Monday, March 12, 2018

Mae West: Born that Way

While you’re sleeping, college professors in Hungary are thinking about MAE WEST. Here’s a long, striking research paper you might have missed. This is Part 26.
• • "Mae West. The Dirty Snow White" • •
• • Written by:  Zsófia Anna Tóth
• • marriage is parodied • •
• • Zsófia Anna Tóth wrote: She Done Him Wrong (1933) is the filmic version of Diamond Lil. At the end of this film, marriage is parodied in the part in which the police captain says jokingly to the heroine, Lady Lou: “I got you. You are my prisoner and I am gonna be your jailer for a long, long time,” while he is pulling a ring on her finger (Sherman 1933). West’s heroines do not really want to get married and even when they do, it is obvious that they are still uncertain about marital bonds. For example, in Goin’ to Town (1935), the female protagonist is again a prostitute taking part in the following conversation: “What excuses you to run around single? I was born that way” (Hall 1935). Despite this, the character agrees to marry a man (although they decided it with dice and she lost the game), who dies before the wedding day and so she is considered to be his widow (since they signed a contract) inheriting all of his money by the first 12 minutes into the film, becoming rich and a successful business woman.
• • the issue of race • •  . . .
• • This was Part 26 of a lengthy article. Part 27 will follow tomorrow. 
• • Source: Americana — — E-Journal of American Studies in Hungary; Vol. XI, No. 1, Spring 2015.
• • Mildred Katherine West [8 December 1898 — 12 March 1982] • •
• • In the month of March, we honor Mae's younger sister Beverly.
• • In March 1924, Variety noted a new act listed on Manhattan's stagebill: "Beverly West and Co., Piano and Singing." While not mentioning that she was Mae West's sister, Variety's reviewer admitted that "she puts over her numbers acceptably." Proctor's East 58th Street location had engaged Beverly and her musicians in 1924. Back in 1895, F.F. Proctor had built his playhouse, Proctor's Pleasure Palace Palm Gardens, on 154 East 58th Street, New York, NY in midtown on the eastside [now zipcode 10022]. During the same interval (mid-March in 1924), Mae West was trouping in vaudeville in Texas.
• • Born in Brooklyn on 8 December 1898, Beverly changed her stage name a few times. She was Beverly Osborne, then it was Beverly Arden. Afflicted with polio and a limp, Beverly favored long dresses that covered her imperfect legs.
• • Beverly died two years after her older sister on Friday, 12 March 1982. She was 83.
• • On Thursday, 12 March 1936 in The N.Y. Times • •
• • The reviewer for The N.Y. Times Frank S. Nugent was aware of the uproar from the Hays Office that delayed Mae's latest motion picture. Nugent wrote: Mae West's "Klondike Annie" really does not merit the agitation it has caused. His comments appeared in The N.Y. Times on Thursday, 12 March 1936.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • The awe-struck tone is obvious in the article "At the Capitol — First Appearance of Mae West."  Although the reporter from Canberra, Australia puzzled over the movie's title and suggested other titles more suitable than "She Done Him Wrong" (such as "Bowery Love"), there was praise for the leading lady.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "I have found men who didn't know how to kiss. I've always found time to teach them.“
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • An Indiana daily mentioned Mae West.
• • Louis Armstrong who has just taken Nap-Town by storm last week at a local theatre, starred with Mae West in the picture “Every Day Is a Holiday.”  . . .
• • Source: Item in the Indianapolis Recorder; published on Saturday, 12 March 1938
• • The evolution of 2 Mae West plays that keep her memory alive • • 
• • A discussion with Mae West playwright LindaAnn LoSchiavo — — 
• • http://lideamagazine.com/renaissance-woman-new-york-city-interview-lindaann-loschiavo/
• • 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 3915th 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/
________

Source:http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml   

• • Photo:
• • Mae West • in 1932

• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest
  Mae West

1 comment:

  1. It is fitting that you acknowledge the talent of Beverly West. Having walked in the neighbouring area of the Ravenswood Apartment building in Los Angles, I discovered the street names Beverly and Arden. Perhaps this proved as inspiration for the name change.

    ReplyDelete