Mann, May
Biography
May Mann (1908-was a Hollywood columnist and feature writer.
May Mann was born September 1, 1908, in Ogden, Utah. She worked as a society columnist for her hometown newspaper, The Ogden Standard-Examiner. She began branching out into writing about Hollywood stars, making contacts as they passed through Ogden’s Union Station. In 1936, May named her daily column "Going Hollywood," which was soon syndicated to many newspapers in the Intermountain West and later across the nation through the General Features Syndicate.
May used the title "Going Hollywood" throughout her life. Between 1936 and 1981 she wrote "Going Hollywood" columns for fourteen different magazines and newspapers. In 1946, a few years after she stopped writing for her hometown paper, she registered the title as her trademark. In 1982, May was still submitting "Going Hollywood" columns to at least two publications.
May became one of the five women to have a personal interview with Mae West and the only woman, at that time, to interview her in her famed apartment atop the Beverly Hills Hotel. She also wrote about Clark Gable throughout his life. During World War II, she occasionally wrote morale-boosting articles about stars entertaining enlisted men, war heroes, or love problems that came with the war. May interviewed and wrote about Elvis Presley often during his career and developed a close friendship with him, publishing a biography on him in 1975.
May married Al Leon, a former concert singer from San Francisco, in 1945. They divorced early in 1948. Nearly a year after she divorced Leon, May married ex-boxer Buddy Baer in 1949. After five years, May filed for divorce.
May Mann died April 15, 1995, in Los Angeles, California.
Citation:
Harold B. Lee Library. Div. of Archives and Manuscripts. Register of the May Mann collection, 1982:p. 1 (May Vasta Randall, later known as May Mann) p. 64 (b. 1908)LC in RLIN, 4/18/86(hdg.: Mann, May)
Found in 27 Collections and/or Records:
May Mann papers
Correspondence, newspaper-column and magazine-article tearsheets and typescripts; book drafts; and other materials relating to her journalism career.
May Mann business papers, 1930-1982
Contains correspondence, advertising, and financial records dealing strictly with the promotion and selling of Mann's writing.
May Mann financial papers, 1950-1976
Magazine accounts and outgoing statements; and an oversize log book.
May Mann other material, 1981
Contains drawings of Mann, dating from approximately 1981.
May Mann oversized photographs, undated
Containts oversized photographs, including images of Mann with family and others.
May Mann papers, 1974-1982
Contains correspondence, calendars, legal documents, and other material related to Mann's later activities, dating from between 1974 and 1982.
May Mann papers on California All-Youth Symphony/Junior Philharmonic Orchestra of California, 1948-1980
Contains correspondence, invitations, Symphony programs, Oscarette scripts, article typescripts, and news clippings.
May Mann papers on California town meetings, 1977
Contains materials related to Mann's participation with California town meetings.
May Mann papers on charitable and civic activities, 1945-1982
Contains material that relates to the many charity and civic organizations that Mann was involved with. Types of records here include correspondence, newsletters, programs, and newspaper clippings. Also includes a videotape collection consisting of three videocassettes of her charity appearances and projects in the 1980's.
May Mann papers on charities, undated
Contains materials related to Mann's activities with other charities.