Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Mae West: Joy Unrefined

MAE WEST's motion picture "Every Day's a Holiday" was appreciated in Australia for many reasons. A review was printed at the end of August on Monday, 29 August 1938.
• • "Every Day's a Holiday" — — Fine Mae West Film • •
• • The Courier-Mail wrote: Mae West goes back to her favourite period, the nineties of last century, for her latest film, "Every Day's a Holiday," now at the Winter Garden Theatre. It has a steady flow of Westian wit, such as 'Let joy be unrefined,' with a plot that gives the comedienne large scope. She has surrounded herself with an imposing array of male comedy talent, including Walter Catlett, Charles Butterworth, and Charles Winninger, and has included Edmund Lowe for romantic appeal, so that the film will not disappoint even the most critical of her admirers.
• • The Courier-Mail continued: Peaches O'Day (Mae West) comes to town in defiance of police orders to arrest her on sight, and successfully sells the Brooklyn Bridge to an unsuspecting foreigner, burgles a shop window, invades fashionable Rector's restaurant  with a train of adoring esquires, and generally sets a lively pace for all concerned. Handsome Captain McCarey (Edmund Lowe), of the police force, refrains from arresting her because he is infatuated by her seductive charm. The comedy takes a new turn when Peaches, after an enforced absence from town, returns disguised as a French brunette, Mademoiselle Fifi, and takes a devastating revenge on her arch enemy, Inspector Quade (Lloyd Nolan). ...
• • Source: The Courier-Mail (Brisbane); published on Monday, 29 August 1938.
• • Richard Sylvan Seltzer [29 August 1922 — 19 October 2008] • •
• • In 1944, a starry-eyed 22-year-old Brooklynite Richard Sylvan Seltzer landed a small part in Mae West's Broadway show, "Catherine Was Great."
• • Born on Tuesday, 29 August 1922, he was the younger of two sons of impoverished Jewish parents who were evicted from their apartment in Bensonhurst several times.  
• • Meeting Mae West in 1944 was unforgettable, he always said. Shortly afterward, he was to encounter movie producer Howard Hughes, who changed his name to Richard Blackwell. Howard Hughes chose the name to sound "theatrical, polished, memorable," Blackwell wrote in his autobiography.
• • Shedding "Richard," he became "Mr. Blackwell," whose annual "worst dressed" list belittled those actors, music icons, and European royals who often made a fashion faux pas. This helped turn him into a household name.
• • Mr. Blackwell lived in the Hancock Park enclave of L.A. with his partner of 60 years, Robert Spencer. Unfortunately, Blackwell suffered from Bell's palsy for his last seven years. He died in Los Angeles of complications from an intestinal infection on 19 October 2008.  He was 86 years old.
• • On Wednesday, 29 August 1979 • •
• • An item about Mae West's radio spot for Poland Spring appeared. Kevin Thomas wrote the article "Mae West — Testing Commercial Waters" for The Los Angeles Times; the paper ran it on Wednesday, 29 August 1979. 
• • Mae West didn't need the money and rarely did things of this nature.  But with Poland Spring, she was merely endorsing a product she had personally used for years.
• • On Tuesday, 29 August 1989 in The Village Voice • •
• • Arlena Gibson's article "Go West, Young Man," which referenced Mae West and the opportunities she gave to young actors, was printed in The Village Voice, a weekly, on Tuesday, 29 August 1989 (pages 37, 38). 
• • Expires on Wednesday, 29 August 2012 • •
• • Corbis created a poorly written site allaboutmae.com on 29 August 2008 to enhance the impression that they control her rights.  Their commercial web site, as elegant as a club foot, expires on 29 August 2012 (unless Corbis renews it). Yep, Corbis must have a ton of moolah flowing in from West — — but not enough caring about her to hire anyone who could handle text the way Astaire could handle a dance floor. Tsk.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "As long as the public supports my pictures, I'll fight to provide what the people want."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • A newspaper item mentioned Mae West.
• • Dennis Hunt wrote: In case we forget, comic actress Mae West, who was born 100 years ago, was trying to do the same thing in the early 1930s, but in a severely sexually restrictive era. Since nudity and swearing were forbidden in those days, West had to work with innuendo — — so she became a master of the sexually suggestive one-liner. It's fun to watch her old movies with the notion that she was always trying to outwit the hard-nosed censors. . . .
• • Source: Review: "Mae West at Her Best" written by Dennis Hunt in The L.A. Times; published on Sunday, 29 August 1993
By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started eight years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 2410th blog post. Unlike many blogs, which draw upon reprinted content from a newspaper or a magazine and/ or summaries, links, or photos, the mainstay of this blog is its fresh material focused on the life and career of Mae West, herself an American original.
 
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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• • Mae West • 1937
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