• • "Mae West on Stage: How Her Star Power Went Beyond the Big Screen" [Part 1] • •
• • Byline: Mark S. Baker • •
• • Mark S. Baker wrote: By the time she made her film debut in 1932's "Night After Night" starring George Raft and Constance Cummings, Mae West was already a 25-year acting veteran, first appearing on the vaudeville stage at age 14.
• • First paragraph error: Mae began performing in amateur vaudeville as a child (that is, well before her 14th birthday).
• • Vaudeville • •
• • Mark S. Baker wrote: West traveled the vaudeville circuit for many years, appearing in such productions as "A La Broadway," "Vera Violetta," "A Winsome Widow," and "Sometime," shows that included musicals, farces, and burlesque. West landing her first starring role in 1926 in a play that she wrote herself entitled simply "Sex."
• • Second paragraph error: "Vera Violetta," "A Winsome Widow," and "Sometime" were full-fledged Broadway productions — — not vaudeville skits.
• • Mark S. Baker wrote: The Broadway show was popular, but was also highly sexually charged, resulting in the show being raided and shut down by city officials. West was ultimately found guilty of violating New York City's morals in 1927 and received a 10-day jail sentence.
• • Third paragraph error: City officials shut down "Sex" (after 10 1/2 months) to punish Mae for trying to bring "The Drag" to Broadway. While she did receive a fine and a 10-day sentence, it was shortened by two days for good behavior.
• • Mark S. Baker wrote: The show ultimately had 375 performances between April 1926 and March 1927 before being shut down. West later revived "Sex" and turned it into a movie, 1978's "Sextette," which starred her alongside Timothy Dalton, Dom Deluise, Ringo Starr, and Tony Curtis.
• • Fourth paragraph error: "Sex" is a drama centered on the character of Margy LaMont, a tough Montreal prostitute who decides not to marry her naive Connecticut beau. "Sex" has no relation whatsoever to "Sextette," a comedy about a much-married Hollywood actress Marlo Manners, who has just wed a British lord and is now a newlywed named Lady Barrington. Jeez.
• • Carelessness? Stunning ineptitude? Flat-out stupidity? Tell us what you think.
• • This has been Part 1. Part 2 (with more errors and corrections) continues on Monday.
• • Source: error-riddled article written by Mark S. Baker for Newsmax.com; posted on Thursday, 14 May 2015.
• • On Tuesday, 29 May 1917 • •
• • "Goodness Had Nothing to Do with It" was Mae West's letter to the world. Released in hardcover more than fifty years ago by the Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey imprint Prentice Hall, this meaty memoir was reprinted as a paperback by Avon Books [December 1959].
• • Hollywood publicist Frank Liberman helped promote the bio in 1959. Mr. Liberman, who had Parkinson's disease, died of pneumonia in September 2009 at Providence Tarzana Medical Center. He was 92.
• • A native New Yorker like Mae, Frank Liberman was born in The Big Apple on Tuesday, 29 May 1917 and was raised in White Plains. We are thinking of him today.
• • On Wednesday, 29 May 1935 in Variety • •
• • Frank Wallace timed his wedding revelations to coincide with the release of his former spouse's latest motion picture. Bad publicity had already paved this road, thanks to Joseph Breen's tantrums over the screenplay for "Goin' to Town" — — and Mae West watchers probably cared less about Wallace's wailing than the Hollywood hatchet man's cuts. Could Breen have ruined the movie? Thanks to Mae's large and loyal fan base, "Goin' to Town" did big box office, reported Variety on Wednesday, 29 May 1935.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Mae West and Jim Timony are apparently as devoted as when Mae first tackled Hollywood.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "You only live once but, if you do it right, once is enough."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • Several shades below Mae West's previous best, but not lacking in laughs created by the typical Westian wise-cracks with rough edges. Mae appears as a dance-hall girl who inherits the fortune of a rich miner and then proceeds to crash society, which leads to melodrama when her social enemies try to "frame" her with Ivan Lebedeff. Paul Cavanaugh is the wealthy and titled Englishman Mae captivates.
• • Source: Item in Screenland; issue dated for August 1935
• • The Mae West Blog celebrates its 10th anniversary • •
• • Thank you for reading, sending questions, and posting comments during this past decade. The other day we entertained 3,497 visitors. And we reached a milestone recently when we completed 3,100 blog posts. Wow!
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started ten years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 3189th 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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