• • "Mae West Really Goes to Town in Her New Picture by Same Name" • •
• • Her Quips Are Good, the Old Vigor Remains • •
• • You mae care and you mae not, but Mae West is shortly to be among us with another picture. She calls it "Goin' to Town." You mae bet your bottom dollar too, that most of your neighbors won’t miss it, and neither should you. “Goin' to Town" is the witty West’s best since "She Done Him Wrong" which rates, of course, above everything else she’s done, because it established her and her vogue in screendom.
• • When Mae West's stock was at low ebb, due to the purity campaign, she decided to change the tide and called the script on this picture "Now I'm a Lady.” However, after all the hullabaloo was on the wane and there had been, she figured it’d be a treat to go to town for the fans again, which she does, and also names her newest celluloid recitation.
• • Still supreme in her timing, Mae has an entertainment this time which has plenty on the ball. Gags by Mae and her undulating accents, especially her own jokes, are plenty good. She is presented with a role that helps plenty — — that of a cattle country dance hall woman who suddenly inherits a slough of oil wells and dough. And with a lot of money, the writhing West can really dress up.
• • “Goin’ To Town" — Summary • •
• • STORY: Mae's character Cleo runs this dance hall with a crap table annex in the virgin western country with plenty of success until Fred Kohler, cattle rustler, persuades her to stake her single blessedness on a role of the dice. She gets him to sign over all his property to her in advance, however, and right when she’s in the midst of preparing her trousseau, the big sheriff in the village weights her ugly swain down with well-placed shots of lead.
• • Possessing all this wealth suddenly, Mae makes a play for Cavanaugh, an engineer who’s testing her land for oil. He resists her advances and when the oil comes in, he goes to Buenos Aires. Mae follows with a fast horse, presumably to run him in the races, but more to get hooks into the boy friend. She tries a multitude of things, including a plunge at high society. The story finally moves the locale to Southampton for a string of amusing sequences. . . .
• • Mae West’s contract calls for but one more picture. She is undecided as yet whether to continue as a star or just as a writer.
• • Source: Article and review printed in syndication; rpt in The Lincoln Star; published on Sunday, 28 April 1935.
• • On Wednesday, 28 April 1926 • •
• • "Sex" opened on Monday, 26 April 1926. The Broadway debut occurred a few blocks north of Columbus Circle at Daly’s 63rd Street Theatre, the only playhouse available at the time. This was quite an achievement. Writing and staging "Sex" would change Mae's life.
• • Two days later (on Wednesday, 28 April 1926) Variety took an early stand against the play: “Mae West . . . has broken the fetters and does as she pleases here. After three hours of this play’s nasty, infantile, amateurish, and vicious dialog, after watching its various actors do their stuff badly, one really has a feeling of gratefulness for any repression that may have toned down her vaudeville songs in the past. If this show could do one week of good business it would depart with a handsome profit, it’s that cheaply put on.”
• • Phooey on you, Variety. Unstoppable "Sex" not only sold out its premiere but it also offered 385 performances with general admission tickets sold for $3.50. According to Mae West, orchestra seats were $10. Wow.
• • On Thursday, 28 April 1927 • •
• • On Thursday, 28 April 1927 The New York Times ran this article: “Mae West Departs from Workhouse.”
• • On Sunday, 28 April 1940 • •
• • Mae West's name turned up in a horoscope in Singapore, of all places!
• • The Straits Times, issue dated for Sunday, 28 April 1940, gave the horoscope for April 28th like this: (March 21— April 20) — — It is your week (as Mae West said) go ahead!
• • On Monday, 28 April 1969 • •
• • Richard Meryman's exotic cover feature, "Mae West: Going Strong at 75," was published in Life Magazine. The issue was dated for Monday, 28 April 1969.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Mae West is a little undecided about doing "I'm No Angel." Aw, go ahead, Mae! All God's chillun got wings.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "I've met hundreds, both on and off the stage, and there ain't a man that I don't like. There's somethin' about all of them that kinda gets you. I dunno what it is, quite."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • An article about Hollywood movies mentioned Mae West.
• • Hollywood's Boulevardier Herb Howe wrote: Mae West is Hollywood's little heroine. Mae is the gal what lifted the mortgage. Mae not only drove the wolves from theater doors; she took their pelts.
• • Herb Howe wrote: "She Done Him Wrong" made a million in first-run theaters alone. Mae's our American "Cavalcade," matching Brooklyn accent against the British and winning Hollywood back to the U. S. A. Hooray! Hooray! And buy American! Mae's goin' to change the grammar of a nation 'fore she's through. . . . To say nuthin' of its shape. ...
• • Source: The New Movie Magazine; published in August 1933
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started nine years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 2901st 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 • • in 1935 • •
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