Tuesday, February 23, 2016

Mae West: Louis Sobol

MAE WEST was often interviewed by Broadway columnist Louis Sobol.
• • "New York Cavalcade" • •
• • Louis Sobol wrote:  "The nightly guffaws at the Latin Quarter as Mae West leeringly surveys her platoon of muscle men. . ."
• • Earlier in November 1954, Sobol had mentioned: Johnnie Ray travels backstage of the Latin Quarter to pose for a few camera shots with Mae West.
• • Source: item in Louis Sobol's syndicated column rpt in The Desert Sun;  published on Thursday,  25 November 1954.
• • Louis Sobol  [10 August 1896 — 8 February 1986] • •
• • Louis Sobol was born on 10 August 1896 in Yelizavetgrad, Kherson Governorate, Russian Empire. He was an actor and producer, known for "Copacabana" [1947], "The Radio Murder Mystery" [1933] and "Peeking Tom" [1933], in which he was the sole member of the cast. He was married to Peggy Antman Strohl and Lee Cantor.  He was a Broadway columnist for Hearst newspapers for four decades, writing about The Great White Way during the Roaring '20s, that decade of gangsters and Prohibition, when Texas Guinan's name was often in his column as well as the stars of Broadway shows such as Mae West in "Diamond Lil."
• • Looking back on his career as a gossip columnist, Sobol once said:  "I indulge in no profound crusading calisthenics. No world problems are attacked or solved here. We run along in our little corner offering no more excitement than a muffled popgun."  His colleagues agreed that ''New York Cavalcade'' was a chronicle of show business in an era when Broadway still was the center of that industry.
• • ''It was an exciting time with exciting characters,'' said Mr. Sobol's wife, Peggy, with whom he lived on West 56th Street. Mr. Sobol's contemporaries included Walter Winchell, Ed Sullivan,  Damon Runyon, Earl Wilson, and Dorothy Kilgallen.
• • Louis Sobol died in Manhattan at Roosevelt Hospital in February — — on Saturday, 8 February 1986 — — after a long illness. He was 89.
• • On Wednesday, 23 February 1927 • •
• • Variety sympathized with Mae West and the others whose Broadway shops were closed down due to a contagious censorship epidemic. This article ran on Wednesday, 23 February 1927.
• • On Sunday, 23 February 1997 in The Los Angeles Times • •
• • Ken Hughes wrote: It was 4 in the morning when the phone in my London apartment rang and a voice from 8,000 miles away asked, "How would you like to come to Hollywood and direct a movie with Mae West?" One small fact had, it seemed, been overlooked: Mae West had director approval. ...
• • Source: Article: "Acting Had Nothing to Do With It; How was it to direct Mae West in her final film? Don't ask" written by retired director Ken Hughes for The L.A. Times; published on page 29 on Sunday, 23 February 1997.
• • On Monday, 23 February 2009 in Los Angeles • •
• • At 7:30 on Monday evening, 23 February 2009, both Kevin Thomas and Charlotte Chandler were panelists at UCLA, and now his mink-gloved summation of her biography, "She Always Knew How," has been printed. His sufficiently tactful assessment appeared in The Los Angeles Times.
• • On Tuesday, 23 February 2010 • •
• • An item that was new in the App Catalog for 23 February 2010 was Mae West Quotes, $1.99, by Brighthouse Labs. The developer described this: "Quotes from the late American actress and scribe."
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Retired Hollywood producer Paul Gregory and his late wife, actress Janet Gaynor, stayed at B-Bar-H while rebuilding their Singing Tree Ranch, also in Desert Hot Springs. They kept their horses at B-Bar-H and often visited the clubhouse after riding. "I went over there one time with Mae West," Paul Gregory recalls, explaining that West had asked to see the place." 
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said:   "I hate writing but I have to because no one seems able to do it for me. Stories are my trouble. That's why I only make one picture a year."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • The New York Clipper mentioned Mae West.
• • "Harry Richman Has Single" • •
• • Harry Richman, formerly with Mae West in vaudeville, and also seen in "Queen of Hearts" with Norah Bayes, will open with a new single this week in Keith vaudeville, under the direction of the Marinelli office.   ...
• • Source: Item in  The New York Clipper; published on Wednesday, 21 February 1923
• • The Mae West Blog celebrates its 11th anniversary • •
• • Thank you for reading, sending questions, and posting comments during these past eleven years. The other day we entertained 3,497 visitors. And we reached a milestone recently when we completed 3,300 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • • 
• • The Mae West Blog was started ten years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 3383rd 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 • hand on chin

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