Mae West in San Diego

This picture shows actress Mae West at the 1935 California Pacific International Exposition held in San Diego, which lasted from May to November 1935, and then again from February to September 1936. The accompanying caption was translated from the French in which it was originally written:

Famous screen star Mae West visited the San Diego, California, Fair last week. During her visit to the Fair, Mae West chats with a pair of dwarves in their miniature house.

Mae is shown holding Paolina Rodriguez (18" tall) and eighteen-year-old 26" tall Johnnie Fern McDill, known as the Midget Mae West. Yes folks, a major attraction at the San Diego Fair was Midget Village. Edited from The Times of San Diego website:

One of the most talked-about exhibits during the 1935 California Pacific International Exposition was Midget Village—a small but popular attraction featuring little people performing various acts and living in tiny houses designed to charm visitors. The Exposition was held to promote San Diego and support its economy and had hundreds of exhibits on history, the arts, horticulture, ethnic cultures, science, and industry.



The above image shows one of the more famous residents of the Village, Vance Swift

Midget Village was located in the Casa de Balboa building [shown below as it looks today] and capitalized on the era’s fascination with novelty entertainment, similar to the “freak shows” that were common at the time. Visitors were drawn to the miniature village and the performances, with weddings and social events often staged in the tiny homes.



According to Mary Steffgen of Point Loma, who, as an 8-year-old, freely explored Balboa Park during the exposition, the Midget Village was a major highlight. She recalled in a 1997 San Diego Magazine article, “I was fascinated by the Midget Village, where weddings frequently took place. Visiting the tiny houses and shops was the big step between playing with miniature dollhouses and living in the real grown-up world.”Many of the performers in Midgetland later went on to appear as Munchkins in the iconic film “The Wizard of Oz” she said.



Steffgen’s memories offer a vivid glimpse into the park’s atmosphere during that time, when children and families felt safe wandering the grounds—a freedom that, she noted, “could not happen in today’s social climate.”Adding historical context, Edith Ott, a longtime Balboa Park historian, shared insights in a Smithsonian Institution oral history interview about Midget Village’s role in the exposition. She described it as “a curious mix of fascination and spectacle that captivated many visitors, a window into a time when public amusement often involved unusual performances.” Ott’s remarks remind us how entertainment norms have evolved, highlighting the importance of viewing such exhibits through a modern lens that respects dignity and representation.

Back to Mae…from The San Diego Sun on June 10, 1935:

“Oh-h-h, if I’d known the fleet was to be in I would have arranged to stay over. I’m very patriotic.” And Mae West concluded a hurried visit to the Exposition with the promise: “I’m coming up again some time.” Nudists? The blonde screen star raised long lashes and looked vainly for a sailor in the goggle-eyed crowd. “Well—uh—I like uniforms—gobs of them!” Crowds packed the route as she rode with her manager, James A. Timony, to visit the Motion Picture Hall of Fame, the Midget Village and the Press building. No one was injured, but a fuse blew out in anticipation and Gold Gulch was dark for half an hour. The actress met the “Mae West of the Midgets,” Johnnie Fern McDill, age 18, heigh 26 inches. The tiny lady provided a neat take-off on Mae’s walk and someone suggested Mae adopt her. “When, Mae? Let me be your baby!” “But I’m not married,” returned Miss West. “Oh—I forgot—I’m supposed to have seven husbands. Sort of a chain-letter business, y’know.”

A day later, the Sunny Side column by L.E. Claypool ran this tidbit:

When Mae West hit the Expo Sunday nite she and a bodyguard and her manager each took a wheel chair and after rolling into the grounds in her limousine she accepted some bad advice and was wheeled into the various concessions pretty much rolling over the toes of other patrons who really hadn’t come to see Mae. The explanation was that the theatrical big shots who hire the uniformed personnel work for the people who hire Mae and are able to do this and that. On the whole, however, Mae was gracious and obliging and autographed cards until she was limp.

The site of larger-than-life Mae West being wheeled around the fair is difficult to fathom!

See more photos at my main website.

Temple Tuesday: Shirley, Marmont, Mae, Raquel, and Myra

The 1970 20th Century-Fox production of Gore Vidal’s novel, Myra Breckinridge, has become somewhat of a cult classic over the years, despite losing money at the box office during its initial release. The original book was written as a satire and dealt with the gender reassignment of its main character, Myra (formerly Myron). Raquel Welch was eager to play both parts, thinking the acting challenge would propel her into the ranks of a serious actress. She should have thought a little more about that.

Over the title sequence, the Shirley Temple song “You’ve Got To S-M-I-L-E” from “Stowaway” (1936) is played after being set-up by an actual clip from the movie. Many classic films from the Fox library were used throughout to add extra humor and also as a way to avoid showing the hardcore situations that were occurring in the film’s storyline.



Raquel dances down Hollywood Boulevard to the vocal talents of six-year old Shirley. It boggles the mind.



One other Shirley clip was included but did not remain in the film. After the preview in San Francisco, the White House insisted that the footage inserted from “Heidi” (1937) be removed. Shirley, who had just finished her stint as United Nations General Assembly Delegate, had some political clout! While she was probably not happy about the “Stowaway” clip, the one from “Heidi” that showed her getting squirted by a cow was used to suggest…well, you can fill in the blank. The same person who resigned from her position as chair for the San Francisco Film Festival for showing “Night Games” wanted nothing to do with the X-Rated “Myra Breckinridge.” It was one of two films with an X rating to be released by Fox that year, the other being “Beyond the Valley of the Dolls.” Loretta Young successfully sued to have her clip removed. You go, Loretta! It was a slippery slope; 20th Century-Fox owned the classic films, lock, stock, and barrel, so the ability of a star to successfully launch a lawsuit was not a slam-dunk in those days. Laurel & Hardy and Judy Garland weren’t able to protest; they were dead and gone by the time of the film’s release.



The cover of Vidal’s novel featured the rotating Las Vegas showgirl  from the Sahara Casino that was found on the Sunset Boulevard billboard just outside the Chateau Marmont Hotel in. Hollywood. Another reason this film fascinates me! An early scene in the movie shows the advertisement and then pans to the right to show the hotel.



That’s Raquel Welch and Rex Reed on the Chateau Marmont’s penthouse balcony.



For one horrific scene in the movie and the majority of the publicity, Raquel donned an outfit that resembled that of the showgirl. This was going to get her taken seriously?



Until I saw this movie, I was not aware that the Chateau had its name painted prominently on the side of the building.



Sadly (for me at least), that’s the last we see of the real hotel. The interiors were shot on a studio soundstage.



They did a good job of capturing the essence of the room.



The real penthouse, which shows a much longer entry hallway:



Almost convincing, other than the non-vintage details of the sliding glass door hardware and the very flat-looking backdrop beyond the balcony.



“Myra” is also known for casting a very young Tom Selleck as one of the men Mae West’s character, casting agent Letitia van Allen, is “auditioning.”



Pre-Magnum P.I. mustache, of course.



The seventy-seven year old West performs (?) two musical numbers. For the first, “You Gotta Taste All the Fruit,” she is reclined the entire time, showing slight hip and arm movement. Other than that, she appears embalmed.



Mae changes costumes and actually stands up for “Hard to Handle,” eventually made more famous by The Black Crowes.



For this one, she suggestively grabs her body and undulates her hips. For the first film she’d made since 1943, West was giving it her all.



The aforementioned scene that made “Myra” legendary for its bad taste was the rape scene between Myra (Raquel) and her unwilling partner, aspiring actor, Rusty (Roger Herren). I have to ask again: this was the film that was going to get Raquel taken seriously and show her acting chops? As you can tell, I am having a difficult time comprehending what would have lead her to believe that.



Thanks to the miracle of Photoshop, I was able to stitch these two panorama shots from the movie together to yield some vintage views of Sunset Boulevard:



Same view, facing east, circa 2022:



1970:



The Imperial Gardens (neon sign below the billboard) was once The Players, owned by Preston Sturges. Now, it’s a Pink Taco restaurant. Similar view, facing west, circa 2022:



That’s a lot of territory for one post! Thanks for sticking around til the end!

See Classic Movie and TV photos at my main website.

Happy Birthday, Raquel!

Today marks the 82nd birthday of actress Raquel Welch. The photos from today’s post show her in the camp classic, “Myra Breckinridge” (1970), which was VERY loosely based on the Gore Vidal book. Her costars included film critic Rex Reed (above)…



and Farrah Fawcett (below). The film is so bad it’s…well, still bad, but Raquel continued with her craft and became a very bankable and capable actress.



She’s also a marvelous raconteur. Her stories about Mae West (also in “Myra”) are much funnier than the film was.



See more movie and pop culture photos at my main website.

Mickey, Jayne, Mae, Chuck, and Mariska

Yet another Jayne Mansfield at Disneyland photo has found its way into my collection. This one shows her with then husband, 1955 Mr. Universe Mickey Hargitay. The two married in 1958, so I am guessing this was from around that time. How did these two beautiful people meet?

Thanks to none other than Mae West! Hargitay used to perform with West in her live act, as one of the beefy bodybuilders that surrounded her. Jayne caught one of Mae’s shows at the Latin Quarter in New York and supposedly told her dinner companion, “I'll have a steak and that tall man on the left.”

At a 1956 press conference, Hargitay stated that West was not happy with the Hargitay/Mansfield romance and that she removed all of his speaking lines from the show as a result. Chuck Krauser, another bodybuilder in the show, punched Hargitay and gave him the black eye visible in the photo below from the Getty collection:

From the original caption:

Mae and Her "Muscle Man" at Court. Washington, D.C.: Mae West, Chuck Krauser (center) and Mickey "Mr. Universe" Hargitay (sporting a "shiner") are leaving U.S. District Court in Washington after Hargitay demanded prosecution of Krauser, a former pro wrestler, as an outgrowth of a brawl in Miss West's dressing room during a Press Conference. Krauser contends he socked "Mr. Universe" in self defense. Trial was set for June 28 and Krauser was released in $300 bond. Mae said that "Mr. Universe" is fired from her act.

It’s not surprising that Krauser came to West’s defense, as he worshipped the blonde-haired entertainer. He even changed his name to Paul Novak at her suggestion after this little scandal hit the tabloids. Although the two never married, they were partners until her death in 1980.

You might recognize one of Mickey and Jayne’s kids, actress Mariska Hargitay:

See more Jayne Mansfield photos at my main website.

Temple Tuesday: Six Degrees of Fields, Pt. 3

Today’s Temple Tuesday features actress and singer Rochelle Hudson, who played Shirley’s sister Mary in “Curly Top.” She also co-starred with the late-great W.C. Fields.



Rochelle Hudson was born in Oklahoma in 1916. In the late 1920’s, her father moved the family to Los Angeles for work reasons. At the age of 13, her mother arranged a screen test for her. Within a few years she had minor parts, with her first credited appearance being the 1931 pre-code Technicolor comedy-drama “Fanny Foley Herself.” The film is thought to be lost. Before playing Shirley’s sister, Hudson appeared with Mae West in “She Done Him Wrong” (1933). She played Sally Glynn, the fallen ingenue to whom Mae West gives memorable advice:

Sally (Rochelle Hudson): Who’d want me after what I’ve done?
Lady Lou (Mae West): Listen, when women go wrong, men go right after them.



In “Imitation of Life” (1934), she played Jessie, the daughter of Claudette Colbert; and in 1934, she appeared with Will Rogers (also from Oklahoma) in the John Ford directed “Judge Priest.”



“Curly Top” was the first film that displayed Hudson’s singing talents. I’ll always remember film historian Jeanine Basinger’s description of Hudson singing “The Simple Things in Life” as a “dead-ringer for Snow White.” I’ve never looked at that scene the same way since. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the set of John Boles’ bachelor apartment was inspired by a liquor ad in Esquire. Daily Variety noted that an eight-room cottage was built on the sound stage for the film, and that after production, the studio turned down an offer by director Irving Cummings to buy it for $25,000 and instead moved it to the lot to be used as a play room, dressing room, and school room for Shirley Temple. But back to Rochelle...



A year later, she played the daughter of carnival barker W.C. Fields in “Poppy.”



On screen, you couldn’t help but notice her expressive eyes and star quality. A beautiful young lady, she lit up the screen, which was no easy feat when her costar was W.C. Fields. She sang the song “A Rendezvous with a Dream,” by Ralph Rainger and Leo Robin.



The movie was not a good experience for Fields. He broke a vertebra during the filming and was in such pain that he fainted after walking out of camera range after filming the final scene. His drinking also interfered with the production. Fields regularly drank from a flask, insisting that it was only pineapple juice. One day, the stagehands replaced the vodka in the flask with real pineapple juice. When Fields tasted it, he spit it out and shouted, "Who put pineapple juice in my pineapple juice?!"



The film is still enjoyable to watch today, although a tad bit dated.



But back to Rochelle…

She is also known for playing Natalie Wood's mother in the James Dean classic “Rebel Without a Cause” (1955).



She left Hollywood after “Rebel” to run a 10,000 acre ranch in Arizona. She then moved back to Oklahoma and worked for a petroleum refinery. She returned to California in 1963 and restarted her career. Fans of the 1964 Joan Crawford horror-thriller flick “Stait-Jacket” may remember Hudson in her role of Joan’s sister-in-law.



Three years later she left Hollywood for good, moving to Palm Desert to take up real estate. On the personal side of things, Hudson was married four times (even though her NY Times obit states three). Her first marriage was to Harold Thompson, in 1939. He was the head of the Storyline Department at Disney Studios. She assisted Thompson, who was doing espionage work in Mexico as a civilian during World War II. Supposedly, this is why her career waned off during this time, as she found herself busy with the espionage biz. Rochelle and Harold posed as a vacationing couple in various parts of Mexico to help detect any German or Japanese activity in these areas. One of their vacations uncovered a supply of high test aviation fuel hidden by German agents in Baja, California.

In 1972, Hudson was found dead in her home at the Palm Desert Country Club; one source says from a heart attack brought on by a liver ailment and the other said from pneumonia. From the New York Times:

Rochelle Hudson, Film Actress In 1930's and 40's, Dead at 57

PALM DESERT, Calif., Jan. 18 (UPI)—Rochelle Hudson, a movie actress of the thirties and early forties, was found dead late yesterday in her home at the Palm Desert Country Club.

An autopsy was scheduled to determine the cause of death. Her only survivor, Mrs. Mae Hudson, her mother, who also lives at the club, said there would be no funeral service.

Potential Tested Early

Miss Hudson, who was 57 years old, once told an interviewer how she broke into pictures:

“I got in pictures because my mother had a friend who had a friend who was a friend of the ex‐wife of somebody at one of the studios. Anyway, this friend knew the voice coach for the Fox Film Corporation, the people I work for now, and she had me tested. I was 13 then. It was several years later before I started acting.”

Her first film, “Fanny Foley Herself,” was made in 1930, with Edna May Oliver in her first starring role.

Miss Hudson, who made more than 75 films, appeared in support of Wallace Beery, Will Rogers, Fredric March, Patric Knowles, Jack Haley, Richard Dix and a number of others.

She left Hollywood in 1942 after making “Queen of Broadway” with Buster Crabbe but returned in 1955 to appear in “Rebel Without a Cause,” starring James Dean and Natalie Wood.

Miss Hudson appeared for 39‐week run in a television series, “That's My Boy,” starring Eddie Mayehoff.

In 1964 she made another comeback in Hollywood, appearing in “Straitjacket” with Joan Crawford.

Miss Hudson was married and divorced three times. Her first marriage was to Hal Thompson, a story editor at Walt Disney Studios. Her second was to Dick Hyland, a Los Angeles Times sports writer and former athlete at Stanford University. She and her third husband, Robert Mindell, were divorced last year. The decree became final on Jan. 8.

For the last three years she had been working in real estate with Walter Price, who discovered the body.

I’ll leave you with this clip of Rochelle “Snow White” Hudson singing in “Curly Top”:



See more Shirley Temple photos at my main website.

Dearly Departed

While it may not be everyone’s taste, I dearly loved the Dearly Departed Museum, so I was honored when owner Scott Michaels asked me to photograph it for posterity before all of its historic contents went into storage. Here is a look at some of the items one could find inside its Hollywood location on Santa Monica Boulevard.

This display of recently acquired items came from the Sharon Tate auction.



Tate is best known for her role in the campy “Valley of the Dolls” and sadly the Manson murders.



Her false eyelashes. NOW we know why they looked so lush!



One of her bras:



Her “let ’em droop” scene in “Dolls” is definitely one of the most memorable of the film.



Jayne Mansfield held a large portion of real estate inside the museum.



Here’s a section of the gate from her Pink Palace mansion which was located in Holmby Hills...before it was demolished in 2002.



Mansfield died tragically in a car accident on the way to New Orleans at the age of 34. The 1966 Buick Electra 225 she was in was also in display here. To see it in person was unbelievable.



These two vintage mugs/steins of Bette Davis and Joan Crawford are favorites of mine.



Karen Carpenter’s sink:



The death mask of notorious 1930’s Depression-era gangster John Dillinger:



For fans of Mae West, how about this framed display showing her autograph on a check to Bullock’s Department Store?



Last but not least...her dental bridges:



Want to see More Dearly Departed? Check out their youtube channel.

See more Dearly Departed Museum photos at my main website.