Monday, April 01, 2019

Mae West: Penguin Prank

MAE WEST never turned down an opportunity to visit a zoo. Oddly enough, on Easter Sunday in 1939, when the movie queen was in Texas admiring some tropical penguins, she heard a nasal voice call her name.
• • “Who’s that?" Mae exclaimed. "Who’s talking to me?”
• • The tallest, most muscular penguin nipped her gently on the wrist, where a bracelet, glittering with channel-set diamonds, peeped out from a white embroidered glove. "It's Maxsie, Mae. I hoped you'd come up to see me sometime. And you finally did."
• • Mae inspected the three-foot-eight creature with brownish grey markings. "Maxsie Palooka! Is it really you, covered in dirty grey feathers?"
• • Maxsie cleared his throat. "I used to be snow white, but I drifted south. I prefer the temperate zones. A little birdie said you were still on the West Coast, Mae. You're lookin' good."
• • "Sounds like you're still in the ring, wearing your mouth guard, Maxsie. It's a little difficult to follow this . . . uh, conversation."
• • "I hear ya!"
• • "Howja happen to wind up behind bars?" Mae wondered aloud.
• • "I was on a yacht, ya see, with my former trainer Big Mook. And a catamaran, carrying Christian missionaries, was in distress. We hauled them up, then these mugs start blessing anything in sight. One tall bible-beater tried to baptize Champy, my faithful water spaniel, and Miss Mischief, Big Mook's macaw. Then one of the elders said: This mistake causes a problem for the Almighty, who usually only allows humans to be baptized! Next thing, my spaniel Champy starts yapping in English, praising Jesus Christ, and saying his soul is saved. I try to reach for my doggie — — but I got fluffy wings where my fingers used to be. Amazing, eh?"
• • "Maxsie! I just can't help staring!"
• • "Visitors say that all the time. But it's cool. I'd rather be looked over than overlooked."
• • "So you've been reborn — — as a flightless bird, living in a tank. Astonishing!"
• • "I was always one for the chicks. Now I'm surrounded with 'em." Maxsie gave a soft grunt. "Least I didn't come back as an entrĂ©e on a menu."
• • "Gotta be going, honey!" said Mae. "Can I peel you a grape or. . .?"
• • "Feeding time's in an hour. Yesterday we got squid. I expect they'll toss me some krill today." He sighed. "Mae, I really miss the strawberry cheesecake at Junior's on Flatbush Avenue."
• • Jim Timony was returning from the men's room and Mae asked him to take some pictures. As they walked towards the exit, Mae thought she heard a lot of agitation in the tank, churning the water like an Evinrude.
• • Happy April Fool's Day!   
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
• • Photo of Mae West and penguins — — courtesy of Damon Devine, Hollywood.
• • Do not copy this image without obtaining permission first. Be nice.  
• • Script Approval on Monday, 1 April 1935 • •
• • An enormous international cast was assembled to do justice to Mae West's ambitious screenplay "Now I'm a Lady" centered around the horsey set. Script approval was granted by the Hays Commission on Monday, 1 April 1935 and the motion picture was released by Paramount Pictures the following month as "Goin' to Town."
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Mae West confirmed she planned to go to Columbia Pictures with Emanuel Cohen, even though Paramount Pictures declared it had exercised its option and wanted their screen star to make two more pictures with the studio — — the first one to start on Wednesday, 1 April 1936.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "What I mean is I was coming to the conclusion that boys made much better playmates than girls."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • The Brooklyn Daily Eagle mentioned Mae West.
• • Lore Croghan wrote:  Brooklyn-born movie star Mae West — a famed sex symbol who wrote nine of the 13 films in which she starred — lived in Hollywood at the time of her 1980 death. Her body was brought back home to be buried in the West family crypt, which is in a handsome old building called Cypress Hills Abbey.  . . .
• • Source: Brooklyn Daily Eagle; published on Wednesday, 5 April 2017
• • 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 4181st 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 1939 (photo courtesy of Damon Devine)

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