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 56 Collections and/or Records:
May Mann photographs from publications, undated
Contains photographs associated with Miss Movie Teen, Jayne Mansfield, and the "Elvis and the Colonel" book party. 201 items.
May Mann photographs from What's Your Problem, undated
Contains photographs associated with Mann's television show What's Your Problem.
May Mann photographs of charities and civic activities, undated
Contains photographs of or relating to Ida Mayer Cummings, Marianne Baretta and the auction, the Oscarettes, the May Mann Awards, and civic affairs. 406 items.
May Mann photographs of duck hunting trip, undated
Contains photographs of a hunting trip with May Mann, Buddy Baer, and Roy Rogers, 58 items.
May Mann photographs of film personalities, undated
Contains general images, as well as those of May with Mary Pickford or Buddy Rogers, and the Osmonds. 773+ items.
May Mann play, 1945 May 10
Contains a typescript, tearsheets, and photocopy of Mann's play "Father Has Two Wives".
May Mann portraits and one-shots, undated
Contains portraits and other images of Mann.
May Mann publications, 1934-1982
Contains Mann's writings that were published or intended to be published, including news items, columns for newspapers and magazines including "Going Hollywood", newspaper and magazine feature articles on a specific star or subject, books published, as well as unpublished manuscripts, fictional material, and a play. Also includes material pertaining to her radio and television shows.
May Mann publications, 1982
Contains an excerpt of a book written by Mann on Elvis Presley.
May Mann publicity, 1930-1982
Contains clippings, including those from the Ogden Standard Examiner, those on her marriages to Al Leon and Buddy Baer (also on her divorce from the latter), and those on general and unspecified topics.
Additional filters:
- Type
- Archival Object 54
- Collection 2
- Subject
- Actors -- Biography 52
- Hollywood (Los Angeles, Calif.) 52
- Motion picture actors and actresses -- Biography 52
- Material Types 38
- American literature -- Latter Day Saint authors 37
- Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences 37
- Journalists 37
- Literature -- Latter Day Saint authors 37
- Performing Arts 37
- Publications 37
- Photographs 28
- Letters 8
- Articles 4
- Interviews 4
- Transcripts 4
- Audiocassettes 3
- Manuscripts for publication 3
- Legal instruments 2
- Promotional materials 2
- Video tapes 2
- American drama 1
- Autobiographies 1
- Broadsides 1
- Business cards 1
- Calendars 1
- Catalogs 1
- Clippings (Books, newspapers, etc.) 1
- Drafts (Documents) 1
- Fliers (Ephemera) 1
- Images 1
- Memorandums 1
- Motion picture actors and actresses -- Photographs 1
- Negatives 1
- Radio plays, American 1
- Reporters and reporting -- California -- Photographs 1
- Reports 1
- Slides (Photography) 1
- Television plays, American 1
- Typescripts 1
- Videocassettes 1 + ∧ less