| In 1933 Billy Hall sent my folks by baggage car to Hollywood with three elephants to promote the Mae West movie "I'm No Angel". William P. Hall had died the year before. |
Saturday, December 06, 2008
"I'm No Angel" #1
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5 comments:
Surprisingly, my folks rarely mentioned this event. It appears in my Dad's correspondence but only in passing.
The only thing my mother ever had to say concerned the filming of a war movie (possibly the elephants were stabled on a back lot,Paramount?)
She said the Director was berating the soldiers because they didn't act tired enough and by the end of the day they were genuinely tired.
Method acting ahead of it's time.
Come to think of it, with all the elephants on the West Coast at the time, including the Al G. Barnes herd, why did they bring in an act from Missouri?
I remember hearing that Mabel Stark did the arena work for Mae West's character "Tyra the Lion Tamer".
Roger Smith, is that so?
Indeed, Mabel doubled Ms. West, but in rather disappointing long shots. Mae insisted on being in some medium shots with lions, much to the horror of the studio, but she did it. Mabel and Mae became friends, with Mae quoted as saying if she ever wanted to be someone else, "it would be this Mabel Stark, the tiger lady." Mabel replied, "Fine with me. I want to be Mae West."
Roger,
Mabel's back would be killing her at this point.
Bob Kitto
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