Mae West: Affinity to Gay Men

“I first went to interview MAE WEST after the collapse of ‘Myra Breckinridge’ [1970]. Like almost everyone else, I was in awe of the woman,” wrote Jacoba Atlas. Let’s read her fascinating first-hand account from 1974. This is Part 8 of 19 segments.
• • Image from a Cracked Mirror • •
• • Mae’s affinity to "gay boys" • •
• • Jacoba Atlas wrote: Rosalind Russell and Katherine Hepburn, whatever their self-assurance or forcefulness, never played it like Mae West, who played it, as someone suggested, like “a men’s locker room joke.”
• • Jacoba Atlas wrote: There was even a nasty, subterranean rumor floating around that Mae West was not a woman at all — — but a man in drag.
• • Jacoba Atlas wrote: That kind of statement is fed by her self-proclaimed affinity to "gay boys" — — as she calls homosexuals. Says Mae West, “Gay boys are taking over the business. They do a heck of a job imitating me. Why? I saw exaggerated things and they like to repeat them. Gay boys are really female souls in male bodies. I like them, they’re good kids.”
• • “The Drag” by Mae West starred a bevy of female impersonators • • …
• • This long profile by Jacoba Atlas will be continued on the next post.  
• • Source: Los Angeles Free Press, Volume 11, issue 517; published on Friday, 14 June 1974.
• • On Friday, 1 May 1936 • •
• • On Friday, 1 May 1936, Columbia Daily Spectator wrote: Other films have crooks who become honest under the influence of the frozen north, the greatest man builder besides Mae West in "Klondike Annie."
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •

• • During the 1930s, a Los Angeles fan magazine also ran with this absurd cover-line: "Should Mae West Marry Adolf Hitler?" 
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: “The warden was forced to smile at the hubbub my appearance had caused."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • The Daily Illini mentioned Mae West.
• • "Hutchins Says He Is No Mae West Spouse" • •
• • Chicago, April 26 [AP] — — Dr. Robert Maynard Hutchins described himself today as neither a communist nor any one of Mae West's husbands.
• • The University of Chicago president, addressed a law school assembly, lapsed into a bit of levity in replying to charges that radical influences obtained at his school. He asserted: "Just as I am not any one of Mae West's husbands, neither am I helping the Russian communist government."  . . .
• • Source: wire service item rpt in Daily Illini; published on Saturday, 27 April 1935 
• • 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 4,465th 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 • • a cartoon in 1934 • •
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