Mae West: Best Material

MAE WEST came to the attention of Tinseltown ninety years ago in 1932. Step into the Time Machine with me for a long, leisurely ride. This is Part 55 of 68.
• • Mae West in Hollywood 1932 – 1943 • •
• • Mae West: The screenplay conspires to keep them apart • •
• • Andy Goulding wrote: Neither West or Fields seem like the sort of performers who benefit from an onscreen partner.
• • Andy Goulding wrote: Both thrive more as solo performers who are allowed to dominate their respective films.

• • Andy Goulding wrote: “My Little Chickadee” seems to recognise this to an extent, and though they do have scenes together the screenplay conspires to keep them apart for much of the runtime, with separate set-pieces allowing them to do their thing.
• • Andy Goulding wrote: Mae West gets the best material, with the highlight being a scene in which she substitutes for a teacher with a class of unruly boys.
• • Mae West: W.C. Fields and his shambolic slapstick • • …
• • This will be continued on the next post.
• • Source: Blueprint Reviews U.K.; posted on Friday, 3 December 2021.
• • Mae West on NBC, Sunday, 12 December 1937 • •

• • Perhaps no other radio segment of The Chase and Sanborn Hour has sparked more commentary than the Sunday, December 12th, 1937 broadcast starring Mae West, the 44-year-old movie queen, who usually hid the fact that she was unable to read a script without eyeglasses.
• • The popular star of Paramount Pictures rarely appeared on radio. When she did, the sole purpose was to promote one of her films. West had guest-starred on The Shell Chateau with Al Jolson in 1936 and also Louella Parsons’ blackmailing program Hollywood Hotel on 26 April 1935, with featured guest Paul Cavanagh in an adaptation of her (then most current) screen gem: "Goin’ to Town."
• • When the producers of The Chase and Sanborn Hour offered the sex goddess the opportunity to appear on the weekly show — — then currently the highest-rated program of the year — — she accepted the invitation to boost the awareness of her latest film, "Every Day's a Holiday."
• • Mae West often wrote her own scripts and even produced her own plays, so she offered NBC the option of a sneak peek at some scenes from her new screen comedy set during the 1890s in New York City.
• • Interesting, but rarely commented on, is the fact that Mae wore a spectacular black gown framed by expensive furs and jewelry when she showed up at NBC's Hollywood headquarters on Sunday, 12 December 1937 — — an eyeful that could only be appreciated by the live studio audience.
• • As if to be extra-cautious, Mae donned eyeglasses and also wore a fancy lornette on a chain around her neck, not unlike the extra-careful gentleman who wears suspenders and a belt. Then she stepped up to the microphone and threw caution to the fates.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Hollywood — Mae West, who makes her screen debut in "Night After Night," and Roscoe Karns have been given Paramount contracts.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "To me the most difficult part of placing a successful motion picture story is getting it cast correctly."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • An article about 12 December 1937 on radio mentioned Mae West.
• • "Snake Drive: Old-time radio listening, 12 December" • •
• • Jeff Kallman wrote: The irony of a ventriloquist becoming a radio star receives perhaps its most notorious counter-irony tonight, when a comedy sketch written by an up-and-coming horror and suspense master triggers a furor that comes close enough to bringing the tentacles of government into a choke-hold around the neck of NBC.
• • Jeff Kallman wrote: Arch Oboler, making his name already as the brains that succeed and nearly transcend Wyllis Cooper in the latter’s creation, Lights Out, writes an otherwise silly sketch parodying the Garden of Eden, tailoring the portrayal of Eve specifically to stage and screen siren Mae West, with original host Don Ameche as Adam. ...
• • Source: The Examiner; published on Saturday, 12 December 2009
• • 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 18th anniversary • • 
• • Thank you for reading, sending questions, and posting comments during these past eighteen years. Not long ago, we entertained 3,497 visitors. And we reached a milestone recently when we completed 5,100 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started eighteen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 5,134th 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 • • in 1937, in 1940 • •
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