Mae West: Amateur Night

On Saturday, 31 July 1937, MAE WEST was in the headlines of a top Australian paper.
• • "Mae West Once Glad to Earn 15 Quid  — — Now Salary Is Close To £500,000" • •
• • The Mail wrote: After fighting against it for months, Mae West has had to accept a Los Angeles court order that Frank Wallace, old-time vaudeville performer, became her husband in 1911. But Wallace will not share any of the £500.000 salary that the 'come up 'n' see me' star received last year.
• • Yet not long before she married Wallace she was glad to receive 15 quid — — as second prize in an amateur night competition!
• • May [sic] West (as she was then) presented herself at the old Gotham Theatre in Brooklyn on 'amateur night,' for which prizes were £1.5 and 15 quid for first and second places. Miss West wore a bright red bow on her hair, but even with that aid she succeeded only in winning second place and 15 quid.
• • shrewd shock tactics • •
• • But the winners, whoever they were, have long since disappeared into obscurity, while Miss West succeeded, by dint of shrewd shock tactics, in becoming one of the most-talked-of women on the New York stages — especially after she was sent to prison for continuing to produce her play "Sex" [sic].
• • Then came films, fame, and fortune. And also Mr. Wallace, whose claims Miss West resisted in court for several months. She will be seen next in "Go West, Young Man."
• • Source: Item in The Mail (Adelaide); published on  Saturday, 31 July 1937.
• • On Tuesday, 7 August 1934 • •

• • According to Daily Variety, "Belle of the Nineties" was given the purity seal on 6 August  1934. Variety announced this on the front cover of their issue dated for Tuesday, 7 August 1934.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • It was August 1939 when Mae West met with Frank Buchman for a half an hour.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said:  "Diamond Lil and I are getting to be pretty inseparable."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • A book review discussed a bio of Mae West.
• • "Becoming Mae West" by Emily Wortis Leider • •
• • Book critic Maria Braden noted: Mae West also hid that she had been married twice because she wanted to be perceived as single and available. And although West was a businesswoman, she refused to portray such a character on the screen because it might compromise her "femininity." ...
• • Source: Book Review: "A Hollywood Legend Who Wasn't Always What She Seemed" written by Maria Braden, Knight-Ridder Newspapers; published on Thursday, 7 August 1997
• • The Mae West Blog celebrates its 13th anniversary • •  
• • Thank you for reading, sending questions, and posting comments during these past eleven years. Not long ago, we entertained 3,497 visitors. And we reached a milestone recently when we completed 3,700 blog posts. Wow!   
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started thirteen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 3760th 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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• • Photo: • • Mae West • • in 1934 • •
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