Mae West: Feet-ishism

“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 11 of 27 parts.
• • “Get the Idea, Boys? Mae West’s Shoes” • •
• • Mae West plays this gullible crowd at their own game • •
• • Sabina Stent wrote: Mae West sends out an innuendo-laced invitation to chase her, but she knows her value as a commodity, and how to play this gullible crowd at their own game. “Am I makin’ myself clear, boys?” she states sauntering her way offstage. “Suckers,” she smirks under her breath.

• • Sabina Stent wrote: We don’t see Mae West’s shoes, of course, because that would break the spell. In his 2001 book, Feet-ishism, Hans-Jürgen Döpp charts the sexual significance of high-heeled shoes, and the fashion’s role in the rise of foot fetishism. Döpp notes the thrill some would experience from peeking a shoe underneath a woman’s long dress and the “fiendish joy” of stealing a glance of leg and shoe. We may glimpse a toe, peek a heel, but West’s feet are always covered; a concealed secret underneath. 
• • Feet-ishism • • . . .
• • This long essay by Sabina Stent will be continued on the next post.
• • Source: Majuscule, Issue 2; posted in December 2019.
• • On Tuesday, 2 January 1934 in Chicago • •
• • On 2 January 1934, when Mae's sister Beverly applied for a marriage license in Chicago, it was hoped that her second Russian-born husband would be a better companion than her ex-husband Sergei Treshatny. The groom Vladimir Baikoff made Beverly's acquaintance when both were booked on a radio program. Beverly was doing her famous Mae West impersonation for a broadcast — — and Vlad was eager to conjugate some sultry Slavic verbs with her in private, after the show.
• • On her marriage license, Beverly gave her age as 27, meaning that she had been born in 1907. This was consistent with Mae's calculations; in 1934, Mae was giving her birthyear as 1900 and the siblings were seven years apart.
• • Good thing municipal clerks were not crossing checking New York State's records with Illinois — — otherwise someone might have wondered about the bride who was born in 1907, having been first married in 1917 when she was 10 years old.
• • Beverly's second marriage ceremony was performed at the Congress Hotel in Chicago. Judge Joseph Sabath (of divorce court fame) officiated.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • According to Mae West’s biographer Stanley Musgrove, Paul Novak, the movie queen’s long-time companion, was concerned about the dailies of “Sextette,” saying that the unedited scenes he watched were not “so good.” Novak felt that the musical sequences “will have to save the picture.”
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "A girl in the convertible is worth five in the phonebook."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • A Queensland, Australia paper mentioned Mae West.
• • From Queensland, the Morning Bulletin's movie critic wrote: What could be funnier than W. C. Fields as a patent medicine vendor turned masked bandit (sic), and Mae West, late of the honky tonks, as a little desert flower blooming brighter every hour? A riotous "team" they make, this one-glance gal and two-shot son-of-a-gun. Their adventures among the citizenry of Greasewood City, one of the wilder outposts of the West, are something in the nature of a parody and burlesque on the familiar fixtures of Western pictures. Nothing has been spared in the hullabaloo of ridicule, and the disorderly progress of Fields through the badlands.
• • The critic concluded: It will be screened at the Wintergarden this afternoon [Wednesday, 1 January 1941] and tonight, also tomorrow and Friday. …
• • Source: Review of "My Little Chickadee" (page 8) written for the Morning Bulletin (Rockhampton, Qld); published on Wednesday, 1 January 1941
• • 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 4,380th 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 • • heels and platform shoes worn by Mae West • •
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