Friday, November 27, 2015

Mae West: Toyed With

A motion picture starring MAE WEST took a college coed at Stanford by surprise. Let's read the second half of her charming film critique together.
• • The Reviewer • •
• • "I'm No Angel" (Paramount)  At the Stanford Theatre • •
• • The story of Tira, the circus dancer and tamer of men and lions, is told with a maximum of gusto, and the snappy, sharp, and slightly racy dialog which only Mae West can write. It is to be regretted that the theatre advertisements have so completely appropriated the best and most characteristic lines, thereby taking away some of their tang.  But people will probably become just as addicted to some of these lines as to some (not mentioning any names) of the former opus.
• • As usual, and also as might be expected, the star is the whole show, and if her characterization is any less frank and less thorough, it is probably because the Gay Nineties seems to distinctly her metier, and the present film is in a modern setting. But she makes a clearly defined and thoroughly consistent individual of Tira, and what more could one ask? 
• • The songs of the show are somewhat furtively interpolated, toyed with for a moment, and then they disappear — — which will disappoint some. And some will be bothered by having the star announced with fanfares of trumpets and gilded curtains and other impediments, and also by having her surrounded with an army of negro maids who serve as "feeders" for some of the lines — — a fairly simple device.
• • Mae is still a fast-moving girl who likes 'em slow, and Cary Grant is charming as the hero, a role of which he makes the most. The others in the cast were amazingly obscure, through no fault of their own. — — Chapin
• • This has been Part 2. Part 1 was posted yesterday.
• • Source: Film Review by Miss Chapin for The Stanford Daily; published on  Monday, 27 November 1933.
• • On Sunday, 27 November 1932 in Hollywood • •
• • Jon Tuska, writing about "She Done Him Wrong," notes that production commenced on Sunday, 27 November 1932, and concluded in December of that year. Fast work!
• • On Friday, 27 November 1936 in Princeton, NJ • •
• • The Daily Princetonian Special Bulletin announced (on page 2) on Friday, 27 November 1936 that a local movie house, the Arcade Theatre was showing "today and  tomorrow Mae West in 'Go West Young Man' with Warren William, Alice Brady, Randolph Scott, Lyle Talbot" and the show times.
• • On Tuesday, 27 November 2007 • •
• • Released by the U.K. publisher St. Martin's Griffin on Tuesday, 27 November 2007 was "Mae West: It Ain't No Sin" by the biographer Simon Louvish. The paperback edition had 491 pages.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Lawyer Melvin Belli had also acted aggressively and effectively for film stars like Errol Flynn and Mae West.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said:  "Keep outta my room! I've got to have some place that's all my own . . . where I can go and shut the door and be by m'self!"
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • The Daily mentioned Mae West.
• • "Mae West's First Audiences Were Church Socials" • •
• • John C. Moffitt Tells the Story of Mae West • •
• • John C. Moffitt quoted Mae: "I wonder what some of those sour guys that are always deriding me would think if they knew my first work was on a church circuit?" Mae once speculated. "I played at all the big Catholic lawn socials and I filled in with what Protestant time we could get."
• • John C. Moffitt further explained: Mae West recalls these associations with simple church folk very kindly. She is said to be a regular contributor to Catholic charities in Los Angeles and you occasionally see her at Mass, although never at the early ones. She is not a communicant, according to members of her household.  . . .
• • Source:  The Straits Times (Singapore); published on Sunday, 25 November 1934
• • Drawing of Mae West in an end-of-the-century costume for her motion picture "Belle of the Nineties"
• • 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 3321st 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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• • Mae West • in 1934

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