December 2021

Page A34 DECEMBER 2021 FUNERAL HOME & CEMETERY NEWS Se c t i on A Phone: 877-770-TIES (8437) Fax: 276-466-3474 E-mail: customerservice@tiesforyou.com www.tiesforyou.com STYLISH MATCHING TIES FOR PROFESSIONALS Any Size Group or Organization the stage. Again, reviews were devastating but the movie be- came a cult-classic. Death. In August 1980, Mae suffered a severe fall and was taken to Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles, where tests confirmed a stroke with speech impairment. Details were kept secret from the media. A month later, she suffered a second stroke and then developed pneumonia. Her condition showed some signs of stabilizing, and she was released to her home, an apartment in The Ravenswood for her convalescence. Mae West died there at the age of 88 on November 22, 1980. Dr. Lloyd Ogilvie of Hollywood Presbyterian Church officiated a very private service in Forest Lawn’s Old North Church. Ninety-six guests entered the chapel to the tune of “Frankie & Johnny,” and passed an open satin-lined casket. West appeared stunningly youthful in a platinum wig, full make-up and a bejeweled white negligee, the bottom part of the casket covered with a blanket of white roses. She was en- tombed in Brooklyn with her parents in Cypress Cemetery . Jim Kurtz Alice Adams Appropriate to Greatness: Caskets of the Rich and Famous Written, researched and photographed by Alice Adams and Jim Kurtz There have been many good books written about the deaths of the rich and famous. However, none have taken the viewpoint of the funeral service professional or cemeterian. In this series, we hope to accomplish exactly that with the little-known details, obscure facts and citations we have found in our research. We’re excited to share our findings. M ae W est Hollywood’s First Sex Kitten Born A ugust 17, 1893 Brooklyn, New York Died N ovember 22, 1980 Los Angeles, California An award-winning writer, Alice Adams has chronicled the men and women in funeral service for more than two decades. “My goal has always been to recognize funeral directors and cemeterians who self - lessly assist families during times of their darkest grief,” she said. Since 2018, Alice has teamed with fellow historian and photographer Jim Kurtz to tracing the much ignored and neglected beginnings of the funeral service profession. Adams resides in Dripping Springs, Texas, where she enjoys her children, four grandchildren, Cassie, the Black Lab and two cats – all three rescues. Jim Kurtz has been a funeral director in Texas since 1973 and is president of TFDA’s North Texas Region. He is a historian and educator, he founded the Jim Kurtz Museum of Funeral History and archives in Dallas, Texas. F U N E R A L H O M E & C E M E T E R Y N E W S w w w . N o m i s P u b l i c a t i o n s . c o m Monthly Columns online at Matilda West, known as “Til- lie,” was a German immigrant and aspiring actress. But her parents’ disapproval in her ca- reer choices led her to become a garment worker. Unhappy, Til- lie soon abandoned her factory sewing for less respectable work – as a corset and fashion model. Before he met and married the beautiful Tillie, “Battlin’ Jack West,” was a prizefighter known Mausoleum at Cypress Hills Cemetery Al Hirschfeld. W.C. Fields and Mae West: My Little Chickadee performances, but on opening night two Broadway impresarios, Lee and J.J. Shubert saw Mae and cast her in Vera Violetta , also featuring Al Jolson. In 1918, Mae got her big break in the Shubert around Brooklyn, not so much for his success in the ring as for his reputation for street brawling and pick-up fights at Coney Island Amusement Park. On August 17, 1893, Tillie and Jack West welcomed the eldest of their three children, a baby girl they named Mary Jane. Their extended families called her Mae. By age three, Mae was mimicking family members and friends, much to the entertainment of her parents, and she learned quickly about the power of commanding an audience. When her mother began taking her to plays and vaude- ville, Little Mae was immediately captivated by this magi- cal world of characters, dancers and musical acts…but her favorite of those vaudeville actors was African American en- tertainer Bert Williams, from whom she learned the art of innuendo and double entendre, which he used in his act to mask his satire on race relations. By age 5, Little Mae was ready for the stage, her first perfor- mance being at a church social, and while her father was proud of her neighborhood performances, he was adamantly opposed to his daughter performing for the public. Tillie, of course, ig- nored his concerns and enrolled Mae in dance school when she was seven. Soon Mae was appearing on amateur nights at local burlesque theaters, using the stage name “Baby May.” After winning First Place and a $10 prize, her father was more understanding and was soon schlepping her costume case to her shows. Professional Vaudeville Career. In 1907, 14-year-old West began performing professionally in Vaudeville in the Hal Claredon Stock Company. Dressed in a pink and green sat- in dress, a large white hat with pink satin ribbons, Mae had graduated from her earlier Baby Mae performances to a subtle spoof on Victorian innocence. Far from the gas footlights, Mae’s mother sewed all her cos- tumes and managed her bookings and contracts. Tillie was fi- nally in show business as her daughter’s manager. In her act, Mae impersonated adult Vaudeville and burlesque performers, and danced and sang popular songs inflecting sexual overtones. When work was slow, Mae earned money by going on the burlesque circuit playing before a predominantly male work- ing-class audience. Definitely not a socially acceptable en- vironment for a young girl, but the perfect training ground where Mae could polish her stage and acting skills. In 1911, Mae got a part in her first Broadway show, A La Broadway , a comedy review. The show folded after only eight Brothers revue Sometime , playing opposite Ed Wynn. Her charac- ter, Mayme, danced the shimmy and as more parts came her way, Mae often rewrote her dialogue to better suit her persona. She even- tually began writing her own plays, using the pen name Jane Mast. Playwriting and Controversy. In 1926, Mae got her first star- ring role in a Broadway play – Sex – which she wrote, produced, and directed. Though the play was a box office hit, production did not go over well with city officials, who raided the show and arrested Mae on morals charges. She was sentenced to 10 days behind bars on Roosevelt Island, where she reportedly dined with the warden and his wife. She was released after eight days, with two off for good behavior. The me- dia attention only enhanced her career. By 1932, Paramount Pictures offered Mae a motion picture, and while 38 was considered “advanced years” for playing sexy harlots, Mae’s persona and physical beauty overcame any doubt. In the 1933 film, She Done Him Wrong , Mae brought her “Diamond Lil” character to the screen. Renamed “Lady Lou,” the “Lil” character delivered the famous line, “Why don’t you come up sometime and see me?” Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture, and also starring newcomer Cary Grant in one of his first major roles, the film did well at the box office, and saved Paramount Pic- tures from bankruptcy. In her next movie, I’m No Angel , she was again paired with Grant. This film, too, was a financial blockbuster. By 1935, West was the second-highest paid person in the United States behind publisher William Randolph Hearst. On July 1, 1934, the Motion Picture Morals organization be- gan meticulously enforcing the code on Mae’s screenplays. Mae responded in her typical fashion by increasing the number of innuendos and double entendres, fully expecting to confuse the censors, which she did. In 1936, she starred in the film Klondike Annie , which concerned itself with religion. Hearst disagreed so vehemently with the film’s context, and Mae’s portrayal of a Salvation Army worker, he per- sonally forbade any stories or advertisements in any of his publica- tions. However, the film did well at the box office and is consid- ered the high-point of Mae’s film career. In 1939, Universal Pictures approached Mae to star in a film op- posite comedian W.C. Fields. Mae, looking to make a comeback, accepted the part, demanding creative control. Using the same Western genre, Mae wrote My Little Chickedee , and despite the ten- sion between West and Fields, the film was a box-office success. Late Career. In the 1970s she appeared in her two last films. Though Gore Vidal’s Myra Breckenridge was a box office and criti- cal failure, it found an audience on the cult film circuit and served to revitalize many of her other movies at film festivals. In 1976, Mae began work on Sextette , adapted from a script West wrote for NEWS Educational CONTINUED New Embalming: History, Theory, and Practice standard embalming chemicals. 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