Monday, March 16, 2020

Mae West: Brassy Gold

Reporters who met MAE WEST during the 1920s and early 1930s — — before stardom cloaked her utterly — — have a refreshingly different take than those who met her as a bonafide movie queen.
• • New York Herald Tribune reporter Stanley Walker came up to see Mae West often in New York.
• • A section in Stanley Walker’s 1935 memoir discussed Mae West. This is Part 3 of 19 segments.
• • “Sex Comes to America” • •
• • Miss West is a rather small woman • •
• • Stanley Walker wrote: Notwithstanding the impression one gets from her pictures and stage get-up, Miss West is a rather small woman.
• • Stanley Walker wrote: She is maybe 5 feet 4 inches tall [sic] and weighs about 120 pounds. The most she ever weighed was 136 when she went on a cream and pastry diet to build up for the role of Diamond Lil. She eats almost anything chopped as well as raw steak, kippered herring, and home-made pie. She is full of vitality and practically immune to fatigue.
• • Stanley Walker wrote: She does exercises and rides a stationary bicycle in her Hollywood apartment, but doesn't go in for sports. Broadway knew her hair as a brassy gold, but now it is platinum white and very fluffy.
• • Mae’s specially constructed front door is of the speakeasy type • • . . .
• • This long chapter by Stanley Walker will be continued on the next post.
• • Source: Chapter “Sex Comes to America” from "Mrs. Astor's Horse" written by Stanley Walker [NY: Frederick A. Stokes, 28 October 1935, 320 pages].
• • On Sunday, 16 March 1930 • •
• • It has been reported by multiple sources that Mae West's "Pleasure Man" trial began on 16 March 1930. But since March 16th was actually a Sunday, that date is imprecise.
• • Postponed from its scheduled start on 4 February 1930, the battling finally did get under way on Monday, 17 March in New York, NY.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Written by Caroline Boucher, "My Tea with Mae West" recalled an afternoon visit with the star at her Hollywood home in 1974.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "I have an extra thyroid gland. It gives me twice the energy and twice, the, you know, everything else I guess."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • Reporter George Lait interviewed Mae West for a four-part series in 1933.
• • "The Bushwick Baby Blonde" • •
• • George Lait wrote: La West had no time to devote to the flicker tintypes. She was too busy with the theater.
• • George Lait wrote: Matilda, Mae's mother, pridefully observing her daughter's progress as a dramatic actress, envisioned further fields to conquer. Vaudeville was in its ascendancy and it was a wide field for a talented young girl.
• • George Lait wrote: So little Mae was shipped off daily over the Brooklyn Bridge to Ned Wayburn's school in Manhattan to study dancing. Singing lessons, dancing lessons, dramatic lessons — — then readin’, writin' and ‘rithmetic when there was time — — that was a typical example of the average childhood day of the "Bushwick Baby Blonde.” Then rush home to supper, practice half an hour on the piano, and the mad dash to the theater for a last-minute rehearsal of the part she was to present that night.
• • George Lait wrote: Mae West declares that her mother alone is responsible for her success. …
• • Source: Winona Republican Herald [Minnesota]; Monday, 11 December 1933
• • 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 4,400 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started fifteen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 4,431st 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 1911 • •
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