Mae West: Frets Over Threats

The Picture Show at Bay Street has its finale in April with weekends celebrating the works of actress MAE WEST, comedian W.C. Fields, and director Joseph Mankiewicz.
• • The final film of The Picture Show will be "My Little Chickadee" starring Mae West and W. C. Fields on Friday, 12 April 2013.
• • The showtime for "Chickadee" is at 8:00 pm at Bay Street Theatre (1 Bay Street in Sag Harbor, NY).
• • On Saturday, 2 April 1927 in The N.Y. York Times • •
• • Defense attorney Norman Schloss rounded up a number of theatre buffs who had seen "Sex" and applauded. A NYC pyjama manufacturer Harry M. Geiss told the court that he "had seen 'Sex' twice and found nothing obscene about it," noted The N.Y. Times in their weekend edition of 2 April 1927.
• • On Saturday, 2 April 1927 in The N.Y. Daily News • •
• • Mae West's "Sex" trial was good for selling newspapers, therefore, the coverage continued daily. On Saturday, 2 April 1927, The N.Y. Daily News reported on the testimony from the previous day, April 1st. Harold Spielberg, Jim Timony's lawyer, did his best to frame the discussion of "Sex" and its merits by comparing it to the Bible. Spielberg reminded the jurors of The Book of Genesis and the story of Adam and Eve with all its "precedents for frank language." We can only imagine the effect Harold Spielberg had on the jury box when he emphasized, "If your morals have not already been corrupted, I am afraid they will before I finish reading from the Bible."
• • In December of 1937, Mae West would portray Eve on radio. Everyone knows how that "frank language" on "The Chase and Sanborn Hour" turned out.
• • On Monday, 2 April 1934 • •
• • "Armoured Car for Actress" • •

• • After the menace of her jewel heist and being threatened by acid throwing, Mae was thinking of steel for real; she ordered a bullet-proof car for protection. Her friend Texas Guinan, however, had been riding around in armored vehicles for years, occasionally with her Brooklyn friend Mae. On Monday, 2 April 1934, the heirs of the speakeasy queen had sold one of her armored limousines and it was placed on a boat, where it would sail to Liverpool to its new owner. During the 1920s, the padlock princess had purchased this sleek specially built automobile from the King of Belgium.
• • It was on Friday, 13 April 1934 that the foreign press was full of news about Mae's  latest troubles in Tinseltown.
• • In Brisbane, Australia, headlines in The Courier-Mail read: "Armoured Car for Actress — Mae West Worried by Threats."
• • The Courier-Mail wrote: Continued threats by mail and telephone have resulted in Miss Mae West, the film star, calling tenders for the construction of an armoured motor car. Amongst the tenders she received were £900 extra for a car made proof against bullets up to .45 calibre, and £1500 extra for a machine-gun proof car with a tempered steel body and gun-proof glass. [Some coverage in the foreign press was datelined from Hollywood, California, Wednesday, 11 April 1934.]
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "No, I don't want to sit down and have my dress wrinkle."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • The New Scientist mentioned Mae West
• • According to an article on California people by John Hillaby, "Mae West, a real old trouper who died in Hollywood not long ago, was said to be a great fan of the musical saw.  ..."
• • Source: Item in The New Scientist (on page 330); published on Thursday, 29 October 1981 
• • By the Numbers • • 
• • The Mae West Blog was started eight years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 2618th 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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• • Photo: • • Mae West • • 1934 • •
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