Mae West: Crack a Whip

A very long article about MAE WEST and her career in Tinseltown appeared five years ago.  It was written by Paul Phaneuf. Let's enjoy it together. This is Part 25.
• • Mae West: "I'm here to make talkies" or Censor Will vs. Diamond Lil • •
• • Entering a lion cage • •
• • Paul Phaneuf wrote:  A highlight is Mae going into a cage of lions and snapping the whip to make them jump up on stools: "Come on, ya mug!  Get up there!"
• • According to her account, "Unknown to me, the studio had ordered men with guns loaded to stand at vantage points outside the cage. They had been told to shoot to kill if any of the beasts made the slightest move towards me . . . I began to move about, cracking the whip . . . the lions snarled, then the huge, glorious beasts began their act, leaping from stool to stool, following one another in a line that circled around me as I kept cracking my whip, acting out my dream role."
• • A process shot • •  . . .   
• • This was Part 25.  Part 26 will appear tomorrow.
• • Source:  Article by Paul Phaneuf in Films of the Golden Age Magazine;  issue dated 5 November 2011. Used with permission.
• • On Tuesday, 7 February 1933 • •
• • It was on Tuesday, 7 February 1933, that Mae recorded "A Guy What Takes His Time" (one of her saucy hits from "She Done Him Wrong") for Brunswick Records.
• • On Wednesday, 7 February 1940 • •

• • Despite the robust ticket sales for "My Little Chickadee," and the advance word that predicted a sure-fire box office hit, the Hollywood Reporter held to their narrow opinion that "the story doesn't amount to much" and printed their churlish coverage (from the sidelines) on Wednesday, 7 February 1940.  "And the gags are slim."
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Even at close range, Mae West looked every bit as young as she did in her last movie, and that was many years ago.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said:  ""When you can be calm about sex — — smile, and even laugh — — you're not obsessed with it. It's the obsessed people who cause grave trouble for themselves."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • A California campus paper mentioned Mae West.
• • The Reviewer — — "Sweet Adeline" at Stanford Theatre • •
• • Campus film critic Lowe wrote: Like artichoke without mayonnaise, like Mrs. F.D.R. without her teeth, like Mae West devoid of subtlety, is a gay nineties story gone highbrow.  ...
• • Source: Review for The Stanford Daily; published on Thursday,  7 February 1935 
• • The Mae West Blog celebrates its 12th 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 3,500 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started ten years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 3634th 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 1940 • •
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