Thursday, August 16, 2007

Mae West: 14 Minutes

MAE WEST [17 August 1893 – 22 November 1980] is getting a birthday present and it's fourteen minutes long and seventy-five years overdue.
• • The London Times printed an entertainment feature: "Censored films recover their naughty bits" by Dalya Alberge, Arts Correspondent. According to the Times, "Films that have been banned or cut by Britain’s official censor over the past century are to be screened in their complete, original versions for the first time as part of a new festival." Well, hey!
• • Initially banned or trimmed due to objectionable dialogue or images [nudity, graphic violence, depravity, etc.], at last nineteen films will be shown at the Barbican in London this autumn [2007] titles notable for having “riled” the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) since it was founded in 1912.
• • The earliest banned flickers included stars such as Mae West, Jean Harlow, as well as the vamp Theda Bara's appearance in a 1915 silent film in which she gives "a mesmerising and sexually-charged performance as a ruthless femme fatale," a production rejected entirely by London's censors.
• • Columnist Dalya Alberge observes: "The wisecracking sex symbol Mae West made her name in a series of provocative roles, and She Done Him Wrong features one of her most famous lines. “Why don’t you come up sometime and see me?” she says to Cary Grant as she tries to seduce him. It was cut by 14 minutes.
• • As with many films that offended in their day, the material now seems innocent. Robert Rider, head of cinema at the Barbican, said: “They’ve got to be seen in terms of the moral climate of the period.” These days, he noted, there is “very little” that does not get the green light from the BBFC.
— "Seduced: Sex and Censorship in the Cinema" will run from October 18-24, 2007 at the Barbican in London, England.
excerpt
Source: The Times [UK]
www.timesonline.co.uk/
• • Byline: Dalya Alberge, Arts Correspondent
• • Published on: 16 August 2007
• • Devote seventy-five minutes to meet the "wild WEST" side of Mae West on Friday evening 17 August 2007, when a guided tour will explore Manhattan's MAE WEST-side during the "Mae West Side Story" walking tour. The event open to the public is timed to salute Brooklyn's own sexpot on her birthdate.
• • On August 17th the tour begins on Broadway and West 50th Street [NE corner] at 7:00 PM. As participants visit over a dozen WESTside locations significant to Mae West, they will enjoy rare antique photographs that show how each building looked when the actress rehearsed, performed, socialized, or got into mischief there. These startling vintage views also show how Mae looked when she was inside.
• • [See the Annual Mae West Gala posting below for the tour price and details.]
• • Only 1 more day until Mae's birthday on August 17th!
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Source:http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml
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• • Photo: • • Mae West • • 1933 • •
Mae West.

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