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MAE WEST worked with many colorful cast mates in "Sextette" [1978] including one versatile gentleman who died in early January.
• • Patrick Sullivan Burke [20 May 1917 — 3 January 1994] • •
• • Born in the Walnut Hills area of Cincinnati, Ohio on 20 May 1917 was a little boy named Merrill Levine Buchert. He met a neighbor gal Doris Kappelhoff (born 1922 in the Evanston area of Cincinnati), whose Dad was a choir master. Young Doris, an aspiring dancer who performed as a duo with Jerry Doherty, damaged her legs in a car accident when she was 15. Merrill had a bright idea; he introduced the devastated teen to his vocal coach, changing her focus.
• • She became Doris Day; he took the stage name Patrick Sullivan Burke.
• • He honed his singing skills at "Peeble's Corner," a local hotspot in Walnut Hills. Those experiences launched a long career, trouping in variety and burlesque. After he wed Sylvia Rhoades, a talented vocalist from Pittsburgh, they formed a duet and toured during the 1930s — 1940s.
• • Patrick Sullivan Burke turned his eyes to Hollywood when he was 42. Casting agents often placed the veteran vaudevillian in costumed roles or asked him to enliven a fantasy persona. His first role was as a leprechaun in "Darby O'Gill and the Little People" [Walt Disney Productions, 1959]. Over the years he appeared in a dozen projects for TV and the big screen, cast variously as a bartender, sea captain, soldier, tenor, witch, Golan, and an announcer.
• • In "Sextette" [1978], he played a live human being, namely the Irish Delegate. The same year he was seen in "Lord of the Rings" and he played the Head Angel on an episode of "Little House on the Prairie" [1978] before retiring from the screen.
• • Patrick Sullivan Burke died in Las Vegas in the month of January — — on Monday, 3 January 1994. He was 76 years old.
• • On Friday, 3 January 1936 in Australia • •
• • An intriguing article appeared in Perth on Friday, 3 January 1936 with this headline: "Favourite Camera Men of the Stars" (page 2) in the section "Film World" written by a Hollywood correspondent. Gloria Swanson, who felt her nose was misshapen, insisted on being filmed by George Barnes. Claudette Colbert, Carole Lombard, Great Garbo, Sylvia Sidney, and several others had hand-picked one individual and it was explained why.
• • Mae West halted production on "Klondike Annie" because her very own Karl Struss was busy with a Bing Crosby vehicle "Anything Goes" (co-starring Ida Lupino, Charles Ruggles, and Ethel Merman as Reno Sweeney).
• • The West Australian wrote: The recent dispute between Mae West, Raoul Walsh (director), and Paramount executives over the quality of the photography of her new picture, 'Klondike Annie," which caused a four-day production halt while a new cameraman was found has been given much prominence in America and inspired 'Variety'' to a consideration of stars and their favourite cameraman. ...
• • Source: The West Australian; published on Friday, 3 January 1936.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "It was in old Public School 123. What I mean is: I was coming to the conclusion that boys made much better playmates than girls."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • An article in Variety mentioned Mae West.
• • Variety wrote: In several cases productions have been held up so that stars could have a particular choice behind the camera. Mae West halted production on "Klondike Lou" because Karl Struss, who photographed her former pictures, was tied up on "Anything Goes." But Karl Struss is also Bing Crosby's preference, so the crooner held out for his retention on the picture and carried the day. Then Miss West, instead of taking one of the other ace cameramen on the lot, chose George Clemens, who had been Struss's aide, because he was familiar with the Struss technique. ...
• • Source: Article: "Stars Pout, Productions Lag, but Gals Must Have their Pet Lensers" written by Variety; published on Tuesday, 8 October 1935
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started eight years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 2535th blog post.
Unlike many blogs, which
draw
upon
reprinted
content
from
a
newspaper
or
a
magazine
and/
or
summaries,
links,
or
photos,
the
mainstay
of
this
blog
is
its
fresh
material
focused
on
the
life
and
career
of
Mae
West,
herself
an
American
original.
•
•
Come
up
and
see
Mae
every
day
online:
http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
________
Source:http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • 1936 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest
NYC Mae West.
Several authors have published full-length books about MAE WEST. Released two years after her death was "Mae West: A Biography" [NY: William Morrow, 1982] by Stanley Musgrove and George Eells.
• • George Eells [20 January 1922 — 1 January 1995] • •
• • Born in Winslow, Illinois in January — — on Friday, 20 January 1922 — — George Eells was attracted to the world of print, entertainment, Hollywood headliners, and their chroniclers.
• • In 1967, he wrote a book about Cole Porter and his music. In 1981, his book about drug addled singer Anita O'Day focused on her memories about her colleagues Billie Holiday, Gene Krupa, and Stan Kenton.
• • A more reliable payday than book publication, however, was his script writing for the TV show "This Is Your Life," which was hosted by Ralph Edwards.
• • A writer, an editor, and a biographer of several entertainment figures, George Eells, unfortunately, contracted pneumonia months after he had undergone brain surgery. He died at St. Vincent's, a hospital near his residence in Greenwich Village, New York, NY, on Sunday, 1 January 1995. He was 72.
• • On Tuesday, 2 January 1934 in Chicago • •
• • On Tuesday, 2 January 1934, when Mae's sister Beverly applied for a marriage license in Chicago, it was hoped that her second Russian-born husband would be a better companion than her ex-husband Sergei Treshatny. The groom Vladimir Baikoff made Beverly's acquaintance when both were booked on a radio program. Beverly was doing her famous Mae West impersonation for a broadcast — — and Vlad was eager to conjugate some sultry Slavic verbs with her in private, after the show.
• • On her marriage license, Beverly gave her age as 27, meaning that she had been born in 1907. This was consistent with Mae's calculations; in 1934, Mae was giving her birthyear as 1900 and the siblings were seven years apart.
• • Good thing municipal clerks were not crossing checking New York State's records with Illinois — — otherwise someone might have wondered about the bride who was born in 1907, having been first married in 1917 when she was 10 years old.
• • Beverly's second marriage ceremony was performed at the Congress Hotel in Chicago. Judge Joseph Sabath (of divorce court fame) officiated.
• • On Sunday, 2 January 1938 in Singapore • •
• • A news brief appeared in Singapore on Sunday, 2 January 1938 with this headline: "Mae West, As Eve, 'Insult To Faith'" (page 13) date-lined from New York. Only two paragraphs long, the item reprinted sharp criticism of Mae's radio skit with comments that first appeared in a religious Brooklyn weekly.
• • The Straits Times wrote: Miss Mae West's interpretation of Eve in a broadcast skit, "Adam and Eve," has been attacked by the Roman Catholic weekly, Brooklyn Tablet as "an insult to every Christian."
• • Source: The Straits Times; published on Sunday, 2 January 1938.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "I had been starred but I was glad to go to Hollywood as a nobody."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • An article in The Catholic Herald reviewed a bio of Mae West by George Eells and Stanley Musgrove (along with a number of silly errors).
• • Tom Hutchinson wrote: If Mae West could survey today's screen scene, she might well recognise it as part of an empire she founded when she introduced man's sex as a comedy subject to the screen in the thirties with "She Done Him Wrong." The sub-title of George Eells and Stanley Muggeridge's (sic) collaboration is "The Lies, The Legend, The Truth" (Dobson Books). They have certainly traced her extraordinary career from child stardom (sic) in variety to her long and ultimately victorious battle with the Motion Picture Production Code to allow her particular brand of jokey sex a place in movies. They record many authentic witticisms of her best encounters, and evoke the polish and glamour she preserved with professional perfectionism. She spoke of her screen and "showbiz image" in the third person as her separate creation, who "wouldn't do this or wear that." ...
• • Source: Book Review: "Life with Hollywood's Freakiest Phenomenon" written by The Catholic Herald [UK] and printed on page 7; published on Tuesday, 5 June 1984
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started eight years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 2534th blog post.
Unlike many blogs, which
draw
upon
reprinted
content
from
a
newspaper
or
a
magazine
and/
or
summaries,
links,
or
photos,
the
mainstay
of
this
blog
is
its
fresh
material
focused
on
the
life
and
career
of
Mae
West,
herself
an
American
original.
•
•
Come
up
and
see
Mae
every
day
online:
http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
________
Source:http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • 1935 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest
NYC Mae West.
MAE WEST wishes all of you a sensational New Year, a year that tops the last twelve months in every way!
• • On Sunday, 1 January 1967 • •
• • Newspaper readers in D.C. got a brief respite from hearing about the antics of President Lyndon B. Johnson on Sunday morning, 1 January 1967 when the Washington Post printed an article by Kevin Thomas: "Mae West, Like Rock 'n' Roll Music, Is Still Deeply Rooted in Ragtime."
• • On Sunday, 1 January 1978 • •
• • A review of the motion picture "Sextette," starring Mae West, was printed in Variety, the issue dated for Sunday, 1 January 1978.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "I top 'em all. So why should they like me? People don't want to be topped."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • It was on Wednesday, 1 January 1941 that a review of "My Little Chickadee" was printed and the critic praised Mae West.
• • From Queensland, the Morning Bulletin's movie critic wrote: What could be funnier than W. C. Fields as a patent medicine vendor turned masked bandit (sic), and Mae West, late of the honky tonks, as a little desert flower blooming brighter every hour? A riotous "team" they make, this one-glance gal and two-shot son-of-a-gun. Their adventures among the citizenry of Greasewood City, one of the wilder outposts of the West, are something in the nature of a parody and burlesque on the familiar fixtures of Western pictures. Nothing has been spared in the hulabaloo of ridicule, and the disorderly progress of Fields through the badlands. lt is a flt subject for the short, barking laugh (it goes "Hah," and is bitten off on that syllable) or the comfortable internal chuckle.
• • The Queensland movie critic conveyed admiration by noting this: W.C. Fields is assisted in his hilarious duties by Mae West, who retains her old slinky ways, frank humour, free Invitations, wisecracks, and peculiar style that attracted the public in her first picture. She is Flower Belle Lee, idol of the "boys," and the sight of the comedian battling to save himself from the alluring dangers of the beautiful West is the kind of screen material that will throw any audience into a panic.
• • The critic concluded: It will be screened at the Wintergarden this afternoon [Wednesday, 1 January 1941] and tonight, also tomorrow and Friday.
• • Source: Entertainment Feature: "Wintergarden Theatre "My Little Chickadee" (page 8) written for the Morning Bulletin (Rockhampton, Qld); published on Wednesday, 1 January 1941
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started eight years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 2533rd blog post.
Unlike many blogs, which
draw
upon
reprinted
content
from
a
newspaper
or
a
magazine
and/
or
summaries,
links,
or
photos,
the
mainstay
of
this
blog
is
its
fresh
material
focused
on
the
life
and
career
of
Mae
West,
herself
an
American
original.
•
•
Come
up
and
see
Mae
every
day
online:
http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
________
Source:http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • 1937 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest
NYC Mae West.
