Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Mae West: Herbert Rawlinson

MAE WEST worked with a good number of handsome Englishmen and one was Herbert Rawlinson. In "Every Day's a Holiday" [1937], he was seen as a party guest.
• • Born on 15 November 1885 in New Brighton, England, Herbert Rawlinson distinguished himself in the United Kingdom on the stage. In 1911, when Herbert Rawlinson launched his career in the USA with a number of silent movies, the dapper 26-year-old was often cast as the leading man, at first. On Broadway he was seen in several plays between 1929 — 1934, mainly comedies. One was the popular Rachel Crothers piece, set on West 10th Street in Greenwich Village: "When Ladies Meet." Rawlinson played the role of Rogers Woodruff from October 1932 — May 1933 at the Royale Theatre, the same playhouse where Mae West was a sensation in "Diamond Lil" in 1928.
• • In sound films, the handsome six-footer was a busy character player, in demand and employed up until the year he died. With 394 titles to his credit on the big screen and also some on TV, Rawlinson was frequently seen, albeit briefly, in an authority role such as a physician, judge, colonel, sea captain, first mate, etc. In his final motion picture "Jail Bait" [1954], he took the role of Dr. Gregor, filming his last scenes until July 1953.
• • Herbert Rawlinson died of lung cancer in Los Angeles in the month of July — — on 12 July 1953. He was 67 years old.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • An interview with Mae West appears in the fascinating book: "Pre-Code Hollywood: Sex, Immorality, and Insurrection in American Cinema, 1930 – 1934" by Thomas Doherty.
• • Thomas Doherty relates the interview, which took place in 1933, this way: Of course the character “Mae West” was a calculated construction of Mae West, who played Svengali to her own Trilby. West knew precisely the nature of her appeal and calibrated exactly how far she could go in mocking morality. “I’ve developed a different way of selling my sex,” she explained to a reporter in 1933. “I laugh them into it. I cover it with comedy. If you laugh with a sinner, you like her. You grow fond of her, feel sympathy for her.” She continued: “There are some people who can get away with anything yet always come out on top. The worse they are the better you like them. They happen to have something different that wins you no matter what they do. No, the wages of sin in all cases is not death.” ...
• • Source: "Pre-Code Hollywood: Sex, Immorality, and Insurrection in American Cinema, 1930 – 1934" by Thomas Patrick Doherty [NY: Columbia University Press, 1999]; from Chapter 7 — — Cracking Wise and Wising Up — — Story, Screenplay, and All Dialogue by Mae West
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • Mae West performed in summer stock at Theatre By The Sea in Wakefield, RI.
• • Marylou Butler writes: “For those of you not familiar with our theater, it is literally a converted barn,” said Producing Artistic Director Amiee Turner,“ — — literally.” Turner launched into a short history, from the renovation of the farm barn into a performance theater in the early 1930s, through some of the big names who have trod the boards — — Marlon Brando, Mae West, Carole Channing, Groucho Marx — — to today’s incarnation. ...
• • Source: Article: "Let's Put On A Show!" written by Marylou Butler for Patch.com; posted on 10 July 2011
• • 17 July 2004 17 July 2011 • •
• • In mid-July the Mae West Blog will celebrate its seventh anniversary. Thank you to all those Mae-mavens who come up and see Mae every day.
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started seven years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 1989th 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 • • 1937 • •
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