Mae West: Crazy for Criswell

For awhile, MAE WEST was very attached to Criswell, another August-born Leo. So impressed by him was Mae that in 1955, she recorded the song “Criswell Predicts.”
• • Jeron Criswell King [18 August 1907 — 4 October 1982] • •
• • Aric Karpinski wrote: Jeron Criswell King was wrong. A lot.

• • Aric Karpinski wrote: Better known as “The Amazing Criswell,” King began making off-the-wall predictions to fill airtime while working as a Los Angeles-based radio announcer in the early 1950s.
• • Aric Karpinski wrote: His supposed psychic gift led him to claim, among other things, that between Feb. 11 and May 11, 1983, all the women in St. Louis would lose their hair, blanketing the city in chaos and leading to divorces, lawsuits, and an outbreak of violence toward hairdressers.
• • Aric Karpinski wrote: Crazy? Sure.
• • Aric Karpinski wrote: But eventually, these puzzling prognostications made him a minor celebrity, scoring him guest spots on The Jack Paar Show, a super-sized entourage, and A-list friends such as Mae West — whom he once predicted would become president of the United States, taking him and Liberace’s brother, George, on a rocket ride to the moon.
• • Aric Karpinski wrote: Like George’s more famous, rhinestone-clad brother — who oddly wasn’t included on the intergalactic guest list — Criswell was a showman.

• • Aric Karpinski wrote: Criswell went on to write newspaper columns and books, work in television, and take bit parts in the notoriously bad science-fiction movies of filmmaker Ed Wood.
• • Aric Karpinski wrote: Known for his spit-curled pompadour, sequined tuxedos, and stentorian speaking style, Criswell made his most famous forecast in March 1963 when he publicly predicted that outside forces would prevent the American President John F. Kennedy from running for re-election in 1964. …
• • Source: Detroit Design Magazine; published on Thursday, 26 February 2009.
• • On Sunday, 18 August 1935 • •
• • In 1935 the discovery of Mae West's marriage license was still big enough news that The Gleaner carried a story on 18 August 1935 saying that Frank Wallace and Trixie LeMae were visiting her mother, Lena Carey.
• • "Yesterday, incidentally, was Miss West's birthday," breathlessly revealed her former husband Frank Wallace to the news media, "and — — she was 42."
• • "The nerve of a brass monkey," was Mae West's response.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Even at the fourscore mark, Mae West remains a remarkable figure of a woman.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "I consider myself above changing. I haven't time to change. I'm not looking backward at what I've done or what success has come my way. The minute you do that and stand around on what's already come your way, you're headed back in the other direction."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • Photoplay Magazine interviewed Mae West.
• • Kirtley Baskette wrote: Probably someone just learned her true weight and got excited — — for Mae, in spite of those ample hills and dells, isn't a heavy woman. Once in her life she reached a hundred and thirty-five pounds — — but it was when she deliberately tried to get fat, during the Broadway "Diamond Lil" era.
• • Kirtley Baskette wrote: Since Mae West came to Hollywood, her weight has not varied by more than five pounds. Right now she's at a hundred and eighteen ...
• • Source: Photoplay Magazine; published in the issue dated July 1934
• • 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 18th anniversary • • 
• • Thank you for reading, sending questions, and posting comments during these past eighteen years. Not long ago, we entertained 3,497 visitors. And we reached a milestone recently when we completed 5,000 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started eighteen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 5,062nd 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: Psychic

During the 1950s, MAE WEST developed a professional relationship with two men who were born (like Mae) in the month of August — — but who didn't take tea together.
• • In 1955, while working on her new album The Fabulous Mae West, Mae West recorded a rather lame song — — "Criswell Predicts" — — about a rather lame psychic.
• • Who's this Criswell character?
• • All but forgotten, Jeron Criswell King [18 August 1907 — 4 October 1982], who was born Jeron Criswell Konig, was known by his stage-name The Amazing Criswell. Criswell was Mae's personal psychic for awhile. Curiously, Criswell was most famous for his inaccurate, bizarre, and hilariously improbable predictions. One prediction was that Mae West would be president — — another forecast was that Mae West would fly to the moon with Liberace.
• • "Criswell Predicts" was written — — at Mae's request — — by Bob Thompson [a native Californian who was born on 22 August 1924 in San Jose].
• • In the mid 1950s, Bob Thompson toured with Mae West and her entourage of musclemen. Impressed by Bob, Mae West demanded that he be her piano teacher.
• • After building a musical reputation playing with a big name like Mae West, Bob Thompson got his big break in 1958 with a record deal from RCA. Thompson was signed alongside Esquivel, Billy May, Nelson Riddle, and a crop of other musicians destined to be Hollywood stars.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
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