Texas Guinan: Timely & Timeless

Texas Guinan [12 January 1884 — 5 November 1933]
• • A woman of restless energy, TEXAS GUINAN was born on Saturday, 12 January 1884 in Waco, Texas.
• • She moved to New York in 1907, where she rented a room for $2 a week at 72 Washington Square South, and later moved to 17 West 8th St., where she lived in an antique-filled duplex.

• • A new documentary about her is now in production; "In the Footsteps of Texas Guinan" is the title. The filmmakers are uncovering new ways that she was mischievous, lawless, fearless, and also very serious about business matters.  She made her way in the world and also boosted the career of many talented wanna-bees.
• • Let's all wish a happy birthday to dear, dear Texas Guinan on January 12th.
• • Exciting news is on the horizon. More anon.
 
_________________________________________________________
Source:http://texasguinan.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Texas Guinan
• • Photo: Texas Guinan • • Prohibition Era • •
NYC
Texas Guinan.

Meet Mae West August 2016

Meet the real Mae West: New Yorker, vaudevillian, upstart, and jailbird
The Annual Mae West Event Revisits the Brooklyn Bombshell’s Struggles and Trial That Made Her Famous

• • New York, NY, July 1, 2016  — Born in Brooklyn, NY on August 17, 1893, MAE WEST began performing at age 6. By 1925, the 32-year-old knew her career had capsized; she was cast only in minor roles, she had numerous negative reviews, and she’d been fired. A trip to Greenwich Village and an appearance at Jefferson Market Court (now Jefferson Market Library) — — along with an overnight stay at Jefferson Jail — — changed her life, making the controversial vaudevillian an overnight sensation.
• • Vintage NYC images punctuate this fascinating but little-known story about the legendary entertainer, some of which played out at 425 Sixth Avenue when it was the Third Judicial Courthouse.
• • Join us at 6:00 on Wednesday evening, August 17, 2016 to celebrate Mae’s birthday with a talk and slide-show by Greenwich Village historian LindaAnn Loschiavo featuring rare photos of the young variety artist, who toured as a “specialty dancer” before becoming a writer and going to Hollywood in 1932 for a small role in Paramount's “Night After Night.” Archival images of NYC vaudeville theatres, Greenwich Village, and Jefferson Market will be screened as you’ll be introduced to the company Mae kept such as Owney Madden, George Raft, Jack Dempsey, West 8th Street resident Texas Guinan, etc. • • About our speaker: Greenwich Villager LindaAnn Loschiavo, a historian and dramatist, drew inspiration from trials at Jefferson Market Court for her play “Courting Mae West.” Her latest projects are a documentary film, “In the Footsteps of Texas Guinan,” and a new biography on the queen of the night clubs, who lived at 72 Washington Square South and 17 West 8th Street until her death in 1933.
• • Come up and see Mae on her birthday for a festive occasion filled with fun, refreshments, prizes.   

    
— — — — Who, What, When, Where — — — —
• • What: Meet the real Mae West: New Yorker, vaudevillian, upstart, jailbird
• • When: Wednesday, 17 August 2016 — — from 6:00—8:00pm (doors open at 5:30pm)
• • Where: Jefferson Market Library, 425 6th Avenue, New York, NY 10011 (at West 10th  St.)
• • Fee: FREE — — but reservations are suggested
• • Phone: 212- 243-4334
• • Who: Our speaker is LindaAnn Loschiavo, dramatist, historian, Greenwich Villager
• • Subway: IND line to West Fourth Street; PATH train to West 9th Street
• • Extra: refreshments and a Mae West raffle
• • Website for all things Mae West:  http://MaeWest.blogspot.com
• • Mae West said: "I enjoyed the court room as any other stage."
• • Mae West (to jail matron): "Whaddya mean strip? I thought this was a respectable place!" 
• • Feel free to share this post.

• • Mae West: New Yorker, Vaudevillian, Upstart, and Jailbird — a Birthday Celebration!
• • https://www.nypl.org/events/programs/2016/08/17/mae-west-new-yorker-vaudevillian-upstart-and-jailbird-birthday

— — — — —  — — —  — — — — —  — — —  — — — — — 
— — — — — —  — — —  — — — — —  — — —  — — — — 
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
• • 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.
• • Website for all things Mae West — http://MaeWest.blogspot.com 

• • Exciting Texas Guinan news is on the horizon. More anon.
_________________________________________________________
Source:http://texasguinan.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Texas Guinan
• • Photo: Texas Guinan • • Mae West on trial, 1927 • •
NYC
Texas Guinan.

Texas Guinan: Licensing Fees

"In the Footsteps of Texas Guinan" is a documentary film, now in production, about (who else?) TEXAS GUINAN.
• • As documentary filmmakers try to bring a topic to the screen, some of the challenges involve all those licensing fees. What brings a story alive is the rare archival footage as well as those "rights managed" photos (from Getty Images, Bettman Archive, etc.) — — and, yes, predictably that means paying a full licensing fee. Warner Brothers, for instance, is not about to let us use vintage Texas Guinan film footage for free.

• • Other expenses include traveling to interview people, paying the camera crew (boom operators, lighting staff, etc.), music rights, editing the footage, and more.

• • Thank you to all the wonderful individuals who have already contributed.
• • We're hoping to reach more people before June 16th. Please share this message.
• • During the 1920s, night club was always two words as in "Queen of the Night Clubs."
• • There's more to the story so come back to see us and please support our campaign. Thank you.
• • Visit "In the Footsteps of Texas Guinan"

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
• • 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.
• • Website for all things Mae West — http://MaeWest.blogspot.com 

• • Exciting Texas Guinan news is on the horizon. More anon.
_________________________________________________________
Source:http://texasguinan.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Texas Guinan
• • Photo: Texas Guinan • • a friend of hers • •
NYC
Texas Guinan.

Texas Guinan: Night Club — 2 words

Here's the untold story behind the noun "night club," a term coined by TEXAS GUINAN.  She was not the first individual, however, to open a nightspot where men and women could dance, drink, socialize, and be entertained.
• • For instance, in 1917 (during pre-wartime Prohibition) in Greenwich Village, Paula "Polly" Holliday and Bernard "Barney" Gallant were running the Greenwich Village Inn on Sheridan Square. This was considered to be the first place in New York City where drinks were served at a customer's table by a waiter or waitress and there was live entertainment onstage.
• • This kind of avant-garde nightspot was known as "a concert saloon" or "a cabaret" in 1917.
• • Let's move ahead seven years to 1924, when Texas Guinan and Larry Fay opened their El Fey Club in midtown Manhattan. To extract more cash from the attendees and also to have a ready alibi for the cops, Texas instructed her doorman to sell a club membership card to anyone trying to gain admission. Later on, when the police would show up, Texas explained that this was a private party — — and all the adults inside were "club members."  Clever, huh?

• • During the 1920s, night club was always two words as in "Queen of the Night Clubs."
• • There's more to the story so come back to see us and please support our campaign.
• • Visit "In the Footsteps of Texas Guinan"
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
• • 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.
• • Website for all things Mae West — http://MaeWest.blogspot.com 

• • Exciting Texas Guinan news is on the horizon. More anon.
_________________________________________________________
Source:http://texasguinan.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Texas Guinan
• • Photo: Texas Guinan • • page in Variety, 1926 • •
NYC
Texas Guinan.

Texas Guinan: Doris Eaton

Oh those days when TEXAS GUINAN offered world-class whoopee at the El Fey Club and Club Intime.
• • Let us talk about two sisters Texas knew:  Pearl Eaton [1 August 1898 — 10 September 1958] and Doris Eaton Travis [14 March 1904  — 11 May 2010], a former Ziegfeld Follies star (and the last surviving Ziegfeld girl).
• • In the 2003 memoir by Doris Eaton Travis, "The Days We Danced: The Story of my Theatrical Family," the stage star  reminisced about her sister Pearl Eaton. "Pearl worked in several supper clubs in the 1920s. But her longest stay at any one club was with Texas Guinan at the famous El Fey Club at 107 West 45th Street, which opened in 1924. It was owned by a shady and notorious character named Larry Fay.  . . . Larry actually asked me out to dinner on one occasion, but I declined, making it clear Mama did not allow me to go out with 'older men'," wrote Doris who was 20 years old in 1924.
• • According to several sources, showbiz was rough country for the Eaton brothers and sisters, who packed plenty of alcohol and drugs along for the ride.
• • From 1916 — 1928, Pearl Eaton was on The Great White Way, performing in musicals, revues, and shows by Ziegfeld and Earl Carroll.  Doris said:  “Florenz Ziegfeld, to us and our family, was just a delightful person. My sisters, Mary and Pearl, my brother Charlie and I all worked for him, and he treated us just beautifully, almost like a father. When I went with my mother up to his office, he was always gentlemanly and kindly. He was sort of a quiet person.”
• • But Tinseltown, that rocky terrain where screen dreams rise, settle, surge, and slide, was an unsteady employer.  Pearl Eaton tip-toed through from 1929 — 1936, offered merely the shallowest breathing space inside ten films. "Klondike Annie" was the last of these.
• • But the good news is that Doris and Pearl Eaton are making their presence known at their old haunt in midtown Manhattan.

• • This weekend, the charming supper club entrepreneur, Herve Rousseau, who has owned Flute (205 West 54th Street) since 1997 — — the site of Texas Guinan's Club Abbey and Club Intime — — was being interviewed for the upcoming documentary "In the Footsteps of Texas Guinan." He shared this fascinating story with us.
• • Herve Rousseau explained that, a few years ago, he was buying new art for his club. "I must have looked at well over 10,000 prints and I selected ten pieces. I showed these to my wife, my employees, and some friends. The choice was unanimous. Everybody liked the same female portrait the best. So I bought it and we hung it up opposite the entrance. One night, one of my regular clients looked at the artwork more closely and told me the portrait was of Doris Eaton.  This was several years ago, when she was promoting her new memoir."
• • Herve Rousseau continued: "I researched her name and discovered she had been a guest at Texas Guinan's clubs and her sister Pearl Eaton had worked for Texas and Larry Fay. Now she's back here again."
• • This was a "goosebumps" moment for all the listeners. What a great story.
• • Photo: Herve Rousseau and the camera crew at Flute on 2 April 2016
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
• • 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.
• • Website for all things Mae West — http://MaeWest.blogspot.com 

• • Exciting Texas Guinan news is on the horizon. More anon.
_________________________________________________________
Source:http://texasguinan.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Texas Guinan
• • Photo: Texas Guinan • • Herve Rousseau at 205 West 54th Street • •
NYC
Texas Guinan.

Texas Guinan: Hyman Edson

Oh those days when TEXAS GUINAN offered world-class whoopee at Club Intime and her gallant gun-toting "galahad" was ever on call.
• • Born in Manhattan and raised on the Bowery, Hyman H. Edson [1894 —1964] was a career criminal but retained the after-glow of being associated with Texas Guinan and the affection of gossip columnists.
• • During the speakeasy era, the gun-toting Hyman “Feets” Edson was described in newspaper articles as Guinan’s “manager,” a “broker,” her “faithful henchman,” or (in 1926) “a tired business man, alleged to have had liquor on his person.”  
• • When Guinan opened a Merrick Road speakeasy, it was noted that “Feets” Edson was operating the club directly opposite hers.
• • Last Sucker at Club Intime, 205 West 54th Street • •
• • New York, April 28, 1929 — — Texas Guinan's Club Intime was evicted from the Hotel Harding on West 54th st., Saturday afternoon by City Marshal Michael J. Kennedy, jr., who acted on an order obtained from municipal court by Mrs. Tillie Landauer, landlord of the hotel. 
• • Kennedy and his assistants piled the pianos. chairs, tables, draperies and other furnishings of the club on the sidewalk, as Tommy Guinan, brother of Texas, and Hyman Edson, her faithful henchman, looked mournfully on. The belongings were not long on the sidewalk. The draperies were taken away by a cleaning concern and the other stuff went to a warehouse. 

• • Tommy Guinan and Edson were discussing the prospects of the club's reopening when Marshal Kennedy arrived. "Who are you?" they asked. 
• • "I'm probably the last sucker to step in here," said Kennedy. "I'm the city marshal and I'm going to give the little girl a great big hand."
• • In December 1964, Edson was killed in a car accident. On January 26, 1965, Broadway columnist Leonard Lyon wrote: "Feets Edson, the colorful Texas Guinan character who was killed in an auto accident last month, was suing George Raft for libel."
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
• • 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.
• • Website for all things Mae West — http://MaeWest.blogspot.com 

• • Exciting Texas Guinan news is on the horizon. More anon.
_________________________________________________________
Source:http://texasguinan.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Texas Guinan
• • Photo: Texas Guinan • • 205 West 54th Street • •
NYC
Texas Guinan.

Texas Guinan: 1819 Broadway

Oh those days when TEXAS GUINAN offered world-class whoopee onscreen and leased a film office at 1819 Broadway (at the N.W. corner of 59th Street, overlooking Central Park).  She rented Suite # 712.  
• • The silent screen star had made dozens of Westerns for the Frohman Amusement Company, Merit Films (130 West 46th St.), and others. It was time to show the world she could do it better. Here is her announcement in August 1921.
• • Despite an ambitious volley of ads in the trade publications (such as this one below), TGP would only release two titles. These two were "Texas of the Mounted" (in which she played a male and female role) and "The Code of the West" in 1921. These would be her last two silent films.
• • Texas Guinan in Two-Reelers  Produced by Her Own Company • •
• • The Texas Guinan Productions recently organized, announces it will produce a series of twelve two-reel Western dramas of an original nature, starring Miss Guinan, to be released on the state-right market, commencing September 15.  The productions will be adaptations from authors of prominence who have specialized in Western characterization and it is said will portray the true Western character, supported by themes embracing heart interest and pathos. It is understood that a prominent state-right producer will supervise the production, exploitation and distribution. In addition, Miss Guinan will also produce two five-reel or six-reel Western Specials and has already secured an option on a popular Western novel.
• • The Eastern executive offices are located in New York. Production work will be on the West Coast. The first six stories have already been acquired. Two of them call for locations in Montana and Arizona and the producing company will photograph these attractions at the exact locale named by the authors of the stories.

• • An extensive advertising campaign will be inaugurated.
• • Marion Kohn, of the Federated  Film Exchange of California, has already closed California, Arizona,  and Nevada, and three other exchanges have wired in offers on their territories.
• • It is also planned that for a period of eight weeks after the completion of the first series of twelve releases to have Miss Guinan make a personal tour throughout the United States, appearing in an act having been written for her in which she will employ her favorite broncho "Honey Dew," presented to her by the citizens of Waco, Texas, her home town.

• • Miss Guinan is not a  novice in the making of two-reel Western productions, having starred in two other series.
• • Source:   The Moving Picture World (page 610); published on 6 August 1921 
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
• • 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.
• • Website for all things Mae West — http://MaeWest.blogspot.com 

• • Exciting Texas Guinan news is on the horizon. More anon.
_________________________________________________________
Source:http://texasguinan.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Texas Guinan
• • Photo: Texas Guinan • • Texas Guinan Productions, 1921 • •
NYC
Texas Guinan.