Mae West: Guest Spot

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 91 of the feature we began excerpting way back on January 3rd, 2017. Whew!
• • Mae West: "I'm here to make talkies" or Censor Will vs. Diamond Lil • •
• • The Most Popular • • 
• • Paul Phaneuf wrote:   She also appeared on various TV venues, probably the most popular being a guest spot on the Mr. Ed TV show. And, of course, she did broker world peace in her last film.
• • On November 22nd, 1980, Mae West passed away in her Ravenswood home following a series of strokes. She was 87. Her long-time companion Paul Novak was at her side. Toward the end he often ran her old films for her. Though she was quite weak and could no longer speak, at times she seemed to respond and point to her image. Her friend George Raft died two days later.
• • A few months earlier, while getting out of her limousine in front of her favorite Hollywood restaurant Mae was spotted by a truck driver who shouted, "Hey Mae! You're still lookin' good!"
• • There's no record of her response, but it's safe to say it was a wisecrack.
• • A Magnet for Criticism • •  . . .
• • This was Part 91.  And Part 92, the final excerpt, 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, 22 May 2009 in Virginia • •

• • To celebrate blonde bombshells, Central Rappahannock Regional Library in Fredericksburg, VA hosted a film series with Mae West in "I’m No Angel" (1933), Jean Harlow in "Libeled Lady" (1936), and Marilyn Monroe in "Some Like it Hot" (1959).
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Sixty years ago Mae West looked in the mirror and ordered the clock stopped. So far as she is concerned, it has never dared to start again.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said:  "I don't like myself — — I'm crazy about myself.”
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • An annual poetry anthology mentioned Mae West.
• • Colleen J. McElroy's poem "Mae West Chats It Up with Bessie Smith" was first printed in Crab Orchard Review.
• • Source: poem rpt [pages 164-165] in The Best American Poetry 2001; published by Simon and Schuster, 2001 
• • 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 3,700 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started ten years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 3708th 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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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • in 1933 • •
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