*DIAMOND LIL (1928) Vintg Orig Double-Sided Theatrical Herald ESTATE OF MAE WEST

Description

From the Estate of Mae West
is a very rare vintage original 6 x 9 inch double-sided herald from her racy and controversial 1928 New York theatrical production of
DIAMOND LIL
, a "Melodrama of the Underworld." The front side depicts two shots
Mae West
as "Diamond Lil" wearing two different-style period costumes; the center image depicts Mae living the life of gaudy luxury while reclining in a gold "swan" bed; and the top and bottom images depict Diamond Lil receiving the unwanted but tolerated affections of the "Boss of the Bowery" (Curtis Cooksey, who is really undercover police Captain Cummings), who provides for her lavish lifestyle
. The other side depicts a portrait of Mae rendered within a star and notes that the play is presented at the Royale Theatre on 45th Street West of Broadway) and is presented "With a Distinguished Cast of 60."
This vintage original herald was issued for the play's original 1928 theatrical production and is not from a later-period production, nor is it a reproduction/copy or an intended fake. It is in very fine condition with only a light 0.5 in. diagonal crease on the top right corner (when viewing the front) and no pinholes, tears, stains, or other flaws.
Vintage original material of any kind from the original 1928 run of this theatrical play is extremely scarce...and this herald is from Miss West's personal collection.
Diamond Lil
is a 1928 play by actress and playwright Mae West. Prior to
Diamond Lil
, she had written a number of plays that were closed down due to either poor ticket sales or censorship issues with the establishments of the time, despite the fact that many high-ranking officials attended these plays.
Diamond Lil
, about a racy woman in the 1890’s, was her first major Broadway success and was the basis for her character “Lady Lou” in her 1933 film,
She Done Him Wrong
. Both West and the play were the final performers at the Nixon Theater in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania before the theater was closed for a skyscraper development on April 29, 1950.
There is one woman Mae West kept close to her for most of her career — and that was Diamond Lil. Mae was onstage, performing in that show in October 1928, when her other play,
Pleasure Man
, was raided two blocks away at the Biltmore Theatre and the police came to the Royale Theatre to arrest her.
What was it about this character that captured Mae's fancy? In Mae's telling, the Queen of the Bowery was a diamond-draped prostitute, a singer in a gin joint, and the live-in lover of the Boss of the Bowery. The man in Lil's life, who showered her with jewels and furs, was Gus Jordan, a candidate for sheriff and a sex trafficker who operated from his saloon on Chatham Square. When "Diamond Lil" came to life onstage in 1928, the setting was New York City's Bowery during the 1890's.
Mae West was living in a West 54th Street hotel when she first heard the folk song “Frankie and Johnny,” inspired by St. Louis prostitute and “sporting queen” Frankie Baker (1876—1952). This African-American beauty, known for diamonds “as big as hen’s eggs,” shot her lover with a .32-caliber pistol on October 15, 1899. Though the ballad by Bill Dooley (a black “bar-room bard”) concludes with Frankie Baker at the gallows, in reality, her murder trial in Missouri ended in an acquittal. In 1928, Mae West and her collaborator, Adeline Leitzbach, began working on a play for a cast of 33 actors that was set in the Bowery during the Naughty Nineties. Mae correctly figured that the American theatre-goer, tired of living under the dry restrictions of Prohibition, would welcome a “melodrama of the underworld” that took place during a friskier era when a nickel bought a generous glass of beer.
For authenticity,
Diamond Lil
has characters based on real individuals, such as Bowery Boss “Big Tim” Sullivan (1862—1913) and Chuck Connors (1852—1913), the “Mayor of Chinatown.” Mae West cast Chuck Connors, Jr. to play his father for the Broadway debut of
Diamond Lil
on April 9, 1928. “Frankie and Johnny” became Mae West’s trademark song, featured in her 66-minute film,
She Done Him Wrong
(1933), many recordings, and her stage shows. Her three-act (3 hour) play,
Diamond Lil
, had several tours between 1928—1951. Miss West, who never used an understudy, missed only two performances, once due to influenza and once because she broke her ankle.