Wednesday, April 17, 2019

Mae West: Goes Begging

Starring Australian actress Melita Jurisic as the American icon MAE WEST, a new play “Arbus and West” was onstage in Melbourne until March 30th. Naturally, Mae would have stipulated that her name was placed first in the title. Let’s enjoy a spirited review by drama critic Robert Reid. This is Part 12.
• • “Arbus and West” — — A one-way gladiatorial battle • •
• • Arbus as a camera lucida for Mae West • •
• • Robert Reid wrote: In fact, the role of Diane Arbus, beyond being a camera lucida for West, is largely left unsatisfied.
• • Robert Reid wrote: The contrast of these two women, their stories, their politics, their mythologies, goes begging.
• • Robert Reid wrote: Mae West and Ruby are constantly asking Diane Arbus what she wants and why she’s there. A not unreasonable interrogation in the beginning, perhaps; but if the play hasn’t answered those questions by the end, something is fundamentally missing. In this case, it’s Arbus herself. For a great deal of the play, one of Arbus’s cameras sits on a tripod down stage centre, right in front of the audience, pointed at the action.
• • something is fundamentally missing • • . . .
• • To be continued on the next post.
• • Source: Witness, stage review; published on Wednesday, 6 March 2019.
• • On Saturday, 17 April 1937 • •
• • "Mae West Disappears—Star in Retreat" • •
• • From London, the snippy, snooty British gossip columnist Greville Bain wrote: It cannot have escaped the notice of the film public that it is a long while since we had any news or even rumors of Mae West.
• • Greville Bain stated his own opinion on this: Even her greatest admirers had to admit that Miss West's more recent pictures were not calculated to enhance her reputation. Not so long ago she was said to vie with Shirley Temple as the greatest film attraction in the United States.  ...
• • Source: Article: "Mae West Disappears" by Greville Bain in The Advertiser (Adelaide); published on Saturday, 17 April 1937.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Greta Thyssen has been picked to be the new Mae West by Jack Linder, who presented Mae in “Diamond Lil” and now wants to star Greta in “Lady Chatterley's Lover.”
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "Public toilets were so filthy I couldn't face them."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • Time Magazine mentioned Mae West.
• • “Old Play in Manhattan” • •
• • “Diamond Lil” (by Mae West; produced by Albert H. Rosen and Herbert J. Freezer) is probably the masterwork of the un-versatile author of Sex, Pleasure Man, The Constant Sinner and Catherine Was Great. As a vehicle, at any rate, Lil remains after 21 years a good sturdy Mae Western.
• • Too dated in 1928 to date much since, and so bad a play that it has considerable merit as a parody, “Diamond Lil” gives Miss West every chance to shoot the works, to be as majestically unrefined and unreformed as she knows how.
• • Against a flyblown Gay-Nineties backdrop, Lil queens it over a...
• • Source: Time Magazine; published on Monday, 14 February 1949
• • 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 14th anniversary • •  
• • Thank you for reading, sending questions, and posting comments during these past fourteen years. Not long ago, we entertained 3,497 visitors. And we reached a milestone recently when we completed 4,100 blog posts. Wow!  
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started fourteen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 4193rd 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 • with Jim Timony
in 1935
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  Mae West

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