Mae West: Out of Stir

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.
• • Enjoy her seldom seen interview. This is Part 36 of 46 parts.
• • "Mirror, Mirror, on the Ceiling: How'm I Doin’?" • •
• • Not bad, Mae, for a woman of seventy-three • •
• • Mae West: Once out of stir and still full of beans • •

• • Helen Lawrenson wrote: Despite this inspiring plea, Mae, the manager and the producer were fined $500 and Mae was sentenced to ten days in jail on Welfare Island.  
• • Helen Lawrenson wrote: Mae West drove to the pokey in her $20,000 Isotta-Fraschini [sic] and served eight days of the sentence, getting two days knocked off for good behavior. 
• • [Editor: In reality, Mae West was driven to the workhouse in a police van along with other inmates.]
• • Helen Lawrenson wrote: Once out of stir and still full of beans, she proceeded to write a play about homosexuals, The Drag, which had a party scene with forty men singing and dancing in drag (thereby predating by almost fifty years a similar scene in John Osborne’s A Patriot for Me).  
• • [Editor: the chronology and the details about “The Drag” are not accurate.]
• • Mae West: Decided against tempting fate • • . . .  
• • Helen Lawrenson's interview will be continued on the next post.
• • Source: Esquire; published on Saturday, 1 July 1967.
• • Tuesday, 30 November 1948 in The N.Y. Times • •
• • Mae West revived "Diamond Lil" for a Montclair, New Jersey audience. Brooks Atkinson responded to her performance in The New York Times on Tuesday, 30 November 1948: "A fine, full-bosomed woman with lots of glitter and gaudiness, Mae is an original unclassified phenomenon . . . ."
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Psychic Richard Ireland was a frequent guest at the beach house of Mae West. Once in awhile, he brought his two teenagers with him, Mark and Robin.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "How would you describe me, boys? I've been in Who's Who and I know what's what, but it'll be the first time I ever made the dictionary."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • An article was dedicated to Mae West.
• • “Mae West, Hollywood's Sex Symbol, Dies” • •
• • Miss West, apparently, was not the domestic type, a conclusion supported by her typically suggestive reply to an interviewer who asked if she could cook.
• • "Nobody ever asked me to," said Miss West. ...
• • Source: Washington Post; published on Sunday, 23 November 1980
• • 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 4,600 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started fifteen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 4,615th 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/
________
Source: https://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml  
• • Be sure to bookmark or follow The Mae West Blog
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • in Jefferson Market Police Court in 1927 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest

Mae West: Moved Her Navel

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.
• • Enjoy her seldom seen interview. This is Part 35 of 46 parts.
• • "Mirror, Mirror, on the Ceiling: How'm I Doin’?" • •
• • Not bad, Mae, for a woman of seventy-three • •
• • Mae West: Society for the Suppression of Vice • •
• • Helen Lawrenson wrote: "Sex" opened in April, 1926, at Daly’s Theatre on Sixty-third Street near Broadway and played for forty-one weeks before the police moved in, at the demand of John S. Sumner, head of the Society for the Suppression of Vice.  
• • Helen Lawrenson wrote: One of the complaints was that Mae did a belly dance to the tune of St. Louis Blues. The arresting officer testified that “Miss West moved her navel up and down and from right to left.”
• • Helen Lawrenson wrote: In defense, Mae explained to the court that this was “an exercise involving control of my abdominal muscles, which I learned from my father when I was a child.”
• • Mae West: Once out of stir and still full of beans • • . . .
• • Helen Lawrenson's interview will be continued on the next post.
• • Source: Esquire; published on Saturday, 1 July 1967.
• • On Sunday, 27 November 1932 in Hollywood • •
• • Jon Tuska, writing about "She Done Him Wrong," notes that production commenced on Sunday, 27 November 1932, and concluded in December of that year. Fast work!
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •

• • Mae West once told a reporter that she almost married George Raft.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "This was live theatre show business as I liked it. And it liked me."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • An article was dedicated to Mae West.
• • “Hollywood Sex Symbol Mae West Dies” • •
• • For years there was no indication that she had ever been married. In the 1930s, however, reports surfaced of a 1911 wedding, in which Miss West, then a teenager, was married to a song-and-dance man named Frank Wallace. They were finally divorced in 1942.
• • But Mae West was said not to have lived with Frank Wallace and they had no children.  . . .
• • Source:  Washington Post; published on Sunday, 23 November 1980
• • 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 4,600 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started fifteen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 4,614th 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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• • Be sure to bookmark or follow The Mae West Blog
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • with George Raft in 1932 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest

Mae West: Shimmy Sexpert

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.
• • Enjoy her seldom seen interview. This is Part 34 of 46 parts.
• • "Mirror, Mirror, on the Ceiling: How'm I Doin’?" • •
• • Not bad, Mae, for a woman of seventy-three • •
• • Mae West: Doing the Shimmy-shawobble • •

• • Helen Lawrenson wrote: She also claims to have introduced the shimmy to New York in 1918, in a show starring Ed Wynn. She had seen the dance performed in Negro cafés on Chicago’s South Side, where it was known as the shimmy-shawobble.
• • Helen Lawrenson wrote: The first play she wrote was “Sex” (“My mother encouraged me to write it”), about a waterfront prostitute called Margie La Mont.
• • Helen Lawrenson wrote: She wrote it in pencil and sent it to the Shuberts, who sent it right back. Thereupon, Mae, her mother, and the faithful Jim Timony produced it, in association with C.W. Morgenstern.  
• • Mae West: Society for the Suppression of Vice • • . . .
• • Helen Lawrenson's interview will be continued on the next post.
• • Source: Esquire; published on Saturday, 1 July 1967.
• • On Thursday, 26 November 1931 • •
• • The New York Herald Tribune reported on the intense displeasure to white Washingtonians when Mae West brought her Harlem play "The Constant Sinner" to D.C. where the local D.A. was Leo K. Rover. Leo roared about the profanity and the dances performed by the black cast. The D.A., apparently, had been telling the media he would "arrest the entire company of fifty one if another performance were given," noted the Herald Tribune on Thursday, 26 November 1931. Racism reared its ugly head.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Johnnie Ray travels backstage of the Latin Quarter to pose for a few camera shots with Mae West.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said:  "A dame that knows the ropes isn’t likely to get tied up."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • An article was dedicated to Mae West.
• • “Mae West, Hollywood's Sex Symbol, Dies” • •
• • Perhaps paradoxically for a public symbol of sex and pleasure, Mae West led a private life characterized in many ways by rigid austerity and stern discipline. Shunning alcohol and tobacco, the five-foot-two star adhered to an organic diet, which included such delicacies as fresh fruits dusted with almond powder and honey.  ...
• • Source: Washington Post; published on Sunday, 23 November 1980
• • 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 4,600 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started fifteen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 4,613th 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/
________
Source: https://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml  
• • Be sure to bookmark or follow The Mae West Blog
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • on a song sheet in 1918 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest

Mae West: Irish Dialects

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.
• • Enjoy her seldom seen interview. This is Part 33 of 46 parts.
• • "Mirror, Mirror, on the Ceiling: How'm I Doin’?" • •
• • Not bad, Mae, for a woman of seventy-three • •
• • Mae West: Sang Ragtime and Dialect Songs • •
• • Helen Lawrenson wrote: She reminded me that she made her Broadway debut as a singer back in 1911, in a Ned Wayburn revue, in which she sang ragtime and what she calls “an Irish dialect song.”  
• • Helen Lawrenson wrote: She also did acrobatic dancing, and Flo Ziegfeld, in the opening-night audience, threw her a rose.  

• • Helen Lawrenson wrote: The next day the New York Herald critic wrote: “Miss Mae West . . . danced in Turkish harem trousers in a most energetic, amusing and carefree manner.”
• • Helen Lawrenson wrote: She appeared in musicals with names like Vera Violetta (Al Jolson and Gaby Deslys were in that one) and A Winsome Widow, had her own vaudeville act before, and during, World War I, and after the war with Harry Richman as her pianist.  
• • Mae West: Shimmy-shawobble • • . . .
• • Helen Lawrenson's interview will be continued on the next post.
• • Source: Esquire; published on Saturday, 1 July 1967.
• • On Saturday, 25 November 1911 in Variety • •
• • The opening night cast of "Vera Violetta" at the Winter Garden did not include the misbehaving  and Gaby-upstaging Mae West. Her antics during the out-of-town try-outs brought about her dismissal.
• • Variety printed a face-saving explanation in their issue dated for Saturday, 25 November 1911, indicating Mae had pneumonia. Hmmm, no doubt brought about by standing in an icy draft when Gaby Deslys opened her mouth wide and blasted her.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • A private service for Mae West was held in the Old North Church replica, in Forest Lawn, Hollywood Hills, on Tuesday, 25 November 1980.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: “I ached for it, the spotlight. It was like the strongest man’s arms around me, like an ermine coat.”
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • An article was dedicated to Mae West.
• • “Mae West, Hollywood's Sex Symbol, Dies” • •
• • Mae West became a household word, the embodiment of naughtiness, the queen of barely disguised double-entendre, the woman after whom World War II servicemen happily named an inflatable life vest.
• • Perhaps above all, she was defined for the decades and the multitudes by the single huskily purred line, redolent of sexual pleasure and promise:  "Come up and see me some time . . ."
• • Source: Washington Post; published on Sunday, 23 November 1980
• • 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 4,600 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started fifteen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 4,612th 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/
________
Source: https://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml  
• • Be sure to bookmark or follow The Mae West Blog
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • in Turkish harem trousers • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest

Mae West: Guitar Lessons

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.
• • Enjoy her seldom seen interview. This is Part 32 of 46 parts.
• • "Mirror, Mirror, on the Ceiling: How'm I Doin’?" • •
• • Not bad, Mae, for a woman of seventy-three • •
• • Mae West: Is Studying the  Guitar • •
• • Helen Lawrenson wrote: Herbert Kupferberg, the New York critic, recommended the LP “for some lively rock-and-roll singing,” and wrote: “Miss West always had a keen rhythmic sense in her voice as well as in her gait.”
• • “Wild Christmas” • •

• • Helen Lawrenson wrote: Another album she has made is called “Wild Christmas” and contains such festive carols as Santa, Baby and Put The Loot in The Boot, Santa.
• • Helen Lawrenson wrote: She is planning more albums and is studying the guitar. “I used to play a little on the ukulele. Yeah, I play a little piano, too — boogie-woogie, you know. I wrote a lot of my own songs in the old days and in other people’s songs I always change the words to suit my personality. The songs today are kind of sexy anyway, so I don’t have to do much changing.”
• • Mae West: Sang Ragtime and Dialect Songs • • . . .
• • Helen Lawrenson's interview will be continued on the next post.
• • Source: Esquire; published on Saturday, 1 July 1967.
• • On Tuesday, 24 November 1931 • •
• • On Tuesday, 24 November 1931 the newspaper Washington Herald reviewed "Constant Sinner." The D.C.-based drama critic wrote about the Greek-American actor George Givot's portrayal of the Harlem pimp Money Johnson as well as "the aroma of Mae West's hybrid dialogue."
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Mae West starred in "I'm No Angel" [1933] and Laura Treadwell was seen as Mrs. Fletcher, her onscreen debut. Fortunate enough to work with Mae a second time, Laura Treadwell was also cast as a society lady in "Goin' to Town" [1935].    
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "I like my clothes to be tight enough to show I'm a woman, but loose enough to show I'm a lady."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • An article was dedicated to Mae West.
• • “Mae West, Hollywood's Sex Symbol, Dies” • •
• • "Goodness, what diamonds!" exclaimed an on-screen hat check girl. who saw Miss West enter a speakeasy with her slinky frame aglitter with jewels.
• • "Goodness," retorted Miss West, who wrote many or most of her own lines, "had nothing to do with it."
• • That was just the sort of thing that enthusiastic and appreciative audiences came to expect from Miss West, who to her millions of admirers (and to herself as well), was in real life the woman she played on stage, the Gay 1890s Bowery Queen of "Diamond Lil," her smash Broadway hit.  ...
• • Source:  Washington Post; published on Sunday, 23 November 1980
• • 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 4,600 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started fifteen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 4,611th 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/
________
Source: https://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml  
• • Be sure to bookmark or follow The Mae West Blog
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • her 1966 LP "Wild Christmas" • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest

Mae West: Glottal Purr

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.
• • Enjoy her seldom seen interview. This is Part 31 of 46 parts.
• • "Mirror, Mirror, on the Ceiling: How'm I Doin’?" • •
• • Not bad, Mae, for a woman of seventy-three • •
• • Mae West: Mistress of the glottal purr • •
• • Helen Lawrenson wrote: Mae West sings eleven songs, among them Day Tripper (by Lennon and McCartney), If You Gotta Go (by Dylan), Shakin’ All Over, Treat Him Right and You Turn Me On [on "Way Out West" her rock-and-roll LP].
• • Helen Lawrenson wrote: She is still mistress of the glottal purr, and her slow, nasal drawl, with its fricative slurs and insinuating emphasis, gives a mocking lubricity to the words. “Ooooh—oh—you do it so good,” she sighs. “Come on now, honey—oh—uh— that’s it. . . .”

• • Helen Lawrenson wrote: She’s not going to put the Supremes out of business but she’s got more zip than a lot of teen-age girl singers, and she certainly doesn’t sound seventy-three, or whatever she is.  
• • Mae West: Guitar Lessons • • . . .
• • Helen Lawrenson's interview will be continued on the next post.
• • Source: Esquire; published on Saturday, 1 July 1967.
• • On Wednesday, 23 November 1927 • •
• • On Wednesday, 23 November 1927, Variety poked fun at Mae West's attempts at funding her production of "The Wicked Age" via corporate sponsorship (page 48). Mocking the apparel labels her character deliberately mentions in the dialogue (such as Sam Mayo negligees) and the long list of designers in the Program credits, Variety was as gleeful as if they were doing serious undercover work. Between the acts, Variety informed their readers, postcards were distributed by the ushers explaining that "Cammeyer shoe creations have a leading role in my wardrobe."
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Paramount is still facing the title bugaboo on the Mae West film, having been unable to clear "Belle of New Orleans," which happens to have been tacked on to a play of a decade ago.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "Other nights the [vaudeville] audience would be family groups — — especially on Friday nights when the kids didn't have to go to school the next day."  
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • An article was dedicated to Mae West, a legendary star.
• • “Mae West, Hollywood's Sex Symbol, Dies” • •
• • Mae West, who was for generations a saucily sultry and agelessly voluptuous symbol of sexual delight, died yesterday at her home in Hollywood after a stroke. She was 88 [sic].
• • A blond-haired, large-bosomed stage and screen performer, Miss West won an enduring place in popular culture with her seductive, throaty-voiced delivery of a variety of sexually suggestive and sometimes sexually satirical quips that emphasized her charms, while teasing and pleasing her audiences, on screen and off.  ...
• • Source: Washington Post; published on Sunday, 23 November 1980
• • 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 4,600 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started fifteen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 4,610th 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/
________
Source: https://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml  
• • Be sure to bookmark or follow The Mae West Blog
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • LP "Way Out West" • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest

Mae West: Unforgettable

At age 87, MAE WEST suffered a series of strokes which finally resulted in her death on Saturday, 22 November 1980 in Hollywood, California.
• • The actress took her final breaths quietly in her white and gold Hollywood apartment (The Ravenswood). Private services [conducted by Dr. Lloyd Ogilvie and attended by about 100 close friends and family] were held in the Old North Church at Forest Lawn, Hollywood Hills, California.

• • Her eulogy, written by Kevin Thomas and delivered by producer Ross Hunter, concluded: “Mae West always said that no one was ever to feel sorry for her, and she would not want anyone to start now. Mae West figured that in one way or another she would live forever. And she probably will.”
• • Entombment was in the West family mausoleum at Cypress Hills Abbey in Brooklyn, New York.
• • Cause of death: Complications from stroke
• • Burial: Cypress Hills Cemetery
• • Brooklyn, Kings County, New York, USA
• • Photo:Mae West, star of stage and screen
• • On Friday, 22 November 2013 • •
• • Mae West's most successful play "Diamond Lil" was performed in Jefferson Market Library, NYC on Friday evening, 22 November 2013, in her honor.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Mae West wore the famous West diamonds, and made a late entrance very impressively.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "This is the greatest age for women. They no longer have to sit primly on a straight-backed chair with hands folded, waiting for some guy to come and make a pass at them."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • National and international newspapers often mention the Brooklyn Bombshell — — along with several recent revivals of Mae West's stage plays (i.e., before a global pandemic closed theatres for most of 2020).
• • Highlights • •
• • “The Drag” by Mae West was onstage in D.C. on Friday, 7 June 2019.
• • “Sex” by Mae West was produced by Shaw Fest in Canada until Sunday, 13 October 2019.
• • “Designing Hollywood: Golden Age Costumes from the Gene London Cinema Collection” opened on Sunday, 29 September 2019, featuring costumes worn by Mae West along with movie stars from Charleston Heston to Marilyn Monroe, and created by some of the film industry’s greatest designers, including Edith Head, Elsa Schiaparelli, Bob Mackie and Hollywood legend Adrian.
• • A sale of Mae West gowns and memorabilia was coordinated by Julien's Auctions in Beverly Hills on Friday, 1 November 2019. A souvenir catalogue is available for $75.
• • Source: various outlets; published during 2019
• • 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 4,600 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started fifteen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 4,609th 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/
________
Source: https://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml  
• • Be sure to bookmark or follow The Mae West Blog
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • in Hollywood • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest

Mae West: Popular Demand

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.
• • Enjoy her seldom seen interview. This is Part 30 of 46 parts.
• • "Mirror, Mirror, on the Ceiling: How'm I Doin’?" • •
• • Not bad, Mae, for a woman of seventy-three • •
• • Mae West: Took up rock-and-roll • •
• • Helen Lawrenson wrote: Mae West continued. “I told him, ‘I’ll have to meet your ma.’ You know, that kid paid $35 for a picture of me in a record shop. They had it there to advertise the albums, you know, and he saw it and asked if he could buy it.”

• • Helen Lawrenson wrote: I asked her how she happened to take up rock-and-roll and she replied, as probably I should have anticipated, that it was in response to “popular demand by my fans.”  
• • Helen Lawrenson wrote: She gave me one of her albums, “Way Out West,” with a cover photograph showing her in a skintight, slithery, silvery long gown, trailing yards of white fur on the floor.  
• • Helen Lawrenson wrote: When I got back to New York, I played the album and it’s not bad.  
• • Mae West: She's the mistress of the glottal purr • • . . .
• • Helen Lawrenson's interview will be continued on the next post.
• • Source: Esquire; published on Saturday, 1 July 1967.
• • On Thursday, 20 November 2014 • •
• • On Thursday, 20 November 2014, Out in New Jersey interviewed Bette Midler on her chance to portray Mae West.
• • Bette Midler explained:  I'm really looking forward to the script. I've been reading and doing my due diligence. She's such a fabulous — — she's so fucking nuts! I mean, she was so insane. And you know, when I started my career all those many moons ago, I used to do an impersonation of Mae West, and I did it on "The Johnny Carson Show" — — my very first time with Johnny Carson — — and she sent me a letter telling me to cease and desist, which I swear to god I still have."
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • And even Mae West, who had helped to establish his reputation as a virile leading man, reportedly said in private: "Cary Grant never came up to see me."  
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said:  "I have given six life-stories but I can always give another."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • An article published in November 1954 interviewed Mae West.
• • The NY correspondent wrote: Mae gets away with it in the most extraordinary manner. At an age when most women are knitting socks for grandchildren, she is still capering about, parodying sex, making deliberate fun of it in a vulgar, "kidding" way that still brings in the men to make up the substantial other part of her audience.  And it is more than thirty years since she started getting away with it on the national stage. ...
• • Source: Article: "At 62, Mae West Now Brings Women Flocking to Learn from the Girl With IT" for The Sun-Herald (Sydney, NSW); published on Sunday, 7 November 1954 
• • 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 4,600 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started fifteen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 4,608th 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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• • Be sure to bookmark or follow The Mae West Blog
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • in 1963 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest

Mae West: Mexican Boy

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.
• • Enjoy her seldom seen interview. This is Part 29 of 46 parts.
• • "Mirror, Mirror, on the Ceiling: How'm I Doin’?" • •
• • Not bad, Mae, for a woman of seventy-three • •
• • Mae West: “This Mexican boy...” • •
• • Helen Lawrenson wrote: Mae came back with a small box in her hand.  

• • Helen Lawrenson wrote: “This Mexican boy,” she said, “he’s nineteen and he’s been my fan for three years and finally he came up here on my birthday. He was in town, you know, so he wanted to meet me. He brought me a box with a beautiful white orchid in it, so I took the orchid out and I see another box in there so I take the box out and open it and here is this diamond here. . . .”  
• • Helen Lawrenson wrote: She held up a small diamond on a fine chain.  
• • Helen Lawrenson wrote: “The chain is platinum. See, it’s a pure, starlike stone, you know what I mean? He said to me, ‘My mother helped me select it.’ How do you like that?” Mae West asked me.  
• • Mae West: Took up rock-and-roll • • . . .
• • Helen Lawrenson's interview will be continued on the next post.
• • Source: Esquire; published on Saturday, 1 July 1967.
• • On Tuesday, 19 November 1996 • •
• • A CD by Mae West "I'm No Angel" was released on the British label Jasmine on Tuesday, 19 November 1996.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • The DVD reissue of "The Ox-Bow Incident'' [1943] features William Wellman Jr., son of the director, with some interesting particulars: The first owner of the screen rights for the acclaimed 1940 novel planned to make a big Technicolor extravaganza that would include Mae West as owner of the bar where the story begins.  
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: “My play 'The Drag' was perhaps a little premature.  It dealt with a vital problem, the homosexual. It is my belief that if this phenomenon is a disease, then it is up to psychologists and doctors to find out what it is and cure it. It is a good rule to face problems, not to avoid them.”
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • The Chicago Tribune wrote about Mae West.
• • Glen Elsasser wrote:  "I think Mae West appeals to feminists, although I don't think she was a feminist by any standard and didn't like other women," she added. "She's so powerful on the screen, always the focal point and always bigger than anyone else." ...
• • Source: "Mae West's Powerful Image Lives On" by Glen Elsasser for Chicago Tribune; published on Saturday, 21 November 1997
• • 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 4,600 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started fifteen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 4,607th 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/
________
Source: https://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml  
• • Be sure to bookmark or follow The Mae West Blog
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • singing with Rock Hudson in 1957 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest