Mae West: Dictating Machine

In September 1933, MAE WEST sat down for a series of interviews with a West Coast syndicated columnist Willis Thornton.
• • "'Diamond Lil' Puts Mae West on Top" • •
• • Editor's Note: This is the third of three installments on Mae West, the  buxom actress who is restoring curves to to feminine favor.  Today's post is excerpt dd.
• • Written by Willis Thornton, NEA Services Writer • •
• • She dictates plays to a dictating machine • • 
• • Willis Thornton wrote:  It's not that she's narrow-minded about such things. She hasn't time. She dictates plays to a dictating machine. Many a rehearsal in the afternoon has worked out lines Mae wrote in the morning, and then incorporated lines she "ad-libbed" on the rehearsal stage herself.
• • Many an old friend of trouping days has known the helping hand of Mae West.
• • Keen Business Woman • •
• • Mae West has a shrewd money sense — — ask the movie managers who brought her to Hollywood, and who were tickled at getting a great Broadway star at what seemed a low contract figure. Then they found that the contracts provided that Mae need not act in any plays unless she herself had approved them. And she refused to approve any except her own, for which she charged the studio a nifty price.
• • No time for the wedding march • •  . . .
• • NOTE: This is the third of three stories on Mae West, the buxom actress who is restoring curves to feminine favor.  [A lengthy section, it will be posted piece by piece all this week. This post was excerpt dd. See tomorrow for excerpt ee, which will be the conclusion.]
• • Source: syndicated content rpt in The Courier News [Blytheville, Arkansas]; published on Saturday, 9 September 1933.
• • On Sunday, 6 October 1918 • •
• • On Sunday, 6 October 1918 the New York Herald Tribune wrote about Mae's superb performance as Mayme Dean in "Sometime," noting "Mae West gave a capital characterization of a chorus girl in search of temptation, but never finding it, ..."
• • On Friday, 6 October 1933 • •
• • On Friday, 6 October 1933, Mae West wowed the world when Paramount released "I'm No Angel" directed by Wesley Ruggles and co-starring Cary Grant (in the role of Jack Clayton).
• • On Saturday, 6 October 1934 • •
• • The New York Board of Censors insisted upon a new ending for the upcoming Mae West picture.  Ruby Carter and the Tiger Kid have to head to the altar to satisfy the purity police and Paramount Pictures pays the fare to have the conclusion done over.
• • An article in Literary Digest discussed this, calling the forced ending "a sort of shotgun wedding." This piece ran in their issue dated for Saturday, 6 October 1934.
• • On Tuesday, 6 October 1959 • •

• • In early October — — on Tuesday, 6 October 1959 — — newscaster Charles Collingwood had taped an interview in the screen queen's apartment. Questioned about the title of her new memoir Goodness Had Nothing to Do with It, Mae West replied, "It's about my private transgressions — — that's a long word for sin."  After CBS executives viewed the footage, they cancelled the entire segment.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • A newspaper serial is being published coast to coast with Mae West's byline.  "Me and My Past" is the title.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said:  "Too many women make the mistake of waking up some morning and saying, 'I am no longer attractive to men.'  That does it, brother, from then on they're not!"
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • A store mannequin was attired like Mae West.
• • "The Lady Lou Influence" • •
• • And on Wednesday she satisfied the public eye by appearing in one of these new Mae West formals with a removable jacket with a high, high collared neck, shirred shoulders, pocket elbow sleeves, and slit-back.  . . .
• • Source:  Fashion Article in Daily Illini; published on Friday, 6 October 1933
• • 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 3546th 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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• • Photo: • • Mae West • • in 1959 • •
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