| Hollywoodland | Mar 25 2022 |
Don't fool around on Donna Mae.
We're back in Los Angeles County divorce court, a place that got so much celebrity usage during the mid-century period it probably could have benefitted from a VIP section. Above you see famed burlesque dancer and model Donna Mae Brown, aka Busty Brown, attending a spousal support hearing today in 1960. Brown performed throughout the U.S. but was based in L.A., headlining at the New Follies, Strip City, and other popular nightspots. Busty wasn't her only alias. The era was all about unwieldy nicknames meant to generate free publicity, therefore she was also known for a while as “Miss Shape of Things To Come,” and “Miss Anatomy.”
In this case, what was to come was monthly support. She was seeking funds from her second ex-husband Maynard Sloate, a high powered agent whose clients included Count Basie, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughn, and Dinah Washington, and who later went into club ownership—including the aforementioned Strip City—through which he trafficked such stars as Anita O’Day and Redd Foxx. At the end of the day Brown, who had initiated divorce proceedings due to Sloate's various infidelities, won fifty dollars monthly, and twenty percent of her ex's gross earnings as support for herself and her children.
The notably slender Brown, who's a brunette above and below, but earned her fame as a platinum blonde, was one of the bolder models of her era, going topless in magazines, baring all for nudie film loops, and getting truly revealing for underground photo club shoots. The latter practice even got her arrested in 1953. The trio of poolside shots below give you a sense of how far she was willing to go, but they're not among her most explicit photos, because there's only so far we're willing to go. If you poke around online you might find those images. She's also fifth in a collection of photos we uploaded a few years ago.
I'll admit there are a couple of aspects of marriage to Donna that I'll really miss.
Los AngelesDonna Mae BrownBusty BrownMaynard SloateRedd FoxxCount BasieElla FitzgeraldSarah VaughnDinah WashingtonAnita O’Dayburlesquenudity
| Musiquarium | Jan 17 2011 |
And a one, and a two, and a you know what to do...
Count Basie seems to have been a favorite of Jazz News editors—we’ve only ever seen two copies of the paper and he’s on the covers of both. And why not? The guy was a genius. This issue was published today in 1962. You can see the other we posted here.
| Musiquarium | Mar 28 2009 |
Basie and his royal court make the scene on Jazz News magazine.
The incomparable Count Basie on the cover of Jazz News, published today in 1962. The magazine calls him "chairman of the board." We don't know who was chairman first, but either way, Basie and Frank Sinatra will have to fight it out for the title.
