• • According to Jill Watts, in her superb biography Mae West, An Icon in Black and White, the New York Clipper rated her performance "capital." Even stingy Sime, after groaning that her shimmy was ill-suited for a Broadway stage, agreed that Mae "bowled them over" [Variety Magazine 11 October 1918].
• • A young soldier, newly arrived in NYC after serving in the war, remembered Mae's charisma. Leonard Hall noted that she was a "slender, beautiful ball of fire who performed as a specialty dancer in high kicks, cartwheels, and fast taps. She was a tasty tornado."
• • Mae West, writes Jill Watts, "was the show's hit."
• • With her tough gal posture and a hand on her hip, Mae forged her own portrayal of the vampy man-eater Mayme Dean (who was originally written as a pathetic little sparrow). Mae West even spiced up "All I Want Is a Little Lovin'" with her own lyrics. Rather than working with the busy choreographer of "Sometime," Mae West got some guidance from her Chicago pal Joe Frisco, a popular white jazz dancer who was an expert in black technique.
• • And Mae West's number "Any Kind of Man" must have stopped a few hearts when Mae went into her shimmy! Don't you wish you were right there — — inside the Shubert Theatre during October 1918?
• • So astoundingly popular was her Mayme Dean portrayal that Arthur Hammerstein had to fight off a rival producer's attempt to lure Mae West away.
— — Source: Jill Watts — —
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • Sometime, 1918 • •
NYC
Mae West.
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