Mae West: Opera Scene

A very long article about MAE WEST and her career in Tinseltown appeared five years ago.  It was written by Paul Phaneuf. Let's pick this up again and enjoy it together. This is Part 46.
• • Mae West: "I'm here to make talkies" or Censor Will vs. Diamond Lil • •
• • a terrifically filmed horse race • •  
• • Paul Phaneuf wrote:   The movie includes a terrifically filmed horse race as Mae enters her own horse against that of the snobbish Marjorie Gateson.  Mae's horse wins, of course.
• • There are also various murder and larceny plots to sort out, before the finale in which Mae, attempting to impress her haughty rich neighbors, stages an opera at her palatial estate. About to sing an aria from "Samson and Delilah," Mae quips, "Now there's a lady barber who made good!" The opera scene is the ultimate in kitsch and is closer in spirit to the Marx brothers. At film's end she wins her British oil man without significantly changing who she is. This is a thread running through almost all her films — — she never forgets where she came from. Despite her character's opulent surroundings, her attitude remained working class, with the upper class looking snobbish and hypocritical.
• • Breen had no major complaints • •   ...
• • This was Part 46.  Part 47 will appear  tomorrow.
• • Source:  Article by Paul Phaneuf in Films of the Golden Age Magazine;  issue dated 5  November 2011. Used with permission.
• • On Friday, 20 March 1914 • •

• • An item in the Columbus Journal newspaper dated for Friday, 20 March 1914 ran like this: "Love laughs at locksmiths" and Cupid takes long chances, even in vaudeville. But Guido Deiro, the accordion player now at Keith's, put him through very hard paces yesterday. 
• • Guido Deiro braved the wrath of those who might oppose him and secretly skipped off to Cincinnati, Ohio on Thursday morning in order to see his fiancee, Mae West, who is playing at the Keith house in that city. He left at 1:05 AM and got back at 3:10 PM, just in the nick of time to go on for his last act.... He played his accordion as he had never played it before, for he had the inspiration.
• • On Thursday, 20 March 1930 • •
• • The Thursday issue of The New York Times (on 20 March 1930) continued their coverage of the infamous "Pleasure Man" trial presided over by Judge Amedeo Bertini. The District Attorney's office was now headed by former State Supreme Court Justice Thomas T.C. Crain.
• • The stage play "Courting Mae West" dramatizes the trial.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Mae West also presents a few of her characteristic songs in her new Paramount picture "Goin' to Town."
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "Anybody who needs a dirty play ought to call on Mr. Wallace for suggestions."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • A Washington paper mentioned Mae West.
• • "Mae West Facing Trial in New York” read one headline. 
• • Source: Washington Post; published on Tuesday, 18 March 1930 
• • 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 3663rd 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 1914 • •
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