Monday, March 30, 2020

Mae West: Shops by Phone

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 13 of 19 segments.
• • “Sex Comes to America” • •
• • Mae West’s letter to The N.Y. Times (continued) • •
• • According to Stanley Walker, Mae West wrote: “Nobody ever saw me In the dives I am supposed to know so intimately. . . . The reason is I never was in one. Nobody ever sees me in night clubs or cabarets anywhere. Even if I cared for night life, which I don't, I wouldn't have time to indulge myself in it. People who know their Broadway will bear me out that there is no star on the stage today who is less of an exhibitionist, or who shows herself less in public places than myself.
• • According to Stanley Walker, Mae West wrote: I am, in fact, retiring by nature, in my private life to the point of shyness. I even do all my shopping by telephone, because I cannot stand the attention other shoppers give me in a store. I am not looking to upstage. I am not conceited or anything like that, as anyone who knows me will agree, but it is averse to my nature to feel myself being pointed out in public as a celebrity. . . . I do not drink. I do not smoke, I have my books, my writings, my friends.That is my private life." ...
• • Entrance Line • • . . .
• • 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 Wednesday, 30 March 1927 • •
• • By Wednesday, 30 March 1927, twelve male jurors had been selected for Mae West's "Sex" trial set for Jefferson Market Court on Sixth Avenue in Greenwich Village. Mae hired four attorneys to represent her. Her defense team was headed by Harold Spielberg, Herman "Beansie" Rosenthal's former associate. Trial coverage appeared in the N.Y. Herald Tribune, The N.Y. Times, Variety, and elsewhere.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Congressional hearings being conducted in February and March 1936 by the U.S. Senate were peppered with the name of Mae West, whose new motion picture "Klondike Annie" caused a lot of concern on Capitol Hill. Ramona Curry has written well-researched articles on this topic of how censorship tightened its noose around Mae's neck.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "I was born in New York — — and it all evens up in the end."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • Rocker Alice Cooper was in the cast of "Sextette" starring Mae West. Kevin Blair notes this comment by Cooper: While Lady Gaga is a huge fan of Alice Cooper, the macabre rocker also finds himself a fan of hers. Cooper said, "She's a cross between Madonna, Mae West and Liberace... She's a spectacle." ...
• • Source: Article: "Lady Gaga Meets Her Idol Alice Cooper" written by Kevin Blair for StarPulse.com; posted on Tuesday, 29 March 2011
• • 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 4,441st 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 • • NYC, in court in 1927 • •
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