Like the novel Ragtime, Dream Lucky weaves in a number of real life events and personalities — — including Mae West.
• • The time: 1936-1938. The mood: Hopeful. It wasn't wartime, not yet. The music: The incomparable Count Basie and Benny Goodman, among others. The setting: Living rooms across America and, most of all, New York City.
• • Dream Lucky covers politics, race, religion, arts, and sports, but the central focus is the period's soundtrack — — specifically big band jazz — — and the big-hearted piano player William "Count" Basie. His ascent is the narrative thread of the book — — how he made it and what made his music different from the rest. But many other stories weave in and out: Amelia Earhart pursues her dream of flying "around the world at its waistline." Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., stages a boycott on 125th Street. And Mae West shocks radio listeners as a naked Eve tempting the snake.
• • Author Roxane Orgill has written a number of notable books for children and young adults.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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• • Photo: • • Mae West • • none • •
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Mae West.
Few people made MAE WEST laugh louder than vaudevillian Dave Apollon.
• • Born in Kiev, Russia on 23 February 1897, Dave's heavy "sour cream accent" was so hilarious that Mae West knew exactly how to increase his comic capital when they worked together during 1922 in the ill-fated "Ginger Box Revue" [slated to open at the Greenwich Village Theatre in Sheridan Square].
• • When a shady producer short-changed the cast by not producing the expected costumes and scenery, Mae pushed Dave Apollon onstage to deliver a prologue. Apologizing for the third-rate production the audience was about to see, Apollon muttered under his breath, "Ach! It was better under the czar with the lousy pogroms!"
• • Though Dave Apollon also worked as a mandolin player, it was not his musicianship that brought him the enormous popularity and success he was to achieve in vaudeville. Instead it was his Russian accent. Always on the lookout for entertainers with unique charms, Mae West first noticed his built in assets.
• • In "Goodness Had Nothing To Do With It," Mae described her first encounter with Dave during the Ginger Box Review debacle.
• • Mae West wrote: "At a rehearsal of this show I first met Dave Apollon. He had just arrived in this country, after some hardships, and was in the show. He was a fine mandolin player and Russian dancer. I first saw him dressed in a very tight-fitting green tweed suit that looked as if it had been made for a smaller brother, high button shoes, and a high Hoover collar. He was short but slender, with a round elf's face, and a turned-up nose over a mocking mouth. He had a sour-cream heavy Russian accent, and a very amusing way of expressing himself in a fractured English almost like double-talk. Dave was very funny, I thought, but in the show he just played the mandolin and did a short dance. I couldn't help being amused by him and I would have him come to me so that I could ask him questions just to hear him mangle the language. I would try not to laugh out loud, just inwardly, and somehow everything became funnier that way. When Dave Apollon would start talking it would break me up inside. He'd ask, 'Whut suz funnik I'm saying please to tell me?'"
• • I said to him, "Dave, with your mannerisms, voice, and puzzled expression that seems to struggle to understand what is said, you make me scream with laughter. What would you be able to do to an audience?"
• • "But no thenk you — — I serious minded fella, this mandolin and dancing very serious for me is enough."
• • Mae West persisted and soon had Dave reading lines in a skit about Circe and her lovers. When the show opened in South Norwalk, Connecticut, it was discovered that the scenery was too small for the theater. The producer was about to write a formal apology for the theater manager to read to the opening-night audience, when Mae came up with an idea.
• • "Get Dave Apollon to go out before the curtain, in a spotlight, in his own tight little green street suit, and with that borscht dialect he should really be, funny telling them about the scenery." They captured Dave, fed him hot tea, patted his back, told him he could do it. Finally, Dave did go out on the stage to make the announcement. The more he got tangled up in the English language, the more scared and bewildered he looked, the more the audience howled. He became so screamingly funny the audience doubled up in the seats. They applauded madly, thinking it was all a part of the original show. He came off pop-eyed. "I sweating like a hoss," he said.
• • Dave Apollon died in Las Vegas at age 75 during the month of May: 30 May 1972.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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• • Photo: • • Mae West • • none • •
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Mae West.
MAE WEST once lived in the area of Queens (then Long Island) known as Richmond Hill. The actress was an enthusiastic smoker in those days. Once she was banned from The Triangle Hoifbrau because she almost burnt down one section of the aged dining room.
• • The Queens Courier featured a gazetteer on this neighborhood. Here's what they wrote.
• • Richmond Hill — — Where
• • Richmond Hill is a neighborhood in central-southern Queens, New York City, USA. It is bordered by Kew Gardens to the north, Woodhaven and Ozone Park to the west, South Ozone Park to the South, and South Jamaica to the east. The neighborhood is split between Queens Community Board 9 and 10.
• • History
• • The hill referred to as Richmond Hill is a moraine created by debris and rocks collected while glaciers advanced down North America.
• • Richmond Hill is rich in history. The Battle of Long Island, one of the bloodiest battles of the Revolutionary War, was fought in 1776 along the ridge now in Forest Park, near what is now the golf course clubhouse. Protected by its thickly wooded area, American riflemen used guerrilla warfare tactics to attack and defeat the Hessians.
• • Richmond Hill's name was inspired either by a suburban town near London, England, or because of Edward Richmond, a landscape architect in the mid-1800s who designed much of the neighborhood. In 1868, a successful banker named Albon P. Man bought the Lefferts and Welling farms, and hired Richmond to lay out the community. Over the next decade streets, schools, a church, and a railroad were built, thus making the area one of the earliest residential communities on Long Island. The area is well known for its large-frame single family houses, many of which have been preserved since the turn of the twentieth century. Many of the Queen Anne Victorian homes of old Richmond Hill still stand in the area today. The area first became developed in 1918, when the BMT Jamaica Avenue elevated train line (today the J/Z lines of the New York City Subway) was extended in the neighborhood.
• • Landmarks
• • The Triangle Hofbrau was a restaurant which was frequented by such stars as Mae West in the 1920s and 1930's. It sat on the triangular piece of land bordered by Hillside Avenue, Jamaica Avenue, and Myrtle Avenue.
• • Near the northwest corner of Hillside Avenue and Myrtle Avenue sat an old time ice cream parlor, Jahn's. It closed in late 2007. Not far away is Lefferts Boulevard which, with Liberty Avenue, define the central core of Richmond Hill.
• • Diversity
• • Originally, many German, Italian and Irish families had lived in Richmond Hill. Now Richmond Hill has many Punjabis, Trinidadians, Surinamese, Hispanics, Guyanese, other West Indians, South Asians, Indian and some Europeans living in the community. Today a minor Jewish population live along a larger group of Sikhs, Christians, Hindus, Muslims. Richmond Hill has many Guyanese people and is often thought of as "Little Guyana."
• • Historical Places of Interest in Richmond Hill
• • 1864 The Triangle Hofbrau — — This restaurant was at one time the oldest running restaurant in Queens (1893-1999). The building originally housed the Post Office and was also a hotel named Doyle's Hotel.
• • The first eatery opened its doors in 1893 under the name Wheelman's Restaurant. It was later named The Triangle Hofbrau and was said to have been the favorite eating spot of such celebrities as Mae West, Babe Ruth, Lefty Gomez, Robert Wagner Sr., Earl Sande, and Ernest Ball. Recently the Hofbrau had changed owners and was called Little Europe Restaurant, reflecting the change to a recent Russian immigration influx to Richmond Hill. Unfortunately, the restaurant falling under hard times sold the property to a medical facility which promises not to alter the building structure.
• • 1867 The Steel House — — This mansion once owned by Daniel Eldridge of the notorious Tweed Ring, is still located at 87-61 111th St. ...
— — Excerpt: — —
• • Article: "Richmond Hill"
• • Written by: The Queens Courier staff
• • Published in: The Queens Courier — — www.queenscourier.com
• • Published on: Tuesday, 27 May 2008
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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• • Photo: • • Mae West • • 1923 • •
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Mae West.
When MAE WEST lived on North Rossmore, her building was the pride of Hancock Park. Alas, things are no longer so sappy happy, we're told.
• • A dissatisfied dweller of the Ravenswood Apartments in Hollywood contacted the local authorities requesting some sort of investigative report on the poor maintenance of the building. Why doesn't the tenant just move? Good question. But maybe the resident is elderly — — or has a really sweet deal. Let's listen in to the moaning leaser.
• • "I suggest someone do a story on the Ravenswood Apts. on Rossmore," wrote the tenant. "Once the jewel of Hancock park owned by Mae West, now a crumbling tenement where the roof leaks into apartments during the rain, rain water also floods the basement, there are holes in the wall between apartments, the hot water frequently is shut off and the elevators is often broken amongst other problems. What's worse is the property is managed/owned by people who don't care nor want to spend money to maintain the building properly. A block away, the El Royale has successfully maintained and operated a similar LA landmark."
• • Adds the tenant: "I reported the leak in my ceiling on January 26th, it was not until March 6 that the walls were fixed. And only because the Housing Department planned an inspection of the premises on March 7th. This hole opens up each year during the rainy season. And each year, management insists the roof is fixed, and yet the rain leaks through in the exact same spot. In this instance, I lived exposed to the mold in the crawl space above my apartment for 6 weeks. I am still waiting for them to shampoo my carpet as promised and they are refusing to pay for the items which are ruined each year. . . ."
— — Source: — —
• • L.A. Curbed.com — — http://la.curbed.com/
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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• • Photo: • • Mae West • • none • •
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Mae West.
It was Monday, 27 May 1935 — — and MAE WEST fans were lining up to see the screen queen in "Goin' to Town" opening its exclusive engagement at the Capitol Theatre in Ontario. 
• • That week in Ontario, the movie houses were also showing: The Bride of Frankenstein, starring Boris Karloff; and Loves of a Dictator, starring Olive Brook, at the Tivoli.
• • Source: The Whig-Standard, Canada's oldest continually published newspaper.
• • In the United States, the motion picture had been released by Paramount earlier in May 1935.
• • Paramount production and release. Stars Mae West. Directed by Alexander Hall. Produced by William LeBaron. Original by Marion Morgan and George B. Dowell; screenplay and dialog. Miss West. Songs, Sammy Fain, Irving Kahal; camera, Karl Struss. At the Paramount N.Y., week of May 10, 1935. Running time, 75 minutes.• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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• • Photo: • • Mae West • • 1935 • •
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Mae West.
MAE WEST's famously buxom figure was the inspiration for another "Mae" — — a personal flotation device.
• • Used during World War II by the Allies, the Type B-4 life preserver (an inflatable lifejacket) was known among military men as a "Mae West."
• • Since this is Memorial Day, this is an ideal time to reflect on Mae West's relationship with the Navy.
• • During 1917-1918 wartime, Broadway's Casino Theatre used to stage free Sunday concerts for military men. Mae West was often on the bill, performing gratis, fetchingly attired in a middy blouse and a jaunty sailor hat. 
• • In March 1926, Mae West's play "Sex" — — whose plot turns on Margy LaMont, a prostitute who has an English naval officer for a boyfriend — — was in rehearsal. Prior to its Broadway run, the play had out-of-town try-outs in Connecticut; the maritime men on shore leave snapped up the tickets and became a most appreciative audience for these previews. "I'll never forget my debt to the Navy," Mae used to say.
• • In 1927, during Mae West's obscenity trial at Jefferson Market Court House in New York, police detectives took the witness stand and described a suggestive dance that Mae West did onstage during her play. The judge asked if the actress's midriff was bare during this "cooch" number in "Sex," and if the audience could see her belly button. This important testimony was cross-examined — — at great length — — by the lawyers. The detective said that he was too far back in Daly's Theatre to swear that it was Mae West's belly button, however, he saw something in her pelvic area that moved to the left and to the right, an admission which caused an uproar among the spectators. Mae West had to stuff a handkerchief in her mouth to keep from laughing out loud, too.
• • Covering the trial for a newspaper, a reporter poked fun at the detective in his article. "Clearly," he concluded, "no navel displays are permitted on Broadway."
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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• • Photo: • • Mae West • • 1934 • •
NYC
Mae West.
MAE WEST appears in a playful short story by Bess Streeter Aldrich: "How Far Is it to Hollywood?" [published in Cosmopolitan Magazine's July 1934 issue].
• • Her short story begins this way: 
• • Greta Garbo and Mae West sat on the back fence and swung their legs over the tops of the milkweeds and the boxes of empty tin cans.
• • Greta was small and dark, with black hair cut like a boy's, and restless jack-in-the-box movements. Mae was fair and pleasantly plump with a wide-eyed and innocent complacency that, if one were very critical, could justifiably be termed stodginess.
• • Miss Garbo lived at the Brysons'. In fact, she was known to Mr. and Mrs. Bryson . . . and most of her playmates as Angie Bryson. Miss West lived at the Thomases'. In fact, she was known to Mr. and Mrs. Thomas . . . as Emma-Jo Thomas. To carry this statement still further . . . it was only to Emma-Jo that Angie was Greta Garbo; and inversely and frankly, it was only to Angie that Emma-Jo was Mae West . . . .
• • The girls come across an abandoned home where the previous owner has left cartons of movie magazines behind. They cannot believe their luck. Reading about these screen queens of the 1930s gives the star-struck friends the idea that they must visit Tinseltown. But how would two schoolgirls finance a trip to Hollywood? They decide to inventory their possessions and perhaps sell some of their treasures.
• • "When they met and took an inventory of resources, Miss West had accumulated a small glass of jelly, some caps for a toy gun and a package of radish seeds. Miss Garbo's plunder consisted of a pair of Louise's silk hose, a card of buttons and the current number of her father's railroad magazine. Each apologized faintly for the humble characteristics of the contributed merchandise, but hope springs eternal, and one can never tell just what a fickle public craves."
• • Bess Streeter Aldrich [17 February 1881 — 3 August 1954] was an author born in Cedar Falls, Iowa.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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• • Photo: • • Mae West • • 1934 • •
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Mae West.
MAE WEST had to fight with Paramount Pictures to get the musician Duke Ellington into her film "Belle of the Nineties." 
• • Always the champion of the African-American talents she met, Mae insisted that the studio hire him to play and also appear in the movie. The studio didn't want to hire Ellington, at first, because they said the famed Cotton Club headliner would be "too expensive." When Paramount finally gave in to Mae, they agreed to let Ellington and his orchestra play — — however, they insisting on having all white musicians on the set.
• • Mae West marched into the head office at Paramount and said, "White men can't play black music in my picture!" And it was done. Ellington and his band were used and shown onscreen, thanks to Mae (who refused to budge on this).
• • Hollywood's censors did have the final say, though; they refused to let Mae appear next to the musicians in the same scene.
• • "Belle of the Nineties" was in production from 19 March 1934 until June 1934.
• • Backed by Duke Ellington and his orchestra, Mae West performed "My Old Flame" [written by Arthhur Johnston and Sam Coslow] — — as entertainer Ruby Carter. Covered by the screen queen in 1934, the song was brought back to popularity almost 30 years later by The Ray Charles Singers in 1961. Ella Fitzgerald covered it with Joe Pass in 1976; Linda Ronstadt revived it in 1984.
• • During the 1920s, Mae West met Duke Ellington at Owney Madden's speakeasy. An autographed photo of Mae given to the "Duke" was among his most cherished possessions.
• • Born in Washington, D.C. on 29 April 1899, Duke Ellington died in May — — 24 May 1974.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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• • Photo: • • Mae West • • 1934 • •
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Mae West.
It opened in May 1883 and by New Year's Eve 1899 MAE WEST was selling it — — that is, her character Peaches O'Day was doing the dirty deed as a plot point in "Every Day's a Holiday." As the venerable Brooklyn Bridge celebrates its 125th anniversary, a firestorm of articles will be appearing. This feature by Richard Haw mentions Mae West.
• • . . . The famous, as well as the anonymous, also have made their way to the bridge. Before he became Mr. New York, Frank Sinatra was Mr. Brooklyn (Bridge), singing and dancing his way over the span in a couple of movies. Elsewhere on the silver screen, Mae West and Bugs Bunny sold the bridge to gullible tourists, Tarzan clambered up its cables, George Raft jumped off it, and Dorothy, the Scarecrow, the Cowardly Lion and the Tin Man quick-stepped their way across in "The Wiz."
• • We look at the beautiful span across the water, and perhaps it gazes back. Ever since it opened in 1883, the Brooklyn Bridge has stood stoically as an ever-present witness to 125 years of New York City history, in all its strange and bizarre glory.
• • The bridge's real value is its ability to tell both sides of our story: the rise and development of a great city, yet also our quirky folkways. . . .
— — Excerpt: — —
• • Article: "Built to connect two boroughs, it's a bridge to our past"
• • Written by: Richard Haw, author of "Art of the Brooklyn Bridge: A Visual History"
• • Published in: The New York Daily News — — www.nydailynews.com
• • Published on: 22 May 2008
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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• • Photo: • • Mae West • • 1938 • •
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Mae West.
How many actresses would do a great job to portraying MAE WEST? When director Louis Lopardi placed the official casting call for the play "Courting Mae West" in Actors' Access, within 48 hours 690 responses had flooded his mailbox. 
• • Since "Courting Mae West" — — a serious-minded comedy based on true events during the Prohibition Era — — has a cast of seven, not every resume was intended for the "diamonds is my career" gal. Another actress will portray Beverly West and Texas Guinan, for instance.
• • But the largest number of replies, according to Mr. Lopardi, was for the role of Starr Faithfull [called Sara Starr in the play]. He received 270 headshots and cvs from actresses eager to play the fatal flapper. Starr's role calls for a very thin, stylish woman in her mid-twenties. As written, Sara Starr is a complex creature with a generous store of nervous discontent, harsh in her judgments of others, and quick to see individuals as defective because they are not enough like her. When John O'Hara wrote about the beautiful party girl, who met death at age 25, he renamed her Gloria Wandrous and made her the centerpiece of Butterfield 8.
• • As Mr. Lopardi heads for this week's round of auditions on Thursday and Saturday [May 22nd, May 24th, 2008] at The Producers Club in Manhattan, what will he look for in the next Mae West? "Her vitality was legendary," said the director. "And I look for magnetism and a stage presence. I'm hoping to find an actress who is extraordinary."
• • On 19th July 2008, "Courting Mae West" opens in Manhattan.• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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• • Photo: • • Mae West • • 1926 • •
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Mae West.
MAE WEST used to perform at the legendary Ciro's on Sunset Boulevard, Leonie Cooper reminds the British readers of The Guardian. London is seeing a resurgence of those glamourous nightspots. At the 2-year-old Pigalle Club [in London's Piccadilly], for instance, Eartha Kitt is still stepping out from behind the velvet drapes at the back of the stage. In her red dress slit to the thigh, 81-year-old Kitt is the epitome of supper-club chic.
• • Leonie Cooper writes: Hollywood movie stars of yore knew how to dine out in style. At Ciro's supper club on Sunset Boulevard — — a favourite of Marilyn Monroe and Lana Turner — — the entertainment was provided by luminaries such as Mae West, Edith Piaf, and Billie Holiday, while Bogie and Bacall used to eat at the Mocambo, a Brazilian-themed venue that was inhabited by a flock of showbiz parrots. This was the golden, maribou-trimmed era of supper clubs, yet now, despite lean times looming, ritzy restaurant-cum-nightclubs are experiencing a revival. ...
• • Cooper has researched an enjoyable feature and you can read the rest online in The Guardian.
— — Excerpt: — —
• • Article: A new generation of sophisticated, luxurious supper clubs is bringing back the glamorous tradition of 'dinner and a show'.
• • Written by: Leonie Cooper
• • Published in: The Guardian — — http://lifeandhealth.guardian.co.uk/
• • Published on: 21 May 2008
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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• • Photo: • • Mae West • • none • •
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Mae West.
MAE WEST defined camp as "the kinda comedy where they imitate me." In "Guilty Pleasures: Feminist Camp from Mae West to Madonna" [Duke University Press, 1996] Pamela Robertson saw things differently.
• • In her book review, Harmony H. Wu writes: Pamela Robertson has set out a difficult task for herself in GUILTY PLEASURES: FEMINIST CAMP FROM MAE WEST TO MADONNA. Never mind that “traditional” notions of camp are contentious and hard to pin down, Robertson wants to define a “feminist camp” sensibility, one that has relationships to but is distinct from more familiar conceptions of gay camp. She argues that while women have historically been active participants in camp, discourse AROUND camp has increasingly posited an exclusively gay male agent of camp, distancing women from the site of camp production. Robertson seeks to re-center women in camp, drawing on popular culture texts and gay constructions of camp to argue for a specifically feminist camp sensibility and practice.
• • Harmony H. Wu explains: In a brief genealogy of the term, Robertson finds that “camp” can be located as far back as 1909. By 1945, the term was understood to connote gay or lesbian . . .
• • Harmony H. Wu focuses on the MAE WEST section: The chapter on Mae West most successfully illustrates that feminist camp both resides within and extends beyond the sphere of gay males. Noting that Mae West was/is frequently referred to as doing “female drag,” Robertson notes that West actually modeled her performance on contemporary female impersonators, which would have been recognized by her audience. Furthermore, the gay male played a significant role in West's act and functioned as a crucial element of her proto-feminist camp sensibility. From stage plays to Hollywood movies, “West did not simply copy gay style but linked certain aspects of gay culture to aspects of a female sensibility” (33). While, as Robertson points out, West's acts were in collusion with the inversion theory of gay men, on the other hand, West clearly believed that women and gay men were aligned because of their shared oppression by straight men. In her hyperbolic performances of femininity, Robertson suggests that West rewrites the gay male drag performance, extracting the masculine characteristics and “articulate[s] a specifically feminine form of aggressivity… She paradoxically reappropriates — and hyperbolizes — the image of the woman from male female impersonators so that the object of her joke is not the woman but the idea that an essential feminine identity exists prior to the image” (34). It is within this reinscription of a gay male camp activity (female drag) that Robertson locates West's feminist camp. Furthermore, she suggests that female VIEWERS have access to the critical stance of West's feminist camp — not only through watching the narratives but also in the female spectators' practice of West imitation, a practice alluded to by contemporary fan magazines and reviews, giving women “imaginary access to [West's] autonomy, transgression, and humor” (51). . . .
— — Excerpt: — —
• • Article: Book Review of "Guilty Pleasure: Feminist Camp from Mae West to Madonna"
• • Written by: Ms. Harmony H. Wu
• • Publication: International Gay & Lesbian Review, Los Angeles, CA — — www.gaybookreviews.info
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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• • Photo: • • Mae West • • 1935 • •
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Mae West.
MAE WEST's measurements inspired both admiration and frustration, reveals a new book on Hollywood's costume design.
• • Hollywood's leading ladies may get the best lines, but their scene-stealing outfits are the ones to watch, explains Bronwyn Cosgrave in The Age.
• • Bronwyn Cosgrave writes: THERE IS A "FIFTH character" in Sex and the City: The Movie — — the costumes for Carrie Bradshaw and her trio of well-heeled friends, Charlotte York Goldenblatt, Miranda Hobbes and Samantha Jones. Shaping this fifth character required "strategising and finessing and negotiating", akin to wooing an A-list Hollywood star to sign a film deal, says the film's star, Sarah Jessica Parker. . . .
• • By the golden age of the ' 30s, every "big five" studio, including Paramount, MGM and Warner Bros, ran sophisticated wardrobe departments presided over by highly skilled designers. Paramount's Travis Banton cut costumes from the finest textiles, including tweeds from Linton, the knitwear manufacturer in the Scottish Borders used by Chanel. He bought embellishments such as bugle beads and sequins from the Paris supplier that Elsa Schiaparelli patronized, and altered the work of the famed surrealist couturier when in 1937 she was enlisted to design for Mae West for the comedy Every Day's a Holiday. West failed to report to Schiaparelli's Place Vendome atelier and instead sent it a Venus de Milo bust that was meant to replicate her shapely proportions. It didn't quite work out that way — — the statue was evidently a little more modest in size and Schiaparelli's intricate handiwork sat too close on buxom West.
• • Hollywood became a fashion capital as major studios reproduced affordable variations of screen costumes and the most iconic became department-store bestsellers. They included a fluffy Gilbert Adrian gown Joan Crawford modelled in 1932's Letty Lynton, Walter Plunkett's Vivien Leigh antebellum-inspired frocks from 1939 blockbuster Gone with the Wind and a strapless Edith Head number Elizabeth Taylor displayed in A Place in the Sun from 1951.
• • Dressed: A Century of Hollywood Costume Design, Deborah Nadoolman Landis' recently published coffee-table tome, presents myriad Hollywood looks that have influenced generations of fashion designers and movie goers over time, including the body-hugging, strapless satin gown Columbia's Jean Louis created to enhance curvaceous Rita Hayworth's seductive number in Gilda, Taylor's bejewelled decadence and Grace Kelly's glacial glamour, as well as Theadora Van Runkle's late-'60s handiwork for Faye Dunaway. . . .
— — Excerpt: — —
• • Article: A star is worn
• • Written by: Bronwyn Cosgrave
• • Published in: The Age — — www.theage.com.au/
• • Published on: 17 May 2008
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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• • Photo: • • Mae West • • none • •
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Mae West.
Lincoln Center's branch of Barnes & Noble Booksellers has invited MAE WEST to come up and see them. 
• • On Friday evening 11 July 2008 — — by a special invitation from B&N — — a portion of the play "Courting Mae West" will be performed FREE for book-buyers and browsers at the Lincoln Triangle branch at 7:30 PM.
• • A private Reception will follow for invited guests of the playwright and the director at a nearby restaurant.
• • Details will follow.
• • Barnes & Noble Booksellers [1972 Broadway, New York, NY 10023] is located on the northeast corner of Broadway and West 66th Street, near the 66th Street stop of the 1 subway line.
• • Interestingly, the bookshop is not far from where Daly's 63rd Street Theatre was located. And once again it can be said that Mae West is right back where she always wanted to be — — on Broadway.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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• • Photo: • • Mae West • • 1926 • •
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Mae West.
Mae West rarely appeared on radio. When she did, the sole purpose was to promote one of her films. 
• • For instance, Mae West had guest-starred on "The Shell Chateau" with Al Jolson in 1936. And she also appeared on Louella Parsons’ blackmailing program "Hollywood Hotel" on 26 April 1935, with featured guest Paul Cavanagh in an adaptation of her screen gem "Goin’ to Town." The picture was released by Paramount on 17 May 1935 and no amount of fanfare could have persuaded the critics of its merits.
• • According to the 1935 review published in Variety, this motion picture was "Mae West's poorest." Film critic Abel predicted: Exhibs and exploiteers will have to go to town to sell "Goin' to Town." Peppered with the usual Westian pepigrams, paprika and pertness, it's punchy enough on the dialog, but deficient on story. Miss West as scriptist as well as star has seen to it that her nifties are up to the usual quota, but no amount of epigrammatic hypoing can offset the silly story.
• • It may insure action, for "Goin' to Town" goes all over the map to take in lots of geography. Starts in cattle-rustlin' rancho territory; thence to Buenos Aires for cosmopolitan swank; from there to ultra Southampton, L.I., for a sample of La West giving the 400 the acey-duecy, and the fadeout is an off-to-Lunnon with an earl, no less. This cues for the "Now I'm a Lady" song, also the tag first ascribed to this flicker.
• • Secret of Miss West's previous pix has been that they stayed in character. The studio probably decided it's time to get her out of the mauve decade, and while it's a commendable attempt, it's gone awry.
• • Lines are crisp and unsubtle. Since that's expected of her, she's selling it, generously and well. But after the prelims are over, it's something else again.
• • The yen for Paul Cavanagh, who is an oil-driller on her property, chases him off to South America and she tags after him. A desire to acquire social standing buys her a broke, socialite husband (Monroe Owsley), which makes possible the Southampton stuff. There an operatic gala, staged at the family manse, becomes one of those things, although Miss West warbles "My Heart Opens at Thy Still Voice," the aria from "Samson and Delilah," in almost a legit fashion (why wasn't it 100% kidded?) and is the background for a murder implicating Ivan Lebedeff, cast as an impossible gigolo. Marjorie Gateson is the femme menace, likewise a farcical version. Gilbert Emery as Winslow, financial accountant of her properties, and Fred Kohler, Sr., as the heavy, alone have some semblance of realism.
• • "He's a Wicked Man But He Loves So Good" and "Now I'm a Lady" are two numbers, done more or less incidentally, and distinguished principally by the brass work in the orchestrations.
• • Star endeavors to square the general script inanites by a tongue-in-cheek treatment, but it's done too McCoy to impart any other impression. Role gives her ample opportunity to strut a flock of glad rags.
• • Byline: Abel — — Variety, originally published May 15, 1935
• • Paramount production and release. Stars Mae West. Directed by Alexander Hall. Produced by William LeBaron. Original by Marion Morgan and George B. Dowell; screen play and dialog. Miss West. Songs, Sammy Fain, Irving Kahal; camera, Karl Struss. At the Paramount N.Y., week of May 10, 1935. Running time, 75 mins.
• • Cast:
• • Cleo Borden . . . Mae West
• • Edward Barrington . . . Paul Cavanagh
• • Ivan Veladov . . . Ivan Lebodeff
• • Taho . . . Tito Coral
• • Mrs. Crane Brittony . . . Marjorie Gateson
• • Buck Gonzales . . . Fred Kohler, Sr.
• • Fletcher Colton . . . Monroe Owsley
• • Winslow . . . Gilbert Emery
• • Young Fellow . . . Grant Withers
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • and Paul Cavanagh • • 1935 • •
NYC
Mae West.
According to movie buffs Ben Davey and Joanna Cohen, there are five outstanding "lady is a tramp" motion pictures — — and "the fabulously carnal" MAE WEST stars in one. 
• • Each week, Australian film geeks Ben Davey and Joanna Cohen claim that they "mask their lack of creative ability by writing a column about clever things that others have made." Here are their amusing pronouncements about the scarlet sisterhood of the cinema.
• • She Done Him Wrong (1933)
• • Synopsis: Captain Cummings: Haven't you ever had a man who made you happy? Lady Lou: Sure, lots of times. Mae West lewdly quips her way through her first starring role as Lady "Diamond" Lou in this adaptation of the 1928 Broadway stage play Diamond Lil. She is a dame with a lot of diamonds, a lot of "friends" — — and a smart mouth.
• • Joanna Cohen: You can't have a tramp compilation and not include the fabulously carnal Mae West. Her character, Lady Lou, proves her tramp stripes by being recognized by every inmate as she sashays down a cell block to visit her possessive and, unfortunately, violent and vicious criminal fella, Chick Clark (Owen Moore). It is often speculated that it was the films of Mae West that caused the crackdown and enforcement of the Hays Production Code in 1934. If that is the case, then I think it is safe to assume that this particular film may have contributed to the code supporters' anxiety. The innuendo that was so shocking in the 1930s is pretty tame today and the plot is ludicrous so, unless you are a Mae West fan, you may not get too much out of this flick. I, however, love a sassy bird and as far as I am concerned, West is the leader of the pack.
• • Ben Davey: There are few who could have pulled off some of the dialogue in this film. It works for Mae West and Cary Grant, partly because the ludicrous plot allows them to play up and partly because the audience thinks they are watching the actors themselves verbally jousting , not just the characters they play. When West says "Why don't you come up sometime and see me? I'm home every night" — — the delivery shapes our perceptions of the sassy bird we think she would be in real life. While such perceptions lent West a certain authenticity when playing feisty dames, it certainly contributed to her being typecast. But hey, when you get to play a quip-machine that rattles off such memorable innuendo so often, being typecast can also have its merits.
• • Top five 'the lady is a tramp' films • •
• • 1. Gilda (1946)
• • Synopsis: Johnny Farrell: "Pardon me, but your husband is showing." The most gorgeous tramp of all, Gilda (Rita Hayworth), plays wicked games with the two men in her life — — her husband, Ballin Mundson (George Macready), and her man from the past, Johnny Farrell (Glenn Ford) — — employing a handful of Argentinian playboys as her props. [Gilda is a woman to be simultaneously despised and desired.]
• • 2. The Last Seduction (1994)
• • Synopsis: Dodgy Bridget (Linda Fiorentino) double-crosses her doctor husband, Clay (Bill Pullman), stealing the money made from the sale of medicinal cocaine. Now on the lam, Bridget decides to lie low in a small town where she begins an affair with Mike (Peter Berg), who quickly becomes enamoured with the mysterious blow-in. Lots of back-stabbing and general naughtiness ensues. [Keen spotters may pick up the Double Indemnity reference with one of Bridget's aliases.]
• • 3. Gone with the Wind (1939)
Synopsis: An adaptation of Margaret Mitchell's 1936 Civil War epic, it follows the flirts and flounces of the South's first lady, Scarlett O'Hara (Vivien Leigh), as she overcomes the poverty, loss and chaos of wartime, defends her beloved plantation, Tara, and leaves broken hearts in her wake.
• • 4. She Done Him Wrong (1933) [see above]• • 5. Ilsa: She-Wolf of the SS (1974)
• • Synopsis: Nazi commandante Ilsa (Dyanne Thorn), whose motivations revolve around torture and rompy-pompy, finally meets her match in the bump-ugly stakes when she encounters a prisoner with peculiar prowess. This discovery proves a distraction from Ilsa's efforts to prove, via nefarious experiments on war-camp prisoners, that women can withstand pain better than men.
— — Source: — —
• • Article: Top five 'the lady is a tramp' films
• • Written by: By Ben Davey and Joanna Cohen
• • Published in: The Sydney Morning Herald — — www.smh.com.au/
• • Published on: 3 November 2005
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • 1933 • •
NYC
Mae West.
