Mae West: Gable's Child?

MAE WEST, who never testified during her controversial “Sex” trials in 1927, was almost the star witness at another trial in Los Angeles a decade later. Let us go back in time. This is Part 1 of 2.
• • In April 1937, Associated Press wrote: Mae West was expected to become today’s star witness for the prosecution.
• • Miss West, like other figures in the movie colony, received mail and other communications from Violet Wells Norton.
• • Violet's letter received at Paramount Studio in January 1936 read:

• • “Dear Mae West: How would you like to be fairy godmother to Clark Gable’s child? Nothing could be more lovely than for you, Miss West, to be fairy godmother to my Gwendolyn, and put Clark Gable to shame.”
• • On numerous occasions, Violet Wells Norton attempted to correspond with Mae West. However, West’s publicist, Terrell De Lapp, intercepted the missive during a routine vetting of Miss West’s incoming mail.
• • In one of her letters, Violet wrote that she knew Mae had no husband. Nevertheless, she felt sure Mae “would understand the problems of a deserted wife and mother.”
• • The letters to screen star Mae West and Hollywood columnist Jimmie Fidler were not the only ones Violet Wells Norton wrote during her futile attempt to prove that a man she believed to be Clark Gable had seduced her in Great Britain, when he was a tutor and she was an ingenue who was smitten with him.
• • In the days before DNA was used, a paternity suit within the Hollywood community was handled differently.
• • Part 2 will appear tomorrow and conclude this true story.
• • On Wednesday, 2 August 1944 • •

• • It was Wednesday, August 2nd and the applause rang out from the Shubert Theatre [225 West 44th Street], signaling the gala Broadway debut of "Catherine Was Great," when Mae West portrayed the Empress of Russia. Produced by Mike Todd, the show starred Mae as the Empress of Love who handled her men as skillfully as she handled affairs of state.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Mae West bought a biography written by Clark Gable's widow. Kathleen Gable inscribed it: "Dear Mae West, My Heart Is Filled With Every Happiness For You. Do Remember Clark In Your Prayers, He Admired You Very Much. Fondly, Kathleen Gable, Nov. 1963."
• • The book was Clark Gable: A Personal Portrait [NJ: Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, 1963].
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "You've got to fight in this world! You've got to fight to get there — — and fight to stay there."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • An article on Hollywood movies in the works mentioned Mae West and Clark Gable.
• • "Film News of the Week" announced: It seems impossible to avoid the topic of the new star teams. The latest to be announced is the partnership of Mae West and Clark Gable, who are proposed for the latest roles in "New Orleans," an original story by the man who wrote "San Francisco."
• • "Film News of the Week" explained: These two champions of the rough-and-ready school should make a perfect screen match. The story, however, demands renunciation in the last reel. Mae West, as a torch-singing New Orleans belle, sacrifices love and leaves the hero to the youthful ingenue.
• • "Film News of the Week" continued: Mae West's popularity has been declining rapidly. One group of American exhibitors even went so far as to announce that her name was "poison at the box office." The fact that in the past she has always insisted on writing, casting, and to some extent producing her own films may have something to do with it. M.G.M. have wisely inserted a clause in her contract which confines her activities to acting alone. ...
• • Source: The Sydney Morning Herald; published on Thursday, 7 July 1938
• • 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 4,790th 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 • • news clip in April 1937 • •
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