Friday, March 13, 2020

Mae West: Brave and Bawdy

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 2 of 19 segments.
• • “Sex Comes to America” • •
• • Mae West put a laugh in the libido • •
• • Stanley Walker wrote: One of her best tricks is the way she eyes a man, beginning by staring at his shoes and gradually allowing her gaze to wander up to his neck and face.
• • Stanley Walker wrote: With her small-waisted figure, her undulating hippy strut, her nasal whine and her meaty lips, she has made sex a thing gorgeously panoplied, as it was in the brave and bawdy days of that old minstrel of the boudoir, King Solomon.
• • Stanley Walker wrote: There are more stories about her, most of them off-color, than ever were told about Pat and Mike.
• • Stanley Walker wrote: She has taken what is known as woman's priceless possession, added a few circus touches, and put a laugh in the libido.
• • Miss West is a rather small woman • • . . .
• • 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 Saturday, 13 March 1937 in the gossip columns • •
• • Mae West declined Ted Peckham's invitation to the premiere of "Lost Horizon."
• • Gossip columnists reported this on Saturday, 13 March 1937: Big-hearted Ted Peckham, the 22-year-old 'Gigolo King,' who values his art at $1,000 per escort, donated an evening to Helen Burgess [1916 — 1937] and staked her to supper and pink lemonade.
• • The downy-chinned, freshwater college boy (from Ohio’s Western Reserve University) compromised on Helen Burgess — — after Mae West showed no interest in his invitation.
• • Note: Helen, under contract to co-star with George Raft in a Fritz Lang film, died three weeks later on Wednesday, 7 April 1937.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Released in the U.K. on Monday, 13 March 2006 was "Mae West, Screen Goddess Collection" (Six Discs). 
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "A man in the house is worth two in the street."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • Reporter George Lait interviewed Mae West for a four-part series in 1933.
• • George Lait wrote: Try to visualize curvaceous movie actress Mae West as Little Eva in "Uncle Tom's Cabin."
• • George Lait wrote: Newspaper clippings of those days tell us she was a sensation in that role. For seven years Mae “trod the boards" with Hal Clarendon, playing a different role each week — sometimes a different role every night. She had little opportunity for schooling, what with rehearsals, costume fittings and such. So her education was left to private tutors who gave her lessons backstage between shows or at home early in the mornings. …
• • 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 4,430th 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 1932 • •
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