Mae West: Becomes a Convert

"MAE WEST Becomes a Convert" was a front page headline on Saturday, 19 August 1939.  The reporting was done from Vancouver, Canada and the story made its way around the world.

• • Vancouver, Saturday — — Mae West is all for moral rearmament and is ready to join the Oxford Group. It would be a good thing for W.C. Fields, she told Dr. Frank Buchman, leader of the Moral Rearmament Movement, today.  Miss West and Dr. Buchman had quite a tete-a-tete in her apartment. "It's a wonderful work," she said of the movement. "I owe my success to the fact that I have been practising that philosophy in recent years. Early in my career, before I discovered the importance of correct thinking and correct consideration for others, it was a hard and bitter struggle to get ahead."

• • Dr. Buchman told her, "You are a splendid character, Miss West. You have done wonderful work, too, in pleasing and entertaining millions with your charming personality." They posed for photographers together, and Mae drawled, "Y 'u're doing fine, Doctor." Miss West and Fields are to be starred together soon.

• • "Have you met Bill Fields yet?" she asked Dr. Buchman.

• • "No, but I'd love to meet him," he said.

• • "This moral rearmament is just what Bill needs," Mae exclaimed. ... "By all means meet Bill, and tell him all about moral rearmament. Please get to him before we start this picture. I want him to be full of it."

• • Source: Article: "Mae West Becomes a Convert" printed on page 1 in The Mail (Adelaide, Australia); published on Saturday, 19 August 1939.

• • Franco Corsaro [19 August 1900 — 19 April 1982] • •

• • Born on Sunday, 19 August 1900 in Mae's hometown of New York City, Franco Corsaro snagged some work in 74 productions in TV and on film. Between 1931 — 1978, casting agents found his Continental looks useful for Italian, French, or gypsy roles. He was seen as an "Italian Officer" in "Goin' to Town."

• • Franco Corsaro died in Los Angeles on 19 April 1982. He was 81.

• • On Sunday, 19 August 1934 • •

• • Motion Picture Daily published this picture preview on Sunday, 19 August 1934.

• • Hollywood, 19 August 1934 — With shock-proof punches but with haymakers nevertheless, Mae West uncorks a flashy, melodramatic entertainment of the Nineties, trippingly gay and gaudy for the most part but lingering in spots.

• • As with all the Mae West films, her showmanship personality dominates the scene. Her story assembles herself as the American Beauty, a headline actress; Prizefighter Roger Pryor, Villainous Promoter John Miljan and his girl friend, Katherine de Mille, sets them in pleasure-loving New Orleans and lets music, gambling, stolen jewels and prizefight knockout drops work its dire drama, making it clear at the same time that no man outsmarts Mae and gets away with it.

• • While the production is hardly a model of uplift drama, by the same token nothing offends the sensibilities in La West's cleanest film. Her performance, including singing and comedy, is the best she's done. Her wisecracks ripple along in laughing cadence with her curvacious walk and there is no reaching for gags or straining for effects.

• • Mae warbles four numbers, one, "Scandalizin' My Name," counterpointed with Negro spirituals being particularly effective to eye and ear.

• • Leo McCarey's direction has flavor and distinction.

• • Exploited smartly, "Belle of the Nineties" should do Golden West business even though repeat bookings may or may not be so abundant. ...

• • Source: Article: "Hollywood Preview: "Belle of the Nineties'' by Paramount written by Motion Picture Daily; printed on 19 August 1934.

• • In Her Own Words • •

• • Mae West said: "As a rule I have most actors around me work faster than I do; they keep the pace while I take my liberties in my timing."

• • Quote, Unquote • •

• • An article about a Glasgow hotel mentioned Mae West.

• • Phyllis Stephen wrote: It numbered Sir Winston Churchill, the Beatles, Laurel and Hardy, Mae West, Alice Cooper, Roy Rogers and his horse Trigger among its guests.  It turned away Hollywood mega-star Charlton Heston and members of the Led Zeppelin rock band from its restaurant because they weren’t properly dressed.  And it received the first long-distance television pictures ever transmitted.

• • Phyllis Stephen wrote: Glasgow’s Grand Central Hotel, the iconic five-story hotel built adjacent to Central Station, has been part of the city’s history since opening in 1883. ...

• • Source: Article: "Edinburgh International Book Festival — RNIB launch book today" written by Phyllis Stephen for The Edinburgh Reporter; published on 17 August 2012 

• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started eight years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 2400th 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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Mae West: Major Credit

An intriguing article about MAE WEST was printed on Monday, 7 August 1995.

• • Mae West never stopped exerting herself when it came to her career.  Despite the considerable energy she applied to every project, when The N.Y. Times printed an obituary for James Timony on 5 April 1954, they depicted their relationship along the lines of Pygmalion and Galatea.
• • Timony guided her to success • •

• • Calling James A. Timony the manager of Mae West for 25 years, and the person who "guided her to success," The N.Y. Times also noted that he "received major credit for her development from a relatively obscure singer and dancer into an internationally known prototype of the American siren."
• • They Made Mae West a Star • •

• • The William Morris Agency also claimed credit. "They Made Mae West a Star" was the title of the article that ran in U.S. News and World Report on Monday, 7 August 1995.

• • Born in Germany, William Morris [1873 — 2 November 1932] had registered himself as a vaudeville agent in 1898 when he was 25 years old. Though several variety artists became rich and famous, the entertainment audience was shifting to the motion picture house by the late 1920s.  Fortunately, the William Morris Agency took note. A news item about the agency stated: "The Morris Agency found an unlikely savior in Mae West, who went on to become the top grosser at the box office in the 1930s. After its initial dip, entertainment proved a Depression-hardy industry."

• • Now what would Mae West have said about that?

• • Frank Buchman [4 June 1878 — 7 August 1961] • •

• • It was August 1939 when Mae West met with Frank Buchman for a half an hour.

• • Born in in Pennsburg, Pennsylvania on 4 June 1878, Franklin Nathaniel Daniel Buchman was a Protestant Christian evangelist who founded the Oxford Group (known as Moral Re-Armament from 1938 until 2001, and as Initiatives of Change since then). Buchman was a controversial figure throughout much of his adult life, and critics dubbed his movement as "Buchmanism" from the 1920s.

• • Buchman, who never married, went out to Hollywood in 1939 to have himself photographed with movie stars as a way to use these pictures for his own publicity.

• • In August 1939, Mae West suggested that Buchman might visit comedian W.C. Fields.

• • Despite a stroke in 1942, and failing health that eventually led to blindness and immobility, Buchman pressed on and remained fairly active for the next nineteen years. Buchman died in Freudenstadt, Germany in the month of August — — on Monday, 7 August 1961. He was 83.

• • On Tuesday, 7 August 1934 in Variety • •

• • According to Daily Variety, "Belle of the Nineties" was given the purity seal on 6 August  1934. Variety announced this on the front cover of their issue dated for Tuesday, 7 August 1934.

• • Correspondence from Hammell to Joe Breen dated Wednesday, 7 August 1934, however, listed half-a-dozen script revisions that would be made. These modifications were meant to scrub away any implied immorality from the Ruby Carter character or the Tiger Kid.

• • Save the Date: Thursday, August 16th • •

• • Thursday, 16 August 2012 will be the next Mae West Tribute in Manhattan and the evening affair will start at 6:30 pm at 155 Mulberry Street.  This year Mae-mavens will enjoy an indoor event (ahhh, air conditioning), music written by Mae West's Italian husband will be played, and attendees will be seated.

• • At the Reception, Italian wine and light refreshments will be served. The ever-popular Mae West Raffle will offer rare prizes once again to a number of lucky attendees. The public is invited.

• • Mae West was born in Brooklyn, NY on Thursday, 17 August 1893.

• • Closest MTA subway stations: Grand St. or Canal St.

• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "There's nothing better in life than diamonds."
• • Mae West said: "Diamond Lil and I are getting to be pretty inseparable."

• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • Excerpt from a review of "Becoming Mae West" by biographer Emily Wortis Leider.
• • Book critic Maria Braden noted: Mae West also hid that she had been married twice because she wanted to be perceived as single and available. And although West was a businesswoman, she refused to portray such a character on the screen because it might compromise her "femininity." ...
• • Source: Book Review: "A Hollywood Legend Who Wasn't Always What She Seemed" written by Maria Braden, Knight-Ridder Newspapers; published on 7 August 1997

• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started eight years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 2387th 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 • • 1939 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest
NYC  Mae West.