For six months, a Canadian fan worked with MAE WEST in California as her “secretary-companion-slave” and all around general adorer. In his book ‘Outrageous Misfits,’ Brian Bradley explores their relationship. What began as an intimate friendship would go up in flames. This is Part 5 of 9 parts.
• • Mae West: Shared her own insecurities • •
• • Brian Bradley wrote: She shared her own insecurities, including the fact that she had diabetes, something she painstakingly worked to hide from others; her strained relationship with her alcoholic sister Beverly; her jealousy of the sexpot actress Jayne Mansfield when she romanced the "Mae West Revue" cast-member and bodybuilder Mickey Hargitay; and her continued grief over the death of her mother, Matilda, who had died in 1930.
• • Mae West: Craig knew so much about Matilda West • • ...
• • Brian Bradley's book preview will be continued on the next post.
• • Source: Toronto Star; published on Sunday, 25 October 2020.
• • On Monday, 23 December 1929 in Los Angeles • •
• • Mae West took her "Diamond Lil" cast to the West Coast where she hoped to meet with Hollywood producers who would help bring the popular stage play to the silver screen. After a booking in San Francisco, Mae moved to her final California destination: Los Angeles. An article about Mae was published in The L.A. Times on Monday, 23 December 1929.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Asked about the gangster and bootlegger Owney Madden, Mae West said: "Very sweet and very vicious."
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "I'm going to see how it feels to wake up on my ranch and hear a bird singing, for a change, instead of listening to taxis and trucks or milkmen. They say I'll be able to reach out of the window and have my orange juice. Well, we'll see."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • An article by UPI discussed the death of Mae West.
• • Friends of Mae West gathered today for an invitation-only funeral • •
• • UPI wrote: Mae West died of natural causes in her elegant Hollywood apartment at the age of 87 last Saturday, three weeks following her release from Good Samaritan Hospital after treatment for a concussion suffered in a fall and a subsequent stroke. ...
• • Source: UPI Archives; published on Tuesday, 25 November 1980
• • 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 16th 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 4,600 blog posts. Wow!
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started fifteen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 4,632nd 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 • • with Jim Timony and family in 1934 • •
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I've been enjoying your excerpts from Brian Bradley's biography of Craig Russell, "Outrageous Misfits." As more time elapses, we are coming to learn more about some of the insecurities that plagued Mae West. Rather than detracting from the impervious image West worked so hard to maintain throughout her life, I am now even more fasciated by her.
ReplyDelete• • Thank you, Mark. Yes, I agree!
ReplyDeleteNo doubt Mae had to keep her diabetes secret to keep working.
ReplyDeleteInsurance companies are and were notorious for denying policies to people with pre-existing medical conditions like diabetes.
Comic Bud Abbott suffered from epilepsy and kept it a closely guarded secret, otherwise the studios would not hire him without being insurable.
Same for baseball legend Lou Gehrig, in part pushed out of the Yankees organisation because insurance companies refused to insure him to remain on the team due to his ALS diagnosis.