When Helen Lawrenson came up to see MAE WEST, Esquire's first female journalist was closing in on her sixtieth birthday and the Brooklyn bombshell was 73. A color photo by Diane Arbus flashed across the double-page-spread, hunched under half the title as if warding off a punch in the nose.
• • In honor of Helen Lawrenson's October birthday, enjoy her seldom seen interview. This is Part 15 of 46 parts.
• • "Mirror, Mirror, on the Ceiling: How'm I Doin’?" • •
• • Not bad, Mae, for a woman of seventy-three • •
• • Mae West: Mother worked as a corset model • •
• • Helen Lawrenson wrote: Her mother, who was German and came from Bavaria, worked for a while as a corset model.
• • Helen Lawrenson wrote: Mae’s memory is on the erratic side, so she advised me to check everything in her autobiography, Goodness Had Nothing to Do With It, which Prentice-Hall published in 1959.
• • Helen Lawrenson wrote: In her first movie, Night After Night, filmed in 1932 with George Raft, she makes a glittering entrance in a nightclub. “Goodness!” says the hatcheck girl. “What beautiful diamonds.” Mae’s immortal response, with all the insinuating melisma of her custard-and-sandpaper voice, was, “Goodness had nothin’ to do with it, dearie.”
• • Mae West: Elks amateur talent contest in Brooklyn, New York • • . . .
• • Helen Lawrenson's interview will be continued on the next post.
• • Source: Esquire; published on Saturday, 1 July 1967.
• • On Saturday, 30 October 1948 in New York City • •
• • It was on Saturday, 30 October 1948 that Mae West signed an Actor's Equity Association Stock Jobbing Contract on Equity's letterhead in New York. The Broadway star of "Diamond Lil" was agreeing to a weekly salary of $2,500, and the play would be opening in Montclair, New Jersey on 21 November 1948.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • New comedy LPs released this month include packages by Mae West and the late W. C. Fields.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: “I take an enema every single day of my life — — after I leave the bathroom, you can go in and fry an egg.”
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • Benjamin Britten mentioned Mae West in October 1935.
• • The movie queen had an admirer in the British composer—pianist Benjamin Britten [1913 — 1976].
• • Writing in his diary on Saturday, 26 October 1935, Britten noted: Have to see Done (which I do at Bridges) about Timon. ... Meet Henry Boys in evening. He is a nice person. Eat with him and see Mae West in "Goin' to Town." She is a very great personality. ...
• • Source: "Journeying Boy: The Diaries of the Young Benjamin Britten 1928—1938" edited by John Evans [London, England: Faber and Faber, Thursday, 21 October 2010]
• • 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 4,593rd 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 • • artwork in 1973 • •
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