Mae West: Blackface Number

It is well known that MAE WEST, in her younger days in vaude, performed in blackface, which was then a popular novelty. Al Jolson and many other Caucasian singers performed in blackface as well as light-skinned blacks such as Bert Williams, who enchanted Mae. Unsurprising, she studied her idol and mastered her own rendition of one of his numbers. Let’s learn more. 
• • This article was written in 1933 by George Lait, assigned by Central Press and The Evening Independent (Ohio) — — NEW YORK, Dec. 12. — — From my earliest childhood, it was my mother's approbation and applause I sought — — not the applause of an audience. She would sit out front and watch my performance, then come backstage and make suggestions — — never criticisms — — merely suggestions that my entrance might be improved this way or my exit bettered that way, that my inflection might be altered a little here and my intonation more comical.
• • When she was about 10 years old, little Mae West first introduced her own inimitable style of "coon-shouting," the slow cantankerous rendition, a recitation rather than a vocalization, of a song.
• • In Blackface • •

• • The Bert Williams number which she used in her act still is one of her favorites: "Why Don't You Get a Lady of Your Own? The swell coon laughing success” [NY: Jos. W. Stern, 1898].
• • She did this in blackface. Mae admits she was a "quick study." It took her only a few moments, even as a child, to grasp several pages of difficult dialogue.
• • So for several years Mae West, the "Bushwick Baby Blonde," remained in vaudeville, perfecting this turn. . . .
• • Source: The Evening Independent (Ohio); published on Tuesday, December 12, 1933.
• • On Sunday, 2 March 1913 in NYC • •
• • It was on Sunday, 2 March 1913 that Mae West began a one week booking at Hammerstein's Victoria in the theatre district on West 42nd Street and Seventh Avenue.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • The Swedes can't get the slant of America and England on Mae West in "She Done Him Wrong." Censorship board had to view picture twice before making up its mind. Now, while picture is doing well, critics and patrons don't care so much either for the subject matter of the film, or for the wiggles of Mae.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: “People want dirt in plays, so I give ’em dirt. See?”
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • The New Yorker discussed the Mae West revival.
• • Claudia Roth Pierpont wrote: Marybeth Hamilton pinpoints West's startling transformation from frank man-hating to easy sexual mockery as occurring during rehearsals of "The Drag" (a homosexual comedy-drama which led to the outlawing of depictions of homosexuality on the New York stage) and its spinoff, "Pleasure Man."
• • Claudia Roth Pierpont wrote: West used the qualities men brought to playing women: detachment, control, laughter, impregnability. Most of her movies were set in the Gay Nineties; the period dress suggestively contained her full figure.  . . .
• • Source: The New Yorker;  published on Monday, 11 November 1996
• • 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 15th 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 4,400 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started fifteen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 4,421st 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: Bert Williams Film

MAE WEST was entranced by Bert Williams, who inspired the young vaudevillian.

• • Steven W. Thrasher wrote:  Produced by Biograph Studio in 1913 and starring Caribbean American star Bert Williams, the never-finished, never-released film (awkwardly titled "Bert Williams Lime Kiln Club Field Day") is showing in the Museum of Modern Art’s 12th annual To Save and Project festival. It is a gem of a movie which moved me to tears a couple of times, but which also slapped an irrepressible smile on my face during most of its flickering frames. The film is also significant because it is the oldest film of any kind with its “daily rushes” (multiple unedited takes) intact, allowing us to see what was happening behind the scenes, including two white co-directors and a black stage manager directing an all-black cast.
• • Steven W. Thrasher explained:  The process of bringing the film to the public has been an effort “a decade in the making,” MoMA film curator Ron Magliozzi explained in his opening remarks, after it languished for nine decades nearly unwatched. In 1939, it was among 900 negatives acquired from Biograph as part of the MoMA’s founding film collection, when curator Iris Barry was hunting, ironically, for work by racist filmmaker DW Griffith.  ...
• • Source: Article by Steven W. Thrasher for theguardian.com; published on Monday, 27 October 2014.
• • On Wednesday, 5 November 1930 • •
• • "A prizefighter's tart" who enjoys black men as well as Caucasians, Babe Gordon, the frisky blonde teenage protagonist, was Mae's idea of an uptown temptress, footloose, fearless, and unfettered in Harlem.
• • The novel "Babe Gordon" by Mae West was published in New York City by The Macaulay Company on Wednesday, 5 November 1930.
• • On Saturday, 5 November 1932 • •
• • On Saturday, 5 November 1932, a cable was wired to Colonel Joy.  It assured him that Zukor and Hertz promised that they will abandon "Diamond Lil" and will make an announcement to that effect tonight. [Hmmm. We know how that turned out.]
• • On Wednesday, 5 November 1969 in Ithaca • •
• • On Wednesday, 5 November 1969 Cornell University students were treated to a  screening of "My Little Chickadee" starring Mae West and W.C. Fields at 7:00 pm and again at 9:15 pm.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Hollywood — Busty Mae West challenges W.C. Fields in "My Little Chickadee" — — don't miss it.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "I've spent a lot of money. I used to play the horses pretty bad. And then I owned a string of horses. I've got a lot of property, but I don't like to talk about my investments in public."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • In his diary entries, composer Ned Rorem mentioned Mae West when drunk.
• • Ned Rorem wrote:  No one, not Einstein nor Cleopatra nor Margaret Mead nor Mae West, not even Maureen Stapleton, nor Ned Rorem, is clever when drunk.
• • Source: Entry for 4 November 1971 in "The Later Diaries of Ned Rorem, 1961 — 1972" by Ned Rorem; published in 2013  
• • The Mae West Blog celebrates its 10th anniversary • •    
• • Thank you for reading, sending questions, and posting comments during this past decade. The other day we entertained 1,223 visitors. 
• • By the Numbers • • 
• • The Mae West Blog was started ten years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 3041st 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: Williams in Williamsburg

MAE WEST was enthralled by the talented Bert Williams [1874 — 1922].  She even learned to imitate him performing his theme song "Nobody."  Several biographers have remarked that Mae had also mastered the timing and gestures Williams used to dramatize the lyrics, to which he added his own sarcasm.

• • It was in February 1906 that "Abyssinia," with its score co-written by George Walker and Bert Williams, premiered at the Majestic Theater (at 5 Columbus Circle), a well-appointed Broadway playhouse with more than 1350 seats. The lavish production even included live camels. Since this exotic musical comedy was another smash hit for the duo, Bert Williams got a chance to record several of these songs. 
• • Mae West the Mimic • •
• • While it is possible that 13-year-old Mae memorized this popular showtune from sheet music, there was only one way to perfect the nuances of an actor's phrasing, timing, and movements in the early 1900s — — by watching him onstage at least a few times.  How did a girl from a blue-collar household get a ticket often enough to be able to hone this impersonation or others? [Little Mae also copied Eddie Foy and Eva Tanguay, etc.]

• • Instead of answering this important question, biographers have wandered afield.

• • For instance, Jill Watts wondered how Jack West finagled this opportunity. Jill Watts wrote: "[Mae] maintained that somehow her father was introduced to Williams. (Perhaps it was through their common love of boxing; Williams was an avid fan.) One of her most treasured, and seemingly traumatic, childhood memories was the night her father arrived home and announced: 'Mae, I have a surprise for you. Bert Williams is here. I've brought him home' . . ." [page 14 in "Mae West, An Icon in Black and White"].  After referring to Mae's account of this incident, Watts leaves it there, unfortunately.

• • Charlotte Chandler's retelling of this incident falters, too.  Failing to examine the method by which Mae perfected her mimicry (or how a child gained access to theatre seats), Chandler adds to a fan's bewilderment.

• • In an interview with Charlotte Chandler, Mae supposedly described meeting Bert Williams when she was a child. Little Mae was so enchanted by him that she had learnt his theme song "Nobody" along with copying the superb timing and gestures Williams used to dramatize the sad words. This was unusual for Mae, who never liked anything downbeat. Knowing how much his daughter idolized the star, Mae's father made his acquaintance and invited him home in 1903. Unfortunately, Mae did not recognize the mocha-skinned West Indian entertainer without his blackface make-up and ran into her room crying, "It's not him!" To convince her, Bert Williams started to sing, whereupon Mae emerged from her bedroom and happily sat down to supper with Bert Williams and her family. . . . [Source: Charlotte Chandler, The Ultimate Seduction, Doubleday, 1984.]

• • How delightful it was to read a more insightful account about a young Mae West working on her impressions of Bert Williams, and how her father provided ongoing access to stage stars, in "Mae West's New York, 1899 — 1970."  Hint:  "Abyssinia" was booked in Williamsburg, Brooklyn the week of May 7th, 1906.  Anyway, it is an intriguing heap of research and maybe it will be out shortly. 

• • On Saturday, 8 May 1926 • •

• • Unflattering comments about Mae West's play "Sex" (the phrase "street sweepings" was in the description) were printed in The New Yorker, issue dated for Saturday, 8 May 1926.  Aww. Somebody was not swayed by all that free beer Mae was pouring backstage. Tch.

• • On Tuesday, 8 May 1934 • •

• • Tuesday, 8 May 1934 Mae West recorded the ending of "My Old Flame."  This collaboration between New York City lyricist Sam Coslow and composer Arthur Johnson was created for the motion picture "Belle of the Nineties." Backed by Duke Ellington and his Orchestra, Mae archived her performance in the recording studio. The Duke himself was on the piano.

• • On Saturday, 8 May 1937 • •

• • "Buxom Mae West Gives Trial Deposition" • •

• • An article by an Associated Press reporter that was published on Saturday, 8 May 1937 (in numerous newspapers) provided a Technicolor glimpse of the drama surrounding Mae West's "forgotten" 1911 trip to the altar.

• • A Los Angeles AP stringer wrote: Buxom Mae West, colorfully attired in a typical Hollywood outfit of lounging-pajamas, gave a deposition today preliminary to trial of the suit of Frank Wallace, who claims she is his wife.

• • AP noted: Miss West gave the deposition behind closed doors in the office of A. M. Blount, counsel for Frank Wallace. She was dressed in blue lounging pajamas, blue silk sandals, white hat, and carried a white handbag. ...

• • On Monday, 8 May 1961 • •

• • The work week started well. It was on Monday, 8 May 1961 that Mae signed a contract to perform the play "Sextette" at the Edgewater Beach Playhouse. Her salary was pegged at $5,500 per week and she would also share in 33 1/3 (gross) of the box office.

• • In Her Own Words • •

• • Mae West said: "I never loved another person the way I loved myself."

• • Mae West said: "All discarded lovers should be given a second chance, but with somebody else."

• • Quote, Unquote • •

• • An interview with Chuck McCann mentioned Mae West.

• • Chuck McCann portrayed W. C. Fields in the TV movie "Mae West."

• • Billy Ingram wrote: Turns out Chuck and his wife were friends with Mae West and he shares stories of the immortal comedienne and how she had a mini-comeback in the 1970s thanks to his wife Betty, a former agent and Vice President at the William Morris Agency. ...

• • Source: Interview: "TV Party with Billy Ingram"; on 8 May 2007

• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started seven years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 2294th 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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