Thursday, March 04, 2010

Billy Barton and Mae West (From Paul Gutheil)


billy barton and mae west, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.


Buckles: I probably sent you the attached photo of Mae West visiting
Billy on the
Pollack show in the early '70's already, but no harm no foul.
Billy loaned
me the negative. He had lots of Mae West stories told in his own
inimitable way.

Paul

3 comments:

Frank Ferrante said...

For years after seeing Billy Rose's JUMBO, I thought that they had misspelled Billy Barty's name in the credits. It wasn't until recently that I realized that there was a Billy Barton AND a Billy Barty in that movie. Little person Barty is in clown make-up near the beginning of the movie asking Doris Day if she can fill in because two of the other clowns have left the show. Is Barton the one who worked the single trap in the film? ~frank

Anonymous said...

Met Billy Barty quite by accident in the late 80s.This in an office building near Sunset and Vine.We shared the same elevator.He was cordial.This while I was working in Hollywood.
When you work in Hollywood or La its almost an everyday thing to sight a star.From what I have found they are almost always polite.Except for those who think the world owes them.

Roger Smith said...

Every so often at Jungleland, I'd look up to find Billy Barty quietly observing all we did. He'd usually be alone, sitting by himself, smiling and waving to us, and signing autographs and having pictures taken for fans who recognized him. He'd catch some of our shows, and visit with old-timers he'd worked with, and then, just as quietly, he'd vanish until next time.

We had a number of celebs hang out with us. One who drew excited attention from our lady guests was Vince Edwards. His BEN CASEY, MD show had long been off the air, but his fans didn't care. He had sort of a James Dean shyness about him, and he'd stay off to himself, when we'd see him peeping at us from around corners or smiling from a back row of seats. Like Barty, he'd disappear without fanfare, until turning up in the shadows once again.