Mae West: Final Defiance

Was the heavily air-brushed memoir that MAE WEST published in 1959 “scandalous”? Vanity Fair seems to think so. See if you agree. This is Part 14 of 14 segments.
• • “When I’m Bad, I’m Better” — — Mae West’s Sensational Life in Her Own Words • •
• • PBS’s Mae West: Dirty Blonde delves into the life of a savvy sexpot—but even it is not half as scandalous as West’s 1959 autobiography.
• • Mae West: her final act of defiance • •
• • Hadley Hall Meares wrote: Dirty Blonde codirector Julia Marchesi said in a statement to V.F. “Some might find this depressing, but Mae didn’t care. This was her final act of defiance against social norms.”

• • Hadley Hall Meares wrote: As Sextette costar Ringo Starr recounts in Dirty Blonde, Mae West was also still in search of the spotlight. “She invited us to dinner,” he recalls. “She went all the time to this restaurant she knew, but she gets there an hour earlier than you — — to do the lights. So, she’s got all the lights on her as you walk in the restaurant — — and we heard later she does that wherever she goes.”
• • This 14-part article has now been concluded. Did you enjoy it? Tell us.
• • Source: Vanity Fair; published on Tuesday, 16 June 2020.  
• • On Wednesday, 10 September 1980 • •
• • It was on Wednesday, September 10th that the news media reported that a stroke had caused Mae West to suffer a speech impairment. At the time, she and Paul Novak were registered in Good Samaritan Hospital under the press-dodging names of Gloria and Paul Drake. The Los Angeles sunshine invaded their private room, flooding the floor with fractured light.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • A fan mag once reported that Jim Timony, Mae West’s manager, had a cork leg and so Jim spent the next six months showing his bare leg to Hollywood, to prove that such was not the case.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "Don't eye oilier men when you're with an escort."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • The Film Daily mentioned Mae West.
• • Praise for Mae West: "A model of discretion, yet a robust piece of entertainment, displaying Miss West's unmatched gifts luxuriantly. . . should fare very well." — Daily Variety  ...
• • Source: quoted in The Film Daily; published on Thursday, 6 January 1938
• • 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 16th 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 4,500 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started fifteen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 4,558th 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 • • with Ringo Starr in 1978 • •
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