Courting Mae West

The play "COURTING MAE WEST: Sex, Censorship & Secrets" is based on true events during the 1920s when actress MAE WEST was arrested and jailed in New York City for trying to stage two gay plays on Broadway. Maybe she broke the law - - but the LAW couldn't break HER!

My Photo
Name:
Location: New York, New York, United States

native New Yorker

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Beverly's divorce after the raid

Taking advantage of the legal woes of his sister-in-law MAE WEST, Beverly's husband Sergei Treshatny went to court to obtain a divorce on 15 April 1927 after a decade of marriage. Their divorce became final on 30 September 1927.
• • On 29 January 1917 Beverly West [1898 —1982] wed her first Russian husband Sergei Treshatny. An inventor, Treshatny had arrived in the United States in 1916. Vaudevillians Beverly and Mae West were both busy working in Paterson, New Jersey during January 1917 when Beverly took some time off to become a "missus" at Brooklyn City Hall on Joralemon Street. It had been a brief courtship.
On 8 December 1916, the bride-to-be had celebrated her 18th birthday.
• • A decade later, when Mae and Beverly were arrested in Bridgeport, Connecticut on 2 February 1927, Sergei took advantage of the scandal, using the trial testimony as his grounds for divorce.
• • The union between the unhappy couple was dissolved by Supreme Court Justice George H. Taylor, Jr. in Newburgh, New York. The divorce action was based on a police raid on a room in the Arcade Hotel (Bridgeport) at 5:00 AM when Beverly West and Edward Elsner were charged with a "breach of the peace" [i.e., being drunk].
• • The arrest at the Arcade Hotel — 1001 Main St, Bridgeport, CT 06604 — is dramatized in the play "Courting Mae West." This scene can be viewed on YouTube.com.
• • Though the case against Edward Elsner and Beverly West was dropped the next day in the Bridgeport City Court, a stenographer took a transcript of the testimony for Mr. Treshatny the policeman who made the February 2nd arrests testified before Judge Taylor.
• • Sergei Treshatny, who was living in Stamford in 1927, had invented an air-cooled motor.
• • Beverly had tried to divorce him in Brooklyn in 1924 but dropped it after her plea for alimony and counsel fees pending a trial had been denied.
___________
Source:http://courtingmaewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Add to Google


• • Photo: Mae West's family
• • 1934 • •

Mae West.

Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Friday, September 19, 2008

Pre-Code Mae West

The Pre-Code MAE WEST is the best.
• • if you still have not seen the classic I’m No Angel” on the big screen, this Sunday is your chance.
• • In this screen gem — — inspired by Bostock's lion exhibit in Coney Island that she adored as a little Brooklyn girl — — Mae West is a woman who knows what she wants and how to get it. And she wants Cary Grant. Again. The bold Tira works as a hootchie-cootchie dancing beauty and a lion tamer at a fair. Out of an urgent need of money, she agrees to a risky new number — — she'll put her head into a lion's mouth.
• • The intrepid Mae West did all her own stunts in the lion's cage, too.
• • When: At 2:00 pm on Sunday, 21 September 2008.
• • Where: Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art [4420 Warwick Blvd. Kansas City, Missouri 64111 — — T: 816-753-5784.
___________
Source:http://courtingmaewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Add to Google


• • Photo: Mae West
• • 1933 • •

Mae West.

Labels: , , , , , ,

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Mae West: Twin Towers

A native New Yorker was MAE WEST — — and she would have been horrified by the attack on the Twin Towers on 11 September 2001.
• • Today New York City is in mourning. Keep us in your prayers.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
___________
Source:http://courtingmaewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Add to Google


• • Photo: Mae West
• • 1934 • •

Mae West.

Labels: , ,

Saturday, September 06, 2008

"Courting Mae West" cast

Some of the "Courting Mae West" cast performed in the Village on 6 September 2008.
• • Charismatic as voice actors and powerful as stage performers, Mary Murphy and Steven Viola met when they were cast as the characters ELIZA ROURKE and her scheming father DECLAN ROURKE in the Fresh Fruit Festival Production of "Courting Mae West." When Louis Lopardi told Carol Polcovar that we needed an exceptional actress for the poignant role of ELIZA, she recommended Miss Murphy. And what an extraordinary presence Mary Murphy is onstage, adding gestures and nuances that brought her
character into sharper focus.
• • "I really enjoyed working with her," said Steven Viola, who was very pleased indeed when Mary Murphy joined a popular live series that he has been attached to for several years — — W-WOW! RADIO Mystery Hour, done live once a month at Partners in Crime Bookshop in Greenwich Village, New York, NY.
• • On Saturday evening 6 September 2008, the program included two favorites: The Fat Man "Eighteen Hours to Murder" [originally aired on 6 October 1950] and The Shadow "The Nursery Rhyme Murders" [originally aired on 22 February 1948].
• • Censorship affected the career of Mae West — — as well as the livelihood of Sam Spade's creator. The Fat Man, along with The Adventures of Sam Spade, went off the air in 1951 when Dashiell Hammett, whose name was associated with both shows, was blacklisted.
• • At the live performance on 6 September 2008, Steven Viola energetically portrayed an Announcer, Tommy Yale, and Mr. Eustace. Mr. Viola's next show is on October 4th, when he will take part in a detective drama classic that was part of The Adventures of Philip Marlowe — — "Red Wind." "Detective Philip Marlowe" was the brainchild of writer Raymond Chandler.
• • At the live performance on 6 September 2008, Mary Murphy portrayed Margo Lane — — the girlfriend and confidante of Lamont Cranston [winningly played by Bob Rutan]. Miss Murphy also took the roles of: Marilyn, Commercial Actress #2, and a Telephone Operator. As we were chatting after the show, Mary mentioned a recent phonecall from the owners of the Algonquin Theatre, currently closed for building maintenance. The theatre manager told Mary Murphy how eager they are to welcome back "Courting Mae West."
• • The next live performance is on Saturday 4 October 2008 — — and we'll be there to cheer.
___________
Source:http://courtingmaewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Add to Google


• • Photo: Mae West
• • "Courting Mae West" cast mates Steven Viola and Mary Murphy • • 2008

Mae West.

Labels: , , , , , , , , , ,

Friday, September 05, 2008

"Courting Mae West" is a finalist!

"Courting Mae West" — — a play based on true events in the life of MAE WEST during the Prohibition Era, when she was arrested and jailed for writing two gay plays — — has come in as a finalist in the 2008-2009 REVA SHINER FULL LENGTH PLAY CONTEST.
• • Every year the Reva Shiner Contest rewards an unproduced full-length play with a cash prize and a full production as part of the theater's season. Past winners have gone on to enjoy productions around the world and to garner additional honors such as the National Play Award.
• • Russell McGee, the Literary Manager of BPP, had much to say about "Courting Mae West" — — and here is an excerpt from his extensive comments: Let me start by stating that I very much enjoy this play. The particular time and subject matter is of great interest to me. I am an old film buff and have quite a collection of films from the twenties onward through the fifties. However, I have never really turned an eye on Mae West before reading this play and the odd W.C. Fields' film. It is evident through the rich historical detail that this is a passion for you and a labor of love. . . .
• • Located in Bloomington, Indiana, the Bloomington Playwrights Project is a not-for-profit theatre with non-Equity performers.
See the list of winners and finalists here: http://www.newplays.org/content/revashiner.aspx
___________
Source:http://courtingmaewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Add to Google


• • Photo: Mae West
• • detail from "Courting Mae West" comic book, artist Michael Di Motta • •

Mae West.

Labels: , , , , , , , , ,

Thursday, September 04, 2008

Mae West: Biltmore Theatre

The Biltmore Theatre will never forget MAE WEST's gay show "Pleasure Man" and its infamous police raid eighty years ago on 1 October 1928.
• • But in a few years people might no longer remember the Biltmore because on 4 September 2008 this playhouse, which has seen its ups and downs, will be renamed The Samuel J. Friedman Theatre at 7:30 PM.
• • Born and raised in New York City, Samuel J. Friedman (1912 — 1974) was a pioneer in theatrical publicity, according to the Manhattan Theatre Club. "Legendary for his stunts, personality, and press agentry, Mr. Friedman began his career in 1937 at the Shubert Organization on a Cole Porter musical You Never Know, starring Clifton Webb, Libby Holman, and Lupe Velez.
• • In
the early 1950s he opened National Press Agents with partner Bill Doll.
• • He was a lifetime member and officer of the Association of Theatrical Press Agents and M
anagers.
• • Along the
way he worked with Mae West, promoting her 1950 revival of "Diamond Lil."
• • Friedman also worked with such legendary performers as Gypsy Rose Lee (Star and Garter, 1942),
Montgomery Clift (The Searching Wing, 1944), Billy Rose (Diamond Horseshoe, 1946) Josephine Baker (Paris Sings Again, 1947), Bette Davis (Two's Company, 1952), Lotte Lenya (The Threepenny Opera, 1954), Jerry Orbach (The Threepenny Opera, 1955), Shirley Booth (Miss Isobel, 1957), Peter Ustinov (Romanoff and Juliet, 1957), Jackie Gleason (Take Me Along, 1959), Roddy McDowall (Compulsion, 1959), Jon Voight (That Summer, That Fall, 1967), and Tammy Grimes (The Only Game in Town, 1968) — — among his other clients.
___________
Source:http://courtingmaewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Add to Google


• • Photo: Mae West
• • raid at the Biltmore • • 1928 • •

Mae West.

Labels: , , , , ,