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May you have an a-MAE-zing year ahead! 
• • Mae West rang in her banner New York year, 1928, with a one-night stand, hosting a nightclub, a la Texas Guinan, at Club Deauville — — then located at Park Avenue and East 59th Street [the night of December 31, 1927 — January 1, 1928].
• • During the Prohibition Era, Mae West had bought a townhouse for herself — — at 266 West End Avenue — — shortly before she moved to Hollywood. She lived there with her sister Beverly, whose Russian husband had divorced her over a scandal related to the out-of-town premiere [Bridgeport, Connecticut] of Mae's gay play "The Drag." There was an arrest at the Arcade Hotel and Beverly West along with director Edward Elsner were charged with "disorderly conduct" [i.e., being drunk]. The police action made headlines. Uh-oh!
• • A happier topic would be Mae's old haunts — — the neighborhood known as the Upper West Side [stretching roughly from West 61st to West 76th Street]. This is the single-most-star-studded area in Manhattan, according to the "Star Sleuth" Larry "Wolfe" Horwitz. Within this neighborhood is an area that Larry Horwitz has labeled a Star Walk: a ten-block strip along Central Park West that contains "the greatest concentration of movie stars and other celebrities anywhere in the world," according to him.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • circa 1930 • •
NYC
Mae West.
"MAE WEST, author, loses her pianist," noted Variety [8 September 1922]. 
• • In 1922, Harry Richman — — born in August 1895 — — was an unknown when Mae West gave him a big break. According to one biographer, Richman was an obscure piano man when Jim Timony approached the bachelor about auditioning as Mae's accompanist — — and to fill in entertaining the crowd while she changed her costume. Examining the 27-year-old beanpole with apprehension, Mae asked, "Are you versatile?" She hired the tall, debonair pianist with a pronounced lisp and they were soon performing together on the ritzy B.F. Keith vaudeville circuit. Despite his speech impediment, Mae urged Richman to sing and speak during their routine. "That lisp is distinctive," she said. "It could be the makin' of ya." And, sure enough, wherever their act was booked, the pair got excellent reviews. 
• • Ungrateful for the mega media exposure Mae had afforded him, Harry split with her and joined Texas Guinan's friend, singer Nora Bayes, in her act. However, as this clipping shows, Mae and Harry reunited and appeared together in April 1923 at the Colonial Theatre [1887 Broadway at West 62nd Street, not far from the stretch that is now known as Central Park West].
• • Entertainer Harry Richman [10 August 1895 – 3 November 1972] was an actor, a singer, dancer, comedian, pianist, songwriter, bandleader, and cabaret performer. He was born Harold Reichman in Cincinnati, Ohio.
• • In 1966, his autobiography A Hell of a Life was published. In it he recounts his private and public relationship with Mae West.
• • Enrich your Harry Richman and Mae West memories on Friday evening 17 August 2007, when a guided tour will explore Manhattan's WEST-side during the "Mae West Side Story" walking tour. The event — — open to the public — — is timed to salute Brooklyn's own sexpot on her birthdate. [See the Annual Mae West Gala posting below.]• • Only 14 more days until Mae's birthday!
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West's venue, Colonial Theatre • • c. 1905 • •
NYC
Mae West.
MAE WEST was arrested on 9 February 1927 along with the cast of "Sex" and the cast of "The Captive." Snooty Basil Rathbone, who died in July [on 21 July 1967 in New York, NY], was cuffed and brought downtown to Jefferson Market Police Court along with Helen Menken and their co-stars. 
• • Born in South Africa on 13 June 1892, Basil Rathbone was one year older than Mae West — — but in his mind, he was worlds apart even though they were both starring on Broadway in 1927.
• • During the 1920s, most of Basil Rathbone's work was in the legitimate theater. For many of his Broadway roles he portrayed a suave, sophisticated seducer of women — — quite a change from the legendary ascetic Baker Street detective he would play later in his career.
• • Making a sensation at the Empire Theatre [on Broadway and West 40th Street] was a drama that had been highly regarded in Paris: "The Captive." Basil Rathbone was cast in the role of Jacques Virieu, a young man engaged to be married, only to discover that his fiancée [played by Helen Menken] is in love with someone else — — a woman. Since homosexuality was such a controversial topic during the Roaring Twenties, the entire cast was charged with offending public morals, and the play was closed.
• • Rathbone was very angry about the censorship of his work, but even more aggrieved that show people would start whispering that he was arrested and booked — — with Mae West.
• • For years, Basil Rathbone and his wife made their home at 135 Central Park West. Mae lived in several westside locations, occasionally not far from Rathbone. But there is no record of their taking tea together to reminisce over their arrest on indecency charges in 1927.• • Brush up on your Mae West lines right on Broadway on Friday evening 17 August 2007, when a guided tour will explore Manhattan's WEST-side during the "Mae West Side Story" walking tour. The event — — open to the public — — is timed to salute Brooklyn's own sexpot on her birthdate. [See the Annual Mae West Gala posting below.]• • Only 18 more days until Mae's birthday!
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West's partners in crime, Rathbone and Menken • • 1926 • •
NYC
Mae West.
During the infamous "Sex" trial in March-April 1927, MAE WEST was living in Manhattan at an apartment hotel near Daly's 63rd Street Theatre.
• • Built in 1927 by Emery Roth, the Mayflower Hotel [15 Central Park West at W. 61st Street] overlooked Central Park on one side and Broadway on the other. Rising to a height of 195 feet, the 15-story hotel offered spectacular views of Columbus Circle and beyond.
• • Other actors had followed Mae West into the lobby. Before Robert DeNiro moved to Tribeca, he lived at the Mayflower Hotel. DeNiro's buddy Joe Pesci also called the Mayflower home once. And when he starred in the Broadway production of "Sugar Babies," Mickey Rooney stayed there for a while - - before moving to a livelier hostelry.
• • Since 1987, the "modernized" building - - stripped of its original terracotta ornamentation - - had squatted on an entire city block [zipcode 10023] bounded by Central Park West and Broadway between West 61st and West 62nd, a red flag tempting bullish developers and the bulldozers they live for.
• • In 2005, the hotel on Central Park West was demolished leaving a hefty 1.3-acre parcel open to speculation.
• • Now word comes that Denzel Washington and Sting have bought apartments at the new building being constructed at 15 Central Park West.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/________
Source:http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xmlMae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West's former home • • circa 1938 • •
NYC
Mae West.
