Mae West Birthday Gala: August 17

COURTING MAE WEST Gala Fundraiser on August 17th, 2005 in New York

GOAL: to raise funds to stage Courting Mae West in a NYC theatre
PAYMENTS: make checks payable to The Field, earmarked for Courting Mae West - - August 17th Gala.
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Mail to: L. Loschiavo, 24 Fifth Avenue [Box 6-11], NYC 10011-8817, USA
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CREDIT CARD PAYMENTS: pay online at www.PayPal.com - the August 17th Gala's account is under ComeUpSeeMae@aol.com

Individual Donations
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Top Tier attendee: $500 [limited to 40 adults]
(One Ticket for the 6:00 pm Séance; Preferred Seating at the 7:00 pm mini-performance of Courting Mae West; Cocktail Reception with Dewar's scotch and your own private Dewar's barmaid; non-stop food and drinks; unlimited live entertainment; Mae West by artist Sam Norkin: Signed Limited Edition [value: $500]; Photo Opportunity with Mae West and Joe Franklin; One Giftbag; Credit on Event Material and Web Site; $400 of your $500 admission is tax deductible.)
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Medium Tier attendee: $300 [225 adults will be admitted]
(One Ticket for 7:00 pm Courting Mae West mini-performance; Cocktail Reception; non-stop food and premium brand-name labels such as Dewar's imported scotch and Damrak's imported gin; unlimited live entertainment; Mae West by artist Sam Norkin: Signed Limited Edition [value: $500]; a Free Reading by a Psychic; One Giftbag; $200 of $300 admission is tax deductible.)
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Lowest Tier attendee: $130 [225 adults will be admitted]
(One Ticket for 7:00 pm Courting Mae West mini-performance; Cocktail Reception; non-stop food and premium brand-name labels such as Dewar's imported scotch and Damrak's imported gin; unlimited live entertainment. NO giftbag, no VIP extras.)
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NON-attending donor whose contribution is $50 or MORE: you will receive our thanks and a stunning 11" x 17" illustration of Mae West as "Diamond Lil" by artist Sam Norkin: Signed Limited Edition [value: $500].
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The Field is a not-for-profit, tax exempt, 501(c)(3) organization serving the New York City performing arts community. Contributions made to The Field and earmarked for COURTING MAE WEST are tax deductible to the extent allowed by law.
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For more information about the Field contact:

The Field, 161 6th Avenue, New York, NY 10013, [212] 691-6969, fax: [212] 255-2053, www.TheField.org email: info@thefield.org. A copy of The Field's latest annual report may be obtained, upon request, from The Field or from the Office of the Attorney General, Charities Bureau, 120 Broadway, New York, NY 10271.

Event info line: 212-614-9683.
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mae west

The Wit of Mae West

"Anyone who says he can see through a woman is missing a lot."
- Mae West
- - Come Up & See Mae on August 17, 2005 - -
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mae west

Mae West on July 16, 1952

On July 16, 1952 - - 53 years ago in Groton, Connecticut:
Mae West traveled to the Groton submarine base to participate in the "debut" of the scarlet red life jackets dubbed "Mae Wests" [a flotation device]. The new color was designed to be visible from greater distances; a cord attached to the jackets, when pulled, caused them to immediately inflate, getting a nod of approval as their namesake stood by for the demonstration. . . .
- published 16 July 2005 * The Day * New London, CT *
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- - Come Up & See Mae on August 17, 2005 - -
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Mae West's Sofa Bocca Stars at Charing X

The world's first erotic gallery on its way:
Come up and see the famous Sofa Bocca, based on Mae West's lips
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London will house the world's first commercial gallery selling erotic art and design.
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The building covering 5,000 sq ft over four floors on Charing Cross Road, and dedicated to the erotic art opens to the public, on July 15, 2005.
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Called Charing X, it will stock only the most provocative works from artists including David Hockney, Sir Peter Blake, Damien Hirst, Marc Quinn, and Jenny Saville. It will also have floors dedicated to erotic couture, burlesque, fashion photography and even furniture.
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Charing X has been co-founded by the Eyestorm gallery's David Grob and Coco de Mer creator Adae-Elena Amats.
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"Every artist spends a large part of their lives painting nudes," Grob said.
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Furniture on sale will include the famous Sofa Bocca, based on Salvador Dali's Mae West-inspired lip-shape design as well as leatherwear and . . .
Excerpt from: Asian News International
Published: London, July 14, 2005
- - -http://www.hindustantimes.com- - -
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mae west

Mae West: Censura y Cultura

Noticiero NIP: News ITALIA PRESS agencia de noticias - N° 26 -
Año XII, 8 de febrero de 2005
Censura y cultura, reflexiones itálicas
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En ocasión de la primera "Courting Mae West. A staged reading", escrita por la guionista ítalo-americana LindaAnn Loschiavo, artistas ítalo-americanos se preguntan sobre el apoyo a la cultura étnica e instituciones de origen italiano en América
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Nueva York - La comedia "Courting Mae West. A staged reading", escrita por la guionista ítalo-americana LindaAnn Loschiavo, estará en escena mañana, 9 de febrero en el C.U.N.Y Graduate Center di New York, dirigida por Thomas Morrissey. La historia relata la vivencia de Mae West, diva del teatro de Broadway en 1927, arrestada por actos obscenos, transferida a la West Side Court y recluida allí hasta su transferencia, por diez años, a la Women's Workhouse de Welfare Island.

La puesta en escena de la Loschiavo relata el arresto, la detención y las consecuencias desgraciadas en torno a este caso de obscenidad. En el caso de la representación en Nueva York de mañana, la guionista de origen italiano tuvo en cuenta discutir la relación entre cultura y censura en la Broadway de 1926-1929.

La 'premier', desencadenó en la prensa americana local, una serie de reacciones de parte de la Loschiavo y de otros actores y productores de origen italiano. Una protesta mediática que quiere atraer la atención sobre la gran producción cultural de prensa italiana en América, absolutamente subestimada respecto a la producida por otros grupos étnicos, en primera línea hebreos e irlandeses.

"Por años las asociaciones ítalo-americanas no-profit, acusaron a los actores de aceptar solo papeles de villanos y mafiosos – dice por ejemplo el actor ítalo-americano Joe Piscopo – la realidad es que a diferencia de otros grupos que apoyan a los actores, guionistas, las asociaciones ítalo-americanas cambiaron poco de su actitud en la última mitad del siglo. Este es el motivo por el que no hay muchas historias reales de vida ítalo-americana en los escenarios de América".

La Loschiavo declaró, por su lado, que parte del problema es que los ítalo-americanos no producen muchas comedias que tengan como fin mejorar la propia imagen. "Mientras en América hay casi 90 grupos de teatro hispánicos, no hay un teatro o un grupo teatral ítalo-americano – ha declarado – hebreos e irlandeses han producido muchos premios Pulitzer a Tony Award, reconocimientos que siempre vieron primero los escritores ítalo-americanos".

"Tenemos necesidad de tener películas y comedias que afondan una imagen positiva, y más, tenemos necesidad de que sean financiadas por ítalo-americanos", agregó la productora Marylou Tibaldo-Bongiorno. "Si las asociaciones ítalo-americanas quisieran construir teatros y promover el arte, habría mucho más respeto por ellos – declaró el actor J.W Perra – espero que 'Courting Mae West' vaya a Broadway" .
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Para expresar solidaridad al proyecto y contra toda forma de censura, el actor itálico Mark Rúffalo suscribió una carta de apoyo a la guionista Loschiavo. Además se debe al artista Michael Di Motta la exposición de coloridos paneles visibles en ocasión de la velada de la 'premier', pintados en la portada de un archivo fotográfico de la época (1927-28). "Es un honor ayudar a redescubrir un capítulo perdido de la historia neoyorquina de los años '30", declaró Di Motta.
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News ITALIA PRESS * N° 26 - Anno XII, 8 febbraio 2005
© Copyright News ITALIA PRESS di MediaPress S.r.l. 2002-2004 - Tutti i diritti riservati News ITALIA PRESS – Testata registrata al Tribunale di Ivrea (Torino, Italy) N° 166 del 01.03.1994
Le notizie del Notiziario NIPsono offerte in lettura gratuitamente.
- - from News ITALIA PRESS - -
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mae west

Mae West: diva del teatro

- an article on Mae West published in Italy -
NIP > Italici nel Mondo
Notiziario NIP - News ITALIA PRESS agenzia stampa - N° 26 - Anno XII, 8 febbraio 2005
Censura e cultura, riflessioni italiche
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In occasione della 'prima di "Courting Mae West. A staged reading", scritta dalla sceneggiatrice italo-americana LindaAnn Loschiavo, artisti italo-americani si interrogano sul sostegno alla cultura 'etnica' da parte di enti ed istituzioni di origine italiana in America
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New York - La commedia "Courting Mae West. A staged reading", scritta dalla sceneggiatrice italo-americana LindaAnn Loschiavo, andrà in scena domani, 9 febbraio al C.U.N.Y Graduate Center di New York, diretta da Thomas Morrissey. La storia racconta la vicenda di Mae West, diva del teatro di Broadway nel 1927, arrestata per atti osceni, trasferita alla West Side Court e lì rinchiusa fino al trasferimento, per dieci anni, alla Women's Workhouse di Welfare Island.
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La messa in scena della Loschiavo racconta l'arresto, la detenzione e le conseguenze spiacevoli intorno a questo caso di oscenità. Nel caso della rappresentazione a New York di domani, la sceneggiatrice di origine italiana ha messo in conto di discutere del rapporto tra cultura e censura nella Broadway del 1926-1929 .
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La 'prima', ha scatenato, sulla stampa americana locale, una serie di reazioni da parte della Loschiavo e di altri attori e produttori di origine italiana. Una protesta mediatica che vuole attirare l'attenzione sulla grande produzione culturale di stampo italiano in America, assolutamente sottostimata rispetto a quella prodotta da altri gruppi etnici, in prima linea ebrei ed irlandesi.
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"Per anni le associazioni italo-americane no-profit, hanno accusato gli attori di accettare solo ruoli da villani e mafiosi – dice ad esempio l'attore italo-americani Joe Piscopo -. La realtà è che diversamente da altri gruppi che sostengono attori, sceneggiatori, le associazioni italo-americane hanno cambiato poco del loro atteggiamento nell'ultima metà del secolo. Questo è il motivo per cui non ci sono molte storie reali di vita italo-americana sui palcoscenici d'America ".
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La Loschiavo ha dichiarato, dal canto suo, che parte del problema è che gli italo-americani non producono molte commedie che abbiano come fine migliorare la propria immagine. "Mentre in America ci sono circa 90 gruppi di teatro ispanici, non c'è un teatro o un gruppo teatrale italo-americano – ha dichiarato -. Ebrei e irlandesi hanno prodotto molti premi Pulitzer a Tony Award, riconoscimenti che di rado hanno visto primeggiare scritti italo-americani."
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"Abbiamo bisogno di avere film e commedie che infondano un'immagine positiva e, di più, abbiamo bisogno che siano finanziati da italo-americani", ha aggiunto la produttrice Marylou Tibaldo-Bongiorno.
"Se le associazioni italo-americane volesse costruire teatri e promuover l'arte, avrei molto più rispetto di loro – ha dichiarato l'attore J. W. Perra -. Spero che 'Courting Mae West' vada a Broadway" .
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Per esprimere solidarietà al progetto e contro ogni forma di censura, l'attore italico Mark Ruffalo ha sottoscritto una lettera di sostegno alla sceneggiatrice Loschiavo. Inoltre si deve all'artista Michael Di Motta l'esposizione di colorati pannelli visibili in occasione della serata della 'prima', dipinti sulla scia di un archivio fotografico dell'epoca (1927-'28). "E' un onore aiutare alla riscoperta di un capitolo perduto della storia newyorchese degli anni '30 ", ha dichiarato Di Motta
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News ITALIA PRESS * N° 26 - Anno XII, 8 febbraio 2005
© Copyright News ITALIA PRESS di MediaPress S.r.l. 2002-2004 - Tutti i diritti riservati News ITALIA PRESS – Testata registrata al Tribunale di Ivrea (Torino, Italy) N° 166 del 01.03.1994
Le notizie del Notiziario NIPsono offerte in lettura gratuitamente.
- - from News ITALIA PRESS - -
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mae west

Mae Amid the Halls of Ivy

Here's an excerpt from Heather O'Donnell's academic article: "Signifying Sex"
American Quarterly - Volume 54, No. 3, September 2002, pp. 499-505 [Johns Hopkins Press]

Excerpt: . . . THE FEW BOOKS ABOUT MAE WEST THAT APPEARED AFTER HER DEATH IN 1980 were heavily illustrated, mass-market biographies of a fondly (if dimly) remembered star. The past five years, however, have seen an explosion of critical interest in West, not simply in her status as a camp-and-vamp Hollywood icon, but in her controversial work as a playwright and novelist, her experimentation with sexually and racially coded performance styles, and in the way that West — "the greatest female impersonator of all time," rumored to be a gay man or a black woman in disguise—continues to challenge popular assumptionsabout identity.1
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The 1990s saw four full-length critical studies devoted to West: Marybeth Hamilton's "When I'm Bad, I'm Better": Mae West, Sex, and American Entertainment (HarperCollins, 1995); Pamela Robertson's Guilty Pleasures: Feminist Camp from Mae West to Madonna (Duke, 1996); Ramona Curry's Too Much of a Good Thing: Mae West as Cultural Icon (Minnesota, 1996); and Emily Wortis Leider's Becoming Mae West (Farrar Straus Giroux, 1997). Claudia Roth Pierpont celebrated West in the pages of The New Yorker, in an essay later collected in Passionate Minds: Women Rewriting the World (Vintage, 2000), and in 2000, Mae West returned to Broadway in Claudia Shear's Dirty Blonde, a tribute to her life and legacy.
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Now historian Jill Watts has published a new biography, Mae West: An Icon in Black and White, which argues for West's significance as "a cultural agent that celebrates and perpetuates the African presence within American society"(318). Speculating that West's paternal grandfather was black, Watts reconsiders West's career in the context of the African American practice of signifying, embodied in the figure of the trickster, and of an African American womanist consciousness, represented in the female... .
- - excerpt from Heather O'Donnell's academic article: "Signifying Sex" - -
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mae west

Daily Quota of Mae West Quotes

One more Mae West quote:
"I have found men who didn't know how to kiss.
I've always found time to teach them."
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Mae West: "Leo" Lady

Mae West: Born Under the Sign of Leo
Great comediennes, presidents, first ladies, entertainers as well as great dictators have been born under the zodiac sign LEO: [July 24 - - August 22]. Born in 1893 on August 17th, Mae West is a Leo.

LEO: Element: Fire
Parts of the body associated with Leo: the heart & the back
Keywords: "I will!" Courageous, lion-hearted, protective
The Leo is a gregarious, social, proud and powerful personality.

Famous Leos
Mae West
Don Henley * Napoleon * Herbert Hoover * Mussolini
Fidel Castro * Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
comedienne Lucille Ball * Count Basie * comedienne Gracie Allen
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Mae West's Birthday Gala on August 17th

-- as featured on WBBR Bloomberg Radio [broadcast 3 July 2005]
- - Who, What, When, Where - - - - - -
MEDIA coverage invited – SPONSORSHIP welcome
WHAT: Mae’s Birthday Gala & Seance: Fundraiser for Courting Mae West
WHAT’S SPECIAL: A&E will film this evening as part of a reality TV Program
WHEN: Wednesday evening August 17th, 2005 on Mae’s birthday
WHERE: on East 54th Street in a 19th century mansion in Manhattan
WHO: Dr. Lauren Thibodeau, Medium and Psychic, and celebrity guests
EXTRA: Joe Franklin will speak about his friend Mae West
HOW MANY: 200 - 285 adults expected to attend Mae West’s Birthday Gala
TICKETS: 3 Tiers of Admission [Séance tickets are limited to 40 attendees]
Info: 212-614-9683
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Mae West Put the "oooh" in Brooklyn

- - Who Made Greenpoint's Accent Glamourous? Who Gave WOW Power to Williamsburg? Who Put the "ooh" in Brooklyn? The Come-Up-Sometime Cutie Is Being Commemorated in New York City - -
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New York, NY -- Mae West is still the Queen of Kings County. About.com's Brooklyn Guide Wendy Zarganis has been thinking about Bushwick Avenue's vaudevillian Mae West on the 25th anniversary of her passing. In her latest column, Zarganis noted that dramatist LindaAnn Loschiavo will offer excerpts from her play "Courting Mae West" (based on true events in Manhattan during the 1920s) at the Mae West Birthday Gala taking place on Wednesday, August 17th at Bill's Gay Nineties on East 54th Street.
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According to Zarganis, Loschiavo's play reveals the rarely-seen, emotional side of the Brooklyn-born Mae West. Buy tickets before July 23rd to receive an advance ticket discount. See the link for details or email ComeUpSeeMae@aol.com. Wendy Zarganis wrote: "Loschiavo's blog is a must-read for lovers of Mae West and of New York in the Roaring '20s."
posted online on the Guide to Brooklyn page: Tuesday July 05, 2005 #
- - Mae West Birthday Gala * featured on About.com - -
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BY: Wendy Zarganis, Brooklyn, New York's Online Guide
Visit Wendy + Kings County: http://www.brooklyn.about.com/
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Mae West & Diane Arbus

Facing Scrutiny--Facing West

The more you get to know Diane Arbus' photographs, the more she intrigues, writes Philippa Hawker on the eve of a Jewish Museum exhibition.

Diane Arbus' images test our understanding of the limits of photography. . . .
~ ~ Mae West ~ ~
Some of the images in the Jewish Museum exhibition were commissioned by magazines: they could be celebrity portraits, images to accompany stories on American life, or the photographer's own projects. In 1965, Arbus spent two days with the septuagenarian star Mae West, and wrote a piece for Show Magazine to accompany the images: she described Mae as "imperious, adorable, magnanimous, genteel and girlish, almost simultaneously. There is even, forgive me, a kind of innocence about her."
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But the photographs are more pitiless than the prose: they shed a harsh, revealing light on their subject. West hated them, and threatened to sue.
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Her portraits often seem to be collaborations, images created with the participation and consent of those she photographed. Yet they contain something that is both more and less than their subjects might think they are revealing: they seem to show the gap between how a person sees themselves and how they might appear to others. There is empathy and there is distance, intimacy and a kind of pitiless scrutiny.
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Arbus, who had a sharp, pithy prose style, often supplied lines that could be used by critics either to justify or condemn her. A monograph with the twins on its cover, published after her suicide in 1971, included pages of Arbus utterances and observations about photography that have an offhand yet aphoristic force. They suggest, sometimes misleadingly, things about her work and her approach.
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Diane Arbus owned up to manipulation in taking her pictures: she acknowledged the access that a camera gave her, the power it conferred on her, the mystery and intractability of some aspects of her art. She said things that have continued to haunt the way her work is reviewed and understood. Things such as:
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"A photograph is a secret about a secret."
"You see people on the street and what you notice about them is the flaw."
"We've all got an identity. You can't avoid it. It's what is left when youtake everything else away."
"I work from awkwardness. By that Imean I don't like to arrange things. If I stand in front of something, instead of arranging it, I arrange myself." . . .
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The Photographs of Diane Arbus is at the Jewish Museum, 26 Alma Road, St Kilda from July 12 to August 28. On July 17 at 7.30pm, there will be special program that includes a guided tour and a discussion by a psychiatrist about responses to difference. Bookings: 9534 0083
- - excerpt from an article printed in Australia - -
By Philippa Hawker
July 6, 2005
http://www.theage.com.au/
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mae west

Speakeasy Secrets Mae West & George Raft Knew

Discover Secrets Unspoken in a Speakeasy on West 56th Street that Mae West & George Raft Once Knew
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Through July 21, when Film Forum (209 West Houston St.) is showcasing witty films that slipped the censors in its "Paramount Before the Code" series—including Mae West's screen debut [in "Night After Night"]—will any Big Apple history buffs be in the audience? Whose memory is sharp enough to detect New York nuggets built into this comedy set in a certain palatial rowhouse? Or has that once comforting tonic of shared narrative vanished like bathtub gin?
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Club Napoleon: 33 West 56th Street
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Before she read the script, Mae West knew about these premises on West 56th Street. So did George Raft, who had tangoed in speakeasies run by Texas Guinan and her brother, and patronized by Dorothy Parker along with literary "round table" types. It was Tommy Guinan and Sherman Billingsley who were the Pied Pipers of Club Napoleon, mixmasters who made the right ingredients pour in: bluebloods, showgirls, prizefighters, and pinky-ring types.
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Club Napoleon’s escapades inspired a sly short story, "Single Night" by Louis Bromfield, which Mae West, Kathryn Scola, and Vincent Lawrence would fine-tune and finesse into a screenplay about a speak with the working title of Number 55. An address change couldn’t fool New Yorkers. Those in the know realized this was about "that house on Fifty-Sixth Street," which had been owned by Charles Donahue, whose ambitious brother had wooed and wed heiress Jessie Woolworth, worth $70,000,000 thanks to her grandfather, founder of the five-and-dime chain.
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When this elegant five-story limestone mansion became the lavishly appointed speakeasy Club Napoleon, a repeat attender was Pulitzer winner Louis Bromfield [1896-1956]. Whiling away an afternoon with a news man, Bromfield noticed a stranger who ordered a drink, then threw it on the floor. Headwaiter Albert Berryman protested, whereupon the gent raved about being born in this very house and resenting its downturn into an illegal gin mill. He left without revealing his name. Not long after, on April 24, 1931, the cousin and legal guardian of the 18-year-old heiress Barbara Hutton made a splash on the front page of The New York Times; deep in debt, millionaire broker James Paul Donahue, 44, had doffed a chemical cocktail and committed suicide.
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Louis Bromfield stirred these bitters into a creamier concoction, which he resold to Hollywood. Night After Night was intended as a vehicle for George Raft, featuring Constance Cummings and Texas Guinan, whose baubles were so substantial that she could signal ships with her jewelry. Though that part went to Mae West, the role of "Maudie Triplett" retained its Cartier cachet.

"Goodness!" cried the girl. "Are them diamonds real?"
"Yes, dearie," Mae West replied, "but goodness had nothing to do with 'em."
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Another film with a similar slant was "The House on 56th Street," starring Kay Francis. Legends rapidly took shape about that location — especially after bootlegger Larry Fay renamed the club Casa Blanca, and met a spectacularly crimson-soaked death there on January 1, 1933.
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But three months earlier, Mae had passed by en route to the Paramount Theatre. "Night After Night" premiered on October 29, 1932 to good reviews and she and Raft had a lot to celebrate.
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This 500-word article was written by LindaAnn Loschiavo ©2005 All rights reserved.
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Dramatist LindaAnn Loschiavo will offer excerpts from her play “Courting Mae West” [based on true events in Manhattan during the 1920s] at the Mae West Birthday Gala taking place on Wednesday evening August 17, 2005 at Bill’s Gay Nineties on East 54th Street.
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