Monday, May 23, 2016

Mae West: Violet Eyes Dart

On Tuesday, 1 May 1928, MAE WEST received this fizzy coverage by Broadway chronicler  Leonard Hall, whose New York column was syndicated via the NEA Service. This is Part 2.
• • "Mae West, the big, bad girl of Broadway, is with us again" • •
• • Leonard Hall wrote:  In no time at all she was back in the ring with another affair called "The Drag."  Next came "The Wicked Age," another typical West torch.                
• • Now detonates "Diamond Lil,"  latest in the Mae West lethal line. The new opera is of the brand that only Mae writes and acts. She plays Lil, the girl friend of the king of the Bowery. All the characters are wild, wise-cracking, and no better than they should be.  Among the songs are a revival of "She's Only a Bird in a Gilded Cage" and a pale pink version of the immortal "Frankie and Johnny."      
• • No girlish lines • •
• • Mae West is buxom now, opulently curved
• • Mae West is a sight in herself. Gone are the old girlish lines. Mae is buxom now, opulently curved. A great mass of blond hair crowns a large, pretty face, from which languorous violet eyes dart destruction at any and all males in the vicinity.
• • Just to see the girl walk is a liberal education, for she doesn't really walk, she slithers in the most astonishing fashion. Censors come, dry up, and blow away on the winds of time and change, but Mae West goes on forever.  She is the great tang-inserter of the Broadway theatre. Just as the season gets dull and prosy, in undulates the Mae West with one of her three-ring circuses and the fun is on. 
• • This was Part 2. For Part 1, the first half, see the post last Friday.
• •  Leonard Hall's column rpt in The Ogden Standard-Examiner (Ogden, Utah); published  on Tuesday, 1 May 1928.
• • On Wednesday, 23 May 1928 • •
• • An article in Variety discussed the costumes designed by Dolly Tree for Mae West.
• • Variety wrote about Mae's lingerie for her boudoir scenes, those daring nighties of "heavy cream lace and yellow chiffon flounces"  . . .
• • Source: Article: "Diamond Lil'' written by the Drama Desk of Variety; published on Wednesday, 23 May 1928.
• • On Monday, 23 May 1949 in Life • •
• • Actress Sarah Churchill had the cover of Life Magazine's issue dated for Monday, 23 May 1949 but inside there was a grand pictorial devoted to Mae West — — all this for 20 cents.
• • The article "America's favorite hussy comes back again as Diamond Lil" began on page 104. Life featured rarely seen half-tones from the 1920s: Mae onstage in "Sex"; Mae with the cast in court; Mae shaking hands with the prison warden of Welfare Island; Mae pointing to "the pie wagon" she rode in after her arrest as she explains prison life to a group of society women; etc.  Life Magazine included photos of Mae as a Hollywood star, too.
• • Life Magazine wrote: "At 55 Mae is handsomer than ever," emphasizing this point with a colorful full-page portrait of the Broadway icon costumed for her show in a black, gray, and white gown rimmed with gray fur and crowned with a saucy hat, so heavy that she must steady it with a gray-gloved hand.  A portrait fit for a Bowery queen.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • The blue chip investment of Major Pictures was Mae West. Cohen had signed the star late in 1935 after the studio had failed to renew her option, promising her $300,000 per picture.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said:   "If I need an idea for a picture, I say, ‘Forces, Forces, I need some good dialogue so please help me out here.'"
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • A newspaper mentioned Mae West.
• • Mae West's request to Beulah in "I'm No Angel" — — Peel Me a ...
• • Source: LA Times Crossword Answers; published on Thursday, 23 May 2013
• • 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 eleven years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 3447th 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 1949

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