Mae West: Jan Duggan

MAE WEST starred in "My Little Chickadee" [1940] and W.C. Fields brought Jan Duggan on board to play an uppity Little Bend woman who disapproved of Flower Belle Lee.
• • Jan Duggan [6 November 1881 — 10 March 1977] • •
• • Born in St. Louis, Missouri in November, Genevieve L. Duggan took the stage name Jan Duggan. In July 1933, she was cast as the Bowery Nightingale in a Los Angeles revival of "The Drunkard" at the Theatre Mart. By then the play was 90 years old, having first enjoyed success before a New York City audience when it was produced by P.T. Barnum under the title "The Drunkard or The Fallen Saved." One of the West Coast ticket-buyers who returned to see it repeatedly (nearly three dozen times, actually) was W.C. Fields [1880 — 1946], who hired certain cast members to reprise their roles in his cinematic remake "The Old-Fashioned Way" [1934].  
• • In 1934 Jan Duggan made her screen debut playing the widow Cleopatra Pepperday opposite Fields, who gave her supporting roles in some of his comedies. One year younger than Fields, the five-foot-eight actress had honed her comic chops on the stage and quickly became one of his regulars.
• • Unfortunately, age mitigated against her. From 1934 — 1943, she was used only in 36 feature films.  Perhaps, newly burnished by her Tinseltown sheen, she returned to the stage.
• • Jan Duggan died in Anaheim, California on 10 March 1977. She was 95.
• • Milton Drake [3 August 1916 — 13 November 2006] • •
• • Mae West sung "Willie of the Valley" in "My Little Chickadee" [1940]. Though the songwriter was uncredited, he was Milton Drake.
• • Born in New York City as Milton Druckman on 3 August 1916, Milton Drake was one of four children in a family that had emigrated from Romania (the Transylvania region).
• • During the 1930s, Milton lived in Hollywood and wrote songs for motion pictures. In 1940, he wrote "Willie of the Valley" with Ben Oakland [1907 — 1979] for the film "My Little Chickadee" and this had the distinction of being the only number in the movie and it was sung by Mae West herself.
• • Milton Drake passed away in Palm Beach, Florida on Monday, 13 November 2006. He was 90.
• • On Monday, 13 November 1933 • •
• • "I'm No Angel" starring Mae West and featuring Cary Grant was at the Strand Theatre in Ithaca, NY.  An article on this new release appeared in the section "The Screen." It was published in The Cornell Daily Sun, Volume 54, Number 43, on Monday, 13 November 1933.
• • On Friday, 13 November 1936 • •
• • "Mae West will go to Egypt to make a harem picture if she accepts the offer of a fez-wearing movie director from Cairo, who has been interviewing her for the past week," wrote a publicist from Paramount Pictures. It was sent out on Friday the 13th (13 November 1936).
• • On Thursday, 13 November 1975 • •
• • The book "Films of Mae West" written by Jon Tuska was published  by Citadel Press in the USA on Thursday, 13 November 1975. An excellent title to own.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said:  "Yes, it's kind of a nice thought to be flying all over with brave men, even if I'm only there by proxy in the form of a life-saving jacket, or a life-saving jacket in my form. I always thought that the best way to hold a man was in your arms — — but I guess when you're in the air a plane is safer."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • An article published in November 1954 interviewed Mae West.
• • The NY correspondent wrote: Mae gets away with it in the most extraordinary manner. At an age when most women are knitting socks for grandchildren, she is still capering about, parodying sex, making deliberate fun of it in a vulgar, "kidding" way that still brings in the men to make up the substantial other part of her audience.  And it is more than thirty years since she started getting away with it on the national stage. ...
• • Source: Article: "At 62, Mae West Now Brings Women Flocking To Learn From The Girl With IT" for The Sun-Herald (Sydney, NSW); published on Sunday, 7 November 1954 

• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started eight years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 2484th 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: Rad Robinson

MAE WEST starred in "Belle of the Nineties" and Rad Robinson was heard during the song "Troubled Waters."
• • Rad Robinson [11 November 1910 — 10 November 1994] • •

• • Born in Bountiful, Utah in November, Radburn Brown Robinson developed his voice and became a professional baritone. His association with The King's Men quartet was his primary profession, beginning in 1930. During the 1930s, The King's Men performed in motion pictures; they were also a feature of the Paul Whiteman Orchestra on RCA records and the Kraft Music Hall. 
• • From 1929 — 1953, Rad Robinson was seen onscreen as a singing cowboy a few times and he also was hired for his voice and used in nearly two dozen Hollywood films.
• • Rad Robinson had a heart attack.  He died in Las Vegas, Nevada on  20 September 1988.  He was 77.
• • Rudolf Friml [7 December 1879 — 12 November 1972] • •
• • Playing opposite Ed Wynn in Arthur Hammerstein's "Sometime," with music by Rudolf Friml, Mae West performed the shimmy for an appreciative Broadway audience.
• • Born in Prague on 7 December 1879, Friml was a pianist, violinist, and composer. When Victor Herbert refused to compose a new operetta for the temperamental diva Emma Trentini, the assignment went to Friml. "The Firefly" [1912] became a popular hit, and Friml went on to compose twenty Broadway scores — — including one for a long-running hit that featured Mae West — — and two original screen musicals
• • Rudolf Friml died in Los Angeles during the month of November — — on Sunday, 12 November 1972.  He was 92.
• • On Saturday, 12 November 1927 • •
• • Billboard commented on Saturday, 12 November 1927 about Mae West's play "The Wicked Age." Their remarks were exceedingly unkind.
• • On Thursday, 12 November 1964 • •
• • Hal Humphrey's article, "Charlie and Mae Together Again," ran in The Los Angeles Times on Thursday, 12 November 1964.
• • On Friday, 12 November 2010 • •
• • On Friday, 12 November 2010, The City Commons Club of Berkeley offered a program on Mae West at their luncheon. Jennifer King spoke about "Mae West, America's Actress, Dancer, and Entertainer Extraordinaire" in the Venetian Room of the lovely Julia Morgan City Club in Berkeley, California.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "I have just seen that RAF flyers have a life-saving jacket they call a 'Mae West' because it bulges in all the right places. Well, I consider it a swell honor to have such great guys wrapped up in me, know what I mean?"
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • A column on current entertainment mentioned Mae West.
• • News Of The Drama And Screen — — At the State Theatre Today • •
• • Sandusky Register wrote: With all the traditional fireworks of the old wild West, Mae West appears in her new November release and she's charged with the difficult task of bettering her first release "She Done Him Wrong," which placed her on the top rung of the current cinematic stars. It is a modern setting here, concocted to show Miss West presenting herself in the picturesque characterization of a carnival dancer. When she becomes a lion tamer, and has nerve enough to enters a cage with savage beasts and put her head in the lion's mouth, she becomes a sensation in New York. There she captivates society. She sings five new songs and dances a glorified shimmy number known as the hootchy cootchy.  Her supporting cast is headed by Cary Grant as her tall, dark, handsome suitor. Kent Taylor, Edward Arnold, Gregory Ratoff, Ralf Harolde, Gertrude Michael, Russell Hopton, and William B. Davidson also have prominent roles.  ...
• • Source: Item (on page 2) Sandusky Register, Ohio; published on Sunday, 12 November 1933 

• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started eight years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 2483rd 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: Louis Nizer

Louis Nizer's death notice, printed in the month of November, mentioned he had once represented MAE WEST.
• • Louis Nizer [6 February 1902 — 10 November 1994] • •
• • Born in London, Louis Nizer [6 February 1902 — 10 November 1994] was a noted Jewish-American trial lawyer and senior partner of the law firm Phillips Nizer Benjamin Krim and Ballon.
• • As a trial lawyer, Louis Nizer made himself an authority on contract, copyright, libel, divorce, plagiarism and antitrust law, and various legal matters involving the entertainment world. His celebrity clients included Mae West, Johnny Carson, Charlie Chaplin, Salvador Dali, Eddie Fisher, Alan Jay Lerner, basketball star Julius Erving, and Spyros Skouros, once board chairman of 20th Century Fox films. 
• • Louis Nizer died in NYC on Thursday, 10 November 1994.  He was 92.
• • Jerome Kern [27 January 1885 — 11 November 1945] • •
• • Mae West was cast in "A Winsome Widow," a 1912 Broadway success.
• • Produced by Florenz Ziegfeld, Jr., "A Winsome Widow" had several numbers created by a diverse group of songwriters and composers, for instance, Jerome Kern, then 27 years old.
• • A native New Yorker like Mae West, Jerome Kern was a composer of musical theatre and popular music who was raised in Manhattan. One of the most important American theatre composers of the early 20th century, he wrote more than 700 songs, used in over 100 stage works, including such classics as "Ol' Man River," "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man," "A Fine Romance," "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes," "All the Things You Are," "The Way You Look Tonight," "Long Ago (and Far Away)," "Who?" — — and songs intended to be performed in "A Winsome Widow" by Mae West.
• • On 5 November 1945, Jerome Kern suffered a cerebral hemorrhage while walking at the south west corner of Park Avenue and 57th street, apparently in search of a drugstore for the pills he depended on, but had forgotten to bring with him. He died six days later on Sunday, 11 November 1945. He was 60.
• • On Tuesday, 11 November 1913 • •
• • Mae West's vaudeville routine was noticed by an entertainment critic for the Philadelphia Times, where some quotes appeared on Tuesday, 11 November 1913.
• • On Friday, 11 November 1932 • •
• • Behind the scenes, a tug-of-war was going on in Tinseltown. On one hand, Will Hays argued that Mae West would bring blantant indecency to the silver screen. On the other hand, studio executives sensed there was money to be made.  Fortunately,  two men obligated to enforce the code — — Jason Joy, who was the head of the Committee until 1932, and his successor Dr. James Wingate — — were fairly ineffective.  Nevertheless, the letters flew.
• • On Friday, 11 November 1932, James Wingate wrote a warning to Mr. McKenzie: "The basic story of Ruby Red is Diamond Lil." Moreover, "If the picture went through this way it would be recognized as the old story and looked upon as a subterfuge and a violation of the agreement ..."  
• • On Monday, 11 November 1996 • •
• • An article by Claudia Roth Pierpont — — "The Strong Woman: What Was Mae West Really Fighting For" — — was printed (page 105) in The New Yorker's issue dated for Monday, 11 November 1996.
• • On Sunday, 11 November 2012 • •

• • In 1918, on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, an armistice (that is, a truce) between Germany and the Allied nations came into effect. Then in the USA in 1919, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed the 11th of November as Armistice Day to honor the heroism of military personnel from the United States who gave their lives for their country. 
• • On 13 May 1938, an Act of Congress was approved making November 11th a legal holiday known as Armistice Day or Veterans Day.
• • During the second World War, Americans were asked to join together to fight Hitler and stem the tide of Nazism. During this conflict, a flotation device was named for Hollywood star Mae West. New York City holds a parade today on Fifth Avenue for our veterans. Many will be watching.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "Don't you see how my life is?  I gotta top myself in my pictures and I gotta watch myself in everything else. My private life has gotta be a model."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • An item on auto shows mentioned Mae West.
• • New York Magazine wrote: On view through November 12th . . . and cars from the garages of Mae West, Delores del Rio, and Arthur Godfrey. ...
• • Source: Item: New York Magazine; published on Monday, 6 November 1972

• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started eight years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 2482nd 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 • • holding the vest named for her in 1952 • •
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