 July 1892 — — Jack Selig Yellen was a year older than Mae. At five years old, little Jackie emigrated with his parents to the United States; he was raised in Buffalo, New York and started to write songs in high school.
• • Jack Yellen [6 July 1892 — 17 April 1991] is best remembered for his collaboration with composer Milton Ager. He and Ager entered the music publishing industry with ownership in the Ager-Yellen-Bernstein Music Company. Yellen also worked with composers Sammy Fain and Harold Arlen.
• • Jack Yellen's collaboration with the rising vaudeville star Sophie Tucker — — for whom he was retained to write special material — — produced one of Tucker's most beloved numbers, "My Yiddishe Momme," a song in English with some Yiddish text. Yellen wrote the lyrics which were set to music by Lew Pollack.
• • Yellin' for Jack on 14 August 2010 in NYC • •
• • You can hear songs by Jack Yellen next month on Saturday, 14 August 2010 when The Gaudy Girls take to the stage for a gaudy, bawdy night of live entertainment at Actors Temple (339 West 47th Street, New York, NY). Reservations are recommended. Join Sophie Tucker and Mae West for a hot time in the big city six weeks from now.
• • Mae West's Hawaiian Eyes • •
• • During her marriage to handsome Guido Deiro — — a popular accordionist also in demand as a recording artist — — Mae became aware of the financial rainbows that brightened the lives of the top singers and musicians. But as her own career prospects continued to sink during 1923 and 1924, and since no record companies pursued her, Mae gamely trouped on and continued to entertain the southwestern wheel of the vaudeville circuit — — trying to sell sheet music with her picture on the front cover. Which swings the conversation around to "Hula Lou."
• • Holy Honolulu! Not for Mae the gooey romantic yearning numbers such as "My Hawaiian Melody" nor "Honolulu Eyes." Nor would she have ever chosen a lightweight love ballad such as "Honolulu Honey" nor a harmless hula tempo such as "Hawaiian Sandman." The girl had gumption and looked for lyrics suitable for a flirt, a self-confident seductress who could put across a sultry kootch onstage. Could any chart-topper be as suitable for the singing comedienne as this come-hither bragging and posing? Here's an excerpt.
• • • • • "HULA LOU" • • • • •
• • Lyrics: Jack Yellen; Music: Milton Charles & Wayne King
• • Copyright 1924 by Ager, Yellen, & Bornstein, Inc., 1595 Broadway, New York City
• • • You can talk all you want about women
• • • Said a sailor known as Dan McCan
• • • And if you really want to know about women
• • • You've got to talk to a sailor man.
• • • Now I don't know how many woman the sailor met
• • • And I hope there isn't that any he'll regret
• • • For if he'd only met me I'd a given him some trimmin'
• • • I'm one gal he'd never forget.
• • • (Band): Well, who are you?
• • • Who am I? I'm Hula Lou.
• • • I'm the gal that can't be true.
• • • I do my nestin' in the evenin' breeze
• • • 'Neath the trees
• • • You oughta see me shake my BVDs.
• • • I never knew
• • • A man who wouldn't hula dance or woo
• • • And sail across the briny blue to who
• • • The lady known as Hula Lou. That's me.
• • • (Rap):
• • • Now you ask any sailor and he'll tell you
• • • That this lady is the greatest dancer he ever knew.
• • • There isn't a ship in the Navy
• • • That I haven't got a friend in the crew.
• • • There's not a cruiser on the waves
• • • Without someone who is my devoted slave
• • • And I don't care how nasty I may be
• • • I'm the one gal the sailors all crave. ...
• • In January 1924 Sophie Tucker discovered this gem and recorded it with Miff Mole on Okeh Records. By herself, Sophie appeared on the sheet music version.
• • On 13 February 1924 The Varsity Eight recorded their version of "Hula Lou."
• • While many vocalists posed on this song sheet, the lyrics are so well-suited to Mae West that it's a shame she didn't sing it in a motion picture so we'd have a record of it in her voice.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West: Where No One Dies & Queens Lies

During the early 1930s, MAE WEST visited Lily Dale and formed a strong bond with the flamboyant medium Jack Kelly. During the 1920s, Mae and Texas Guinan held several seances in Manhattan hoping to speak to the recently departed actor Rudolph Valentino. A few years later, Jack Kelly inspired Mae, grieving deeply after her mother's death, to explore her own extra-sensory perceptions in order to communicate with her loved ones.
• • In 2005, there were several seances held in Manhattan to summon the spirit of Mae West. One seance took place on 17 August 2005 in a haunted speakeasy. People who had known the actress were present, hoping to make a connection. Later seances were taped for television.
• • Religion reporter Christine Wicker published her own story on Lily Dale, the world's largest spiritualist community. The small upstate New York town is now the subject of an HBO documentary, "No One Dies In Lily Dale," which will debut on the small screen during the month of July — — on Monday 5 July 2010.
• • According to Christine Wicker, each year, twenty thousand visitors will travel to Lily Dale, the oldest and largest community of Spiritualists in the world. In the past, famous guests included Mae West, Susan B. Anthony, and Harry Houdini. The main attraction of this New York State Victorian village is to consult one of the town’s 450 mediums.
• • In her book "Lily Dale: The Town that Talks to the Dead," Christine Wicker explored the life and spirit of the 122-year old city populated solely by people who believe the dead are still living among them. If you watch on July 5th, let us know what you thought of the TV program.
• • Woodhaven, Queens Tries to Take Credit for Launching Mae's Career • •
• • Most Mae-Mavens know that Mae West was born on 17 August 1893 in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn, New York. She spent her childhood in this borough, where her parents helped launch her vaudeville career by entering the act "Baby May, Song and Dance" into many amateur competitions in Bushwick, Brownsville, Williamsburg, and Greenpoint.
• • By the time the John West family moved to the sleepy, rural section of Queens known as Woodhaven, Mae was within kissing distance of her thirtieth birthday.
• • And by the time Mae West was registering the copyright on her manuscripts with the Library of Congress from the family's Woodhaven address, the seasoned entertainer had already been booked for eleven week-long engagements at Hammerstein's Victoria [1912 — 1913]; she had already starred at The Palace [1922] on The Gay White Way; she had already been cast in several Broadway musicals and revues; she had already toured in variety from coast to coast; and she had already married two husbands, Frank Wallace [1911] and Guido Diero [1914]. She had also been a witness at her younger sister's wedding, which took place on 29 January 1917 in Brooklyn City Hall, not far from the West family's Brooklyn residence.
• • A proud Brooklynite, Mae West did not move to suburban Queens until 20 years after her career was well in progress.
• • Furthermore, Mae West never never ever set foot in Neir’s Tavern [87-48 78th Street, Woodhaven, NY] — — though she often dined at The Triangle Hofbrau Inn, where traditional German dishes were served, and other neighborhood restaurants.
• • You can learn a great deal about her life by doing your own primary research or by spending time with excellent Mae West biographies written by Jill Watts [Mae West: An Icon in Black and White] and Emily Wortis Leider [Becoming Mae West].
• • No one who writes for a Queens-based newspaper has read those books, obviously, nor do these humble local news sheets employ a fact-checker. Nor do the Queens papers print letters from readers, messages that offer to CORRECT errors. Tsk! That's too bad — — but why don't journalists double-check details before they run with an odd press release, a self-promoting item that could care less about misinformation as long as it succeeds in luring a few hapless bar-flies?
• • Woodhaven did not launch anyone's vaudeville career. Sorry to have to break it to you, chums.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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