• • "Hollywood Challenge Will Make Stage Plays Better" — Mae West • •
• • Written by Bernard Pollard • •
• • "The movies have aided the stage by making the public stage-smart," declared Mae West in an interview at the Curran Theater in San Francisco late yesterday afternoon.
• • "Several years ago, exaggerated gestures and facial contortions were necessary to make the public understand. Today even a small gesture means much. Hollywood has given the legitimate stage a challenge. As a result the plays of the future will be fewer and better."
• • "Everything progresses. Things are not pushed aside, but built upon. This is a pretty good old world and there is no reason on earth to be dismayed at the passing of old things." Miss West thinks the day of the "Ham" actor has gone forever. "A new school of play writing and production has been ushered in. Colleges are playing an important part in the movement," she said.
• • "Public speaking and dramatic courses are important parts of an education. They give poise and grace needed in the professional world. Every lawyer should have stage experience, not to assist him in deceiving a jury but in convincing them that he is right. We live in a fast age and all of us are under a certain action which is neither too restrained nor too exaggerated. There must be constant movement on the stage, a sustained interest. The illusion of reality must be created."
• • Miss West is a beautiful blonde, pleasantly plump and unfortunately misunderstood. ...
• • This was Part 1 of two parts.
• • Source: Article written by Bernard Pollard for The Stanford Daily; published on Friday, 15 November 1929.
• • On Thursday, 16 November 1916 • •
• • On Thursday, 16 November 1916, Mae West announced in Variety that, in her next appearance in vaudeville, she would appear in male drag and her material would be scripted by songwriter Blanche Merrill. She hinted at using a new name, too. Sounds like a cover-up for something, eh? Maybe she was hiding from the actors union or her husband Guido Deiro.
• • On Wednesday, 16 November 1927 in Variety • •
• • Box office blues burdened Mae West during the brief Broadway run of "The Wicked Age." In its issue dated for Wednesday, 16 November 1927, Variety offered an explanation of why the show went dark one Monday. Previously, Mae had taken the blame, apologizing that she had a case of bad indigestion and could not perform. But the sleuths at Variety explained: "failure to pay salaries appears to have been the problem." Oh, my!
• • On Sunday, 16 November 1986 • •
• • Melissa Fletcher penned an article about Al Hirschfeld's theatre caricatures, "Drawing the Line on the Great White Way," and here's how she began it: "Mae West, her skirt raised a few tantalizing inches above her ankle, throws a flirtatious glance at Orson Welles. Mildly amused, Jack Benny folds his arms and smirks." Fletcher's piece ran in San Antonio Light on Sunday, 16 November 1986.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • In "South of Pago Pago," there's Frances Farmer tossing off wiseacre lines like a junior Mae West, Victor McLaglen leading and laughing it up villainously.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "I usually found that one night a week you would get a top society crowd, and another night you'd get mostly working class people."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • See Mae West ask Cary Grant "Why don't you come up sometime and see me?" ...
• • Source: Item in The Columbia Daily Spectator; published on Thursday, 16 November 1972
• • The Mae West Blog celebrates its 11th anniversary • •
• • Thank you for reading, sending questions, and posting comments during these past eleven years. The other day we entertained 3,497 visitors. And we reached a milestone recently when we completed 3,200 blog posts. Wow!
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started ten years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 3311th 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/
________
Source:http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • in 1933 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest
NYC Mae West
No comments:
Post a Comment