Friday, April 14, 2017

Mae West: All Her Wiles

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 65.
• • Mae West: "I'm here to make talkies" or Censor Will vs. Diamond Lil • •
• • This strong start falters • • 
• • Paul Phaneuf wrote:   However, the film then switches gears and this strong start falters as it's revealed that Mavis Arden is having an affair with a politician.  To escape any negative publicity, her studio sends its star on a promotional tour accompanied by her agent, well played by Warren William. However, her chauffeur-driven limo breaks down in a small town, and she's put up in a country inn. There she sets eyes on Scott, a local mechanic, and inventor of a new sound machine for the movies! Scott is already involved with one of the women running the inn, but Mae tries all her wiles to win him over, only to lose out to the innocent and pure country girl.
• • Mae seems constrained by the role and the fact that she's playing a basically weak character who loses the man she's after, a first for Mae. At the end she goes off with William, realizing that he's been in love with her all this time, though it seems pat and artificial.
• • None of her old fire shows • •  . . .
• • This was Part 65.  Part 66 will appear on Monday.
• • Source:  Article by Paul Phaneuf in Films of the Golden Age Magazine;  issue dated 5  November 2011. Used with permission.
• • On Saturday, 14 April 1973 in Hollywood • •
• • It was an SRO celebration on Saturday night, 14 April 1973 when the Masquers Club honored the Empress of Sex with a "Mae Day" tribute. Unlike previous honorees, Mae had insisted on performing a shimmy and singing "Frankie and Johnny." The ceremony was attended by Sidney Skolsky and many other notables.
• • For instance, Mae's "Myra Breckinridge" cast mate Jim Backus attended the Masquers Club's salute as one of her "Gentlemen in Waiting" (along with George Raft, Jack LaRue, Steve Allen, Lloyd Nolan, etc.).
• • When the 1973 event was reborn in an audio format, it became "Mae Day: The Masquers Club Salutes Mae West CD" [1998], Mae-mavens could hear Jim Backus offering an amusing 4-minute tribute [exactly 4 minutes and 16 seconds long, if you want to get technical] to the buxom blonde guest of honor.
• • On Friday, 14 April 1989 • •
• • "President Bush Cites Gandhi, Mae West in Education Talk" was a headline in the L.A. Times on a Friday, 14 April 1989.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • If they could get Mae West from the grave, they'd pick her up and stuff her, and sit her in the third row.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said:   "I'd rather be looked over than overlooked."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • An article on intelligence mentioned Mae West.
• • Dr. Birute Regine wrote: Some women use the negative gender schemas against them to their advantage. These women play along as if they don’t know what’s going on, when in reality they are five steps ahead of the guys. As Mae West put it, “Brains are an asset, if you hide them.” ...
• • Source: Article: "Why Is It That Women Are Seen As Less Competent?" written by Birute Regine, Ed.D. for Forbes Magazine; posted on Thursday, 14 April 2011
• • 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 3682nd
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 • magazine cover in 1973

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