Mae West: Anne Nagel

On Sunday, 4 August 1940, a revealing article was published, pulling back the curtain on how several major movie stars such as MAE WEST put their foot down so an up-and-comer could  not advance.
• • According to Lucie Neville, Mae West  enjoyed working with starlet Anne Nagel [1915 —  1966], who was 25 in 1940 and in need a career boost.  However, after seeing the daily rushes, Mae suddenly felt threatened and arranged to have Anne's scenes blacked out.   Hollywood columnist Lucie Neville revealed the story in an article about how established leading ladies were using their power at the studio to curb advancement for starlets and ingenues.
• • "Glimmer Girls — they’re in the pictures but seldom in the movie" • •
• • Lucie Neville wrote:  Anne Nagel was too pretty and talented when she appeared in a motion picture with Mae  West, so the buxom, hip-rolling star arranged to have the starlet blacked out.
• • An even rawer deal was the one handed Anne Nagel, another actress who needed a boost.
• • Her role in “My Little Chickadee,” as the homely schoolmarm whom Mae West transformed into a beauty with a beau, provided much of the plot. And most of the publicity. Miss Nagle's shapely legs and warm smile helped make fans Chickadee-conscious, and rushes of the film showed her not only a  too pretty actress but a capable one.

• • Too good, and too pretty, Mae West decided. She could not afford to be contrasted with Miss Nagel. So all that audiences saw of the younger player was a brief scene where Miss Nagle, in her dowdy make-up and costume, was on a couch, her face half-covered with a cold compress.
• • Note: Anne Nagel, born in Boston on  29 September 1915, died of liver cancer in Hollywood on 6 July 1966.  At age 50, Anne Nagel breathed her last at the Sunray North Convalescent Hospital in Los Angeles.
• • In "My Little Chickadee" Anne Nagel played Miss Ermingarde Foster, Schoolteacher [uncredited].
• • Source: Article: "Glimmer Girls" written by Lucie Neville for The San Bernardino Sun's Sunday Magazine; published on Sunday, 4 August 1940.
• • On Wednesday, 4 August 1954 • •
• • "The Mae West Revue," which opened in Las Vegas, was a song-and-dance show that lasted only thirty-nine minutes. Variety printed their coverage on Wednesday, 4 August 1954.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • In case you don't savvy the term, the "finger man" of a mob is the fellow who points out the victim and the location to nab him. Mae West, Betty Compson, and one of the many Marxes are only a few of those who are reputed to have had the "finger" put on them at various times.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said:    "A thrill a day keeps the chill away."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • An article in a  Pennsylvania newspaper mentioned Mae West.
• • Answering a reader's question, Dick Kleiner wrote: Strange how questions about Mae West keep cropping up. I guess it's that way with legends. I don't think she looks so young — — I've seen her close up — — but that's neither hither nor yon. She's 80. And, in a recent issue of a magazine called "Feminine Fitness," she told her stay-young secrets. She walks, she exercises, she eats sensibly, she never drank or smoked. If you want to be 80 and look like Mae West, that's your program. Enjoy.  ...
• • Source: Article in the Indiana Gazette (Indiana, Pennsylvania); published on Saturday, 4 August 1973 
• • 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 3759th 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 • • with co-star Anne Nagel in 1940 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest
NYC  Mae West