Thursday, March 19, 2020

Mae West: Rose-Scented Tub

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 6 of 19 segments.
• • “Sex Comes to America” • •
• • Mae has a keen appreciation of her body • •
• • Stanley Walker wrote: She passes most of her spare time in bed and composes most of her dramatic masterpieces there.
• • Stanley Walker wrote: She used to write scenarios in longhand, but now she calls in a stenographer and dictates. She is said to have a keen appreciation of her body, and likes to stretch out full length in a warm, rose-scented tub and soak.
• • Stanley Walker wrote: She is particular about her clothes; the skirts must be instep length to bring out the curve of her hips. Her dresses must be tight in the right places, and low-necked.
• • Stanley Walker wrote: Because of an eccentricity in dressing (she combs her hair and puts on her hat before her dress), her street clothes are made with slits and buttons on the shoulders and down the back. She likes heavy-scented Oriental perfumes, high-heeled satin pumps, and wide-brimmed hats.
• • Mae West did not take vacations • • . . .
• • 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, 19 March 1927 • •
• • Mae West signed the "Sex" checks. Three promissory notes dated for Saturday, 19 March 1927 from the Moral Producing Corporation, $1,000 each to Harold Spielberg, signed on the verso in original ink "Mae West" together with a check drawn on the Bowery and East River National Bank, dated 2 March 1927, signed by Mae West as President of the Moral Producing Corporation.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Andy Warhol started collecting pictures of movie stars such as Shirley Temple and Mae West when he was eight years old, Eric Shiner said. He would write letters to the Hollywood movie studios and ask for photographs, then kept dozens of them in a photo album.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "Don't believe that in my search for realism in the plays I write I invite police interference. My last trouble with the police cost me a small fortune in litigation and a lot of headaches."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • The L.A. Times mentioned Mae West.
• • Obituary: Stanley Musgrove, 61; TV Producer, Writer
• • Stanley E. Musgrove, for 20 years president of the Friends of the USC Libraries, a support group for the 16 libraries at the university, died Thursday (on 13 March 1986) of cancer at a Mission Hills Hospital. He was 61.
• • The producer and writer, who graduated from USC's School of Cinema-Television in 1947, was responsible for dinners honoring such entertainment celebrities as Cole Porter, George Cukor, Moss Hart, and Louis Armstrong. He also was publicist for Mae West, Cole Porter, and Guy Madison and at his death was preparing to produce a TV film of a book on Miss West that he co-authored. …
• • Source: The L.A. Times; published on Wednesday, 19 March 1986
• • 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 4,434th 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 • • at Madison Square Garden on March 14, 1939 • •
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