Mae West: Jack Pennick

An enormous international cast was assembled to do justice to MAE WEST's ambitious screenplay "Now I'm a Lady" centered around the horsey set. Script approval was granted by the Hays Commission on 1 April 1935 and the motion picture was released by Paramount Pictures in the USA on Friday, 25 April 1935 under a new title — —  "Goin' to Town."
• • The production began shortly before Christmas on  Wednesday, 19 December 1934. On Friday, 4 January 1935, Francois B. de Valdez was hired as technical adviser on South American sequences. The film wrapped up a month later on Saturday, 9 February 1935.  Jack Pennick played one of the cowboys.  He died in mid-August so let's take a look at this character actor.
• • Jack Pennick [7 December 1895 — 16 August 1964] • •
• • Born in Portland, Oregon as Ronald Jack Pennick on Saturday, 7 December 1895, he grew up as the son of a gold miner. For awhile, he also followed his father into this difficult field. Then he joined the Marines and did his military service. 
• • This brawny six-feet-four horse wrangler, such a natural for Tinseltown's boots and saddle operas, would have rated the comment Mae once made about another guy: "You're no oil painting."
• • Active onscreen from 1926 — 1962, Pennick had 153 film credits and often found employment in the sound pictures directed by John Ford as part of "The John Ford Stock Company." Though he invariably was cast in bit parts, he was used in films as a bartender, cabbie, convict, fireman, gangster, harmonicist, prizefighter, ship's crewman, soldier, truck driver, and man of action roles.
• • In 1935, he had the privilege of playing a cowboy in "Goin' to Town" starring Mae West.
• • In one of Pennick's last films "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" [1962], he got to work with Andy Devine, the actor who would play Coyote Bill in "Myra Breckinridge" [1970], starring Mae West.
• • Active in the film trade until 1962, Jack Pennick died in Manhattan Beach, California on Sunday, 16 August 1964.  He was 68.
• • On Friday, 20 August 1915 in Variety • •
• • An article "May West in Pictures" (sic) appeared in Variety's issue dated for Friday, 20 August 1915.
• • Spelling her name Mae with a "y," Variety wrote: "May West, the vaudeville comedienne, has signed a contract with the U [Universal Pictures] to go to the coast for four weeks."
• • Stills I've seen from this audition show a 22-year-old Mae lying across a bed, looking frisky. But can you even imagine Mae West in a silent film?  Hmm.
• • On Thursday, 20 August 1970 • •
• • Hollywood hipsters, hams, and hanger-ons received an invitation to "Sights and Sounds of Mae West" and the event was scheduled for Thursday, 20 August 1970.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Miss Mae West, sex symbol of the 1920s and 1930s, turns 80 today, but she'd rather not talk about it.  "I'll wait until I'm 90," she said.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said:  "I have to do my work, and I've got a lot of that to do. You ought to know that it isn't easy to write and act, too.  You can't call me high hat because I'm busy."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • The Daily Beast mentioned the book "Hollywood Babylon" and Mae West.

• • Nathan Smith wrote:  "Hollywood Babylon" made outrageous claims about everyone. The book shared “leaked” excerpts from the diary of Mary Astor and alleged to detail her rich sexcapades, as well as digging up information of the children Charlie Chaplin allegedly fathered with multiple different women. Whether it was Mae West’s penchant for multiple sex partners in the one evening, or D. W. Griffith’s exploitation of poor workers on his set (coupled with images of Jayne Mansfield’s infamous car accident), Kenneth Anger’s book had all that Hollywood did not want the public to see or know.
• • Nathan Smith continued with: This tell-all "Hollywood Babylon" was written to be a scandal.  . . .
• • Source: Article for The Daily Beast; published on Saturday, 8 August 2015
• • The Mae West Blog celebrates its 11th anniversary • •    
• • Thank you for reading, sending questions, and posting comments during these past eleven years. The other day we entertained 3,497 visitors. And we reached a milestone recently when we completed 3,200 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • • 
• • The Mae West Blog was started ten years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 3249th 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 • • in 1935 • •
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