Frank Szatkus was an American musician and singer whose claim to fame was his marriage to Mary Jane West, a multi-talented personality who was into acting, comedy, singing, screenwriting, and playwriting. Frank’s late ex-wife, Mae West, had a career lasting more than seven decades, from 1907-1978. According to her Wikipedia profile, Mae was seen as a sex symbol during the active days of her career.
Frank Szatkus was the only man Mae WWest ever officially got married to. There are a lot of controversies around the former couple’s marriage, which will be revealed later in this blog post.
Who was Frank Szatkus?
Frank Szatkus was born with the name Frank M. Wallace, on October 31, 1892, in Brooklyn, New York City. Frank was an American citizen and belonged to the white race. During a controversial time in his marriage to Mae West, it was revealed by various news portals that he was the son of two Albany, New York natives, Anthony J. Szatkus and Anna Szatkus.
According to Wikitree, the people revealed as Frank’s parents cannot be his natural parent due to inconsistencies concerning their ages and other factors. Though there is no information on Frank’s educational background, his late ex-wife, Mae, is known to have been born in either Greenpoint or Bushwick, where she had her formal education.
Frank Szatkus is widely known for his marriage to Mae West; he was also well-known in the entertainment industry. Frank was a dancer and musician. He used the name ”Frank Wallace” as his stage name. There is no record of his songs on any music platform, which may be because his music never went mainstream.
His wife, Mae West, had a successful career as an actress and singer. She started her career in vaudeville, an entertainment genre born in the 1980s. It was made of comedy and drama with lots of music. Mae later moved to Los Angeles, where she started her film career.
Mae West denied ever getting married to Frank Szatkus
Both Frank Szatkus and Mae West first met in 1909. The circumstance under which they first met is unknown, but Mae was only 17 years old, according to her Wikipedia profile. The former couple kept their union private until the news of it was made public by a filing clerk in 1935 after he discovered the former couple’s marriage certificate.
After the news of Frank’s marriage to Mae West was made public, Mae denied ever being married to Frank. It wasn’t easy to believe they ever married because they did not live together as a couple. In July 1935, Mae finally admitted that she secretly married Frank Szatkus in a legal interrogatory.
It was also later revealed that during the marriage, Frank Szatkus and Mae West had separate rooms; they did not sleep together. The reason for this was kept a secret by the two in their lifetime. The marriage ended in divorce, finalized on July 21, 1942. They did not have any children together. For Mae to get rid of Frank, she sent him away on his show.
What happened to Frank Szatkus after his divorce from Mae West?
Frank left the limelight after his divorce from Mae, who was born at home with the help of her midwife Aunty. Little was seen of him after the divorce. He spent the rest of his life performing at various circuses and releasing a couple of songs. Some of his known songs include ”Happy Moments” and ”We All Get Together”.
Frank did not get married again after his failed marriage to Mae West. Neither did he have any children. He passed away on October 15, 1966, in Henderson, Kentucky. He was 73 at the time of his demise. He was succeeded in death by his only sister, M. Walderburg, who was a long-time native of New York City.
On the other side of the coin, Mar West went on to be involved with other men after her separation from Frank Szatkus. Her first relationship after the divorce was with Guido Deiro, an Italy songwriter and recording artist. Mae and Guido’s relationship ended when Guido found out that Mae had aborted their unborn child. Details of the couple’s marriage and divorce were revealed in a book by Guido Deiro’s son. The book was titled Mae West and the Count.
According to sources, Frank’s ex-wife, Mae West, had also been in a relationship with her one-time manager, James Timony. She was also romantically involved with Chester Rybinski. In all the relationships Mae got into, she never had any children.
Mae West died in November 22, 1980. She was 87 years old at the time of her death. She was succeeded in death by her husband, Paul Novak.