Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Mae West: Based on Facts

It was Friday, 24 February 1933 and MAE WEST fans in California were gearing up to cheer her.
• • "Mae West at National Sunday" • •
• • Truth is so much stranger than fiction that it has to be toned down to make it believable.
• • Mae West, author of half a dozen successful plays and novels, and leading actress in most of her stage productions, makes that statement in explaining that nearly all her work is based on true facts. But, she insists, so lurid and melodramatic were the events upon which her plays and novels were based that she couldn't use them without toning them down.
• • Miss West, a spectacular figure along New York’s White Way for the past decade, makes her debut as a screen star in "She Done Him Wrong," which she herself wrote, and which comes to the National Theatre in Madera on Sunday.
• • Source: Item in The Madera Daily Tribune; published on  Friday, 24 February 1933.
• • Paul Novak [24 February 1923 — 14 July 1999] • •
• • Born Chester Rybinsky in Baltimore on Saturday, 24 February 1923, Mae West's live-in lover was thirty years her junior.
• • They met and became acquainted when Charles Krauser, George Eiferman, Irvin "Zabo" Koszewski, Dick DuBois, Dominic Juliano, Joe Gold, Armand Tanny, Gordon Mitchell, and Mickey Hargitay were among the star bodybuilders in West's chorus for all — — or part — — of the show's three-year run.
• • Chuck Krauser changed his name for a second time, becoming "Paul Novak" — — Mae's main man for the next 24 years. In a rare statement to the press, he once said: "How did she ever pick me — — just a wrestler and roustabout?"
• • Enjoying Novak's companionship and his constant concern for her diet and welfare, Mae West thrived until the age of 87, when she had a series of strokes. On 22 November 1980 she died in her sleep, with Novak, 57 years old, at her bedside.
• • Afterwards, Paul Novak quietly married. He lived in Santa Monica, California with his wife and died at 76 years old.
• • On Saturday, 24 February 1912 at the Winter Garden • •
• • Ambitious, bold, and 18 years old, Mae West, unfortunately, got on the wrong side of the French star Gaby Deslys by trying to upstage her. Uh-oh! The 30-year-old diva got the teenage upstart fired before opening night in Manhattan..
• • "Vera Violetta" opened on 20 November 1911 at the Winter Garden Theatre.
• • Offered in repertory with "Undine," the musical remained on Broadway through the Christmas holidays, closing on the last weekend in February on 24 February 1912.
• • On Saturday, 24 February 1934 in Calgary Daily Herald • •
• • The legal battles Mae West fought made headlines all over.
• • After facing down the man who robbed her in Hollywood on Sunday, 18 September 1932 in a courtroom, Mae was shocked and horrified to learn that stick-up-artist Harry Voiler [1891 — 1974] was released on bail in Miami during February 1934.
• • There was indignation in the interviews she gave. Mae told the news media: "It's time someone in Hollywood — — speaking very frankly — — showed what is known as intestinal fortitude. They threaten us in the picture colony under penalty of having acid thrown in our face. And they don't stop at acid threats either. They threaten to kill. It's time someone called their hand. And if it has to be me, I'll do it."
• • Mae's quotes appeared in an article printed in the Calgary Daily Herald on Saturday, 24 February 1934.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Everyone has this idea of who Mae West was.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "Personality is the most important thing to an actress’s success."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • Ballyhoo mentioned Mae West.
• • Mae West's portrait appeared on the cover of Ballyhoo along with a slinky silhouette of a disgruntled Greta Garbo garbed in angry red.  Mae West also took over the centerfold.
• • Source: Ballyhoo Magazine, February 1934 — The Mae West Number
• • 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 3,300 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • • 
• • The Mae West Blog was started ten years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 3384th 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 • in 1934

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