Mae West: By the Bed

In 1974, MAE WEST gave a long interview to Anjelica Huston and Peter Lester. This is Part 3. 
• • Mae West: the Queen at Home in Hollywood • •
• • Written by Anjelica Huston and Peter Lester  (Interview Magazine) • •
• • MAE WEST: Jack Kelly walked here behind me, over to where you're sitting and then he just dissolved away. Into the sofa.
• • ANJELICA HUSTON AND PETER LESTER:  Are you afraid of them? Have you spoken with them?
• • WEST: No. You see, they look nice. Once when I was laying in my bed, one came in and just stood there. You see, I don't drink, so this really happened. Anyway, this one came over to me and stood there by the bed. So I stood up and put my arm up like this to stop him from touching me...  I'm not takin' that chance till I know what they're goin' to do.
• • (Looking up from our wild scribbling, we see that she's smiling and gracious, enjoying talking as much as we are enjoying listening.)
• • WEST: Once a friend came here, and I said to him "go over to the piano and play that melody, you know the one, just the melody, forget the lyrics." So he did, and as I was standing there beside him, listening, this story came to me in 56 seconds.
• • HUSTON AND LESTER: What was it? Can you remember it?
• • WEST: No. It was good though. One of my stories, I can't think which one it was. I had a secretary write it down.
• • HUSTON AND LESTER: Do you entertain here?
• • WEST: Off and on. Friends stay sometimes, but mostly at my beach house. It's got 22 rooms, eight bedrooms with bathrooms, you know, so there is more space. Then there is a ranch I have in Sepulveda. So you see, this is just one place I live in. I wasn't looking for a home in this apartment, so I just had it fixed up and started to live here.
• • HUSTON AND LESTER: For how long?
• • WEST: Since 1932.   . . .
• • This has been Part 3 of the interview written by Anjelica Huston and Peter Lester. Part 4 will continue tomorrow.
• • On Wednesday, 31 August 1938 • •

• • An article complimenting Mae West and applauding her newest motion picture "Every Day's a Holiday" was published in The Queenslander (Brisbane, Australia) on Wednesday, 31 August 1938.
• • The Queenslander wrote: Mae West goes back to her favourite period, the nineties of last century, for her latest film, "Every Day's a Holiday," a Paramount picture. It has a steady flow of Westian wit, such as "Let joy be unrefined," with a plot that gives the comedienne large scope. And Mae West  has surrounded herself with an imposing array of male comedy talent, including Walter Catlett, Charles Butterworth, and Charles Winninger, and has included Edmund Lowe for romantic appeal, so that the motion picture will not disappoint even the most critical of her admirers.  ...
• • On Sunday, 31 August 1969 • •
• • "Sex is an emotion in motion," Mae West told The Los Angeles Times on Sunday, 31 August 1969. That's a pretty provocative way to end a hot month, eh?
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Mae West will abandon corsets and wear modem apparel in her new motion picture.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said:  "Whenever I see people putting it on, I know they're phonies. They aren't the real goods and they've got something to cover up."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • A Canadian reporter mentioned Mae West.
• • Adrian Chamberlain wrote: Pre-Beatles, the accordion has its share of pop heroes, however. Guido Deiro, popular in the 1920s, was a big enough star to marry movie legend Mae West. ...
• • Source: Article: "World's best accordion players are in Victoria to compete and entertain" written by Adrian Chamberlain in the Times Colonist; published on Friday, 16 August 2013 
• • The Mae West Blog celebrates its 12th anniversary • •
• • Thank you for reading, sending questions, and posting comments during these past twelve years. The other day we entertained 3,497 visitors. And we reached a milestone recently when we completed 3,500 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • • 
• • The Mae West Blog was started twelve years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 3520th 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
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • in 1938 • •
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Mae West: Mink Lashes

In 1974, MAE WEST gave a long interview to Anjelica Huston and Peter Lester. This is Part 2. 
• • Mae West: the Queen at Home in Hollywood • •
• • Written by Anjelica Huston and Peter Lester  (Interview Magazine) • •
• • Etiquette established, visitors' book signed, credentials given, her personal assistant Larry Grayson exits stage left. 
• • Drawn to us as if by a magnetic force concealed beneath the floor, Mae West enters, gliding almost mechanically to her chair. We are close enough to touch her without getting up. Silence as she allows herself to be scrutinized — — freshly painted, hair waving softly champagne to her shoulders, shoulders draped in lace. Her eyelids droop shyly as she lifts her gaze, deeply shaded by mink lashes. The pupil of one eye overflowing in its iris; she smiles behind a coral cupid's bow as she adjusts a lurex cushion to the small of her back; tidies the folds of the shocking pink negligee about her bosom and crosses her legs.
• • Her hands, beautifully manicured and pearly tipped, lie in her lap, she rubs them together a little nervously at first, suspicious of us until she realizes that we are fans completely stunned by the legend. She relaxes and gives us everything.
• • ANJELICA HUSTON AND PETER LESTER: To what do you attribute your looks?
• • MAE WEST: (Tapping her teeth) See — they're mine... I have no face lifts ...it's all mine? There's no change in me. I wrote this book about it. It's called Sex, Health and ESP, you know. I eat the right foods, exercise, take care of myself.
• • HUSTON AND LESTER: ESP?
• • WEST: Yeah, I've been havin' these psychic experiences since 1941, I knew this man, the Reverend Jack Kelly... a great man who died in 1965. I was sitting just where I am, sittin' watchin' TV here when I heard this voice, whispering, kind of, I felt this presence beside me. Like it was a man in the room.  looked down and saw a pair of men's feet, looked a little higher and saw his legs. It was Jack Kelly all right. He walked here behind me, over to where you're sitting and then he just dissolved away. Into the sofa.  . . .

"Sextette" premiere, 1978

• • This has been Part 2 of the interview written by Anjelica Huston and Peter Lester. Part 3 will continue tomorrow.
• • On Sunday, 30 August 1931 • •
• • When Mae West brought her play "The Constant Sinner" to Atlantic City for a try-out in August 1931, the crowds lined up for tickets.
 • • Noted The New York Times: "With two rows of standees and chairs in the aisles for extra celebrants, last Monday night saw Mae West run through her latest daisy chain, 'The Constant Sinner,' at the Apollo Theatre in Atlantic City. . ."  Their man on the aisle described this play as "underworld material," leading us to assume this sheltered individual rarely ventured above the wilds of West 96th Street.
• • Source: The N.Y. Times on Sunday, 30 August 1931.
• • On Sunday, 30 August 1970 in The L.A. Times • •
• • Joyce Haber referred to Mae West as "the Last of the Living Legends" in The Los Angeles Times Calendar on Sunday, 30 August 1970.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • The way that stars from other studios dodged the premiere of Mae West's "I'm No Angel." Hollywood never proved itself so much a small town, with all a small town's petty jealousies, as it did that night. 
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said:  "Sex is like a small business. You gotta watch over it."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • Mike Connolly mentioned Mae West.
• • Mike Connolly wrote:  Odd angle on Mae West's new advice-to-the-lovelorn series, "Mae West Advises," on local station KCOP — — her paychecks are signed by Bing Crosby, who owns the station .
• • Source: Item in Mike Connolly's Hollywood column in Desert Sun; published on Saturday, 30 August 1958
• • The Mae West Blog celebrates its 12th anniversary • •
• • Thank you for reading, sending questions, and posting comments during these past twelve years. The other day we entertained 3,497 visitors. And we reached a milestone recently when we completed 3,500 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • • 
• • The Mae West Blog was started twelve years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 3519th 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
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • in 1978 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest
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Mae West: Teasing in Sepia

In 1974, MAE WEST gave a long interview to Anjelica Huston and Peter Lester. This is Part 1. 
• • Mae West: the Queen at Home in Hollywood • •
• • Written by Anjelica Huston and Peter Lester (Interview Magazine) • •
• • When talking of the legend that is Mae West, one feels compelled to expound in a sacred language, a language almost as sacred as the rhythm and timbre of speech, a sound that must be unique in this world. She does talk like she sounds in the movies... you know what I mean. Hollywood Boulevard, still dry from the heat of summer, seemed gray and bland; a complete contrast to the apprehension we felt in our stomachs as we drove to interview one of the most innovative stars the screen has ever known. Miss West had specifically requested no tape recorder— an idea unfathomable to journalists —but we were nevertheless prepared to hurriedly write down every word of wisdom that would drop from her lips; little did we know that we would be so transfixed by her magic that it would be hard to write.
• • THE ROSSMORE APARTMENT BUILDING • •
• • ATMOSPHERE: Misty with climate control. Cream Venetian blinds drawn down. Air conditioner humming lazily. The scene seems to be shrouded in the mists of dry ice.
• • THE SETTING: Small room, cluttered with carefully arranged memorabilia. An eye that glanced at Versailles and then squinted at Southern California. Cream, white, cream, white. Ormolu for days.
• • IMPRESSIONS: Grandeur squat on voluptuous legs, heavily embossed surfaces in mirrored gold. Photographs from the past, teasing in sepia furs, Miss West as she was. Photographs everywhere, some standing proudly atop a Dresden baby grand; alabaster nudes, variations on hand to hip, hand to hair, amidst extravagant arrays of artificial floribunda.
• • We're dying for a cigarette, but the absence of ashtrays alerts us. Mr. Larry Grayson, Miss West's personal secretary, indulges his habit out in the hallway.  The only visitor ever permitted to smoke had been Bette Davis, and she didn't overdo it.
• • Etiquette established, visitors' book signed, credentials given, Larry Grayson exits stage left.  . . .
• • This has been Part 1 of the interview written by Anjelica Huston and Peter Lester. Part 2 will continue tomorrow.
• • Note: In 1973, Mae hired Larry Grayson as a driver, secretary, and personal assistant. He was on her payroll until 1976 or 1977 when a minor traffic accident made him decide to resign.
• • On Friday, 29 August 1947 • •
• • "Mae West for Own Play in London" • •
• • The News in Adelaide prt a London article. Mae West, who turned down £2,000 a week to play here before the war, is packing, her bags to come to England. . . .
• • On Wednesday, 29 August 1979 • •
• • An item about Mae West's radio spot for Poland Spring appeared. Kevin Thomas wrote the article "Mae West — Testing Commercial Waters" for The Los Angeles Times; the paper ran it on Wednesday, 29 August 1979.
• • Mae West didn't need the money and rarely did things of this nature.  But with Poland Spring, she was merely endorsing a product she had personally used for years.
• • On Tuesday, 29 August 1989 in The Village Voice • •
• • Arlena Gibson's article "Go West, Young Man," which referenced Mae West and the opportunities she gave to young actors, was printed in The Village Voice, a weekly, on Tuesday, 29 August 1989 (pages 37, 38).
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • "Hats!" said Edith Head. "Remember hats? I can tell you Mae remembers them."
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "Good sex is like good bridge. If you don't have a good partner, you'd better have a good hand."
• • Quote, Unquote • •

• • A Canadian publication mentioned Mae West.
• • George Anthony wrote:   In "Sextette" Mae plays a Hollywood superstar — — move over, Barbra and Liza — — who marries an English lord and has her six former husbands turn up at the wedding. And despite gloomy box-office predictions from Hollywood crepe-hangers, West herself has no doubts that she has written and starred in a hit. 
• • "All my pictures have made big money," she says matter-of-factly, a bit surprised that the question could even come up. "I wouldn't do it if it weren't right for me."
• • Source: Interview in Ottawa Journal (Ottawa, Canada); published on Tuesday, 30 August  1977
• • The Mae West Blog celebrates its 12th anniversary • •
• • Thank you for reading, sending questions, and posting comments during these past twelve years. The other day we entertained 3,497 visitors. And we reached a milestone recently when we completed 3,500 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • • 
• • The Mae West Blog was started twelve years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 3518th 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
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • on the set in 1978 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest
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