Thursday, February 02, 2017

Mae West: Secret Ambition

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 23.
• • Mae West: "I'm here to make talkies" or Censor Will vs. Diamond Lil • •
• • Her Best Film • •
• • Paul Phaneuf wrote:   Highly enjoyable, it's considered by many critics her best film. Friend and author Lowell Brentano had written the script for her and it was originally called "The Lady and the Lions." Said Mae, "I had Paramount buy the story . . . and revised it with a plot line, comedy situations, and dialogue to fit the characterization I envisioned for myself . . . I've always had a secret ambition to be a lion tamer. There is something about big cats that appeals to me."
• • The film opens with a midway carnival barker giving a spiel in anticipation of Mae's appearance on the runway. "If she would have been around in his day, Noah would have missed the boat!" "She'll throw discretion to the wind, and her hips to the north, east, west, and south!" And a line later censored, "She satisfies more patrons than Chesterfields!" And with that intro, out comes 39 year-old Mae dressed in a glittering body stocking with strategically placed beadwork.
• • Devil in Disguise • •   . . .
• • This was Part 23.  Part 24 will appear tomorrow.
• • Source:  Article by Paul Phaneuf in Films of the Golden Age Magazine;  issue dated 5 November 2011. Used with permission.
• • On Wednesday, 2 February 1927 in The N.Y. Times • •
• • Pole-vaulted out of the ghetto of the clubby entertainment section, Mae West suddenly became notoriously noteworthy in national news headlines on Wednesday, 2 February 1927 in The New York Times (and elsewhere).
• • On Tuesday, February 1st at 5:00 AM, the Brooklyn bombshell was arrested along with her sister and the director Edward Elsner in Bridgeport, Connecticut.
• • According to The New York Times: Edwin [sic] Elsner of New York, stage director of "The Drag," which opened here last night, and Miss Beverly West of New York, sister of Mae West, author of the play, were arrested at 5:30 o'clock this morning in Miss West's room at the Arcade Hotel and will be arraigned in the City Court on Wednesday on technical charges of breach of the peace.
• • The arrest at the Arcade Hotel is dramatized in the play "Courting Mae West." Beverly's drunken antics and Mae's strategies are featured in Act I, Scene 2 in this serious-minded comedy based on true events.
• • On Thursday, 2 February 1933 with Rudy Vallee • •
• • The collection "Mae West — Original Radio Broadcasts" includes her rendition of "Frankie and Johnny" which was aired on "The Rudy Vallee Show" on Thursday, 2 Febru­ary 1933.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Madame Wu's Garden in Los Angeles was a favorite of Mae West as well as Cary Grant.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said:  "It's no good trying to be serious."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • The Desert Sun mentioned Mae West.
• • Art Lasky, Former Ring Figure, Opens Office Here • •
• • Art Lasky opened his first office in Hollywood where he became well known by treating top movie celebrities such as Clark Gable, Robert Taylor, Ann Sheridan, Mae West, Ida Lupino and Richard Arlen. His offices were located at 457 North Palm Canyon Drive in the Hotel Penthouse building  . . .
• • Source: Item in Desert Sun; published on Monday,  2 February 1953
• • 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 3631st
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 1927

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