Mae West: Bio-Pic Chick

MAE WEST will be toasted this month in Brooklyn.  The occasion is the Mae West Fest at The West Cafe (379 Union Avenue) in the Greenpoint section of the borough.

• • The West Cafe announced their event like this: Art and performance extravaganza paying tribute to the playwright, novelist, producer, actor, and Brooklyn Bad Girl. Cash prizes will be awarded to performances, visual, or literary art that honor and interpret an illustrious career that stretched over eighty years.

• • When: Saturday, 19 May 2012 at 7 o'clock in the evening.

• • James Crabe [19 August 1931 — 2 May 1989] • •

• • When Mae West starred in "Sextette" [1978], the cinematography was done by James Crabe.

• • Born in Los Angeles, California on 19 August 1931, James Aubrey Crabe was the cinematographer for 56 projects beginning with "The Proper Time" [1960] and ending with a TV movie called "Baby M" [1988].

• • James Crabe died in Sherman Oaks, California of complications from AIDS in early May — — on 2 May 1989.  He was 57 years old.

• • Sidney Skolsky [2 May 1905 — 3 May 1983] • •

• • Writer Sidney Skolsky regularly interviewed Broadway personalities such as Mae West during the 1920s. Sidney Skolsky wrote an eyebrow-raising essay about her in "Times Square Tintypes" [1929].

• • Mae West stayed on good terms with Sidney Skolsky. He was an extra in her film "I'm No Angel," he wrote about her often in his column, he cheered when the Masquers honored her in April 1973, and he attended some of the seances Mae held at her Santa Monica, California beach house.

• • On Sunday, 2 May 1982 • •

• • In the United States the bio-pic "Mae West" was shown on TV on Sunday, 2 May 1982. Actress Ann Jillian was cast in the title role. To announce this, Chicago TV Week Magazine put a beautiful photo of Mae on their cover; this issue was dated for May 2nd, too.

• • On Sunday, 2 May 1982 in The N.Y. Times • •

• • Covering the Mae West bio-pic for The N.Y. Times, John J. O'Connor wrote: If nothing else, television biographies are remarkable for their sheer variety.  ... The viewer is advised at the outset that the script, written by E. Arthur Kean, is ''based on events in the life of the legendary Mae West.'' Legend, of course, doesn't necessarily have anything to do with truth. In this case, certain autobiographical facts are embellished with several of Miss West's more famous comments about life and sex (''When I'm good, I'm very good; when I'm bad, I'm better''), some of them taken out of their original performance context and delivered as passing conversation.   . . . Her detractors, however, are offered a measure of comfort in the depiction of her private love life as a mess. The wicked, presumably, will still be punished.  . . .

• • Released on 2 May 2008 • •

• • The film "Watch Viva," released on 2 May 2008, is about a bored housewife (played by actress Anna Biller) in 1972 who gets pulled into the sexual revolution.

• • There is a Japanese Mae West in the orgy scene who says, “Murray, peel me a grape!” (played by Anna Biller's Mom Sumiko).

• • On 2 May 2011 in People Magazine • •

• • Mae West appeared in People Magazine in their issue dated for 2 May 2011.

• • In Her Own Words • •

• • Mae West said: "The Brooklyn I was born in, near the end of the 19th century, was still a city of churches. ... Deer ran wild in Prospect Park ...."

• • Quote, Unquote • •

• •  An article on burlesque mentioned Mae West except Meghan Keneally got it wrong.

• •  The Daily Mail's Meghan Keneally stated:    A number of films brought burlesque to a mainstream audience, with several big stars bringing their name into the mix. Sex symbol Mae West starred in a film about the industry titled "I'm No Angel."  . . .

• • Source: Article: "The beauty of burlesque: Classic LIFE photographs capture glamour of risqué art during its pre-war heyday" written by Meghan Keneally for The Daily Mail [UK]; published on 13 December 2011  

• • By the Numbers • •

• • The Mae West Blog was started seven years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 2288th 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: Heinz Roemheld

Many composers worked to create the songs and lyrical motifs heard in MAE WEST's motion pictures. Heinz Roemheld wrote original music for "I'm No Angel" and "Klondike Annie," though he did not receive screen credit.

• • Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in May — — on 1 May 1901 — — Heinz Roemheld mastered the piano by age 4.  As a youth he performed in vaudeville theatres. 

• • The 24-year-old was noticed by Carl Laemmle in 1925 as he waved his baton to lead the orchestra during the Milwaukee Alhambra Theatre's screening of "The Phantom of the Opera."  During his varied career, he wrote all sorts of pieces that would be used in more than 400 motion pictures.  The five-foot-eight musician worked at Warner Brothers (1938 — 1945), United Artists (1946 — 1948), and Columbia (1949 — 1950), followed by freelance assignments. In 1948 he joined ASCAP.

• • The composer died from pneumonia in Huntington Beach, California on 11 February 1985.  Heinz Roemheld was 83.

• • On Friday, 1 May 1936 in Hollywood • •

• • It was on Friday, 1 May 1936, that Claude Shull, San Francisco Motion Picture Council, wrote to Paramount Pictures and sent  a copy of his dissatisfaction to Mae West.

• • Shull explained his viewpoint: "Any picture that presents its heroine as a mistress to an Oriental, then as a murderess, then as a cheap imitator of a missionary — — jazzing up religion — — is not in harmony with the other educational forces of our social set-up. And these elements are particularly objectionable when they are interspersed with smutty wise-cracks." Uh-oh.

• • On Tuesday, 1 May 1956 • •

• • "Mae West Says Every Man Has Sex Appeal," trumpeted the headlines around the country in Tuesday newspapers on 1 May 1956.

• • At the time, the Brooklyn bombshell was touring New York City's night clubs and hitting other venues with her muscleman act, and the press obliged by pumping out interviews.

• • Commenting that sometimes men who are not good-looking are even sexier than Clark Gable, Mae said, "Mr. Eisenhower's a leader, and a leader has drive and decision and power, and that makes a man a man."

• • "Adlai Stevenson and Estes Kefauver have got it, too," Mae said.

• • The actress added that she is "strictly nonpartisan" in her views on the male species.

• • On Thursday, 1 May 1997 in Interview Magazine • •

• • In their issue dated for Thursday, 1 May 1997 Interview Magazine saluted Mae West. This May-timed issue focused on a new biography that had made a splash – – penned by the California poet Emily Wortis Leider. A highly recommended biography this is.

• • Who said it best? • •

• • Mae West said: "It's not the men in my life — — it's the life in my men."

• • Adlai Ewing Stevenson II [1900 — 1965] said: To my way of thinking, it is not the years in your life but the life in your years that count in the long run. [Address at Princeton University, on 22 March 1954.]

• • Mae West Trivia • •

• • Hartford, Connecticut — In 1938 about 30,000 people crowded the streets to get a glimpse of movie star Mae West when she appeared in the city to promote safe driving.

• • In Her Own Words • •

• • Mae West said: "It's all in fun."

• • Quote, Unquote • •

• • An article on safe driving mentioned Mae West.

• • The Pittsburgh Post Gazette stated:  Mae West, soon to be seen in Paramount's "Go West Young Man," today has added her name to the list of American citizens actively participating in the campaign for safe driving.  Miss West received an honorary card as a member of the Safety Club of Tampa, Florida from W.B. Bell . . . .

• • Source: Article: "Mae West Becomes Safety Campaigner" written for The Pittsburgh Post Gazette; published on 15 November 1936 

• • By the Numbers • •

• • The Mae West Blog was started seven years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 2287th 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 • •  1933 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest
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