Mae West: Dual Personality

Paramount’s publicity flacks often planted promotional stories on MAE WEST paired with remarks by her various leading men. Unfortunately, most articles were downright dumb.
• • For example, take this misfire: "Making Love to Mae West Is Like a Football Game," a boring “interview” with Johnny Mack Brown [Motion Picture's issue for September 1934]. It started with “Johnny Mack Brown is glad Mae West didn't keep him warming a bench…” and never got better.
• • But William Grigs Atkinson [8 December 1888 ― 15 March 1964], known professionally as Paul Cavanagh, was an English film actor and West End stage star who had graduated from Cambridge University and practiced law before pursuing the dramatic arts. This erudite and perceptive leading man was able to provide fascinating insights on Mae West during his sit-down with Modern Screen for their article published in 1936. Instead of the usual, lamentable publicist’s piffle, Paul Cavanagh’s statements offer that rare ring of authenticity.
• • Since this Tinseltown interview has long been overlooked, we dusted off the cobwebs. Let’s roll the tape together, shall we? This is Part 1 of 13 segments.
• • Has Mae West a Dual Personality? • •

• • Mae West advises you to go after your man boldly, but Hollywood's smoothest gents claim she doesn't practice what she preaches. • •
• • Hilary Lynn wrote: The purpose of this article is to report two conversations. Just that. You can draw your own conclusions from Mae West’s remarks and then Paul Cavanagh’s comments on getting to know Mae West. These first-hand comments are bound to be interesting!
• • Hilary Lynn’s interview with Mae West: "The reason people go for my motion pictures in a big way is that I don't make 'em afraid of sex. Know what I mean?"
• • Hilary Lynn wrote: I didn't . . . quite. So Mae West went on to elaborate.
• • Mae West: Take sex with a laugh • • …
• • Modern Screen’s lengthy article will be continued on the next post.
• • Source: Modern Screen; issue dated for April 1936.
• • On Saturday, 30 September 1944 • •
• • On Saturday, 30 September 1944 Mae West, who was playing the Empress of Russia, moved her show "Catherine Was Great" from the Shubert Theatre to the Royale, the playhouse that had originally welcomed Diamond Lil and her boisterous Bowery hijinx in 1928.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Last month we detailed a Pinkerton man, three movie detectives, and S. S. Van Dine, in a heavy black beard, to discover the brand of perfume used by Mae West. Innocent bystanders had told us Mae's particular preference bore a heavy bouquet which drove men mad and drugged Miss West's immediate vicinity with the very richness of its presence.
• • Four of our operatives, alas, never returned, but the fifth, a man with a wife and family, finally staggered in with a faint cry which must have been "Eureka." In other words, we have it on unimpeachable authority that Mae's perfume choice is Sinless Passion.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said:  "I think a woman may owe a man a lovin'.  But not a livin'!"
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • United Press discussed Mae West and her lawsuit • •
• • "Ex-Husband Loses Mae West Suit — Monthly Maintenance Denied Wallace" • •
• • San Bernadino, Calif., Sept. 23  [U.P.] — — Frank Wallace lost his $1,000 a month temporary separate maintenance suit against Mae West today in a ruling that questioned his good faith in bringing the action against his actress-wife.
• • There is nothing in this case that would convince the court that the plaintiff is not motivated by sheer profit in filing this action, said Superior Judge Charles L. Allison.  …  
• • Source: United Press; published on Tuesday,  23 September 1941
• • 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 17th anniversary • • 
• • Thank you for reading, sending questions, and posting comments during these past seventeen years. Not long ago, we entertained 3,497 visitors. And we reached a milestone recently when we completed 4,800 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started fifteen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 4,833rd 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 Paul Cavanagh in 1935 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest

Mae West: Torrid Episode

Many stories have circulated about MAE WEST, a famous Tinseltown temptress. This account, published in 1936, claims Raoul Walsh filmed sexy scenes that were never meant for the screen but for his own private R-rated viewing. See what you think.
• • Modern Screen wrote: "Why not lead off this month's news with a Mae West item?" we have just asked ourselves, and hearing no reply at all, here is this month's Mae West item: As you know, Mae's leading man in "Klondike Annie" is Victor McLaglen [10 December 1886 — 7 November 1959].
• • Modern Screen wrote: Now, Vic is big and tough, but around the ladies he's not exactly what you'd call a Gablemore. He is, briefly, shy.
• • Modern Screen wrote: So our Mae took him in hand during a love scene, and in conspiracy with director Raoul Walsh, gave Vic what is known in technical circles as "the works."

• • Modern Screen wrote: By the time the scene ended, the McLaglen countenance was crimson, and he still doesn't know that the torrid love episode was filmed, not for the picture but for Raoul Walsh's private collection of scenes that Mr. Hays and his hirelings will never view.
• • Modern Screen wrote: While we're on the subject of Mr. Raoul Walsh, it might be nice to mention a fine gesture on his part during the shooting of "Klondike Annie."
• • Modern Screen wrote: During several weeks before Christmas, Walsh shot scenes which required the presence of a number of old timers. Instead of choosing his players at random from the casting office, Walsh ordered a couple of assistants to check on the financial status of the candidates.
• • Modern Screen wrote: As a result, the neediest cases were given jobs and a much more pleasant Christmas than they anticipated.
• • Source: Modern Screen: published in the issue dated for March 1936.
• • On Tuesday, 29 September 1914 • •
• • The newspaper the Philadelphia North American reviewed the more prominent variety artists who were performing onstage in the City of Brotherly Love on Tuesday, 29 September 1914. The arts critic thought well of Mae, who was then calling herself "The Original Brinkley Girl." When he referred to her stage act, he called her a "nut comedienne."
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • The "doubles" for famous stars make an interesting group. The stand-in for Claudette Colbert is Pluma Noisom; for Crawford, Kasha Le Seuer; for Garbo, Chris Meeker and for Mae West, Virginia Rendell.  
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "I objected to the underwear they gave me at the Island. It was rough on the body. ‘I want to wear my silk underwear.’ ‘This ain’ Saks Fifth Avenue,’ said a toothless old hag.”
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • A foreign newspaper mentioned Mae West.
• • "I've Come to Find out, Says Mae." • •
• • The Singapore Free Press wrote: Mae West invited goggle-eyed British reporters to "come up and see me sometime" when she ran the first gauntlet of them on her arrival at Southampton at two o'clock on Wednesday morning.  
• • Just to keep everything above board, Mae West asked the newsmen to a press reception at the Savoy Hotel. …      
• • Source: The Singapore Free Press;  published on Tuesday, 23 September 1947
• • 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 17th anniversary • • 
• • Thank you for reading, sending questions, and posting comments during these past seventeen years. Not long ago, we entertained 3,497 visitors. And we reached a milestone recently when we completed 4,800 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started fifteen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 4,832nd 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 1936 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest

Mae West: Dog Enthusiast

A lifelong animal lover, MAE WEST posed with Hollywood’s hounds in two of her motion pictures. Less often seen than the famous twin Borzoi portrait from “Goin’ to Town” is this one from “Every Day’s a Holiday.”
• • Here Mae West’s character Mademoiselle Fifi  holds a large Doberman on a leash.

• • 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.
• • “Sex Comes to America” • •
• • Mae’s household: monkey and Chihuahua • •
• • In 1934-35, Stanley Walker wrote: The other occupants of the apartment are a monkey named Junior and a small Chihuahua dog.
• • 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 Sunday, 28 September 1930 • •
• • Mae West decided to take her play "Sex" on the road during August 1930. The N.Y. Times reported that "Sex" was booked in the Midwest. The engagement at the Garrick Theatre in Chicago began on Sunday, 28 September 1930.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •

• • Established in 1928, The Los Angeles Pet Memorial Park and Crematory is located off Ventura Freeway, twenty miles from Hollywood.
• • Hollywood's Fur Friends • •
• • Many of the “fur friends” interred on its 30 acres are pets of famed movie stars such as Mae West’s pet monkey, Boogie, whose screen debut was in “I’m No Angel” and who died months later in 1933 and was laid out in a fancy lined casket.
• • Also buried here: Billie Burke’s police dog, Gloria Swanson’s Rusty, a pet of John Barrymore’s, and a dog belonging to stage and screen actor, Edmund Breese, etc.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "I was four when Mama wanted to have my picture taken. I had seen a dog I liked very much. I told Mama, ‘I'd like to have my picture taken with a dog’."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • Modern Screen mentioned Mae West and her love for dogs in 1935.
• • The hard-hearted landlord who owns the apartment building in which Mae West resides has decided to be rough on dawgs — — and rough on the tenants who own ‘em.   
• • Yep, either you get rid of your hound or he gets rid of you. Ida Lupino, June Clayworth, and several other beauties have obeyed the No Canine rule.
• • But Mae West will neither park her pups nor leave home. She’s superstitious is our Miss W., and has been so lucky living in her present abode that she doesn’t want to move. Besides, she’s had her whole bloomin’ apartment redecorated at her own expense in full length mirrors and white satin. Some showcase in which to set off Diamond Mae!  . . .
• • Source: Modern Screen; published in the issue dated for September 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 17th anniversary • • 
• • Thank you for reading, sending questions, and posting comments during these past seventeen years. Not long ago, we entertained 3,497 visitors. And we reached a milestone recently when we completed 4,800 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started fifteen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 4,831st 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 canine company • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest

Mae West: Al Kaufman

In the early 1930s, MAE WEST had her first dealings with Al Kaufman, who usually caved in to her demands. Let’s go back in time.
• • Albert A. Kaufman  [25 September  1888 —7 April 1957] • •
• • In 1932, Paramount Executive Al Kaufman took Mae West and her manager, Jim Timony, out for a nice dinner with a dash of persuasion. At the end of the evening, "Mae opened her handbag, took out a check, and handed it to Al. It was for twenty thousand dollars― ― her salary up to date. She told Kaufman she would be returning to New York; he told her she could rewrite her part as Joe Anton’s former gal-pal. She did, and in “Night After Night,” she "stole the show," recalled Adolf Zukor.
• • Born in Devil’s Lake, North Dakota, Studio Executive Albert A. Kaufman was Adolf Zukor's brother-in-law.

• • Listen to Mae West telling a story about Al Kaufman.
• • Taking a chance in a lion cage • •
• • According to Mae West, Mr. Ruggles was positive. "I can't let you take a chance with those lions!" he said to me.
• • In a few minutes my producer, William LeBaron, was sent for, and he arrived with two assistants to hear my story. He said it was a daring thing that I wanted to do and he agreed that it would make the picture a lot better. But even he couldn't commit himself.
• • Just then Al Kaufman came on the set. He was and is a reasonable and understanding man, but also an excellent business executive.
• • This lion scene is the main reason I'm doing this picture! • •
• • He listened as I blurted out, "This lion scene is the main reason I'm doing this picture!!"'

• • Al Kaufman thought a moment, and then he told me that Paramount Pictures had an enormous investment in me and this motion picture. Aside from the humanitarian feeling of not wanting to have me mangled or killed, the business risk of losing both me and the picture just wasn't to be taken lightly.
• • Finally Al said, "All right, Mae, I will tell you what well do. Let's leave this scene to the last. We'll get all the rest of the picture shot and then well do the scene!'
• • "Oh, no!" I protested, "You just want to put it off to the last moment, hoping I'll go cold on it. You don't want me to do it. We're ready now and I want to do it now."
• • I argued for a long time and finally they gave in.
• • After lunch I returned to the set and things began to move. ...
• • Note: Al Kaufman died in Los Angeles  at the age 68.
• • Source: Mae West telling a story in "The Public Is Never Wrong: The Autobiography of Adolph Zukor" [‎G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1 January  1953].
• • On Thursday, 27 September 1934 in Boston Herald • •
• • A review of "Belle of the Nineties" appeared in the Boston Herald on this date.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Mae West enjoyed eating the eggplant parmigiana at Casa D'Oro in Westwood.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "I sat around for 12 weeks drawing money and I never saw a script. This wasn't for me."
• • Mae West said: "I'm here to make talkies. I hope the film can take the temperature."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • A pictorial on important screen actresses mentioned Mae West.
• • "Screen Legends" • •
• • Mae West — — Playwright, screenwriter and sex symbol, Mae West was born on 17 August 1893 and was one of Hollywood's more controversial characters. She started out working in Vaudeville and on the stages of New York before taking to the bright lights of the motion picture industry.
• • Offered a Paramount Pictures contract in 1932 when she was 38, Mae West made her film debut in "Night After Night." She died in 1980 at the age of 87 following a stroke and a fall from bed.
• • Source: Vogue; published on Wednesday, 13 August 2014
• • 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 17th anniversary • • 
• • Thank you for reading, sending questions, and posting comments during these past seventeen years. Not long ago, we entertained 3,497 visitors. And we reached a milestone recently when we completed 4,800 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started fifteen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 4,830th 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 1933 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest

Mae West: A Lasting Legacy

MAE WEST had her share of coverage from Variety, whose publisher Sime Silverman was invariably scornful, condescending, and critical. In 2021, Variety’s editorial viewpoint turned tail, deciding they’d come this time “not to bury Caesar but to praise him.” The task fell to Tim Gray, who had this to say. This is Part 10 of 10 segments, the finale.
• • Mae West: The Sex-Positive Old Hollywood Icon Who Was Far Ahead of Her Time • •
• • Mae West: Lasting Legacy • •  
• • Tim Gray wrote: Her 1959 autobiography used one of her most well-known lines as a title, “Goodness Had Nothing to Do With It.”

• • Tim Gray wrote: Mae West died on Nov. 22, 1980, three months after suffering a stroke and falling at the Ravenswood, where she lived for half a century.
• • Tim Gray wrote: Her best films include “I’m No Angel” (in which she plays a lion tamer) and the 1940 “My Little Chickadee” with W.C. Fields. But her legacy lasts beyond those films.
• • Tim Gray wrote: During World War II, her name was given to inflatable life jackets, which are still called “Mae Wests.”
• • Tim Gray wrote: Her most lasting contribution was creating an unlikely but effective role model for future generations, in terms of sex, humor, and independence.
• • Tim Gray’s article has now concluded with this post. Did you agree with him or disagree? Write and tell us.
• • Source: Variety; published on Tuesday, 17 August 2021.
• • Starting on Monday, 24 September 1928 • •
• • "Pleasure Man" written by Mae West was shown at the Bronx Opera House from 17 September until 22 September 1928.  Then the play moved to the Boulevard Theatre in Queens for a single week starting on Monday, 24 September 1928. Then Mae's provocative piece opened at the Biltmore Theatre on Broadway on 1 October 1928, at which point the police padlocked it, despite its heavy advance sale.
• • The stage play "Courting Mae West" dramatizes the police raid and the aftermath.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Newspapers coast to coast covered the trial in 1934 when Mae West took the witness stand.
• • Unable to get through crowded courthouse corridors until the Los Angeles police pushed her through, Mae West "stole the show" from Defendant Edward Friedman, on trial charged with robbing her, today. It was her third successive day as a witness.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "Mae West is my real name. A name for lights."
• • Mae West said: "I'd rather be looked over than overlooked."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • A fan magazine discussed Mae West.
• • "She Done Him Wrong” (Paramount) • •
• • Mae West (Diamond Lil) sure dishes out plenty of that risque business in this one (that's putting it delicately), but in spite of that, or on account of it, depending on yourself, it is downright funny.
• • Loaded with diamonds, Lil starts out as a saloon keeper's sweetie. She has men by the score and finally winds up by gettin' her man . . . who was darn tough to land. The cast is great, including Cary Grant, Gilbert Roland, Noah Beery and Rochelle Hudson.
• • If you're not too highbrow, you'll go for this one! But leave the kids at home! …
• • Source: Modern Screen; published in the issue dated for March 1933
• • 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 17th anniversary • • 
• • Thank you for reading, sending questions, and posting comments during these past seventeen years. Not long ago, we entertained 3,497 visitors. And we reached a milestone recently when we completed 4,800 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started fifteen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 4,829th 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 • • painted by Knox in 1974 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest

Mae West: Work Was Sex

MAE WEST had her share of coverage from Variety, whose publisher Sime Silverman was invariably scornful, condescending, and critical. In 2021, Variety’s editorial viewpoint turned tail, deciding they’d come this time “not to bury Caesar but to praise him.” The task fell to Tim Gray, who had this to say. This is Part 9 of 10 segments.
• • Mae West: The Sex-Positive Old Hollywood Icon Who Was Far Ahead of Her Time • •
• • Mae West: Federico Fellini tried to work with her • •  
• • Tim Gray wrote: Her exaggerated impersonation of feminine behavior has made her a favorite of drag performers including Alaska on “RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars.”

• • Tim Gray wrote: Starting in the 1940s, she turned down many film roles, including Norma Desmond in the 1950 “Sunset Blvd.”
• • Tim Gray wrote: Federico Fellini wanted to work with Mae West.
• • Fellini said, “Work was really her sex.” • •
• • Tim Gray wrote: In Charlotte Chandler’s book of interviews, “I, Fellini,” the filmmaker said of West: “I admired her enormously. She was wonderful. She always seemed to be anti-sex because she made a joke of sex and made you laugh, and that is anti-erotic. I think work was really her sex. It seems to me that her career was everything.”
• • Mae West: Lasting legacy • •  …  
• • Tim Gray’s article will conclude on the next post, which is Part 10.
• • Source: Variety; published on Tuesday, 17 August 2021.
• • On Sunday, 23 September 1934 in The L.A. Times • •
• • An article argued for censorship of the type of motion picture made by Mae West and other bombshells. "Films Should Be Fit for Children to See" was printed in The Los Angeles Times on Sunday, 23 September 1934.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Variety wrote: "Belle of the Nineties" is a little of everything. Even "St. Louis Blues" and "Memphis Blues" are in it — — Mae West sang did "Frankie and Johnny" in "Diamond Lil."  
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "Hollywood needs more men."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • A review of "Belle of the Nineties" mentioned Mae West and the music.
• • Abel wrote: "Troubled Waters" introduces a little of the Elder Michaux revival meeting. That's in the offing, but within seeming earshot, and thus Mae West does a semi-spiritual against the heated colored revival meeting background which productionally is rather well worked in. ...
• • Source: Variety; published on Tuesday, 25 September 1934
• • 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 17th anniversary • • 
• • Thank you for reading, sending questions, and posting comments during these past seventeen years. Not long ago, we entertained 3,497 visitors. And we reached a milestone recently when we completed 4,800 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started fifteen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 4,828th 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 1938 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest