Tuesday, April 30, 2019

Mae West: John Arthur Chapman

John Chapman, drama critic for The New York Daily News, was nicknamed “Old Frost Face,” however, his pen warmed up to MAE WEST. Let’s enjoy his review of “Diamond Lil,” published in that newspaper in 1949. This is Part 5, the final segment.
• • Same Old Mae in Same Old Play — — “Diamond Lil” Is Funnier Now • •
• • Claw she did • •
• • John Chapman wrote: Claw she did. There is a delightful honky-tonk quality to the new production of "Diamond Lil." Under the wise and humorous direction of Charles K. Freeman, the big company of politicians, molls, touts, cut-purses, shoplifters, white slavers, drunks, hopheads, singing waiters and a detective disguised as a Salvation Army captain play their extravagant roles straight.
• • Paul Du Pont's Gay Nineties costumes and the sets by William De Forest and Ben Edwards are just right for a romp in the underworld: Miss West never misses a trick.
• • John Chapman wrote: Now there is a song-and-dance interlude featuring Mae.  . . .
• • Source: Article in The N.Y. Daily News; published on Monday, 7 February 1949.
• • Note: John Chapman [1900 — 19 January 1972] • •
• • Born in 1900 in Colorado, John Arthur Chapman began his career with The Denver Times (1917–19) before moving to the New York Daily News (1920), where he became dramatic editor (1929) and replaced Burns Mantle as drama critic (1943), retiring in 1971. He wrote a popular column, “Mainly About Broadway,” in the 1930s
• • John Chapman, nicknamed ''Old Frost face'' by the press and ''The Curmudgeon'' by affectionate colleagues, was a drama critic for the New York Daily News in the 1930s through the 1950s. Chapman spent some time reviewing movies in Hollywood, but his base was always in Manhattan.
• • He died on Wednesday, 19 January 1972 at a Connecticut convalescent home of complications following a cancer operation. Chapman was 71. His father was the poet —newsman Arthur Chapman.
• • On Monday, 30 April 1956 in N.Y. World-Telegram Sun • •
• • It was on Monday, 30 April 1956 that Robert W. Dana's felicitous coverage of "The Mae West Review" appeared.
• • Robert Dana's popular daily dish "Tips on Tables" was published in the now defunct New York World-Telegram and Sun.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • An interview with Mae West appeared in the men's magazine Club.  The issue was dated April 1978 and the byline was Ellis Nassourin.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "That's the ninth man since January I'm supposed to have been married to."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • A Boston daily mentioned Mae West.
• • "Clutching, Squealing Crowd Greets Mae West with Mob Scene Here" • •
• • The Boston Herald reporter wrote: Complete with the publicized curves and husky, slurring accents that have made her practically a symbol of what she is pleased to call “the sex personality,” Mae West crashed into Boston yesterday morning through a clutching, squealing crowd of 3000 eager admirers who turned the South station into a mob scene. …
• • Source: The Boston Herald; published on Friday, 29 April 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 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 4,200 blog posts. Wow!  
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started fourteen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 4202nd 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
1956
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