Monday, April 04, 2016

Mae West: Highly Staminate

MAE WEST as a "highly staminate Flower Belle Lee" calls to mind the actress's comments about her remarkable stamina and the "double thyroid" she often mischievously mentioned to reporters. Admit it. You have never heard the word before, have you?
• • However, staminate literally means "bearing stamens" — — and has nothing to do with any interesting verbs that end in -ate. 
• • Cornell Cinema at Uris Hall • •
• • Presents Mae West and W.C. Fields in "My Little Chickadee" • •
• • As highly staminate Flower Belle Lee, Mae West spreads her gorgeous corolla (including a butterfly bow that coyly punctuates her posterior rhythms) in Greasewood City, one of the West's wide open places. There she gets mixed up with Masked Bandit, who turns out to be Joseph Calleia disguised as a Cagoulard. Flower Belle's throaty account of their first meeting: "I was in a tight spot, but I managed to wiggle out of it." She also fakes a marriage with Cuthbert J. Twillie (W.C. Fields) because she thinks his bag of fake money is real, but substitutes a goat for herself in the nuptial chamber when she finds it isn't.
• • Time: Wednesday, April 4, at 8:00 p.m. only, $1.25, limited to the Cornell Community.
• • Source: The Cornell Daily Sun (Ithaca, NY); published on  Wednesday, 4 April 1973.
• • It happened on April 4th • •
• • The fourth day of the fourth month turned out to be full of many unforgettable moments. Three of these are below.
• • It was on Wednesday, 4 April 1928 that Mae's successful Bowery drama "Diamond Lil" first opened at Leo Teller's Broadway Theatre in Brooklyn, NY. Lil's stage costumes were designed by Dolly Tree. If you were standing outside on the corner of Court Street and Stockton Street, you would have heard thunderous applause and cheers. "You'd have thought that a favorite bootlegger had come back from Atlanta," wrote drama critic Robert Garland in the New York Evening Telegram on Thursday, 5 April 1928. "[Mae] makes Miss Ethel Barrymore look like the late lamented Bert Savoy."
• • It was on Friday, 4 April 1930 that the infamous "Pleasure Man" obscenity trial had come to an end — — when the jury could not agree.
• • On Sunday, 4 April 1976 Mae was a guest on CBS-TV. This would be her final televised appearance on a show called "Back Lot, USA" with the elfin host Dick Cavett. 
• • During this prime time program, the legendary screen queen discussed her colorful life and she also performed a long, elaborately staged medley of her jaunty 1930s hits. 
• • Mae West was 72 years old at the time.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • How about a picture co-starring John Barrymore, W.C. Fields, and Mae West?
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said:  "I'm here to make talkies. I hope the film can take the temperature."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • The Dear Abby column coyly mentioned Mae West.
• • DEAR ABBY:  That letter about the child who took a pair of 44 falsies to show his classmates what his father wore under his dress when he went to a costume party as Mae West interested me. I would like to know where a person can find a pair of 44 falsies in Silver Springs, Md. I am large, but in the wrong places. Thank you kindly.  — — from NEEDS HELP
• • Note: Abby did not reply to "Miss Needs Help."
• • Source:  Syndicated column rpt in Desert Sun; published on Monday,  4 April 1966
• • 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 3,400 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • • 
• • The Mae West Blog was started ten years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 3412th 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 • on CBS in 1976

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