Thursday, July 18, 2019

Mae West: Mae's Wealth

On Friday, 9 July 1937, MAE WEST was in the news. This would be her least favorite topic. The “F” word was Frank as in “former husband Frank Wallace.”  This is Part 2 of 4 parts.
• • Mae West’s Spouse Invites Himself to Her Fireside; “Or Else” Half Her Fortune • •
• • He Even Put It in Writing • •
• • Sam Siegel, the attorney, said Wallace had not only made the offer, but he put in it writing.
• • One of the reasons for putting it in writing, he explained, was that Wallace estimated Mae’s wealth to be “in the neighborhood of $11,000,000,” and, under California law, Wallace was entitled to half.
• • “He’s done his part,” Siegal said. “Now it’s up to Miss West.”
• • Take Him or Pay Off • •
• • The way Wallace and his lawyer have it figured out, Mae either gets Frankie for an old age companion, or shells out $1,500,000. “Under California law,” Sam Siegel explained, “a separation is not legally recognized unless it is established by court action.
• • seeking a restraining order • • . . . 
• • U.P.’s news coverage will be continued on the next post.
• • Source: U.P. coverage rpt in Healdsburg Tribune (California); published on Friday, 9 July 1937.
• • On Sunday, 18 July 1937 • •
• • "Husband of Mae West — — Marriage Valid" • •
• • LOS ANGELES, July 16.  The Court has given a ruling in favour of Mr. Frank Wallace, declaring valid his marriage with the Hollywood film actress Miss Mae West.
• • After Miss West had denied for many years that she had ever been married, she admitted earlier this month that Mr. Wallace, a vaudeville performer, became her husband in 1911, 26 years ago.
• • Source: Melbourne, Australia; published on Sunday, 18 July 1937.
• • July 2004: Mae West Blog launches • •
• • What are we up to, writing about the Brooklyn-born bombshell for fifteen years now?
• • We’re here to keep Mae mavens up to date, correct errors, celebrate each revival of a play she wrote, post the latest Westian stage and book reviews. And answer our fan mail!
• • The light’s still on. Come up and see Mae every day.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • For DesignICON, inspiration will be a little more broad. The list this year [2019] includes looks inspired by legends like Cher, Rihanna, Beyonce, and Oscar de la Renta, as well as more unexpected sources like Bootsy Collins, Mae West, the Earth, and Lizzie McGuire.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: “Listen, there’s some bad in all women. I work off my energies — — and I’ve got plenty of energy — — by being that sort of woman on the stage and screen. If I didn’t have that outlet I might have been one of ’em myself. I couldn’t make any prophesies. I’ve always been interested in women like that. Maybe it was the theatre that saved me.”
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • The Australian News Service mentioned Mae West.
• • "Mae West Fell in Hotel, Claims Dollars" • •
• • New York, July 16 (A.A.P.) — Actress Mae West to-day sued New York's Hotel Chatham for 250,000 dollars, damages for injuries received in a fall in her bathroom there. She alleged that a defective floor-mat caused the fall, which made her "sick, sore, lame, and disabled."
• • Miss West said she was prevented from continuing to earn 3,000 dollars weekly as the star of the play "Diamond Lil." The fall, she said, broke bones in her left ankle.  ..
• • Source: The Sunday Herald (Sydney, NSW); published on Sunday, 17 July 1949
• • The evolution of 2 Mae West plays that keep her memory alive • • 
• • A discussion with Mae West playwright LindaAnn LoSchiavo — — 
• • http://lideamagazine.com/renaissance-woman-new-york-city-interview-lindaann-loschiavo/
• • The Mae West Blog celebrates its 15th anniversary • •  
• • Thank you for reading, sending questions, and posting comments during these past fifteen years. Not long ago, we entertained 3,497 visitors. And we reached a milestone recently when we completed 4,200 blog posts. Wow!  
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started fifteen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 4259th 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 1935

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2 comments:

  1. As the old adage goes, "Perhaps the lady doth protest too much." Mae West certainly had reason to deny having married Frank Wallace in 1911. As Hollywood did the math on their napkins, it became apparent Ms West had obviously shaved years off her age. As wounding as this was to Mae, she had an even darker secret she needed to keep under wraps. In his new book, "Mae West And The Count: Love and Loss on the Vaudeville Stage," Guido Roberto Deiro makes a credible case that his father and Mae married in 1914. Since West had not obtained a divorce from Wallace, this would have made her a bigamist.

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  2. • • The Mae West Blog covered Mae's bigamist status numerous times, for example, on this post from 2014:
    https://maewest.blogspot.com/2014/04/mae-west-brooklyns-bigamist.html

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