Mae West: New Yorker

When Claudia Roth Pierpont celebrated MAE WEST in the pages of The New Yorker – – in an essay later collected in Passionate Minds: Women Rewriting the World (Vintage, 2000) – – this was not the first time the Brooklyn bombshell appeared in that publication.
• • During early May in 1928, people could enjoy a lengthy profile of "Diamond Lil" herself when journalist Thyra Samter Winslow provided a personal peek into the actress's life for The New Yorker [issue of 5 May 1928]. The magazine's readers learned that, even on days when there were no matinees, Mae West still arrived at the Royale Theatre after lunch about 2 or 3 o'clock.
• • Winslow observed: "Clubs and cards and outdoor activities do not amuse [Mae West]."
• • "Her reading is confined usually to Variety or the occasional newspaper," wrote Winslow. "[Mae West] does not even know the names of important theatrical figures unless she had come into direct contact with them. The other night, Ina Claire [1893–1985] came to see "Diamond Lil." When Mae West was told she was out front, she said, 'All right, bring her in. But who is she?'. . ."
• • But let's give Claudia Roth Pierpont the last word. In 1996, Pierpont wrote this: "Maybe the best of [Mae West’s] valor and the choicest of her victories…arose from how much she enjoyed the fight, and insisted on her right to enjoy it and, of course, on our right to enjoy her enjoying it: What it cost her we’ll never know. Pierpont, Claudia Roth. “A Critic at Large: The Strong Woman.” The New Yorker [11 November 1996], pp. 106-118.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Sketch: • • Mae West • • Covarrubias in The New Yorker • • May 1928 • •
NYC
Mae West.