Mae West: David Onstage

MAE WEST worked with an actor whose screen time was cut short, though not his career.
• • Mae West cast David Newell in “The Wicked Age"  (1927).

• • By September 1927, Mae West was rehearsing a new play she had written: an expose of the crooked bathing beauty competitions of the 1920s. The script was 59 pages. Mae was combining her newest play with a 35-page sketch she had written called "The Contest."
• • Submitted for copyright in 1927, Mae used this address: 150 West 46th St., 6th floor, New York, NY. Perhaps this was Jim Timony's law office.
• • The play's setting is Bridgeport, New Jersey, a small seaside town.
• • Mae played a high-strung, ambitious, impatient, pageant hopeful: Evelyn "Babe" Carson. When her manager takes Babe to task for her ill temper, reminding her that she is hardly the Queen of Sheba, she shoots back with a spritz of Yiddish: "That piker. She was only queen over some Pollacks ― ― while I'm the queen of all the bathing beauties!"
• • The N.Y. Times ran this headline on the theatre page: "The Wicked Age" Is Tame.; Mae West Wins a Bathing Beauty Contest in Her New Play.
• • On Saturday, 5 November 1927, their drama critic could only cast aspersion, writing in The Times: Although it is milder than "Sex" and will probably not cause Mr. Banton and the gendarmes to come on the run, Mae West's newest contribution to dramatic art, staged last night at Daly's Sixty-third Street Theatre, will doubtless stand as the low point of the theatrical season of 1927-28. ...
• • Broadway goers only saw 19 performances.
• • David Newell [1905 ― 1980] • • . . .
• • Continued on the next post.
• • On Friday, 9 July 1937 • •
• • "Mae's Recent Husband: Sue Manager for Alienation of Affections" • •
• • Los Angeles, July 9. United Press — Mae West's recently acknowledged husband threatened tonight, through attorneys, to sue her manager, James Timony, for alienation of affections.  . . .
• • July 2004: Mae West Blog launches • •

• • What are we up to, writing about the Brooklyn-born bombshell for 17 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 • •
• • Columnist Gary Gilson had this opinion: "Sparingly" is a good thing, even though it challenges the wisdom of that elegant Hollywood philosopher Mae West, who said: "Too much of a good thing can be wonderful."
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "If I was a drinking girl, you might figure I had up and married this guy in an off moment and forgotten about it. But I don't drink."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • An obituary mentioned Mae West.
• • Kordula "Kordee" Polenek [19 March 1919 — 2 March 2021] • •
• • Kordee was hired by Twentieth Century Fox and remained at the studio for the next 58 years – the longest-tenured employee in studio history.
• • As an administrative assistant for various studio department heads over the years, Kordee delighted in her many encounters and conversations with the stars under contract. Victor Mature, Clark Gable, Lucille Ball, Mae West, and Judy Garland were among the most memorable. ...
• • Source: Legacy; posted on Friday, 25 June 2021
• • 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 17th anniversary • • 
• • Thank you for reading, sending questions, and posting comments during these past seventeen years. Not long ago, we entertained 3,497 visitors. And we reached a milestone recently when we completed 4,700 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started fifteen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 4,774th 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 • • "The Wicked Age" courtesy of Damon Devine in October 1927 • •
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