Mae West: Latent Urge

A graduate of Chicago's Second City school of improvised comedy theatre yearned to be like MAE WEST.  And why not?
• • "An urge to be Mae West" • •
• • Herald Scotland wrote:   Having grown up next door to the CIA's Langley HQ in Virginia, Shirley Anderson initially studied drama at Boston University.  Acting was what she always wanted to do.
• • Herald Scotland wrote:  ''I remember at the age of five sitting on a stool, training a flashlight on myself, trying to be Mae West.  So I suppose you could say that there's always been this latent urge in me to be a big blonde lush, just like Hazel Morse in Big Blonde.''
• • Article in Herald Scotland; published on Friday, 4 August 1995.
• • On Monday, 4 August 1913 • •
• • On 4 August 1913, Mae West was booked at Hammerstein's Victoria to open for a world-famous star: Evelyn Nesbit [1884 — 1967], who was supposed to be giving ballroom dance lessons. Oscar Hammerstein thought this gimmick would arouse mega-watt attention and he was right.
• • Unfortunately, despite a lovely low-cut gown and provocative songs, Mae failed to fire up the audience of Nesbit noodlers.
• • On Wednesday, 4 August 1954 • •
• • "The Mae West Revue," which opened in Las Vegas, was a song-and-dance show that lasted only thirty-nine minutes. Variety printed their coverage on Wednesday, 4 August 1954.
• • Save the Date: Wednesday, 17 August 2016 • •
• • Mae West: New Yorker, Vaudevillian, Upstart, and Jailbird — — a Birthday Celebration! • •
• • Link: Mae West event on August 17, 2016
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Max Whitehead was in his early thirties at the time and his wrestling partner happened to be Mae West's lover. Mae West was by then in her 60s, aging extremely well and entertaining a predilection for musclemen.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "A thrill a day keeps the chill away
• • Quote, Unquote • •

• • A NYC campus paper mentioned Mae West.
• • Ruth Halikman wrote:  Strikingly different is Otto Fenn's portrait of Mae West (ca. 1950-55), in which the actress is seen reflected in the mirror of her dressing table as she applies her makeup. The table in front of her, which the photograph strongly emphasizes, is strewn with cosmetic items of all sorts — makeup brushes, perfumes, lotions, etc. The message implied by including this photograph in an exhibition about power is rather ambiguous: does Mae West's power rest in her ability to create her own image, to define herself? Or is her power simply that she can seduce men?
• • Source: Item in Columbia Daily Spectator; published on Wednesday, 4 August 1993
• • 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 3501st 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 • • as Diamond Lil in 1950 • •
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