Mae West: Richard Allen

MAE WEST starred in "Klondike Annie" and Richard Allen was seen as a miner.
• • Richard Allen [10 June 1871 — 1 November 1940] • •
• • Born in Crawfordsville, Indiana on 10 June 1871, Frank Richard Allen was trained for the stage.  By 1913, the 42-year-old was popping up in amusing screen shorts and transitioned to talkies in 1934. Casting directors placed him in minor authority roles: private investigator, policeman, detective, court bailiff, morgue guard, train conductor, doorman.
• • From 1913 — 1940, he was in 32 feature films. Dick Allen died in NYC's borough of the Bronx on 1 November 1940.  He was 69.

• • Texas Guinan [12 January 1884 — 5 November 1933] • •
• • Born in Waco, Texas  on 12 January 1884, Mary Louise Cecilia "Texas" Guinan played a gun-slinger and rode bareback in silent films, took New York by storm in 1906, and earned a salary of $700,000 as a speakeasy hostess. The versatile stage star led a noisy and joyful life at full speed until Sunday, 5 November 1933. One month later, Prohibition was repealed.
• • A good friend to Mae West who invested in her Broadway shows, Texas also held seances with her.
• • Texas Guinan is one of several strong roles for actresses in the play "Courting Mae West" based on true events during the Prohibition Era.  Producers and aspiring stars, take note.
• • On Wednesday, 5 November 1930 • •
• • "A prizefighter's tart" who enjoys black men as well as Caucasians, Babe Gordon, the frisky blonde teenage protagonist, was Mae's idea of an uptown temptress, footloose, fearless, and unfettered in Harlem.
• • The novel "Babe Gordon" by Mae West was published in New York City by The Macaulay Company on Wednesday, 5 November 1930.
• • On Saturday, 5 November 1932 • •
• • On Saturday, 5 November 1932, a cable was wired to Colonel Joy.  It assured him that Zukor and Hertz promised that they will abandon "Diamond Lil" and will make an announcement to that effect tonight. [Hmmm. We know how that turned out.]
• • On Wednesday, 5 November 1969 in Ithaca • •
• • On Wednesday, 5 November 1969 Cornell University students were treated to a  screening of "My Little Chickadee" starring Mae West and W.C. Fields at 7:00 pm and again at 9:15 pm. Details were announced in The Cornell Daily Sun on page 10.
• • On Monday, 5 November 1991 in London • •
• • Marybeth Hamilton gave a lecture "The Rise of Mae West" in London on Monday, 5 November 1991. Don't you wish you had been there?
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "I see good in every man. That's why I'm not married."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • A review in Slate mentioned Mae West.
• • Melanie Rehak wrote: Lyle Talbot was cast in pictures with Carole Lombard, with whom he also had one of many (many!) affairs; Bette Davis; Humphrey Bogart; Barbara Stanwyck (in Talbot’s marvelous words, a woman “who seemed to be built for quick escapes and tight corners”); James Cagney; Mae West; and countless other stars of the 1930s. They were all, it seems, utterly charmed by him, and he by them. As he recalled many years later about “Miss West”: “She’d say, in that voice, ‘Where are you gonna have lunch? I think I’ll have a hamburger,’ and she’d sound, you know, like Mae West.” ...
• • Source: Excerpt from book review: "A Seeker After Beauty, Wherever It Might Be Found" written by Melanie Rehak for Slate; posted on Friday, 2 November 2012

• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started eight years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 2475th 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 • • 1930 • •
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Mae West: Bad Reputation

MAE WEST told a Hollywood scribe, "Honey, I've always got a new trick. Come up and see me sometime, and bring an old dog with you."
• • John C. Moffitt wrote: "From which remark it will be seen that interviewing Mae is more than a passive adventure in journalism."  But Johnny boy knew the Brooklyn bombshell would be good for a sumptuous sound byte because he had had in-depth chats with her before.  [During one startling early conversation with Mr. Moffitt, Mae revealed details about her sexual encounters with various male teachers.  No wonder she left school early.]  

• • "A bad reputation . . ." • •
• • John C. Moffitt continued: "Without throwing too much ice water on those who predict that Mae is through, it is wise to recall that she enjoyed (the word is used advisedly) as bad a reputation when she made her big success as she does now.  She had not only been the star but also the author of plays that had been denounced from pulpits and viewed with alarm from many rostrums."
• • Three columns later, John C. Moffitt concludes his narrative with this sentence: Mae West arrived in Hollywood on a "coffee and cakes" contract and she lost no time becoming the biggest moneymaker in the history of the talkies, the one bright financial star in the long dark night of Hollywood's depression.
• • This excerpt hits just a few highlights in John Moffitt's long article. Come back another time to read more.
• • Source:  "The Experts Derided Mae West" written by John C. Moffitt and reprinted in The Straits Times (page 4); published on Sunday, 4 November 1934.
• • Edward F. Cline [4 November 1891 — 22 May 1961] • •
• • Born on Wednesday, 4 November 1891 in Kenosha, Wisconsin, Edward F. Cline entered the world of cinema as an actor with Keystone in 1913, where he encountered a rotund juggler from Pennsylvania, William Claude Dukenfield.
• • As the director of "My Little Chickadee" [1940], Cline's insistence on having his stars adhere to the script irked Fileds; the former vaudevillian preferred spontaneity.  Cline had objected to ad-libbing because it caused the crew to snicker and chuckle. In fact, one time Cline's sudden burst of loud laughter necessitated a quick cut at the end of one of Fields's barroom scenes. Cline also directed "The Bank Dick," a comedy starring W.C. Fields. He followed up by directing "Never Give a Sucker an Even Break" [1941].
• • Edward Francis Cline died on Monday, 22 May 1961.  He was 69.
• • On Wednesday, 4 November 1931 • •
• • After enormous effort, on Wednesday, 4 November 1931 the final curtain came down at the Royale Theatre on "The Constant Sinner" starring and written by Mae West.
• • Set in Harlem, the play opened on 14 September 1931 and ran for 64 performances on Broadway.
• • On Friday, 4 November 1932 • •
• • The L.A. Times reported that the Hayes Office did not approve of "Diamond Lil" as a screenplay, however, Mae West would be starring in a new picture "Honky-Tonk." A few weeks later, on Friday, 4 November 1932, readers learned that project had been scrapped.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "There is nothing better in life than diamonds except maybe health."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • An article in the N.Y. Observer discussed Mae West.
• • Robert Gottlieb explained: Celebrate Mae West or mock her, you can only feel sympathy for this game (and gamy) woman now that she's been discovered by academia. First, she was taken up by the genderists — — wasn't she "empowered"? Didn't she fight for her rights as Independent Woman and prevail? She battled the censors, she battled the moguls, she defied the police (she and the whole cast of her play "Sex" were thrown in jail, where she seems to have had a good time). Like Catherine the Great — — whom she impersonated on Broadway — — she chewed men up and spat them out. And most important of all, she never allowed anyone — — whether in a professional or personal relationship — — to compromise her great creation, "Mae West." As much as any woman of the 20th century, she took control of her life and kept it: an essential feminist heroine, and rightly so. ...
• • Source: Excerpt from a Book Review: "Come Up and Signify Me: Mae West Meets Academia" written by Robert Gottlieb, The New York Observer; posted on 4 November 2001

• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started eight years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 2474th 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 • • 1934 • •
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Mae West: Sandy Stayed

Hurricane Sandy touched down in the hometown of MAE WEST with a charm lethal enough to disarm a nation.  By the time she fully unpacked her bag of surprises, though, she was "Aunt Sandy" (because no one could tolerate such a virago under one's very own roof for that long unless she was a blood relative).
• • Sandy was demanding. She absorbed all the electrical power, she misled sailors, she seduced strangers so much that they took her photo and posted it on Twitter. She was a train wreck of a storm, smashing store windows, flooding the subway, redecorating restaurants, closing supermarkets, tossing around boats like pennies, making New York neighborhoods and beachfronts hell on earth.  Just when people were comparing her behavior to the most outrageous diva, she gave a last wave and moved to the next town.  Fickle. 
• • And now, dear Readers . . . uh, where were we?

• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started eight years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 2473rd 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
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