Mae West: Agent Apollo

When Helen Lawrenson came up to see MAE WEST, Esquire's first female journalist was closing in on her sixtieth birthday and the Brooklyn bombshell was 73. A color photo by Diane Arbus flashed across the double-page-spread, hunched under half the title as if warding off a punch in the nose.
• • In honor of  Helen Lawrenson's October birthday, enjoy her seldom seen interview. This is Part 2 of 46 parts.
• • "Mirror, Mirror, on the Ceiling: How'm I Doin’?" • •
• • Not bad, Mae, for a woman of seventy-three • •
• • It wasn’t easy to get to see Mae West in 1967 • •
• • Helen Lawrenson wrote: It wasn’t easy to get to see Mae West because she’s always been chary of interviews —“I never believed in givin’ ’em too much of me” —and even more so in the quarter century since her last movie, “The Heat’s On.”
• • Helen Lawrenson wrote: It took weeks of letter-writing, assuring her of my undying admiration (and I meant every word), and telephone calls to various intermediaries in Hollywood. Finally, through the auspices of her agent, a Mr. Fred Apollo, an appointment was set up. I was as nervous as if I were going to a royal levee, which, in a sense, it was.
• • Mae West: She lives in the same apartment since 1932 • • . . .  

• • Note: Nothing prepared Italian-American Fred Apollo for what he would experience during his twenty-five-year career as a talent agent at the famous William Morris Agency in Beverly Hills, California where he worked with legends during the latter half of their careers such as Mae West, Katharine Hepburn, Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, and others — — as well as with emerging artists from the start of their careers: Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson, Bill Cosby, Sonny and Cher, Bobby Darin, and Phyllis Diller.
• • Note: In his self-published memoir, Fred Apollo, mainly a TV agent who brokered the deal for Elvis Presley's first live appearance on Sunday, 9 September 1956 on The Ed Sullivan Show, said he was forced into this professional arrangement with an actress not known for television per se because Mae West refused to have a Jewish agent repping her.
• • Helen Lawrenson's interview will be continued on the next post with revealing quotes.
• • Source: Esquire; published on Saturday, 1 July 1967.
• • On Saturday, 13 October 1928 • •
• • On 13 October 1928, an item appeared in Billboard Magazine (on page 42) discussing how the NYC police had padlocked Mae's second homosexual play "Pleasure Man."  Billboard used the occasion of Mae's latest legal trouble to condemn her play, describing the script that focused on men in love as "an abomination."
• • Billboard wrote: "Pleasure Man" is prostitution of the rankest sort,  a flagrant attempt to capitalize filth and degeneracy and cash in on the resultant cheap publicity.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Those jools [sic] sported by La West are the genuine article, down to the last square-cut diamond, a fact attested to by the stalwart presence of three detectives on the set.  
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: “She who laughs lasts.”
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • Newspapers covered the brazen Mae West robbery in October 1935 on the front page.
• • Mae West Asked to "Come Up and See" G-agent in Extortion Plot • •
• • Mystery Occurs Short Time Before Actress Is to Release Picture • •
• • Suspect Taken as He Takes Money from Fronds of a Palm Tree • •
• • Los Angeles,  Oct. 8 — Joseph E. P. Dunn, department of justice agent, asked Mae West to come up and see him today about a reported extortion plot in which a suspect is being held in custody. ...
• • Miss Mae West was summoned to her studio to resume work on a picture at ten a. m.
• • As she drove away from her apartment, Miss West said: "Leave word for Joe Dunn that I'll be seein' him."
• • Seven men were taken into custody after a tense half-hour in the heart of Hollywood last night, during which police detectives, armed with sub-machine guns and sawed-off shotguns, surrounded a designated "pay-off" spot.
• • Subsequently, all but one man, who was booked on suspicion of extortion, were released.
• • Held was George Janios, 38, swarthy bus-boy in the studio restaurant at Fox. ...
• • Source: Clovis Evening News Journal; published on Tuesday, 8 October 1935
• • 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 16th anniversary • • 
• • Thank you for reading, sending questions, and posting comments during these past fifteen years. Not long ago, we entertained 3,497 visitors. And we reached a milestone recently when we completed 4,500 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started fifteen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 4,581st 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 • • with her agent in 1970 • •
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Mae West: Frank Bohm

From 1912 — 1916, MAE WEST had an ally in vaudeville: her well-connected booking agent Frank Bohm.
• • When the Brooklyn-born tough chick was 19 years old, she described herself as "a hard-boiled, wise-cracking kid, doing anything to get a laugh."
• • Born in Hungary in 1883/4, the 29-year-old booking agent at first struck Mae as brash and rude; when first introduced, he didn't even bother to remove his hat. But he was soon exerting his influence, cautioning her against being a sidewalk cut-up and giving away her good stuff for free.
• • And not long after, Mae was influencing Bohm; she confided that the married man (with a pregnant wife) was "in trouble" over her. Soon they were sitting in a Times Square restaurant having dinner when Frank Bohm presented Mae with a diamond ring as he implored her not to encourage a rival agent: Joseph M. Schenck, the Loew circuit booking manager.
• • Mae's career took flight under Frank Bohm. In 1912, he arranged for her to appear on sheet music for "Cuddle Up and Cling to Me" with the "Girard Boys." Shortly after, he encouraged her to go out as a single in variety, promising her $350 — $500 week. And knowing she was special in his eyes, Mae took full advantage of this stepping stone.
• • Mae West claimed that her father went into real estate when she signed with Frank Bohm.
• • When Guido Deiro and Mae were hot and heavy over each other, it was Bohm who was booking them both — — "engaged jointly as headline features" for 40 weeks on the prestigious Loew circuit.
• • Under Bohm's careful grooming, Mae transformed herself into a headliner for Manhattan's American Roof Theatre in January 1915 where she performed Sheldon Brooks's "Balling the Jack" and her trademark number "I've Got a Style All My Own."
• • Unfortunately, the agent who was so "generous, vital, and adoring" to Mae was cut down by tuberculosis of the spine when he was only 33. Frank Bohm died on 9 March 1916.
• • By March 1916, however, Mae West had fallen mightily off the wagon to the stars. From applauded headliner at a good theatre steps from Broadway in January 1915, by March 1916 Mae was slaving away at Pittsburgh's Victoria Theatre, performing in cheap, third-rate burlesque.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • 1912 • •
NYC
Mae West.