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!

Tuesday, July 21, 2015

Texas Guinan: Free Event 2015

MAE WEST and her good friend TEXAS GUINAN will be celebrated in New York City during August 2015. All are welcome to attend.
• •
Onstage Outlaws — — Mae West and Texas Guinan during the Lawless Prohibition Era
• •
• • 3 events commemorate the Brooklyn bombshell’s August birthday in the room where she faced a judge who sent her to jail • •
• • New York, NY, July 13, 2015 — During the 1920s, when Mae West was trying to build her career, the building all dramatists and actresses tried to avoid——Jefferson Market Court at 425 Sixth Avenue—— was the very site that made a little-known performer world famous. When N.Y. District Attorney Joab Banton had Mae West arrested and paddy wagoned to Jefferson Market Police Court on February 9, 1927, the controversial Brooklyn entertainer made global headlines for the first time. The actress-writer also served time in Jefferson Jail. At her side, covering the trial for the New York Journal American, was Texas Guinan, Mae’s friend and a frequent passenger in the police department’s Black Maria herself.
• •  In the 1920s, though most Broadway headliners avoided negative publicity, these two diamond-draped divas flouted convention, defied police, and became as well known for being handcuffed as for blazing their way onto theatre marquees. They were “onstage outlaws” during the Prohibition Era.
• •  When Mae West [1893-1980] and Texas Guinan [1884-1933] weren’t being chased by the purity police, they found time to enjoy the speakeasies, bookshops, restaurants, night spots, and theatres in Greenwich Village. In 1907, Texas-born Texas Guinan moved to New York, where she resided at 72 Washington Square South, then at 17 West 8th Street. The speakeasy queen owned bracelets set with 567 diamonds each and a fancy armored car that once belonged to the King of Belgium.
• •  To celebrate Mae West's birthday on August 17, 2015, there will be an illustrated talk: "Onstage Outlaws — — Mae West and Texas Guinan during the Lawless Prohibition Era.” Rare vintage images will show you the buildings around Washington Square as these two headline-makers saw them. Sites include the Village speakeasies where Mae socialized and bent elbows with Texas Guinan, Walter Winchell, Jack Dempsey, George Raft, and Barney Gallant; significant theatres; court rooms where Mae and Texas fought City Hall; and off-beat addresses that made an impact. Rare Texas Guinan silent films will be shown and Mae West’s Jefferson Jail poetry will also be read.
• •  The speaker LindaAnn Loschiavo is a Greenwich Village historian and dramatist; her plays include “Courting Mae West: Sex, Censorship, and Secrets” and “Diamond Lil, Queen of the Bowery.”

        — — — — Who, What, When, Where — — — —
• • What: Onstage Outlaws — — Mae West and Texas Guinan during the Lawless Prohibition Era
• • When: Monday, 17 August 2015 — — from 6:30 — 8:00pm (doors open at 6:00pm)
• • Where: Jefferson Market Library, 425 Sixth Avenue, New York, NY 10011 (at West 10th Street)
• • Extra: to celebrate the birthday of Brooklyn bombshell Mae West, on August 3rd and on August 10th, her films will be shown at 6:00pm. The first one, "Sextette" [1978] will be screened on August 3rd. Then "Go West Young Man" [1936] will be screened on August 10th. The August 17th multi-media presentation will feature light refreshments (courtesy of East Village Cheese) and a raffle. You could win rare silent films starring Texas Guinan. Or maybe a rare reprint by The New Yorker’s caricaturist Alfred Freuh or by a famous N. Y. Times illustrator.
• • Refreshment sponsor: East Village Cheese
• • Subway: IND line to West Fourth Street; PATH train to West 9th Street
• • Fee: FREE — — no entry fee for the three Mae West events on August 3rd, August 10th, and August 17th, 2015
• • Phone: 212- 243-4334
• • Website for all things Mae West: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com 
• • Texas Guinan said: "I would rather have a square inch of New York than all the rest of the world."
• • Mae West said: "I enjoyed the court room as any other stage." 
• • Mae West told the jail matron: "Whaddya mean strip? I thought this was a respectable place!"  
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
• • The legal battles fought by Mae West and Jim Timony are dramatized in the play "Courting Mae West: Sex, Censorship, and Secrets," set during the Prohibition Era. Texas Guinan is in some scenes, too.
Watch a scene on YouTube.

• • Exciting news is on the horizon. More anon.
_________________________________________________________
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• • Photo: Texas Guinan
• • with Mae West at her trial, 1930 • •

Texas Guinan.

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Friday, August 08, 2014

Texas Guinan at Mae's Event

The birthday event on August 13th honoring MAE WEST was mentioned in The New York Times today. Texas Guinan will participate in a big way, too.
• • ARTS: Spare Times for August 8 14 • •
• • Tribute to Mae West (Wednesday) • •
• • The anniversary of West’s birthday, which is Aug. 17, 1893, will be celebrated at the Jefferson Market Library. In the 1920s the library as the site of a courthouse and jail, where she was imprisoned for 10 days for performing in the play “Sex,” which was deemed to be morally corrupting. The event features a talk by LindaAnn Loschiavo, a historian and dramatist who has written plays about West. At 6:30 p.m., 425 Avenue of the Americas, at 10th Street, Greenwich Village, tinyurl.com/mbnaklv; free.
• • http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/08/arts/spare-times-for-aug-8-14.html
• • Save the Date: Wednesday, August 13th • •
• • Wednesday, 13 August 2014 will be the next Mae West Tribute in Manhattan and the event will start at 6:30 pm at 425 Sixth Avenue. The theme will be: "Mae West in Bohemia — — Gin, Sin, Censorship, and Eugene O'Neill."   
• • Details:  August 13th Event
• • The New Yorker announced it to their readers in the "Above and Beyond" section — — 
http://www.newyorker.com/goings-on-about-town/above-and-beyond/mae-west-bohemia
• • • • Who, What, When, Where • • • •
• • What: Mae West in Bohemia — Gin, Sin, Censorship, and Eugene O'Neill: An Illustrated Talk
• • When: Wednesday, 13 August 2014 — — from 6:30 — 8:00pm
• • Where: Jefferson Market Library, 425 Sixth Avenue, New York, NY 10011 (at West 10th Street).
• • Extra: to celebrate the birthday of the Brooklyn bombshell Mae West, this event will conclude with light refreshments and a raffle. You could win a rare reprint by The New Yorker’s caricaturist Alfred Freuh or by a famous N.Y. Times illustrator.
• • Subway: IND line to West Fourth Street; PATH train to West 9th Street
• • Fee: Free 
• • Phone to RSVP: 212- 243-4334
• • Website for all things Mae West: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com
• • Mae West said: "I got my own individual style. You can always tell Eugene O'Neill — — and you can always tell Mae West."
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "My play 'Sex' was a work of art." 
• • Mae West said: "I'd rather be looked over than overlooked."
• • Link: Wednesday August 13th event
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
• • The legal battles fought by Mae West and Jim Timony are dramatized in the play "Courting Mae West: Sex, Censorship, and Secrets," set during the Prohibition Era.
Watch a scene on YouTube.

• • Exciting news is on the horizon. More anon.
_________________________________________________________
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• • Photo: Texas Guinan
• • her pals at The Golden Swan Saloon • •

Texas Guinan.

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Thursday, March 13, 2008

Texas Guinan: Casting Call

"COURTING MAE WEST" — — which features the arrest and trial of Mae West at the Jefferson Market Court House and the character of Texas Guinan — — will have a table reading in the month of March [2008], under the direction of Louis Lopardi, at The Producers Club.
• • A Company of Players will read the script aloud in preparation for a short Workshop Production in Manhattan.
• • Seeking the next Mae West!
• • Meanwhile, the search continues for the right actress to portray Mae West [1893—1980] — — in this serious-minded comedy that offers a star-making role. During the Prohibition Era, the Brooklyn bombshell was in her thirties. The ideal audition candidate is 2530 with serious stage training and industrial strength charisma.
• • Rehearsals begin in June 2008 in Manhattan.
________________________
• • Resumes and photo to:
• • A Company of Players
• • Attention: Louis Lopardi, Artistic Director
• • 545 Eighth Avenue [Box # 401]
• • New York, NY 10018 - 4307
• • Send Email via the web site — — www.CompanyofPlayers.com
_________________________

• • The Producers Club is located at 358 West 44th Street [between 8th-9th Avenue], New York, NY 10036.
• • Meanwhile, a fundraising effort is in progress. Matching funds have been promised for every dollar raised.

• • "Courting Mae West: Sex, Censorship, and Secrets" will be onstage at the Algonquin Theatre [123 East 24th Street, New York, NY 10010] from July 19th - 22nd, 2008.
• • Get ready to come up and see Mae West and Texas Guinan onstage in mid-July 2008.
_________________________________________________________
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• • Photo:
Mae West • • 1927 • •

Texas Guinan.

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Friday, January 11, 2008

Texas Guinan Onstage in 2008

comic-1st-panel
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• • The event's board of directors met and approved my director's pitch
and my play "COURTING MAE WEST" has cleared the first hurdle to be onstage during their annual early July festival in a theatre in Manhattan.
• • The festival offers over 30 live acts. Mine is one of the two plays they will produce. My 95-minute serious-minded comedy will be shown FOUR times onstage [in a theatre with fewer than 99 seats].
• • Texas Guinan is in the cast along with other real-life characters that Mae West knew (and Mae knew quite a lot of characters).
• • After the 9 February 1927 performance of "SEX," Mae was hauled off to Jefferson Market Police Court on Sixth Avenue, where she spent the night locked up with streetwalkers and drug addicts.
• • Details and ticket prices will be posted when available.
• • Get ready to come up and see Mae onstage during July 2008.
_________________________________________________________
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• • Photo: Texas Guinan's friend • • 1927 • •

Texas Guinan.

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