Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Mae West: Quality of Mystery

MAE WEST was honored at the University of Southern California in March 1982. People who worked with her shared their private memories of the legendary actress.  A delightful monograph was privately published. Here's an excerpt.
• • Hal Kanter said: Now you and I know that sincerity in Hollywood is as rare as virginity in Burbank. ... But in her case nobody was more sincere than Mae West.  She believed in herself and, so devoutly, she made believers out of the rest of us. In an era when the women's liberation movement has become a tidal wave that threatens male chauvinism, soldiers of the crusade might do well to study a woman who was born liberated. In her autobiography, that Mae entitled "Goodness Had Nothing to Do with It," she acknowledged that when she was 14 years old she resented the sexual freedom that men had. 
• • To quote her, "I thought women should have it, too. I've never put a woman down," she wrote. "In all my pictures, I've kept the woman up, and that's why I have so many women fans." ...
• • On Saturday, 15 January 1938 in The N.Y. Times • •
• • Anyone passing a newsboy in New York City on Saturday morning on 15 January 1938 could see this page one headline in The New York Times: "Mae West Script Brings Sharp Rebuke from FCC." Of course, it was Arch Obler who penned the skit for NBC. Mae West only read it for the radio with her sultry overtones and was instantly demonized by the Roman Catholic organizations. The censors pressed in on her, tighter and more uncomfortable than her corset stays.
• • On Thursday, 15 January 1948 • •
• • It was Thursday, 15 January 1948 and Mae West was in London appearing in "Diamond Lil."  Her habit was to visit the zoo wherever she would be performing and on this date she was photographed, surrounded by clowns, as she showed her appreciation to Blackie, the baby elephant of the Harringay Circus.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • "quality of mystery" • •
• • John Mack Brown, after spending a lot of time and money in an effort to lose his rich southern accent, had to have it for his role in the Mae West picture. And John says that Garbo and Mae West have the same quality of mystery, but I didn't know there was any mystery about Mae.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "Tell him to stick to the script."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • The Palm Beach Post mentioned Mae West.
• • Laura Lordi wrote:  The first floor of the Boca Museum of Art is filled with more than 100 works, including Andy Warhol’s portraits of Marilyn Monroe, Red Grooms’ portrait of Mae West, an exclamation point sculpted by Richard Artschwager and a motorcycle painted by Keith Haring. ...
• • Source: Article: "Get taste of Pop art at Boca museum" written by Laura Lordi for the Palm Beach Post; published on Saturday, 11 January 2014
• • By the Numbers • • 
• • The Mae West Blog was started nine years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 2832nd 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 honored in 1971

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  Mae West

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