Born on 12 January 1884 in Waco, Mary Louise Cecilia "Texas" Guinan played a gun-slinger and rode bareback in silent films, took New York by storm in 1906, and earned a salary of $700,000 as a speakeasy hostess. Here are highlights from a life led at full speed until 5 November 1933. Meet TEXAS GUINAN!

Sunday, February 26, 2006

Texas: Hop o' My Thumb

In 1913, Texas Guinan was weighing her fat and her fate.

• • By September 1913, the American Medical Association was investigating Texas Guinan, Inc., the company that was advertising the weightloss scheme cooked up by Walter Cunningham, an infamous supplier of "bust development" creams, "wrinkle eradicator" miracle gels, and other frauds. Walter's surname suited him; he was a CUNNING HAM, loving publicity that resulted in quick profits. Now the AMA had sent for a sample, and was analyzing the contents of a fat-loss fiction for suckers that Texas had attached her name to via a shady deal with Cunningham. Yikes!
• • By November 1913, the AMA's scientists had submitted a report: the formula branded under Texas Guinan's name had no weightloss ingredients at all. Even worse, ingredients in the mixture varied from bottle to bottle. A report was being prepared for the AMA's journal.

• • Meanwhile, back in New York, the night before Thanksgiving 1913, Texas would open at the Manhattan Opera House - - a huge structure that straddled West 34th and West 35th Street - - in "Hop o' My Thumb."
• • To make the old fairytale suitable for adult theatregoers, the production was a razzle-dazzle mix of myth, ballet, New York sarcasm, pantomime, and political humor.
• • Playing the role of Zaza the Queen, Texas Guinan had a solo number in the production: "For a Girl Has a Living to Make." Surely, this song was prophetic.
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• • photo: Texas Guinan in costume [1913] • Manhattan Opera House, 311 West 34th Street

Texas Guinan.

Thursday, February 23, 2006

Texas: Whirl of the World 1914

When Lee and J.J. Shubert premiered their revue "THE WHIRL OF THE WORLD" at the Winter Garden Theatre, the musical was so successful that it played 161 performances [10 January 1914 - May 1914] on Broadway. (Music by Sigmund Romberg; Book by Harold Atteridge; Lyrics by Harold Atteridge.)

• • Texas Guinan joined the cast on tour when it went west to Illinois. The audiences at Chicago's Grand Opera House fell in love with this firecracker. She performed in "WHIRL" from 31 May - 29 August 1914, then remained with the touring company as they moved onward to Detroit, Cleveland, and other cities.
• • TRIVIA: Too bad "pony princess" Texas was not part of the Winter Garden ensemble. This showplace, built in 1911 - William Albert Swasey, architect - started life as the American Horse Exchange. In 1910, the Shuberts leased the American Horse Exchange from William K.Vanderbilt ($40,000 for 40 years) and turned it into theatre.
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• • photo: Texas Guinan [1914] •

Texas Guinan.

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

Remarkable Texas

TEXAS GUINAN is featured in this book:
More than Petticoats: Remarkable Texas Women
by Greta Anderson
(TWODOT - Paperback, 2002)

• • Ten inspiring biographical accounts of 19th century Texas women who changed history are well-researched and well-written.
Of particular interest: Cynthia Ann Parker, raised by Comanches; Sara Estela Ramirez, a Mexican-born poet; and (of course) "Texas" Guinan, nightclub hostess and film star. Greta Andersen writes with admiration and compassion for her subjects.
• • "More than Petticoats" is a series about American women.
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• • photo: Remarkable Texas Women [2002] •

Texas Guinan.

Monday, February 20, 2006

Texas: Hippodrome 1925

Who could fill a Hippodrome, a Manhattan theatre built to epic scale, gigantic enough for gladiator combat, an elephant parade, or a calvary troop's maneuvers? Crowd-pleaser Texas Guinan and her "El Fey Gang" [a revue that included Ruby Keeler among her "little girls"], that's who!

• • Even without liquor service, Texas Guinan's name could sell tickets quicker than most in the Times Square area of New York City - - or anywhere during the 1920s.

• • In 1923 B.F. Keith took over this Sixth Avenue Circus Maximus, situated at the lip of the 6th Avenue Elevated, occupying an entire city block between West 43rd and West 44th Street.
• • Built 1905 - demolished 1939.
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• • photo: Texas Guinan [1925 ad] • B.F. Keith's Hippodrome

Texas Guinan.

Saturday, February 18, 2006

Texas: 1917 Ranch Dressing

No wonder Mae West envied Texas Guinan.

• • In 1917, while Mae was getting fired from one Broadway comedy after another, Texas was building a resume of one successful "ranch romance" after another. Proving that she could shoot, ride, and project charisma onscreen even in a stark black-and-white silent movie, risk-taker Texas Guinan starred in "Outwitted," released by Reelcraft Pictures Corp. in 1917. The "Queen of the West" had no challengers then - - and still doesn't.
• • When Madonna dons her cowpoke hat to play Texas in "Hello, Suckers," get out the handkerchief, pardners.
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• • photo: Texas Guinan [1917] • Reelcraft Pictures Corp.

Texas Guinan.

Monday, February 13, 2006

Code of the West & Brokeback Mt.

Since the movie "Brokeback Mountain" had a stupendous advertising and marketing budget, maybe the studio that released it can bribe its way to an Oscar. Meanwhile, someone ought to thank American author Owen Wister [14 July 1860 - 21 July 1938] for popularizing the taste for exotic cowboy fiction.
• • • • "Smile when you call me that!" - - from The Virginian • • • •
• • Owen Wister's enduring bestseller - - The Virginian: A Horseman of the Plains [1902] - - was dedicated to Theodore "Rough Rider" Roosevelt; later editions carried Frederic Remington's illustrations. The tale of a modest, quiet hero (more comfortable with his horse than with people) gained such a following that it was reprised by Hollywood several times. Wister's novel even spawned a TV series and a Broadway play.
• • In 1914, Cecil B. DeMille directed a silent film starring Dustin Farnum: The Virginian. A trend was set and an audience yearned for more.
• • In Spring 1919 Texas Guinan made her first feature, a silent called "South of Santa Fe" co-starring George Cheseboro, and directed by Cliff Smith, who had worked with "gunslinger" Bill Hart. Released by the Frohman Amusement Corporation, and with its footage still available, it's set at the Bar-K Ranch. Ranch owner Mrs. Wendell, married to a good-for-nothing who spends most of his time at Lopez's bar, advertises for a foreman who can manage unruly cowhands.
• • "You can't get a foreman south of Santa Fe that can handle that gang!" says one character.
• • "I'll get one and make all you coyotes hunt your holes!" replies Mrs. Wendell.
• • Mrs. Wendell gets a letter from a foreman who "can make men step around like snakes on a hot stone. Say the word and you've hired me." It's signed J. Kennedy.
• • Jessie Kennedy (Texas Guinan) rides up to Bar-K Ranch and, though the guys don't want to work for a "calico foreman," the film portrays how Jessie actually gains respect and obedience. Thrilling sequences feature frame-ups, bank robberies, and various intrigues. The heroine even conquers the Sheriff by the end, riding off into the sunset with him during the final frame.
• • William Sherrill promoted Texas as a "female Bill Hart" and leased the Chaplin studios in Los Angeles to produce this silent, backed by a strong ad campaign. "Texas Guinan to Typify the West" promised one advertisement.
• • • • The Code of the West • • • •

• • By Fall 1921 Texas Guinan had leased the Fine Arts Studio in Hollywood [4500 Sunset Boulevard] and had six sagas planned for the cameras.
• • "Texas of the Mounted" was the first silent released by her own production company. She used the six-acre studio for the interior footage and shot the outdoor scenes in the San Jacinto Mountains at Camp Keene. Her daring on horseback was praised by critics and applauded in the trade papers, too.
• • Were they there in November 1918 for the celebration of Armistice Day on Fifth Avenue when Texas Guinan rode an elephant [betw 36th Street - 39th Street]? Hey, cap that feat, Madonna, when you try to impersonate Texas Guinan onscreen in "Hello, Suckers!" - - yeah, we're waiting.
• • In November 1921 Texas released "The Code of the West," co-starring with the British actor David E. Townsend.

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• • The Code of the West fascinated Zane Grey [31 January 1872 - 23 October 1939], the Western writer who died in 1939 at age 67, who also shaped the way the world perceived the "Old West." Very likely, it was Zane Grey’s enormous output - - 57 novels, 10 books of Western nonfiction, and 130 movies - - that helped to continue creating the mythology of the West. The Code of the West by Zane Grey was published in 1934.

• • There was a Code of the West, and Ramon Adams, a Western historian, elaborated in his book: The Cowman and His Code of Ethics [1969].
• • According to Ramon Adams: Back in the days when the cowman with his herds made a new frontier, there was no law on the range. Lack of written law made it necessary for him to frame some of his own, thus developing a rule of behavior which became known as the "Code of the West." These homespun laws, being merely a gentleman’s agreement to certain rules of conduct for survival, were never written into statutes, but were respected everywhere on the range.
• • Ramon Adams wrote: "When legislated laws did come to the frontier, they failed to meet the needs and conditions on this fringe of civilization. Men did not respect them because they could not obey them and survive. Thus the West gained a reputation for being lawless - - though the blame for this condition should have been placed upon the white-collared law-makers, not upon the so-called law-breakers."

• • Texas Guinan: lawless? Let's hear your opinion about "The Lawless Decade" that she featured in so prominently.
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• • photo: Texas Guinan [1921] • The Code of the West by Zane Grey [1934] •

Texas Guinan.

Saturday, February 11, 2006

Texas: Isn't She Romantic?


"MARRIAGE is all right, but I think it's carrying love a little bit too far," said Texas Guinan.
• • Texas, of course, had many fans.
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• • photo: Texas G on the menu cover • "Texas Guinan 300 Club" [151 West 54th St.]

Texas Guinan.

Thursday, February 09, 2006

Texas & "Belle Out of Order"


Billed in the 1890s as the "Girl with Poetic Legs," actress, author, adventuress Belle Livingstone is all but forgotten today. In another episode on this blog, Belle will be commemorated more extensively as a speakeasy hostess who rivaled Texas Guinan in the early 1930s. Hilarious details are to come - - such as the trap door escape and red pajamas incident in 1930 and her $500,000 lawsuit against Vanity Fair Magazine after a feature in which a punster consigned her to oblivion.
• • Dead of a fatal heart attack at the Hunts Point Nursing Home in the Bronx on 7 February 1957, Belle Livingstone [real name Isabelle Graham Hutchins] was born in Kansas in 1875. Much married, the 82-year-old high kicker left several children.
• • In the summer of 1959, her second memoir posthumously appeared. Belle Out of Order by Belle Livingstone bore a preface by Cleveland Amory [NY: Henry Holt, 1959, 341pp] and quickly sold out two printings - - despite the fact that there would be no "book tour" by the flamboyant author. Belle Livingstone had been friends with such Edwardian worthies as Edward Prince of Wales, Pierre Lorillard, and Lord Kitchener. Maybe friends of these gents bought multiple copies.
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• • photo: Belle Livingstone [1875-1957] with Texas Guinan • [before 1933]

Texas Guinan.

Sunday, February 05, 2006

Guinan & Stanwyck's Broadway Nights


Brooklyn native Barbara Stanwyck [16 July 1907 - 20 January 1990] broke into show business as a teen and became one of Texas Guinan's little girls.
• • Perhaps that Guinan connection guided the 20-year-old chorine into the casting director's office; fresh-faced Stanwyck played a fan dancer in 1927's silent film "Broadway Nights," which also featured Texas Guinan in the role of De Sacia Mooers.
• • By 1930, Hollywood discovered the brunette beauty. "A New Star Rises!" shouted the cover of Photoplay [July 1930].
• • Ironically, like Texas Guinan, she starred in many horse operas. "When I was a kid, I was so crazy about westerns," recalled Barbara Stanwyck in a 1968 interview. "I swore that, when I became an actress, I was just going to do that." Stanwyck would eventually become a western star, but she would be better known for her dramatic roles in high-profile Hollywood classics before she got her childhood wish.
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• • photo: Barbara Stanwyck • date?

Texas Guinan.