Mae West: Jack Cheatham

MAE WEST starred in her show "Diamond Lil" — — and both the original Broadway cast in 1928 and the first West Coast touring company included actor Jack Cheatham.
• • Reviewing the Bowery melodrama of the 1890s for The New York Sun, man-on-the-aisle Richard Lockridge offered a lengthy commentary to his theatre-going readers. 
• • Critic Richard Lockridge wrote: The big seduction scene, acted with some of the finest trembling the dramatic art has yet produced, reduced an altogether friendly audience to quaking chuckles. And, since the scene is set in what everybody likes to try to think of as the Bowery thirty years ago, the extreme of undress shows Miss West in an amply protective and very, funny corset. The corset was one of the high comedy points. Another was the quite excruciating stampede of everyone to the street on the report that a horse-less carriage was passing.  ... Miss West is vibrant and enlivening through it all, ...
• • Source: Review: "The Return of a Native in 'Diamond Lil'" written by Richard Lockridge for The New York Sun (page 22); published on Tuesday, 10 April 1928.
• • Jack Cheatham [28 December 1894 — 30 March 1971] • •
• • Born in Jackson, Mississippi on Friday, 28 December 1894 was a baby boy called John Preston Cheatham. He must have had some stage training before Mae West, in 1928, cast the 34-year-old as Spider Kane, a bouncer in Gus Jordan's saloon. After Mae's Broadway blitz ended, Jack Cheatham was attached to the comedy-mystery "Straight Thru the Door" written by William Hodge, which had a brief production at the 49th Street Theatre [October — November 1928]. After Hodge's play closed ended, Jack Cheatham was available to rejoin Mae West and the cast for their West Coast engagement in San Francisco and Los Angeles.
• • No doubt his credits in the legit, and his California exposure, led to his new career as a screen actor, which began with the motion picture "Arizona" [1931], where he was seen as an Army football coach. Despite a handful of supporting roles that held out hope, casting agents seem to have decided the newcomer was no more than a bit parts player. His serious look and substantial build opened the door to enforcer roles that required the presence of a gent who wore a uniform well. Jack Cheatham often portrayed a constable, cop, police dispatcher, police guard,  Homicide Squad Member, and Police Officer Kennedy. He also got to play a rum runner, racing official, telegrapher, and reporter onscreen.
• • From 1931 — 1949, he was in 181 feature films. Armed with his Broadway resume and stage training, Jack Cheatham perhaps expected he'd do better in Tinseltown. Yet he would gradually discover his destiny was one brief and uncredited tidbit after another. A limited Hollywood horizon.
• • He died of heart failure in La Mirada, California on 30 March 1971. He was 76.
• • On Sunday, 28 December 1919 on Broadway • •
• • It was Sunday, 28 December 1919 and Mae West was very busy in Manhattan — — double-booked, in fact.
• • The 26-year-old "firefly of vaudeville" was appearing that night at the Lyric Theatre [on 42nd Street, west of Broadway]. Sharing the Lyric bill with her were these entertainers: Eugene and Willie, the Howard Brothers; Carl McCullough; the 4 Haley Sisters; and "8 other favorite acts."
• • On the same night, Mae West performed at the 44th Street Theatre [near Broadway]. On the program was the top-billed act — — Sophie Tucker and Her Kings of Syncopation — — along with Ames and Winthrop, Mae West, Riggs and Witchie, and "8 other favorite acts."
• • On Sunday, 28 December 1969 • •
• • John Kobal wrote an article "Mae Queen" about movie star Mae West. The piece was published in Britain in the Sunday Times Magazine [UK] on Sunday, 28 December 1969.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "I am a showman. I know that the public wants sex in their entertainment and I give it to them." 
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • An article about New Year's Eve in 1934 mentioned Mae West.
• • It was on Friday, 28 December 1934 that the good folks in The Yellowhammer State were anticipating another visit from Mae West.
• • The announcement in the local paper The Star read: The glamorous Mae West returns to the Ritz Theater screen Monday night [31 December 1934] as the star of the featured attraction being shown at the New Year's Eva gala which begins at 11:30 pm. Hats, horns, serpentine, and balloons will add to the enjoyment of the party. ...
• • Source: The Star used to be published in Anniston, Alabama — — the heart of Dixie.
• • By the Numbers • • 
• • The Mae West Blog was started eight years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 2529th 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 • • 1928 • •
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Mae West: Kathleen Key

MAE WEST starred in "Klondike Annie" [1936] and Kathleen Key was briefly seen as a dance hall girl.
• • Kathleen Key [1 April 1903 — 22 December 1954] • •
• • Born in Buffalo, New York on 1 April 1903, a sweet little girl came into this world as Kitty Lanahan. The petite and pretty charmer launched her celluloid dreams in 1920 when she was 17 years old.  Key was the great-great granddaughter of Francis Scott Key, composer of "The Star Spangled Banner" and she played her grandmother in the short film "The Story of the Star Spangled Banner" [1921].  In 1923, she became one of the ingenues known as a "WAMPAS Baby Star." Regularly employed during the 1920s, Kathleen Key purchased a duplex in Hollywood; supposedly the budget-conscious actress lived in one side and rented the other.
• • Career-minded and ambitious, during the late 1920s, Kathleen Key had a romance going with silent film star Buster Keaton, who was a married man.  Marion Meade, in her  biography of the "Old Stone Face," offered a poignant anecdote.  When Buster Keaton tried to end the affair and refused to pay her off, Key was enraged and trashed his MGM dressing room. One of Keaton's buddies heard about the uproar and wired him: "Congratulations. Hear you are off Key."
• • From 1920 — 1936, Kathleen Key was in 33 feature films.
• • Cast in substantial supporting roles during the silent era, after 1929 she realized that she was now being relegated to insignificant uncredited bits.  Her tantrum in Keaton's trailer had gotten her blacklisted by the film industry. "One Rainy Afternoon" [1936] was her final role and it is an interesting footnote that she worked with Mae West castmate Donald Meek in this picture; Meek went on to play the role of Amos Budge in "My Little Chickadee" [1940].
• • Kathleen Key died in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California on Wednesday, 22 December 1954. She was 51.
• • On Monday, 27 December 1937 • •
• • "Every Day's a Holiday" starring Mae West was reviewed (on page 8) for Film Daily on Monday, 27 December 1937.
• • On Friday, 28 December 2012 • •
• • Those who appreciate the females who were stars during Hollywood's golden age will enjoy the documentary film "Screen Goddesses" (David Thompson, director) on Friday, 28 December 2012 on BBC4 at 1:30 AM.
• • According to Patrick Mulkern, who has seen this footage already: From saintly Lillian Gish to sassy Mae West, exotic Marlene Dietrich to enigmatic Greta Garbo, via tough cookies Bette Davis and Joan Crawford and viperish Barbara Stanwyck, Hollywood produced a pantheon of divine women, whose “immortality” is only confirmed by the passage of time.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "A woman has got to love a bad man once or twice in her life to be thankful for a good one." 
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • A book on Howard Hughes mentioned Mae West and Marlene Dietrich.
• • Marlene Dietrich [27 December 1901 — 6 May 1992] was a German-born American actress and singer.
• • Darwin Porter wrote: The following night, Ida Lupino returned home breathlessly to tell Howard, "I met Marlene Dietrich, Mae West, Carole Lombard, and Claudette Colbert at a luncheon today."  ... 
• • Source: Book: "Howard Hughes: Hell's Angel" written by Darwin Porter; published in 2005  
• • By the Numbers • • 
• • The Mae West Blog was started eight years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 2528th 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 • • castmate (c. 1920s) • •
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Mae West: She Whips 'em Off

In 1946, MAE WEST was appearing onstage in "Come On Up" during the Christmas holidays, delighting her Midwest fan base.
• • When She Whips 'em Off • •
• • On Thursday, 26 December 1946, The Milwaukee Sentinel wrote: "It cannot be said that 'Come On Up' is not on the corny side, but it is cheerful, crude, well-plowed corn, grown that way on purpose.  Many women in the audience giggled delightedly ... Miss West's wisecracks are good in spots and almost always seem to be funny when she whips them off."
• • On Sunday, 26 December 2004 • •
• • Pat Jordan wrote: Between serving in the Navy during World War II and again during the Korean War, Joe Gold (born 1922) lived as a beach bum in Santa Monica, alternating work in the merchant marine as a machinist's mate with play on the beach. It was there, after Korea, that he heard about a casting call for a Las Vegas revue starring Mae West. When Gold and a few of his fellow bodybuilders visited Mae West's apartment, she looked them over and said, ''I'll take all of you.''
• • Pat Jordan added: After Gold finished his cross-country tour with Mae West, he soon returned to Santa Monica, where he used his machinist's skills to design and build his own sophisticated weight-lifting equipment. In 1965 he opened the first Gold's Gym . ...
• • Source: Article: "Body by Joe" written by Pat Jordan for The NY Times Magazine; published on Sunday, 26 December 2004.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "I'm health-minded. If you take care of your health and you're interested in positive thinkin' you'll be okay." 
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • Motion Picture Daily mentioned Mae West.
• • Motion Picture Daily wrote: New Orleans, Sept. 21, 1934 — The Tribune, morning publication, prints this anent the Mae West midnight preview at the Saenger:  "In all my days I never saw such a stampede to get into a movie theatre as the one put on at the Saenger to see Mae West's latest picture. They broke doors, pushed out glasses, tore down railings, stampeded over fainting women and cursed and yelled during the rampage. Some persons stood in line for at least two hours  — — and some even went so far as to threaten physical injury if they were not permitted to crowd inside  — — Mae, herself, would have enjoyed the scene." ...
• • Source: Item: "Sounds Like a Riot" in Motion Picture Daily; published on Friday, 21 September 1934  
• • By the Numbers • • 
• • The Mae West Blog was started eight years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 2527th 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 • • 1934 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest
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