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"An Afternoon with Miss West"
Before implants women used "falsies" to enhance their figures, they were first made for the movies and were Charlie's invention. Mae West wanted to have her breasts look bigger for her films so Charlie was summoned to her apartment to make the moulds. He had brought an assistant to prepare the plaster as he put it on because it set so fast. He asked her to strip to her waist and at that point, her bodyguard chased the assistant from the room.
Charlie asked her to put the vaseline on her breasts herself. She replied, "I won't put my hands in that stuff.... Are you crippled?"
If he ever made remarks about that experience, they are lost to the ether. But he did need his assistant back to help prep the plaster. The assistant came back and was so flustered, he forgot to put in the salt. As they stood there waiting for it to set, and set, and set... They found out the reason to the embarrassment of the poor red faced assistant.
Realizing they had to do the whole process over, with Mae standing there patiently, baring her breasts. Charlie remarked he was so hungry he might need lunch first. Mae looks at him nonchalantly and says in her dreamy way, doing her famous open armed stance with that "Come Hither" glance, "Well Charlie! ... Are you a vegetarian?"
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Charlie worked every Oliver & Hardy, Marx Brothers, Little Rascals, Abbot & Costello, all the "Road" movies with Hope & Crosby and the De Mille epics. The movie list is almost too long to recite. From the mid-twenties to the early 60's of the Twentieth Century, Charlie was a major influence behind the scenes.
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Charlie's gambling stories could fill a book by themselves with his schemes and partnerships - one with the slanderous Chief of Police of L.A. in the thirties.
Mike Cohen, the notorious gangster, loved my dad and was my landlord in the early 1960's after he retired from the Mob and became a Hollywood Landlord.
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Our kitchen table folded out into a Crap table, our coffee table was a standard lowered Roulette table - wheel and all. I'd beg the family to fold up the Crap table in the kitchen, back to being the hidden eating table it was supposed to be. I didn't want my friends horrified at how we lived. Just forget meals together. Here's the rub, Charlie ended up enlisting all my boyfriends to be involved in his gambling trips to Vegas. Determined to "beat" the Roulette wheel he assembled a team, leaving me behind.
During The Hollywood Hills fire, Charlie made a hurculean effort to save the Roulette table which I am sure shortened his life. He fell over with a heart attack shortly afterwards in August of 1961.
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The Whiz Kid who broke the bank in Vegas and wrote "The Velvet Jungle" stayed with us, along with his French mistress, while Charlie tried to change his appearance without having to undergo surgery. He carried a gun and a money belt with 25 G's, quite impressionable in those days. He was banned from the gaming tables, Cuba to Las Vegas, but couldn't carry off a disguise, even with Charlies help, because of a distinguishing limp. Those were exciting times.
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Rosemary Clooney had polio as a child and could not work in films wearing a short dress because of one withered leg, Charlie made her a prosthetic that covered her calf to make it look normal. She absolutely loved him and had a gold medallion made with a sculpted Gorilla head, the back read, "To Dr. Gemora from your grateful patient-Rosie". It holds a place of honor in my home. It adorns the sculpted Gorilla head made by a recent 21st Century fan for being voted "Chimp of the Century".
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Dorothy Lamour was famous for her sexy Sarong look, little did anyone know she was so flat they had to glue on Charlie's invention, falsies.
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Charlie's innovative way of "whipping" latex was the beginning of being able to duplicate the feel of skin. He helped re-construct many Veterans after World War II, Charlie made it possible to do the first true prosthetics. Many inventions came from the Movie Industry.
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During the twenties and thirties Charlie ran with a fast crowd which included Douglas Fairbanks and the Barrymores. It was the rage to dress all in white, cars too. Charlie made an unknown "deal" with the Lincoln dealer to get the first white convertible coupe with french horns and rumble seat to come out every year. In Hollywood this was considered a "coupe-de-ta" on his part and great one-upmanship on his friends.
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Charlie was great friends with Conrad Hilton. Nicky, his son, wanted to meet Liz Taylor so Charlie brought him on the set and introduced them.
The rest is history.
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Charlie had a penchant for wearing everything white including his Roadster. Jokes were always being played on each other and one day, just before a hot date, Charlie grabbed a couple pieces of candy laid out for the Make-up Department. Turns out someone had laced it with a strong laxative, you can imagine the result on everything white. Thank goodness! The explosion happened just before picking up his date. The jokes they played on each other were legendary.
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Clyde Beatty, the Lion tamer and Circus owner, was his pa. There are many fond memories around the Circus and especially the lions. They smelled awful; I used to play with the older ones and got to ride the elephant in the Hollywood Parade when I was eight.
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Clyde kept his animals at Jungleland in Thousand Oaks, located beyond the San Fernando Valley towards Ventura. In those days, the 1940's, it could take hours to get there. Each town in the Valley along Ventura Blvd was separated by walnut and orange groves, they were no more than gas station, market, post office and drug store on four corners. We drove a two lane road all the way from Hollywood. The Jungleland compound held acres of cages and a huge amphitheater where Clyde would "work" the lions. Charlie was there to visit with Clyde and the animals, but most especially the chimps. They all knew him and he loved them.
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Charlie worked the Studio system through it's hey-day, from the early twenties till Gulf Western bought Paramount. He left his history as an iconic influence during a unique and classic time. I sing the praises of those days because they deserve it. It reflected a time of what America stood for - raw talent, opportunity and great good luck.
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