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In 1914, when MAE WEST and Guido were doing the variety circuit, they were jointly booked at the Majestic in San Antonio, Texas in early September. Thanks to the San Antonio Light newspaper, which gave a detailed account of the performance, we have a good idea of the impression created by the accordion king and his sexy Brooklyn bride. Let's spend some time with the star-crossed couple in honor of the Italian musician's birthday.
• • Guido Deiro [10 June 1886 — 26 July 1950] • •
• • Throughout 1914 and into the early part of the next year Mae West and Guido Deiro trouped together, performing from coast to coast on the same stages. Quite often the Italian musician was singled out as the stand-out hit. In 1914, still developing her brand, Mae West was noticed as "the Eva Tanguay of vaudeville," "the original Brinkley girl," or a singing comedienne "with a style all her own."
• • When the two entertainers performed at the Majestic, the Texas newspaper San Antonio Light wrote: The brass predominates in a march-time introduced by the Majestic orchestra, then softens down to almost nothing, and into the spotlight bursts Deiro, king of the accordeonists with his magnificent piano-accordeon. Without a pause, his fingers start their nimble skipping up and down the dual keyboards, and out to the audience float the strains of ages old masterpieces and the most modern of rags and ballads. At will Deiro, expressing the mood of the moment, commands the best music of the world and plays it as a master for his auditors. . . .
• • Deiro is not alone in the honor column, however; six other acts share it with him including Mae West, the "Eva Tanguay" of Vaudeville. . . .
• • Illustration: Mae West at the Majestic Theatre in 1914.
• • Source: Review from San Antonio Light; published on Tuesday, 8 September 1914.
• • On Sunday, 11 June 1989 • •
• • The L.A. Times wrote: "I'm No Angel" (Channel 5, Saturday at 3:15 a.m.): Mae West was never better as a carny dancer turned lion tamer who conquers high society and vamps Cary Grant as well; this is the one in which she ad-libbed (sic), "Beulah, peel me a grape."
• • On Friday, 11 June 2010 in The N.Y. Times • •
• • On Friday, 11 June 2010 in The N.Y. Times, reporter Sara Polsky described a 28-foot-wide Manhattan mansion recently listed for sale.
• • In the early 1930s, 266 West End Avenue belonged to actress Mae West. Beverly stayed on for awhile in Mae's home before it was sold.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Mae West received word yesterday that the inmates of the Iowa State Penitentiary have voted her their favorite, this despite her having been instrumental in sending a man to prison recently for robbing her. Jail's news organ, the Presidio, has asked her for a photograph and an interview.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "Every man I meet wants to protect me. I can’t figure out what from."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • Associated Press discussed Mae West.
• • New York, June 10 (AP) — Supreme Court Justice Salvatore A. Cotillo expressed unreserved admiration today for Frank Wallace, an actor, because he wanted to be declared Mae West's husband. I admire him, said the justice, but I'm afraid there is nothing for me to do but dismiss the case.
• • Mae West's counsel contended she had not been properly served in the suit. . . .
• • Source: Item in the Daily Illini (Illinois); published on Thursday, 11 June 1936
• • The Mae West Blog celebrates its 10th anniversary • •
• • Thank
you for reading, sending questions, and posting comments during this
past decade. The other day we entertained 3,497 visitors. And we reached a
milestone recently when we completed 3,100 blog posts. Wow!
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started ten years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 3198th 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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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • in 1914 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest
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Steve Stoliar, Groucho's personal secretary, enjoyed spending quality time with MAE WEST, Zeppo, Gummo, George Burns, Bob Hope, Jack Lemmon, S.J. Perelman, Steve Allen, and scores of other luminaries of stage, screen, TV, and literature. He will be sharing those memories with an audience this evening at the Hollywood Heritage Museum.
• • Theme for the event on Wednesday, 14 March 2012 is "Remembering Groucho Marx."
• • His publicity material explains that Steve Stoliar is the author of the bittersweet memoir "Raised Eyebrows: My Years Inside Groucho's House," about which, Woody Allen wrote: "It's one of the best books about a show-business icon I've ever read. It makes Groucho live so much more than the conventional bios." Steve was a young Groucho Marx fan(atic) who landed the plum job of working in the home of the legendary comedian as Groucho's personal secretary and archivist.
• • WHERE: Hollywood Heritage Museum, 2100 North Highland Avenue, Hollywood, CA 90068; T. (323) 874-2276
• • WHEN: Wednesday, 14 March 2012 from 7:30 pm to11:00 pm.
• • Diane Arbus [14 March 1923 — 26 July 1971] • •
• • In 1964, Diane Arbus [14 March 1923 — 26 July 1971] flew to Los Angeles. Her buddy Robert Brown chauffeured her to Mae West's beach house on two successive days.
• • After the session, Mae handed Diane a C-note, saying, "Thanks, honey." This was a habit dating back to the 1930s when the Paramount Pictures star would tip still photographers who snapped her on the set. [Diane returned the $100 with a gracious note.]
• • When the sharply focused black and white portraits appeared in print, however, Mae found them harsh, ugly, pitiless and directed her attorneys to sue the publisher. Her lawyers fired off a letter, calling the Mae layout "unflattering, cruel, and not at all glamourous."
• • Until Saturday, 14 March 1914 • • 
• • During a well-documented divorce drama in 1935, Frank Wallace's lawyers claimed that the vaudeville hoofer was living, as man and wife, with Mae West from the time of their Milwaukee wedding on 11 April 1911 until Saturday, 14 March 1914. The choice of that date was quite peculiar. In 1914, Mae West was married to Guido Deiro and touring with him in vaudeville, with bookings for 40 weeks that year.
• • On Saturday, 14 March 1914 in The Columbus Ledger • •
• • Throughout 1914 Mae and Guido were engaged jointly as headliners on the Loew circuit. They were touring in Columbus, Ohio in mid-March when they teasingly circulated the rumor that the accordionist was really "Count Deiro" — — hey, anything to attract a reporter and set yourself apart. The spoof worked and they got a write-up in The Columbus Ledger, on Saturday, 14 March 1914.
• • Maybe Frank Wallace saw that very newspaper.
• • On Saturday, 14 March 1936 in Motion Picture Herald • •
• • An article about "Klondike Annie" (and the censorship battles over the film) was featured in Motion Picture Herald in their issue dated for 14 March 1936.
• • On Sunday, 14 March 1937 • •
• • It was Sunday, 14 March 1937 when Mae West signed a check (number 581) from her account at California Bank to Mr. William Mutara for his salary for the week of March 14th, 1937; the amount was $24.75. This check was sold to a collector for $96.
• • "Sex" in Seattle 'til 14 March 1998 • •
• • "Sex," written by Mae West and directed by Ed Hawkins, was onstage in Seattle during March 1998. Staged at the Annex Theatre, 1916 Fourth Avenue, Seattle, WA, the final performance was on Saturday, 14 March 1998.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "Good sex is like good bridge. If you don't have a good partner, you'd better have a good hand.”
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • An article about Adolph Zukor mentioned his guest Mae West.
• • James A. Frank wrote: About half an hour north of New York City, on the other (western) side of the Hudson River in New York’s Rockland County, sits a private club that until recently was called Dellwood. The property used to be owned by Adolph Zukor, who rose from poor Hungarian immigrant to founder of Paramount Pictures.
• • James A. Frank wrote: After buying the property in 1918, Zukor named it Mountain View Farm as the land rolled over several hundred acres and featured broad views of the Ramapo Mountains and the Palisades. Although he couldn’t see the river, Zukor may have escaped Manhattan by sailing up the Hudson to a nearby dock.
• • James A. Frank wrote: Among the buildings Zukor added was a small movie theater where he held private screenings. He threw lavish parties and entertained many stars of the day, from Charlie Chaplin to Mae West. Thomas Alva Edison was not only a close friend but he introduced Zukor to A.W. Tillinghast, who the golf-mad movie mogul hired to turn a nine-holer on the property into an 18-hole layout. . . .
• • Source: Article: "Paramount Country Club: Tillinghast 'Hidden Gem' To Be Restored" written by James A. Frank for JimGoFrank.com; posted on 14 March 2011
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started seven years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 2238th 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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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • 1914 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest
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Mae West.
Guido Deiro is not alone in the honor column, however; six other acts share it with him including MAE WEST, the "Eva Tanguay" of Vaudeville, wrote the critic from San Antonio Light in the edition dated for 8 September 1914. When the newspaper printed the review, Mae would have been 21 years old. Eva Tanguay, the flamboyant vaudeville fixture, was already 36.
• • During the height of Eva Tanguay’s astonishing performance trajectory (from 1900 until the mid-1920s), she courted the press with ingenious publicity stunts that kept her name circulating in the columns like fresh oxygen. A huge headliner in her day, she was highly paid, singular, idiosyncratic, a spendthrift, and certainly a role model for any aspiring female rebel such as Mae West or Sophie Tucker.
• • Eva Tanguay [1 August 1878 — 11 January 1947] was a Canadian-born singer and entertainer who billed herself as "the girl who made vaudeville famous." Fifteen years older than Mae, thus well-established in variety, Eva Tanguay knew that her name on a stagebill guaranteed a big box office. Naturally, the critics who covered variety artists liked to make comparisons. In the summer of 1913, for instance, the New York Tribune wrote that Mae West made "herself popular by singing a repertory of 'I Don't Care' songs and appearing in a dazzling series of low and behold gowns" [N.Y. Tribune on 5 August 1913].
• • When a rival lured Eva Tanguay away from the prestigious Keith Circuit, Frank Bohm pounced. Seeing his chance to anoint Mae as the next superstar, Bohm billed her as "the Eva Tanguay of Vaudeville." Clearly, Mae West copied when it suited her, even while proclaiming she had "a style all her own."
• • It seem that Mae's mother was an Eva Tanguay fan, and kept in touch with her for awhile. [Tillie died in January 1930.] During the embarrassing unveiling of Mae's 1911 marriage to Frank Wallace in the 1930s, at first Mae denied the whole thing. By then retired and living in California, Eva Tanguay helped Mae's cause by giving interviews saying the Paramount star was simply way too young to have walked down the aisle in April 1911, therefore, it must have been a different Mae West who wed Frank Wallace.
• • Eva Tanguay would be a colorful celebrity for any biographer. Perhaps one day a book will be written.• • Alexander Hall [1894 — 1968] • •
• • Alexander Hall directed "Goin' to Town" [1935], starring Mae West. We are thinking of Hall on his January birthday.
• • Alexander Hall was born in Boston on 11 January 1894. He died from complications after a stroke in San Francisco on 30 July 1968.
• • Jack LaRue [1902 — 1984] • •
• • How many knew that the Bronx native Gaspere Biondolillo took the stage-name of "Jack LaRue"? Jack LaRue [birthdate: 3 May 1902] was part of the original Broadway cast when Mae brought her hit "Diamond Lil" to the Royale Theatre in April 1928. Onstage the handsome, sultry Jack LaRue played Lil's Latin lover Juarez. [Gilbert Roland played that role, under a Russian moniker, in the film version: "She Done Him Wrong" in 1932.]
• • A lifelong friend of Mae's, Jack LaRue died in Santa Monica, California of a heart attack in the month of January — — on 11 January 1984. He was 82 years old.
• • On Saturday, 11 January 1919 in Judge Magazine • •
• • The iconic publication Judge featured three hot topics in their weekend issue dated 11 January 1919 — — vaudevillian Mae West, the illustrator John Held Jr, and the Armistice. The cover announced "War ends!" Judge's editorial office at that time was 225 Fifth Avenue, NYC.
• • On Thursday, 11 January 1996 in The Washington Post • •
• • Under review was a new release: "When I'm Bad, I'm Better: Mae West, Sex, and American Entertainment" — — a biographical book written by Marybeth Hamilton [NY: HarperCollins. 307 pp]
• • Reviewing this book, Gerald Weales begins his summation this way: Marybeth Hamilton's "When I'm Bad, I'm Better" promises "to unmask Mae West by tracing the history of her public persona" through changing attitudes toward sex and class. That may be one of the few ways of doing a Mae West book these days. The actress's private life is so obscured by a fog of her own making that a celebrity scandal biography, except as a congeries of rumor and invention, is out of the question, and even an admirer of her performance in "She Done Him Wrong" is unlikely to feel the need for an in-depth study of the West oeuvre. ...
• • His critique was published in The Washington Post on Thursday, 11 January 1996.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: “When women go wrong, men go right after them.”
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • It was on 11 January 2000 when there was the presentation of the new wig in the Mae West Room in Spain.
• • Dali's web site in Spain wrote: Llongueras and the Gala-Salvador Dalí Foundation have remodelled one of the most unusual items in the Dalí Theatre-Museum, the wig which forms part of the installation made by Salvador Dalí and Òscar Tusquets in 1974: the Mae West Room.
• • Dali's web site in Spain explained: To halt the deterioration the original wig had undergone, the Gala-Salvador Dalí Foundation sought assistance from Luís Llongueras. The hairdresser-cum-sculptor, with his technical team and the collaboration of the Conservation Department of the Gala-Salvador Dalí Foundation, have been working over the last few months to make a new, large-scale wig for the Mae West Room.
• • Dali's web site in Spain offered these fascinating details: Luís Llongueras was in fact the creator of the original wig for the Mae West Room, installed in 1976 as part of the permanent sculptural montage made two years earlier by Salvador Dalí and the architect Òscar Tusquets, shortly before the inauguration of the Dalí Theatre-Museum. The wig, of large dimensions (4.40 x 3.46 metres), was entered in the Guinness Book of Records as the largest made to date. Luís Llongueras later went to the Dalí Theatre-Museum on several occasions in order to see to the maintenance of the enormous wig. The deterioration of such a fragile item was nevertheless inevitable over the course of 25 years, and made it advisable that it be replaced by a totally new wig. This new wig has the same characteristics that always made the original one of the key features of the Mae West Room, especially when viewing the installation through the reduction lens that converts the sculptural montage into Mae West's face. ...
• • Source: Gala-Salvador Dalí Foundation
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started seven years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 2174th 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/
________
Source:http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • in 1914 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest
NYC
Mae West.
