Playing a sultry, irresistible detective, MAE WEST took the starring role of clever Carliss Dale in the stage play "Come On Up (Ring Twice)," which toured during 1946 in California and elsewhere. This comedy was written by Miles Mander, Fred Schiller, and Thomas Dunphy.• • "Come on up to Suite B-3, Bellflower Apartments, and ask for Carliss" • •
• • A drama critic offered his views to theatre-buffs on 24 September 1946. He wrote: While Miss West's current vehicle scorns to change the subject of last season's 'Catherine Was Great,' it does put it into a new and more congenial setting. This time the star sets up in an elegant Washington apartment, of all places, and she presides over it much more comfortably. As a buxom blonde . . . she always seemed out of place in the semi-oriental splendor of Catherine's palace boudoir. She and her current place have a classic unity, if 'classic' does not mind being borrowed for such an occasion. ...
• • In September, we remember Warren William • •
• • In one motion picture Warren William took the role of the meddlesome publicist of the demanding screen queen Mavis Arden, played by Mae West.
• • Born on 2 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. Marshaling his willpower and armed with his patrician looks and polish, the tall, dark, and scheming Morgan was cast as 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 were not 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. He was 53 years of age.
• • On 24 September 1934 • •
• • Battles between Joseph Breen and the producers of "Belle of the Nineties" were covered by numerous papers including the Boston Herald on 24 September 1934. By this time, Mae must have felt she needed to rim her bedroom doorway with fresh garlic to keep out the blood-thirsty night-crawlers and hounds of Tinseltown.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said this: "Anything worth doing is worth doing slowly."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • It seems that a Mae West scene wiggled its way into a live performance.
• • "Take a Rest, Mae West" • •
• • From Down Under, Ian Jones writes: It wouldn’t have been everyone’s cup of tea. In fact if they’d been allowed to take a cup of tea into the theatre, they may very well have spilled some of it. Especially if they found boobs, bums, and condoms confronting.
• • Ian Jones continues: The Performing Arts “The Naked Canvas” — — a gallery of theatrical “paintings” — — drew a mixed response from theatre goers on Friday and Saturday night. It ranged from exuberant appreciation to “drink a quick six-pack before you go in.” But the one thing, without doubt, is that it had everyone talking.
• • Ian Jones adds: One of the most talked about was a scene described by one attendee as “Macbeth’s witches meets Marat Sade as directed by Hugh Hefner.” Officially it was called “Take a rest, Mae West")! . . .
• • Source: Review: "Bums, ‘boobs’ and condoms" written by Ian Jones for Goondiwindi Argus [Australia]; posted on 14 September 2011
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started seven years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 2063rd blog post. Unlike many blogs, which draw upon reprinted content from a newspaper or a magazine and/ or summaries, links, or photos, the mainstay of this blog is its fresh material focused on the life and career of Mae West, herself an American original.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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