Mae West: Taking Revenge

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 86.
• • Mae West: "I'm here to make talkies" or Censor Will vs. Diamond Lil • •
• • "Hard To Handle" • • 
• • Paul Phaneuf wrote:  Mae West is only in a handful of scenes, and she only did the role if she could write her part. Her highlight is a nightclub segment in which she sings a surprisingly strong rendition of the Otis Redding tune, "Hard To Handle."
• • Raquel Welch plays a rival talent agent who is trans-sexual. She also has some sort of phantom doppelganger played by Rex Reed and together they're taking revenge on Hollywood sexual stereotypes, or something to that effect. The whole film is a jumble of bad acting, writing, directing, and anything else that could go wrong with a picture. Sitting through it is a truly unpleasant experience. A dour and unfunny film, it was a justifiable bomb but did stir a camp following due to Mae.
• • Leonard Maltin summed it up: "As bad as any movie ever made."
• • Marlo Manners Returns • •  . . .
• • This was Part 86.  Part 87 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, 15 May 1935 in Variety • •
• • In his sarcastic review of "Goin' to Town" movie critic Abel wrote:  "He's a Wicked Man But He Loves So Good" and "Now I'm a Lady" are two numbers, done more or less incidentally, and distinguished principally by the brass work in the orchestrations.
• • Abel noted: Star endeavors to square the general script inanities by a tongue-in-cheek treatment, but it's done too McCoy to impart any other impression. Role gives her ample opportunity to strut a flock of glad rags. Variety invariably found a way to slam Mae.Tsk!
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Female writers such as Frances Marion, Dorothy Davenport, Anita Loos, Zoe Akins, Dorothy Howell, Becky Gardiner — — and of course, Mae West — — were among the top screenwriters focusing on female roles.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "It isn't what I do, but how I do it. It isn't what I say, but how I say it, and how I look when I do it and say it."
• • Quote, Unquote • •

• • An article on a camp classic mentioned Mae West.
• • Susan Dunne wrote: There's never been another movie like "Myra Breckinridge," and many people think that's a good thing. But that kind of legacy is what camp classics are made of. Rex Reed, the film critic, stars as Myron Breckinridge, who wants a sex change. He gets one courtesy of a whacked-out doctor, and becomes Myra (Raquel Welch). Myra heads to Hollywood, to go into the biz, to claim an inheritance from her uncle (John Huston), and to teach university classes. Her uncle's friend is a horny seventy-something talent scout, played by Mae West.  ...
• • Source:  Article: "Camp Classic Good for Laughs" written by Susan Dunne for The Hartford Courant [Connecticut]; published on Thursday, 15 May 2008   
• • Image: Mae West photographed in 1970 by Cecil Beaton
• • 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 3703rd 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 1970 • •
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