Thursday, November 15, 2012

Mae West: Tod Andrews

MAE WEST starred in "Come On Up" and the cast included Tod Andrews. During the autumn, they performed on the East Coast. In October the comedy was staged in Philadelphia at the Walnut Street Theatre. On 1 November 1946 they began their booking in Buffalo, New York at the Erlanger Theatre.
• • The play's 1946 — 1947 run was under the direction of Russell Fillmore and produced by the Shuberts. This well-received comedy had opened in Oakland, California at the Oakland Auditorium on 20 May 1946. Mae West went coast-to-coast with her cast as part of a national tour that ended on 22 February 1947.  
• • Since the printed Program looked scrappy in certain theatres and woefully inconsistent, Mae eventually had her own souvenir Program designed featuring pictures of herself along with cast notes.
• • Program from Ford's Theatre, Baltimore (September 1946).
• • Tod Andrews [10 November 1914 — 7 November 1972] • •
• • Born in New York, NY on 10 November 1914, Tod Andrews was educated at Washington State College. During the early 1940s, he made his onstage debut at the Pasadena Playhouse in California. Andrews acted with the Margo Jones Company in New York City from 1944 — 1948.
• • Trouping with Mae West in "Come On Up" had raised his profile, so Broadway beckoned. In the drama "Summer and Smoke" he took the role of John Buchanan, Jr. [6 October 1948 — 1 January 1949].  Joshua Logan had seen him work, so when Henry Fonda left the title role in the long-running Broadway drama play "Mister Roberts" (which closed on 6 January 1951), Logan replaced Fonda with Tod Andrews.  The versatile thespian also starred in the popular Broadway comedy "A Girl Can Tell" taking the role of Bill [October — December 1953]. In May 1954,  he stepped in to replace an actor in the Broadway comedy "Sabrina Fair."
• • Some untoward turn of events occurred when he was 47. According to Rovi's Bruce Eder, "Andrews seemed to be doing well enough until 1961, when, days before the opening of a new play appropriately entitled 'A Whiff of Melancholy,' he attempted suicide. He later said that it was a result of stress over the role."
• • From 1941 — 1972, he racked up 71 credits for his participation in feature films and various TV work. He sometimes used the pseudonym "Michael Ames" for his appearances in B-grade material. For his final credit, he played President Jeremy Haines in a TV movie called "The President's Plane Is Missing," released in 1973.
• • Tod Andrews had a heart attack.  He died in Beverly Hills, California on 7 November 1972. He was three days away from his 58th birthday.
• • Herbert Rawlinson [15 November 1885 — 12 July 1953] • •
• • Mae West worked with a good number of handsome Englishmen and one was Herbert Rawlinson. In "Every Day's a Holiday" [1937], he was seen as a party guest.
• • Born in the month of November — — on Sunday, 15 November 1885 — — in New Brighton, England, Herbert Rawlinson distinguished himself in the United Kingdom on the stage. In 1911, when Herbert Rawlinson launched his career in the USA with a number of silent movies, the dapper 26-year-old was often cast as the leading man, at first. On Broadway he was seen in several plays between 1929 — 1934, mainly comedies.
• • In sound films, the handsome six-footer was a busy character player, in demand and employed up until the year he died. With 394 titles to his credit on the big screen and also some on TV, Rawlinson was frequently seen, albeit briefly, in an authority role such as a physician, judge, colonel, sea captain, first mate, etc. In his final motion picture "Jail Bait" [1954], he took the role of Dr. Gregor, filming his last scenes until July 1953.
• • Herbert Rawlinson died of lung cancer in Los Angeles on 12 July 1953. He was 67 years old.
• • On Sunday, 15 November 1936 • •
• • On Sunday, 15 November 1936, the New York Times interviewed actor Randolph Scott about his new motion picture starring Mae West.  An editor paraphrased Scott's opinion and it went something like this: "Miss West is idolized by the technical crews in the studios, she is so thoughtful of them. ... her Negro maid wept bitterly during the production because she (the maid) was sick and unable to go to the studio."
.• • On Sunday, 15 November 2009 • •
.• • The N.Y. Times columnist Margo Jefferson delivered a speech in Chicago on Sunday, 15 November 2009 about Mae West and Hattie McDaniel.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "The men in my life walked around stiff-legged, watching each other like animals at a waterhole, ready to leap at each others' throats."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • An article on safe driving mentioned Mae West.
• • The Pittsburgh Post Gazette stated:  Mae West, soon to be seen in Paramount's "Go West Young Man," today has added her name to the list of American citizens actively participating in the campaign for safe driving.  Miss West received an honorary card as a member of the Safety Club of Tampa, Florida from W.B. Bell . . . .
• • Source: Article: "Mae West Becomes Safety Campaigner" written for The Pittsburgh Post Gazette; published on Sunday, 15 November 1936 
By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started eight years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 2486th 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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• • Mae West 1946
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