West’s best friend, Gilda star Glenn Ford, was usually in attendance. Thomas Jack Kelly, a psychic then, after Kelly’s death, at the beach house, presided over by West’s psychic, Dr. A strong believer in the supernatural, West also hosted her own seance-like soirees - first at The Ravenswood, overseen by the Rev. West enjoyed a busy social life around this time, circulating at parties thrown by Groucho Marx and Roddy McDowall and attended by the likes of Lucille Ball and Cary Grant (whom she launched to stardom by casting him in 1933’s She Done Him Wrong, based on her hit Broadway play Diamond Lil). I’ve always kept it with a great sense of fun that it came from her.” “It fits perfectly in a spot I have in my apartment in New York. “I liked it very much and she gave it to me, so that was a surprise.” The painting depicted a girl in a bikini standing on a beach. “Mae gave me a painting from on the wall that I liked,” recalls Reed, 83. During filming, he got to spend time with West at the beach house.
20th Century Fox/Courtesy Everett Collectionįilm critic Rex Reed was cast in the movie as Myron Breckinridge, the pre-transition Myra. The four stars of 1970’s Myra Breckinridge, from left: Raquel Welch, Rex Reed, Mae West and John Huston. The film, based on a story by Gore Vidal, was West’s first screen appearance in 27 years. She was profiled by The New York Times Magazine and could be found reclining seductively on a Life cover that read: “Mae West going strong at 75.” She released Great Balls of Fire, a cover album featuring her interpretation of pop classics, including The Doors’ “Light My Fire.” And she emerged from a 27-year screen absence with 1970’s Myra Breckinridge, a doomed adaptation of a Gore Vidal novel, which improbably cast Raquel Welch as a transgender woman who infiltrates Hollywood.
In the late 1960s, West was enjoying a career resurgence. Swimming was not a consideration, but they would occasionally wade up to their ankles once the sun had dipped past the horizon. She insisted on keeping the shades drawn in the house, concerned the sunlight might compromise her pink and alabaster complexion. Novak would drive West - or “Miss West,” as everyone addressed her - to the beach house once in a while to “take the air,” as she put it. A former wrestler who worked as background beefcake in West’s Las Vegas review, Novak was later promoted to bodyguard and chauffeur he eventually became West’s lover and devoted caretaker until her death. West was rarely without her companion on her arm - Paul Novak. That was the pink room.” The house had a third bedroom, for West’s sister, Beverly, “decorated in blue because that was Beverly’s favorite color.” West’s pet monkeys - she had several over the years, with names like Bad Boy and Tricky - had the run of the place. It had a round white bed, and that was French design. One had a balcony - we called it the white room. “She had two master suites upstairs that faced the ocean. “The beach house decor was kind of eclectic,” recalls Tim Malachosky, who worked as a personal assistant to West in her later years. The house, which still stands and is currently occupied (estimated market value $17 million), was designed in 1938 by famed architect Richard Neutra for Albert Lewin, who directed The Picture of Dorian Gray. It was a beach house on the Pacific Coast Highway, a mile north of the Santa Monica Pier. West bought a second property in the mid-1950s. “I like to see how I’m doing,” West would quip. Mirrors hung everywhere, including above her bed. The theme was “naughty rococo.” Everything was gold, white and cream-colored. Her sixth-floor penthouse apartment was, like West, relatively small, and had two bedrooms, a tiny kitchen and some modest common rooms. It remained her primary residence for 48 years.
Paramount had put West up at The Ravenswood, the studio’s art deco apartment hotel at 570 N. She stole the film - particularly thanks to a self-penned zinger, “Goodness had nothing to do with it, dearie” - and was instantly minted a superstar. But Paramount Studios had summoned her for a role in Night After Night.
Then 38, West had already conquered Broadway with a string of controversial hit plays like Sex and the gay-themed The Drag. Mae West arrived in Hollywood from her native Brooklyn on Jan. From left: David Ray Johnson, Janet Lewis, James Farris, Patricia Pawlak and Jeff Redford, circa 1976.