Mae West: Curves in a Bottle

“In real life, I’m very boring, so I made up the walk and the talk,” said MAE WEST.
• • British freelancer Dr. Sabina Stent, whose area of study included “Women artists, Surrealism, and unconventional females,” penned a fascinating essay on Mae’s customized double-decker footwear. This is Part 17 of 27 parts.
• • “Get the Idea, Boys? Mae West’s Shoes” • •
• • Schiap, Fini and West — — they did it first • •
• • Sabina Stent wrote: In 1953, Schiaparelli required a design for her new perfume, “Shocking!” For the task, she turned to her friend and fellow Italian artist Leonor Fini. A painter, designer and author known for her dynamic depictions of self-assured women, sphinxes, and cats, Fini chose to base the design on West’s curves, significantly the dressmaker’s dummy Schiaparelli had used to make West’s costumes for “Every Day’s a Holiday” (1937). Gauthier’s bottle was not that daring: Schiap, Fini and West, did it first.

• • Sabina Stent wrote: In her autobiography, Schiaparelli wrote about the time “Mae West came to Paris. She was stretched out on the operating-table of my workroom and measured and probed with care and curiosity.”
• • Elsa’s insights on Mae West • • . . . 
• • This long essay by Sabina Stent will be continued on the next post.
• • Source: Majuscule, Issue 2; posted in December 2019.
• • On Tuesday, 10 January 1950 • •
• • The letter was dated for Tuesday, 10 January 1950 and Mae West had a pen in her hand, ready to make it official. Mae was signing a typed letter (one page long) employing the William Morris Agency as her sole and exclusive agent for a period of three years. The contract would go into effect on 18 February 1950.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Women were much more sexually aggressive in Pre-code films, morals were loose. Their dialogue was suggestive. But after the code crackdown in 1934, actress Mae West, whose image was so sexually charged, lost audiences as a more sanitized version of herself.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "I like to slip down to Los Angeles Chinatown for chicken chop suey. I never worry much about my figure."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • Broadway World mentioned Mae West.
• • Review: SEX Sells the Bawdy Humor of Boundary-Breaking Blonde Bombshell Mae West
• • Shari Barrett wrote: Her play SEX was both outrageous and pornographic in 1926, full of playfulness and lots of camp as well as topical storytelling about the battle of the sexes. As the show's director Sirena Irwin shares, "SEX is a story of survival, imprisonment, fear, revenge, transformation, freedom, and love. It is a feminist perspective from nearly 100 years ago that invites us to reflect on where we've progressed and where we've stagnated. Mae West, in her wisdom, tried to open minds with humor and heart." …
• • Source: Broadway World; published on Tuesday, 22 May 2018
• • 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 15th anniversary • • 
• • Thank you for reading, sending questions, and posting comments during these past fifteen years. Not long ago, we entertained 3,497 visitors. And we reached a milestone recently when we completed 4,300 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started fifteen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 4,385th 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 • • platform heels worn by Mae West • •
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