Mae West: Al Kaufman

In the early 1930s, MAE WEST had her first dealings with Al Kaufman, who usually caved in to her demands. Let’s go back in time.
• • Albert A. Kaufman  [25 September  1888 —7 April 1957] • •
• • In 1932, Paramount Executive Al Kaufman took Mae West and her manager, Jim Timony, out for a nice dinner with a dash of persuasion. At the end of the evening, "Mae opened her handbag, took out a check, and handed it to Al. It was for twenty thousand dollars― ― her salary up to date. She told Kaufman she would be returning to New York; he told her she could rewrite her part as Joe Anton’s former gal-pal. She did, and in “Night After Night,” she "stole the show," recalled Adolf Zukor.
• • Born in Devil’s Lake, North Dakota, Studio Executive Albert A. Kaufman was Adolf Zukor's brother-in-law.

• • Listen to Mae West telling a story about Al Kaufman.
• • Taking a chance in a lion cage • •
• • According to Mae West, Mr. Ruggles was positive. "I can't let you take a chance with those lions!" he said to me.
• • In a few minutes my producer, William LeBaron, was sent for, and he arrived with two assistants to hear my story. He said it was a daring thing that I wanted to do and he agreed that it would make the picture a lot better. But even he couldn't commit himself.
• • Just then Al Kaufman came on the set. He was and is a reasonable and understanding man, but also an excellent business executive.
• • This lion scene is the main reason I'm doing this picture! • •
• • He listened as I blurted out, "This lion scene is the main reason I'm doing this picture!!"'

• • Al Kaufman thought a moment, and then he told me that Paramount Pictures had an enormous investment in me and this motion picture. Aside from the humanitarian feeling of not wanting to have me mangled or killed, the business risk of losing both me and the picture just wasn't to be taken lightly.
• • Finally Al said, "All right, Mae, I will tell you what well do. Let's leave this scene to the last. We'll get all the rest of the picture shot and then well do the scene!'
• • "Oh, no!" I protested, "You just want to put it off to the last moment, hoping I'll go cold on it. You don't want me to do it. We're ready now and I want to do it now."
• • I argued for a long time and finally they gave in.
• • After lunch I returned to the set and things began to move. ...
• • Note: Al Kaufman died in Los Angeles  at the age 68.
• • Source: Mae West telling a story in "The Public Is Never Wrong: The Autobiography of Adolph Zukor" [‎G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1 January  1953].
• • On Thursday, 27 September 1934 in Boston Herald • •
• • A review of "Belle of the Nineties" appeared in the Boston Herald on this date.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Mae West enjoyed eating the eggplant parmigiana at Casa D'Oro in Westwood.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "I sat around for 12 weeks drawing money and I never saw a script. This wasn't for me."
• • Mae West said: "I'm here to make talkies. I hope the film can take the temperature."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • A pictorial on important screen actresses mentioned Mae West.
• • "Screen Legends" • •
• • Mae West — — Playwright, screenwriter and sex symbol, Mae West was born on 17 August 1893 and was one of Hollywood's more controversial characters. She started out working in Vaudeville and on the stages of New York before taking to the bright lights of the motion picture industry.
• • Offered a Paramount Pictures contract in 1932 when she was 38, Mae West made her film debut in "Night After Night." She died in 1980 at the age of 87 following a stroke and a fall from bed.
• • Source: Vogue; published on Wednesday, 13 August 2014
• • 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 4,800 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started fifteen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 4,830th 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 1933 • •
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