Mae West: A Time Warp

How the powerful spell of a MAE WEST classic from 1940 united the young and the old at a screening in L.A. was beautifully analyzed by Nina Young. Let’s hear more.  This is Part 1.
• • Old-school film ‘My Little Chickadee’ unites generations under classic cinema • •
• • Nina Young wrote: Los Angeles’ blend of midnight movies, cult screenings and historic theaters offers late-night scares and childhood nostalgia back in the theater. Join columnist Nina Young as she attends different cult screenings each week to find out why audiences stay out so late after dark.

• • Nina Young wrote: I should have attended the Old Town Music Hall’s “My Little Chickadee” screening in a corset, bustle and giant feathered hat to embrace the night’s vintage ambiance.
• • Nina Young wrote: The Friday night event sucked attendees into a time warp of over 70 years, drowning out the modern world with a Mighty Wurlitzer pipe organ before playing the comedy-Western classic for attendees.
• • “My Little Chickadee” relies on its comedic leads playing off one another • • . . .
• • This delightful article will be continued on the next post.
• • Source: The Daily Bruin (a student newspaper at UCLA, Los Angeles); published on Tuesday, 20 November 2018.
• • On Tuesday, 30 November 1948 • •
• • Brooks Atkinson reviewed the New Jersey revival of "Diamond Lil" and his comments were printed in The New York Times on Tuesday, 30 November 1948 (on page 2). The title was "Mae West Hits Montclair" and Brooks Atkinson called Mae West "the goddess of sex."
• • In his admiring review of her 1948 reinvigorated Bowery queen romp through her popular "naughty nineties" hit, The New York Times drama critic Brooks Atkinson admitted he was moved to acknowledge what he called — — in an atypically poetic effusion — — ''the sublime fatalism of the entire business,'' and he went on to ask: ''Is she kidding or is she serious?''
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • In her article, Mae West: Once Upon our Time, published in Show in January 1963, Arbus opens with, “On her seventy-first birthday, Mae West feasted on a rhinestone-studded birthday cake.”
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: “I’d rather be looked over than overlooked.”
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • An American daily paper mentioned Mae West.
• • “Weight Counts Among Small Men” • • 
• • Chalky Wright, a former chauffeur for provocative Mae West of Hollywood cinema fame, tips the beam a mere 126 pounds. Both Overlin and Soose are hard pressed to keep within the 160 pound limit of the middleweight division.
• • Prior to Chalky Wright's acquisition of the feather-weight diadem a few months ago, still another Negro ring campaigner ran an identical gauntlet. We prefer to call it a gauntlet, because the record clearly reveals that Negro fighters have either had to concede huge chunks of weight to classy white opponents, or choose some other field of work.  …
• • Source: item in Indianapolis Recorder; published on Saturday, 29 November 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 14th anniversary • •  

• • Thank you for reading, sending questions, and posting comments during these past fourteen years. Not long ago, we entertained 3,497 visitors. And we reached a milestone recently when we completed 4,000 blog posts. Wow!  

• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started fourteen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 4095th 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 • • reading the script on the set in 1940 • •
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Mae West: Chickadee in Lakeland

Central Florida welcomes MAE WEST this month for one entire laugh-loaded weekend.
• • Gently priced tickets will be sold at the Polk box office for fans of "My Little Chickadee," starring Mae West and W.C. Fields.
• • This screen comedy was first released in the USA on 15 March 1940.
• • What the heck is a little chickadee anyway? The Black-capped Chickadee is a small, common songbird — — a passerine bird in the tit family. ["Tit" family, eh? Sounds like a big family.]
• • The Polk Theatre was built in 1928, one year before the great Wall Street fizzle. A temporary construction sizzler in central Florida had ended, however, the local businessmen forged ahead in great faith when they built a showy vaudeville — movie palace in Lakeland, which opened during December 1928. That year, the population hovered at merely 15,000 individuals and it was still very much a rural community dotted with citrus groves and farmhouses.
• • An Italian immigrant was hired to be the architect. Not unnaturally, J.E. Casale recreated a Mediterranean village in the heart of an orange growers Eden. Flanked by Italianate walls glorified with cunning niches and expensive sconces along with fake windows and balconies, it was a wondrous interior. Ticket-holders could behold a grand mezzanine lobby featuring cunningly twisted columns, fastidious moldings, delicate cornices, and brass banded terrazzo flooring as they ascended ornately tiled staircases.
• • The theatre's web site boasts: "The two most impressive technological features of the Polk were the theatre’s 100 ton air wash system to chill the air, and its Vitaphone sound on reel film system. The air conditioning system was such a drain on the city’s power supply that during its early years of operation it caused lights to dim all across town when turned on. ..."
• • Surrounded by this Jazz Era atmosphere, you will enjoy this rollicking motion picture classic as it was meant to be seen.
• • WHEN: on July 24th — 25th at 7:30 p.m.; on July 26th at 2 p.m.
• • WHERE: Polk Theatre: 139 South Florida Avenue, Lakeland, Florida 33801 — — T. 863-682-7553.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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• • Photo: • • Mae West • • 1940 with actress Anne Nagel • •
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