Tuesday, August 05, 2014

Mae West: Lip-Loose

MAE WEST was back in the news during the early August of 1970. Reporters offered warm-hearted coverage to welcome her back. Let's take a look at this brief excerpt from a page-long remembrance by a journalist from Associated Press.
• • "Lip-loose Mae West: she's the character she created" • •
• • NEW YORK (AP) — — Mae "Sometime" West, appearing in her first film in 27 years, saunters onto the screen in a white jacket and slacks, wide-brimmed hat over her long blonde hair, a scarf trailing from her diamond-studded hand. Portraying a men-only talent agent, she sashays past a waiting group of muscular clients and into her office, where she murmurs off-handedly to her male secretary: " Mmmmm, I got a mob of men out there. I'm a little tired today. Better send one of 'em home."
• • It's the kind of pregnant line that Mae West, with that wicked wink in her voice, that daring double in every entendre, has been delivering for more than six decades of stage and screen life. As she celebrates her 77th birthday on August 17, the Brooklyn-born cinema queen of the sexual innuendo still draws the bulk of the applause, still lures a vast audience of old and new fans, and can still convince a film studio she deserves top billing, a $350,000 salary and the right to write her own material in a film in which she has a relatively small part. Yes, Diamond Lil lives.
• • "Mae West is that myth" • •
• • Mae West is that myth; she has become the character she created. Once a parody of sex morality, she Is now a parody of Mae West, a hip-swinging, lip-loose lady of the sex-inviting Come on up and see me innuendo. "Come up sometime," she teased Captain Cummings (actor Cary Grant) in "She Done Him Wrong" back in 1933. "Come up sometime.  I'll tell your fortune."  . . .
• • Source: Syndicated article by AP rpt in The Morning Herald (Hagerstown, Maryland); published on Monday, 3 August 1970.
• • On Tuesday, 5 August 1913 in Manhattan • •
• • A review of Mae West's performance at Hammerstein's Victoria appeared in a NYC newspaper on Tuesday, 5 August 1913. The critic noted that she was appealing to the audience "by singing a repertory of 'I Don't Care' type of songs and appearing in a dazzling series of low-and-behold gowns." However, it was clear she was trying to steal the thunder from the main act, Evelyn Nesbit, and having a hard time of it.
• • Even Variety's columnist Joshua Lowe [whose critique was published on Friday, 8 August 1913] noticed how hard she was working. "Mae West sang loud enough to be distinctly heard in the rear," wrote Joshua Lowe.
• • On Tuesday, 5 August 1980 • •
• • Mae West signed a check to pay Beverly West $125.00 for maintenance and care of the ranch on Tuesday, 5 August 1980. This check was drawn on her personal account at the United California Bank.
• • Save the Date: Wednesday, August 13th • •
• • Wednesday, 13 August 2014 will be the next Mae West Tribute in Manhattan and the event will start at 6:30 pm at 425 Sixth Avenue. The theme will be: "Mae West in Bohemia — — Gin, Sin, Censorship, and Eugene O'Neill."   
• • Details: August 13th event
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Members of Mae West's night-club entourage are bracing themselves for an explosion — — over love, naturally.  Jealousy has flamed between two of the muscle men in her act.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said:  "I know what to give the women. A woman likes to look at any male body." 
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • An article in a  newspaper mentioned Mae West.
• • "An urge to be Mae West" • •
• • David Belcher wrote:  Although it's inevitable that Shirley Anderson turns out to be a graduate of Chicago's Second City school of improvised comedy theatre, there's something less than predictable about Shirley's attitude to the form.  . . .
• • Shirley Anderson said: ''I remember at the age of five sitting on a stool, training a flashlight on myself, trying to be Mae West. So I suppose you could say that there's always been this latent urge in me to be a big blonde lush, just like Hazel Morse in Big Blonde.''  ...
• • Source:  Article in Herald Scotland; published on Saturday, 5 August 1995
• • The Mae West Blog celebrates its 10th anniversary • •    
• • Thank you for reading, sending questions, and posting comments during this past decade. 
• • By the Numbers • • 
• • The Mae West Blog was started ten years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 2972nd 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 by Cecil Beaton in 1970

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