Mae West: Joseph Cohen

Joseph Cohen recalled for his hometown newspaper the day he met MAE WEST.
• • The Birmingham, England theatre Cohen ran was the very first to use electric news signs on the façade.
• • He was used to giving reporters good copy and during this interview he wanted to talk about Miss West.
• • Birmingham Mail wrote: Of course, there was the glorious moment when Mae West was dining in the Lissauer’s Royal Restaurant, Bennett’s Hill — — one of the city’s poshest — — and she was so pleased she said she wanted to dance with the owner.
• • Who happened to be Mr. Joseph Cohen.   . . .
• • Source: Article "The Day I Danced with Mae West" in Birmingham Mail; published on Monday, 9 April 1979.
• • On Friday, 13 November 1936 • •
• • "Mae West will go to Egypt to make a harem picture if she accepts the offer of a fez-wearing movie director from Cairo, who has been interviewing her for the past week," wrote a publicist from Paramount Pictures. It was sent out on Friday the 13th (13 November 1936).
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Playing opposite Ed Wynn in Arthur Hammerstein's "Sometime," with music by Rudolf Friml, Mae West performed the shimmy for an appreciative Broadway audience.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "There is nothing better in life than diamonds except maybe health."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • An American history site discussed Mae West.
• • "Mae West’s Secret of Success" • •

• • Peter Carlson wrote:  Mae West continued to shock the prudes. She wrote "The Drag," a play about gay men in the theater world, which included an elaborately staged drag queen ball. It played out of town; no New York theater would touch it. She wrote another backstage drama, Pleasure Man, about an actor who seduces showgirls, and it, too, contained a drag queen ball. It opened on Broadway in October 1928 and was promptly raided by the police, who arrested the entire cast, which didn’t include West. She was playing Diamond Lil that night, and when the curtain fell, she hustled to the police station to bail out Pleasure Man’s actors. While she was there, the police arrested her for writing the show. The court case dragged on for years, extending her infamy, before ending with a hung jury and dropped charges.
• • Source:  "Mae West’s Secret of Success" written by Peter Carlson for HistoryNet; posted on Wednesday, 14 September 2011 
• • The Mae West Blog celebrates its 13th anniversary • •  
• • Thank you for reading, sending questions, and posting comments during these past thirteen years. Not long ago, we entertained 3,497 visitors. And we reached a milestone recently when we completed 3,800 blog posts. Wow!   
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started thirteen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 3830th 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 1928 • •
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