Mae West: Often Asked

Despite all you think you know about MAE WEST, there’s always something new. Did you know that Mae West was most often asked questions about her bedroom mirrors, for instance?  
• • This intimate interview with Mae West was first seen in 2009. This is Part 29 of 29 parts, the finale.
• • From the Archive: A Candid (and Entertaining) Interview with Mae West • •
• • Mae West said: “Do you know what question I’m asked the most?” • •  
• • Charlotte Chandler wrote:  Mae West said:  “It isn’t what I do, but how I do it. It isn’t what I say, but how I say it. And how I look when I do it and say it. Individuality is everything. Individuality, and enthusiasm, too.”
• • Mae West said: “Do you know what question I’m asked the most? About the mirrors on my bedroom ceiling. I say, ‘I like to see how I’m doin’. It’s the truth. It’s very exciting. You should try it.”
• • Mae West said: “The question I’m next most often asked is, am I always the Mae West everybody knows, or am I different when I’m alone? The answer is, when I’m alone, I’m the same Mae West. But you’ll have to take my word for it, cause when I’m alone, there isn’t anyone else here.”
• • Charlotte Chandler wrote: After my meetings with Mae, I was asked, “Did Mae West understand about protecting her myth, or did she believe it?”  The answer to both questions is yes.
• • © 2009 Charlotte Chandler. “She Always Knew How: Mae West, a Personal Biography” was published by Pocket Books on October 1, 2009.   
• • This long and fascinating interview has now been concluded with Part 29.
• • Source: AnOther Magazine; published  Autumn—Winter 2009 issue; rpt on Wednesday, 27 May 2020.    
• • On Monday, 21 August 1944 • •

• • An article "'Catherine Was Great' but Mae West Makes Her Dull" was printed along with photos in Life Magazine (pages 71— 72) in the issue dated for Monday, 21 August 1944.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Mae West is a little undecided about doing "I'm No Angel." Aw, go ahead, Mae! All God's chillun got wings.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "My life hasn't been any bed of roses. I never felt anything like secure until just recently. I've never felt free to get married."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • UPI mentioned Mae West.
• • A thought for the day: In the movie "Klondike Annie," Mae West said, "Between two evils, I always pick the one I never tried before." . . .
• • Source: The Almanac from UPI; published on Tuesday, 20 August 2013
• • 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 16th 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 4,500 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started fifteen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 4,545th 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 • • costumed as the Russian empress in 1944  • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest

Mae West: No Piercings

Despite all you think you know about MAE WEST, there’s always something new. Did you know that Mae West refused to have her ears pierced, for instance?  
• • This intimate interview with Mae West was first seen in 2009. This is Part 28 of 29 parts.
• • From the Archive: A Candid (and Entertaining) Interview with Mae West • •
• • Mae West said:  “They said I had a double thyroid.”  • •   
• • Charlotte Chandler wrote:  Mae West added this: “When they told me I had a double thyroid, they wanted to take one away, but I wasn’t doing that. I don’t believe in tampering with what’s going right.”  
• • Mae West said: “I wasn’t having anyone make a hole in my ear.” • •
• • Charlotte Chandler wrote:  Mae West said:  “I would never, ever have my ears pierced. I took a chance of losing a favourite diamond earring, which I never did. But I wasn’t having anyone make a hole in my ear.”
• • Charlotte Chandler wrote: I suggested that what the world considers odd or eccentric might actually be a person’s good fortune, but there would always be those who valued conformity over individuality.
• • Mae West said:  “Know what question I’m asked the most?” • • ... 
• • This long and fascinating interview will be concluded tomorrow with Part 29.
• • Source: AnOther Magazine; published Autumn—Winter 2009 issue; rpt on Wednesday, 27 May 2020. 
• • On Thursday, 20 August 1970 • •
• • Hollywood types received an invitation to "Sights and Sounds of Mae West" and the event was scheduled for Thursday, 20 August 1970.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • "Mae West Type of Posture Is Hit by Doctor" was a health how-to, informing readers that Mae's posture and the "society slouch" for women, and the military carriage for men, were condemned as menaces to health by Dr. Olive B. Williams of Worcester, Mass.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said (to director Henry Hathaway): "Nobody gets laughs in my pictures but me, see?"  
• • Quote, Unquote • •

• • An article Mae West was asked to write appeared in 1927.  
• • "How I Was Jailed for Sex" • •
• • Mae West continued: "They were most courteous; they didn't want anything to happen to me before I got to Welfare Island, I guess. I was ushered into a waiting-room. Then I saw there was a colored woman, with a gold badge, who was in charge."  . . .
• • The trial is dramatized in the full-length stage play "Courting Mae West," based on true events in Mae West's controversial life, 1926 — 1932.
• • Source: written by Mae West for Liberty Magazine; published on Saturday, 20 August 1927
• • 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 16th 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 4,500 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started fifteen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 4,544th 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 • • on trial in March 1927  • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest

Mae West: Wrinkle Cure

Despite all you think you know about MAE WEST, there’s always something new. Did you know that Mae West refused to sit down while filming a scene because it would wrinkle her dress, for instance?  
• • This intimate interview with Mae West was first seen in 2009. This is Part 27 of 29 parts.
• • From the Archive: A Candid (and Entertaining) Interview with Mae West • •
• • Mae West said:  “I'd rather stand than wrinkle my dress on a set.”  • •  
• • Charlotte Chandler wrote:   Mae West said this about fashion: “When I was making a film, I would stand during the whole shooting, seven hours a day, so I wouldn’t wrinkle my dress. They’d say to me, ‘Mae, aren’t you tired?’ But I didn’t let myself get tired.”
• • Charlotte Chandler wrote: Mae West said: “I’d say to myself, do I want to look my best for my public that expects it of me? Or would I rather sit down? That wasn’t any choice.”
• • Charlotte Chandler wrote:  “I was always indefatigable. I never knew exactly why. I always had this extraordinary energy that I had to do something with. They only just found out that I had a double thyroid. Always had it, but I didn’t know it. Maybe that’s been the source of my energy, especially my sex energy.“
• • Mae West said: “They said I had a double thyroid.” • • ...
• • This long and fascinating interview will be continued tomorrow.
• • Source: AnOther Magazine; published  Autumn—Winter 2009 issue; rpt on Wednesday, 27 May 2020.    
• • On Saturday, 19 August 1939 • •

• • It is rather difficult to see what Mae West or her advisers could detect in the famous Russian Empress which made her suitable for a Western impersonation. It is true that she was no angel and had a habit of inviting her male favorite for the time being "to come up and see her sometime." Anyhow, whatever the attraction or illusion may have been, Miss West seems to have abandoned the project.  ...
• • Source:  Article: "News of Mae West" rpt in The Advertiser (Adelaide); published on Saturday, 19 August 1939.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Exploited smartly, "Belle of the Nineties" should do Golden Mae West business even though repeat bookings may or may not be so abundant.  
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: “The curve is mightier than the sword.”
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • Playbill mentioned Mae West.
• • “Badass: Sex, Music, and Making Mae West” • •
• • Emily Skinner will offer songs that Mae performed in her 75-year career and will detail why Mae West serves as the perfect guide to everything you’d ever need to know about life. …
• • Source: Playbill; published on Monday, 19 August 2019
• • 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 16th 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 4,500 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started fifteen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 4,543rd 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 • • onstage in 1943  • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest

Mae West: Undress for Men

Despite all you think you know about MAE WEST, there’s always something new. Did you know that Mae West admitted she dressed for women and undressed for men, for instance? 
• • This intimate interview with Mae West was first seen in 2009. This is Part 19 of 29 parts.
• • From the Archive: A Candid (and Entertaining) Interview with Mae West • • 
• • Mae West asked: “Do you have something to hide?” • •    
• • Charlotte Chandler wrote:  Mae West continued: “Never? Oh, that’s a shame. You’d look good fixed up. Remind me before you leave. I can let you have some powder and lipstick.”
• • Charlotte Chandler wrote:  She noticed the Hermès scarf tied around my neck. “Is that scarf because you’re cold,” Mae asked, “or do you have something to hide?”
• • Charlotte Chandler wrote:  I took it off. “That’s better,” Mae said. “Now, if you’d unbutton a few buttons ... Men like it if you show them a thing or two. I dress for women and undress for men.”

• • Charlotte Chandler wrote:  Mae West continued: “I can smell you’re telling the truth about smoking, because if you smoked, your clothes and hair would smell from it, especially your hair. You know, I never liked being touched by a man who smoked.”
• • Mae West said: “I was sorta tired” • •  . . . 
• • This long and fascinating interview will be continued tomorrow.
• • Source: AnOther Magazine; published  Autumn—Winter 2009 issue; rpt on Wednesday, 27 May 2020.     
• • On Tuesday, 6 August 1912 • •
• • In 1912 a teenage Mae West was invited to perform again at Hammerstein's Victoria. The singing comedienne was booked for a week-long engagement that began on Tuesday, 6 August 1912.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Mae West is driving around these days in a bullet-proof steel car.  (Those threats, you know.) 
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "Everyone else that gets in the money out here buys a forty-room house, hires a dozen servants, and gets ritzy. But not me. I'd be lonesome."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • Hollywood's "Secret Police" • •
• • On several occasions, members of my Hollywood squad have been assigned as twenty-four-hours-a-day guards to certain stars who have been threatened.
• • During Mae West's recent court case, when she gallantly defied kidnap and death threats and testified against gangsters who had robbed her, one of my investigators lived in her house, rode in her car and guarded her on the set, itself, for weeks.  . . .

• • Source: Motion Picture; published in their August 1934 issue
• • 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 16th 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 4,500 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started fifteen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 4,534th 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 • • cigarette pose in 1933 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest

Mae West: Not Flippant

Despite all you think you know about MAE WEST, there’s always something new. Did you know why Mae felt it was pretty serious work discovering what’s funny, for instance? 
• • This intimate interview with Mae West was first seen in 2009. This is Part 16 of 29 parts.
• • From the Archive: A Candid (and Entertaining) Interview with Mae West • •
• • Mae West insisted  she's not a flippant person • •   
• • Mae West insisted: “I’m not a flippant person. There was a lot of serious reflection in what I said.” Mae added: “I hope you’re going to show me that way in what you write. You know, there was always something going on in my head. My head was always working.”

• • Charlotte Chandler wrote:  Mae West continued: “Did I have a serious side? Both sides of me are serious. It’s pretty serious finding what’s funny. I worked a lot during the Depression, and I understood it was important people laughed so they wouldn’t cry. There were people jumping out of windows. There were people selling apples on the corners who’d never before had anything to do with an apple, except eating it. Guys who had seats on the stock exchange had seats on buses, driving them – if they were lucky.”
• • Mae West, who once owned swan ashtrays, now said no one could smoke • •   . . .    
• • This long and fascinating interview will be continued tomorrow.
• • Source: AnOther Magazine; published  Autumn—Winter 2009 issue; rpt on Wednesday, 27 May 2020.     
• • On Thursday, 3 August 1944 • •
• • "Catherine Was Great" opened on Wednesday, 2 August 1944. Reviews appeared soon after.
• • The Herald Tribune reported on Thursday, 3 August 1944: "Mae West came to Broadway last night, decked out like a battleship in a swimming pool."
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Mae West discovered a little eating place near San Fernando Valley. She liked it and went there often. Recently, the woman who operates the place was told to vacate, because of a non-payment of a mortgage. Mae found out, paid off what was left, and handed the deeds to the woman.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said:  "'Why shouldn't I have paid off her diner's mortgage? I wanted to keep on eating there, didn't I?"  
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • The Argus mentioned Mae West. 
• • "Marriage of Mae West — Court Order Sought" • •
• • Miss West admitted early this month that she had married Mr. Wallace in 1911, but denied that she had ever lived with him. Mae West alleged that he had married again without having obtained a divorce from her. Mr. Wallace brought an action to compel Miss West to admit their relationship and divide their community property, which, he said, exceeded £20,000.  ... 

• • Source: The Argus [Australia]; published on Friday, 30 July 1937
• • 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 16th 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 4,500 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started fifteen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 4,531st 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 • • her typewriter in 1959 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest

Mae West: Minnesota

Handsome men in Minnesota are still calling your name, MAE WEST.
• • Veteran lit-critic Dave Wood is feeling a might cranky, though. And he hasn't even noticed the totally hideous Photo-shopped book jacket with the goony mackerel lips. [Or has he?]
• • Dave Wood writes: Do we really need another biography of Mae West? Apparently Simon and Schuster thought so, because they’re just out with “She Always Knew How: Mae West, a Personal Biography” by Charlotte Chandler [March 2009].
• • I’d call it “A Personal Hagiography” because Chandler finds Mae West to be absolutely flawless, loyal, loving, generous to a fault. Even more irritating, Chandler is one of those biographers with a memory that’s flawless.
• • She quotes the actress endlessly, long, long quotes that are perfectly constructed and obviously never came out of Chandler’s tape recorder.
• • Can’t these pop biographers figure out some other way to enliven their dull subjects in some way other than highlighting interviews with quotations that probably weren’t ever uttered?
• • I’ve ranted long enough. But if you want to know more of what I think about biographies of long dead film stars, come up and see me some time.
• • Dave Wood is a past vice president of the National Book Critics Circle and former book review editor of the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Phone him at (715) 426-9554.
— — Source: — —
• • Column: "Dave Wood's Book Report, June 10, 2009"
• • Byline: Dave Wood | Critic
• • Published in: The Red Wing Republican Eagle [in Red Wing, Minnesota 55066] — — www.republican-eagle.com
• • Published on: 10 June 2009
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
________
Source:http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • none • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest
NYC
Mae West.

Mae West: Read All Over

Books about MAE WEST, revivals of her plays, reverberations of her witticisms, impersonations — — the public dialogue about the Brooklyn bombshell still wends its way through the traffic of noisy reviews, bell-ringing blogs, clamorous articles, toots and tweets. Though other twinkles have gone out, her light shines on.
• • Within the vague infinitude that is the West Coast, many admirers are still buttoned to Mae's glory days. And some Californians will boldly let you know they have read the books, seen the movies, cherished the souvenirs, kept one votive candle lit.
• • In the Castro, they are a bit more careful with their cadences — — weighing the texts, deciding which are too reverent, or too lax, or merely too content to wrap the comedienne in a mythic haze.
• • The Bay Area Reporter's critic Robert Julian has much to say, and now it's his voice you will hear.
• • Robert Julian writes: It remains to be seen if the world will seek out yet another Mae West biography, especially after Emily Wortis Leider's definitive Becoming Mae West [NY: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1997 hardcover; Da Capo Press, 2000 paperback]. Emily Leider's work favored social anthropology and intellectual analysis over anecdotal recollection. But author Charlotte Chandler's She Always Knew How relies almost exclusively on anecdotes, supplemented by material from an interview Chandler had with West in 1980.
• • The blessing of Chandler's work is the opportunity to hear the gospel according to Mae, exactly as it was articulated by the star shortly before her death at the age of 87. Some of the Westian gems include statements like, "In my whole life, I've never envied anyone. I was too busy thinking about myself." When confronted with the fact that she was not a good student, West acknowledges, "I'm not very grammatical, because I'm only a third-grade graduate. And I didn't exactly graduate. I sort of retired from it."
• • Mae West opted for a childhood spent on vaudeville stages. After puberty forced a hiatus, West crafted her bawdy adult stage persona and forged a career in the theater via self-penned theatricals that placed her at the center of various sexual shenanigans. Success in Hollywood films began in 1932, when West was almost 40. And there is no disagreement on one point: West's films single-handedly saved Paramount Studios from bankruptcy.
• • Chandler's book contains nothing critical about Mae West. But Leider's biography surfaced the "ungrammatical" star's practice of appropriating words written by others and working them into her plays and screenplays without credit. Chandler gets high marks for readability, propelled by West's own Brooklynese delivery. The most interesting parts of Chandler's biography may be the last decade of West's life, when she returned to the screen in the films Myra Breckinridge (1970) and Sextette (1978).
• • The material relating to West's final foray into motion-picture history benefits greatly by quotations from those who participated in the films or witnessed their creation. At the age of 85, West cast herself in Sextette opposite leading man Timothy Dalton, who was 34 at the time. West believed that at 85, she looked just as she looked at 35, and therefore she was — — at least in her eyes — — the perfect object of desire for any man in his 30s.
• • Obsessed with physical perfection, West's last great love was bodybuilder/ chauffeur/ lover/ companion Paul Novak, who spent the last 25 years of the star's life living in her Hollywood apartment. It was originally a lust match — — one that eventually became a quiet love story. Chandler treats her subject with respect, and offers a believable presentation of a movie star whose carefully crafted image made her a proponent for female sexual liberation. The only question that remains unanswered is why Chandler waited almost 30 years from the time of her interview with West to turn the material into a biography. It may be a moot point, but this reviewer would love to know the answer.
— — Source: — —
• • Book Review: "Way of the West"
• • Title: She Always Knew How: Mae West, a Personal Biography by Charlotte Chandler; NY: Simon and Schuster, 2009
• • Byline: Robert Julian | Critic
• • Published in: The Bay Area Reporter Bay [395 Ninth Street, San Francisco CA 94103] — — www.ebar.com
• • Published in: Issue: Vol. 39 / No. 23 / 4 June 2009
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
________
Source:http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • none • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest
NYC
Mae West.

Mae West: Punchy

It's quite tempting to memorialize one or two of the famous palookas whose good looks and midnight maneuvers (temporarily) knocked out MAE WEST.
• • There are enough boxing bio-pics onscreen during the flag-draped weekend of May 30th — 31st that, inevitably, thoughts turn to the handsome (former) heavyweight champion of the world Jack "Manassa Mauler" Dempsey [24 June 1895 — 31 May 1983], who died at the end of May and wooed the actress during 1921 when she was performing in "The Mimic World of 1921."
• • However, the blog is in arrears when it comes to posting reviews on books written about Mae West. And so we make way for these jottings from the British critic Phil Bloomfield.
• • Phil Bloomfield writes: Mae West famously invited people to “come up and see me some time.” Well, the author [Charlotte Chandler] of this book did just that — — and took with her a tape recorder to capture the reminiscences of Mae West shortly before her death.
• • This, then, is a collection of those recordings, arranged chronologically and interspersed with brief, non-critical linking passages and summaries of some of her more successful plays and films.
• • Little in the way of thoughtful analysis . . . • •
• • It offers little in the way of thoughtful analysis of Mae West’s contribution, reading more like a ghosted celebrity autobiography than a serious addition to the film studies canon.
• • However, having said that, it does offer insights into the character and history of one of the more colorful characters to emerge from vaudeville into the Hollywood spotlights.
• • The Mae West character was an invention of May West, a spirited daughter of a Brooklyn immigrant family, who changed her name a little and then developed and honed herself on the variety stage, in a similar fashion to the pre-movies Marx Brothers.
• • Mae West’s character creation was a sexy brassy blonde, wisecracking with double entendres, and with a serious love of diamonds. She was the author of many plays featuring this character; some were very successfully produced on Broadway. One of them, Diamond Lil, had a sell-out run in London. Her first play, Sex, was judged to be an immoral theatrical performance, so West was sentenced to either a $500 fine or ten days in prison [sic].
• • She chose the latter, thinking it might provide material for a future play. It did give her huge publicity, which she built on in moving to Hollywood in the 1930s. There she made a dozen movies, of variable quality and success, including My Little Chickadee with W C Fields. She refused to allow anyone else to write her lines in these movies, thus maintaining the illusion of her character. The book gives few clues to Mae West’s real love life behind her blousy creation: she was married once early on, but unlike Monroe did not give it a second try [sic]; she did have two long-time devoted men friends who lived with her, although with separate beds, and who appear to have been gofers and fixers, or possibly bodyguards. And what about her famous collection of diamonds, given as gifts? The book ends with a sad little anecdote suggesting that she didn’t receive them all from admirers, but bought many of them herself.
— — Source: — —
• • Book Review: “She Always Knew How" by Charlotte Chandler (Simon & Schuster, 2009)
• • Byline: Phil Bloomfield, Oxford Times Book Critic
• • Published in: The Oxford Times — — www.oxfordtimes.co.uk
• • Published on: 28 May 2009
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
________
Source:http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • none • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest
NYC
Mae West.

Mae West: Mink-Gloved

As the long-term film critic of The Los Angeles Times, Kevin Thomas had ample opportunities to chat with MAE WEST and come up and see her. Only Kevin knows how much the screen legend revealed about her parents' carefully cultivated underworld connections.
• • Both Matilda and Jack West had on-gong dealings with gangsters, fixers, con men, murderers, bootleggers, thugs, and ward heelers — — shady associates who could also be helpful in furthering "Baby Mae's" vaudeville career. In 1907, when Hal Clarendon accepted Mae into his Brooklyn stock company [incorporated by 15 April 1907 when Mae was 13 years old], it was because he "respected Mae's connections" to a handsome mobster who was gunned down by a crime boss five years later.
• • Did Mae West's recollections roam over the names of racketeers and other rough spots when she and Kevin Thomas were taking tea on North Rossmore? Did the actress reveal how much of her Bowery drama "Diamond Lil" [filmed as "She Done Him Wrong"] was inspired by the jailbirds and career criminals her Dad clubbed around with? The blue-eyed writer-actress was already comfortable with convicts when she moved into shoot-out central, the mob-controlled hotel on West 54th Street where she wrote the play in 1927. But let's move on.
• • On Monday evening, 23 February 2009, both Kevin Thomas and Charlotte Chandler were panelists at UCLA, and now his mink-gloved summation of her biography has been printed. His gentle-handed and sufficiently tactful assessment appears below.
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
• • Kevin Thomas writes: Charlotte Chandler's gift at getting legendary show business figures to open up about themselves is unique. For "She Always Knew How," Chandler not only got the last major interview with Mae West — — not long before her death in 1980 at 87 — — but also what is almost certainly the most extensive interview West ever gave.
• • It's not that "She Always Knew How" is full of surprises, but that its depth and breadth brings West to life as thoughtful, caring, and reflective, a woman of resilient character, self-knowledge and shrewdness in regard to human nature and in sustaining a career over eight decades.
• • As is well known, West had an extraordinarily close and loving relationship with her Bavarian-born mother Matilda, whose parents forbade her to go on the stage. As a result, she encouraged her daughter. Here, West talks at length about her mother's unstinting confidence in her; Matilda saw her daughter triumph on Broadway with the iconic "Diamond Lil" in 1928, but she died [in January 1930] before West went on to conquer Hollywood.
• • West is candid about how her mother's focus on her exacted a price on both her younger sister, Beverly, who also had theatrical dreams, and, to a lesser extent, on her younger brother, John. Born in 1893, West began performing in lodge halls in her native Brooklyn at the age of 5 and in time became the key support for her entire family, which she remained for the rest of her life.
• • She made no bones about being less close to her father John West, who acquired some renown as the prizefighter Battlin' Jack. Yet in talking to Chandler, West discovers that she had more feelings for him than she realized, crediting him for being a loving and attentive father. Surely, it's significant that West was always attracted to rugged men like her father — — especially boxers and wrestlers. She emphasizes the comfort in which she and her siblings were raised; apparently, Matilda got some financial assistance from relatives because John West was no great shakes as a breadwinner.
• • • • Underworld Contacts • • • •
• • Chandler leaves it to other biographers to reveal that Matilda ultimately ran a roadhouse; she's more interested in West's sense of self. But there's no question that the underworld contacts Matilda developed would prove crucial to her daughter's success.
• • To friends, West could be very open about her relationship with the notorious gangster Owney Madden, a key backer in her original "Diamond Lil" production. Through him, she came to know George Raft — — then one of Madden's drivers — — and Raft was instrumental in getting Paramount to bring her to Hollywood to appear in his picture "Night After Night" (1932).
• • West has often been credited with saving Paramount in the depths of the Depression with her pre-Production Code classics "She Done Him Wrong" and "I'm No Angel," which, in turn, made Cary Grant, her leading man in both films, a major star. By 1935, she had become the highest-salaried woman in the nation.
• • The enforcement of the code in 1934 gradually undermined her screen career, but West soldiered on, returning to Broadway in 1944 with the play "Catherine Was Great." [She also revived "Diamond Lil" on Broadway in 1949.] In the 1950s, she conquered the nightclub circuit performing with a chorus line of bodybuilders, wrote her memoirs and never really retired.
• • West often spoke positively about Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley but never in such detail as she does to Chandler. These remarks are among the most poignant in the book. She recognized that both Monroe and Presley were sex personalities — — she adroitly called herself "a sex personality" rather than a sex symbol — — and she lamented that they allowed others to have power over their lives and careers. Early on, she sought Presley out to give him encouragement, but came to believe that he was too insecure to enjoy his success. She could have costarred with him in the circus picture "Roustabout" but was amazed and disappointed that he didn't have the power to guarantee that she could write her part for herself.
• • West was always her own creation, writing or adapting all her own material. "From the time I was a little girl I loved every minute of the success," she says here, "and it felt more wonderful than I could have imagined."
• • Kevin Thomas reviews movies for The L.A. Times.
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
— — Source: — —
• • Book Review: 'She Always Knew How' by Charlotte Chandler
A thoughtful biography of Mae West that benefits from a detailed interview the author had with West not long before she died.
• • Byline: By Kevin Thomas [longtime film critic for The Times]
• • Published in: The Los Angeles Times — — www.latimes.com
• • Published on: 16 April 2009
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
• • Mae-mavens will recall what happened on 18 April 1969 — — Mae and one of her black monkeys appeared on the cover of Life Magazine, an arresting bedroom image for sure.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
________
Source:http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • none • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest
NYC
Mae West.

Mae West: Bartlett's Way

Why take the trouble to analyze a new biography when you can simply quote some of your favorite lines by MAE WEST?
• • New York Post critic Mackenzie Dawson does just that, turning in copy that sounds not unlike Bartlett's compendium of wit and wisdom.
• • Here is the unvarnished Empress of Sex entertaining a latter day visitor who confesses to cupboards bare and insufficient sparklers.
• • "Do you know my idea of a wonderful time? Sex and chop suey."
• • The best part of the new Mae West biography, "She Always Knew How" by Charlotte Chandler, isn't her well-known life story, but verbal gems like these. The voluptuous Brooklyn-born actress, who died in 1980, held court in a series of interviews with the author (a woman West pities for her lack of diamonds). Besides her best known quips "the best way to get over someone is to get under someone"; "I've climbed the ladder of success, wrong by wrong" the excellent Ms. West shares her thoughts on, well, just about everything.
• • On serving jail time for indecency: "I was told I could pay the fine and get out of going to jail, but I made up my own mind. I decided it would be more interesting to go to prison. I was always fascinated by prisons and mental institutions . . . I wasn't going to be deprived of that experience. I saw those as ten very valuable days, a kind of working vacation."
• • On sex: "Honey, sex with love is the greatest thing in life. But sex without love that's not so bad, either."
• • On independence: "I made up my mind very early that I would never love another person as much as I loved myself. Maybe that sounds selfish to you. But I saw what a mess a lot of other people could make of their lives when they're smitten . . . they find a person who they think holds the key to their happiness . . . they don't understand they're the ones who give the other person that power."
• • On the stock market: "I didn't have money in stocks because that kind of paper didn't seem real to me. I always liked investing in things I could see and touch and enjoy. The country was on the gold standard. I was on the diamond standard. If the market in diamonds fell out of bed, I could always wear them. They'd always be just as beautiful."
• • On children: "I knew I didn't want children. When I was a little girl, I wanted a doll. But I knew that a doll wasn't a baby. You can just put your dolly away when you don't feel like playing that game anymore. But I don't think I was meant to be a mother. I don't think a woman should have a baby unless she's prepared to love that baby more than she loves herself."
• • On monogamy: "I found one man who had beautiful hair, another had great muscles, and another one . . . ummm. I didn't see why I should deprive myself of anything, so a lot of men was better for me than just one man. That way I could enjoy what was great about each one, but I wasn't tied to him."
• • On alcohol: "I have a theory that people drink because they're bored, bored with themselves, even more with other people. So they drink, and after drinking, they bore everyone else."
• • On seeing spirits: "I started seeing other men, all dressed in clothes from some earlier time. They spoke in 'thees' and 'thous,' and I couldn't understand why they came to me. Some kind of mistake in traffic signals, maybe."
• • She Always Knew How
• • by Charlotte Chandler [Simon & Schuster]
— — Source: — —
• • “The Wonderful Wisdom of Mae West”
• • By: Mackenzie Dawson
• • Published in: The New York Post — — www.nypost.com
• • Published on: 22 March 2009
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
________
Source:http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • none • •
NYC
Mae West.

Mae West: Blush-worthy?

Here's another drive-by scattershot embrace of the latest book on MAE WEST — — the hardcover with that dreadfully Photoshopped dustjacket, a retouched image that makes Mae's lower lip look like something you bait a hook with.
• • Tsk tsk.
• • And it is also sad to realize that the brief interval when BookReporter.com had insightful scribblers keeping abreast of new titles is over. No longer a model of narrative rectitude, BookReporter.com has current standards calibrated to the average soap opera fan.
• • Check out Bronwyn Miller's column below. Blush-worthy, cringe-inducing, gullible, inept? We demur — — you decide.
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
• • • • SHE ALWAYS KNEW HOW: Mae West — — A Personal Biography
• • • • Charlotte Chandler
• • • • Simon & Schuster [ISBN: 9781416579090]
• • As Mae West herself once proclaimed, “Some women know how to get what they want. Others don’t. I’ve always known how.” This epigram explains the title as well as the mindset of this very driven and singular woman. Charlotte Chandler, venerated biographer of Alfred Hitchcock, Groucho Marx and, most recently, Bette Davis, turns her keen eye to the life and career of one of the most iconic stars of Hollywood.
• • Born Mary Jane West in Brooklyn, New York, in 1893, she quickly found her calling, and it involved a stage, a spotlight and a receptive audience. Mae, who changed her name only slightly from the nickname of “May” for aesthetic reasons, was the first child of Matilda and Jack West. Jack was known throughout New York as “Battlin’ Jack,” a tough, no-nonsense neighborhood boxer who once laid a guy flat with one punch for merely looking at his young wife. Her parents wanted to give their talented daughter all they could and encouraged her to perform on the stage, which she did, with great success. She spent her formative years in variety shows, vaudeville tours and the burlesque circuit, literally growing up in front of her audience.
• • When she came of age, Mae decided that instead of fitting a rather voluptuous peg into a square hole, she would do far better if she wrote her own material. Thus, Mae West the playwright was born. Her first play, scandalously titled Sex, opened in 1926 and became something of a cause célèbre. Mae was convicted of obscenity and sentenced to 10 days in jail. She could have had her lawyer and soon-to-be lover persuade the powers-that-be to knock the sentence down to community service, but Mae felt it was more honorable to do her time — — and, of course, think of the publicity!
• • Years later, she commented, “They say censorship was my enemy, but I’m not so sure about that. Maybe censorship was my best friend. You can’t get famous for breaking the rules unless you’ve got some rules to break. Where would censorship have been without me? Like I always say, I made censorship necessary.” After that, there was no stopping her. Plays that tackled very tough, very modern issues continued until Hollywood came to call. There, as on Broadway, she called her own shots, never afraid to push the envelope.
• • Not only did her trademark sayings like “Come up and see me sometime” (which is actually a misquote from one of her early films) and that one-of-a-kind walk define her persona, Mae proved herself to be a rather acute arbiter of talent. She made sure that Cary Grant was cast alongside her in I’m No Angel, and she persuaded George Raft, a local tough she had known in New York, to come to Los Angeles to pursue acting, eventually becoming her leading man in Night After Night. She was always about the work and took it most seriously. If W.C. Fields turned up to the set of My Little Chickadee inebriated, West would promptly leave. “Sex and work have been the only two things in my life,” she once said, “… but if I ever had to choose between sex and my work, it was always my work I’d choose.”
• • But apart from the work and the men (amazingly, there were only a few really important men in her life), Chandler also divulges what a kind and generous woman Mae was — — always eager to sign an autograph (she kept extra photos in the car, just for this purpose), faithfully keeping up with her fan mail, answering most letters herself, and generously donating to local charities in need. Once, she donated her slightly used limousine to the local convent because she couldn’t bear “to see a nun waiting for the bus” and decided they need a little luxury, too.
• • Most of the stories in this book were culled from conversations Chandler had with Mae at her Ravenswood apartment in Hollywood the year before her death. Her recall is astounding, and her desire to protect her image is unmistakable: “I made up my mind very early that I would never love another person as much as I loved myself. Maybe that sounds selfish to you. It is. But I saw what a mess a lot of people could make of their lives when they are smitten. Some of them go temporarily insane. They find a person who they think holds the key to their happiness — — the only key to their happiness that exists. They don’t understand they’re the ones who give the other person that power. It’s like a fever. The person in that condition may ruin their own life, and the lives of others, as well.”
• • Both reader and author find it difficult to ascertain if Mae is all about protecting the image she carefully created over so many years, or if she really believes it. But with her trademark wit, she retorts, “Some people thought I ought to see a psychiatrist, but why spoil a good thing?”
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
— — Source: — —
• • “Review”
• • Written by: Bronwyn Miller
• • Published in: Bookreporter.com — — www.bookreporter.com
• • Published on: 20 March 2009
• • © Copyright 1996-2009, Bookreporter.com.
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
• • N.B.: We put the copyright line there so no one will think WE wrote this drivel.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
________
Source:http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • none • •
NYC
Mae West.

Mae West: Santa Barbara

Booksellers have suffered no shrinkage in sales when it comes to books about MAE WEST. In fact, a virtual Vesuvius of commentary has erupted over the latest biography on the Empress of Sex — — with Mae-mavens all fired up and full of fizz. Some regret the lamentable lopsidedness of the most current publication. Others bemoan the ill-conceived Photo-shopping of the book jacket — — the horrific digital twitching that turned Mae's lips and mouth into that of a constipated yak.
• • Writing for The Daily Sound in Santa Barbara, Terri Schlichenmeyer offers another perspective on the bi-coastal biographer and the late great Brooklynite.
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
• • This past winter, if you’re like most people, you spent a day or two at home on the sofa, curled up in a warm blanket, watching TV and nursing a cold.
• • When you’re sick, those daytime showings of black-and-white movies are quaintly perfect for recuperating. Some of them are even still funny.
• • In the new book “She Always Knew How” by Charlotte Chandler, you’ll read about the life of one star who made her first movie nearly 80 years ago.
• • Mary Jane West was born August 17, 1893 in Brooklyn to a father who was a boxer and “the most beautiful mother in the world.” Little May (later changed to Mae) was a pampered only child until she was 5 years old which, she believed, formed her strong personality.
• • Because May’s favorite toy was a stage that her father made for her, it was no surprise that she became a professional performer by age eight. Though she had tutors and attended school sporadically, “[e]ducation was … optional,” West said. Still, she learned racial tolerance from her parents at a time when Jim Crow laws were enforced, and she was a supporter of gay rights “before it was the thing to do …”
• • Retired at age twelve (because she was too “developed” to play children’s parts), West returned to the stage at age fourteen. At seventeen, she was married for “five-minutes” to a fellow performer, a nice boy from Queens, in a wedding that was kept secret for over 20 years.
• • Long before the marriage was revealed, West was famous — — in part, because of her time spent behind bars (in 1926) for the then-scandalous play “Sex” [sic].
• • In 1933, Mae West arrived in Hollywood with over thirty years of acting experience. So large was her draw at the movies that she claimed to have “saved” Paramount Pictures from “going down the drain” during the Depression. Her power was such that she once successfully had removed from the set a very inebriated W.C. Fields. Ever the visionary, West had her attorney and her agents work a provision into her contract that gave her residual payments for future showings of her films on a new medium called television. And she continued to make movies well into her eightieth decade.
• • Author Charlotte Chandler reportedly befriended Mae West just before the star’s death in 1980. This book, the result of interviews, is filled with oddly meandering and not-always-cohesive thoughts, memories that are viewed through multiple pairs of rose-colored glasses, strange scenarios (one, in which Chandler awkwardly wears black lingerie belonging to the almost-90-year-old West), and more tiresome bragging than I was almost able to bear.
• • It’s obvious that Mae West never lacked for self-confidence, so egregious is her boasting. No part of her body, including her teeth and her feet, escaped self-admiration. This overabundance of horn-blowing is simply no fun to read.
• • Stretch. Yawn.
• • There are better books about Mae West out there. Find one of those instead and take a pass on this one. “She Always Knew How” is no good, no how.
• • “She Always Knew How” by Charlotte Chandler
• • c.2009, Simon & Schuster — — 317 pages, includes index
— — Source: — —
• • “She Always Knew How” review
• • By Terri Schlichenmeyer
• • Published in: Santa Barbara, California's The Daily Sound — — www.thedailysound.com
• • Published on: 10 March 2009
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
________
Source:http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • none • •
NYC
Mae West.

Mae West: March Madness

Days away from the Ides of March, those who are mad about MAE WEST are tightening their toga and lifting up their voice to praise the czarina of the screen, not to assassinate her reputation.
• • Turner Classic movies selected Charlotte Chandler’s new work on Mae West — — “She Always Knew How” — — as their book of the month for March. Charlotte Chandler was the last person to interview Mae before she died in 1980, not long after her last motion picture “Sexette.” Mae told the blonde bi-coastal biographer: “Some women know how to get what they want. Others don’t. I’ve always known how!”
• • "Wisecracking West was clearly a figure to be reckoned with," notes critic Carol Crissey Nigrelli with admiration. [Instead of picturing Ms. Nigrelli in a Roman toga, however, we've selected this fanciful artwork by Adam Zyglis, whose talent runs the gamut from A to Z.]
• • Writing for The Buffalo News, Ms. Nigrelli weighs in on the latest tome devoted to the beloved screen queen born in Brooklyn, New York.
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
• • Carol Crissey Nigrelli writes: Mae West reigns as one of the great architectural wonders of the 20th century. Her zaftig figure inspired legions of late-night comics and female impersonators. Fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli, who badly misjudged the actress’ tiny waist measurement, made up for some ill-fitting dresses by creating a perfume bottle in West’s shape.
• • During World War II, British Royal Air Force pilots called their yellow inflatable life preservers “Mae Wests,” a homage that put her in the dictionary. Clearly delighted, the actress let it be known that “the dictionary is my favorite book.”
• • West’s figure helped her become a star, but her sexually veiled one-liners made her an icon. And in Charlotte Chandler’s “She Always Knew How: Mae West — A Personal Biography,” the Brooklyn-born actress once again beckons us, as she beckoned Cary Grant in his first starring role, to “come up sometime. See me,” (the original line).
• • In 1980, at the urging of director George Cukor, the 86-year old West came out of “interview retirement.” She graciously granted Chandler access to her Hollywood home even though she didn’t like to give interviews. “I’ve only got one of me, and I don’t want to get spread too thin,” she told Chandler.
• • We learn early on that West loved her mother, a Bavarian-born blond who once modeled corsets, more than anyone on Earth — including a man. She tells Chandler she kept her “five-minute husband” a secret for 20 years because her mother would have been “disappointed because I had married so young and heartbroken because I had lied to her.”
• • West’s marriage to her vaudeville song-and-dance partner in 1911 lasted all of two months, wasn’t revealed until Mae hit Hollywood, and dissolved in 1941.
• • From her very first meeting with Chandler it was clear that West would cede no territory in the screen siren department. The actress/legend showed up dripping in diamonds. Chandler writes her face “was nearly hidden by its mask of makeup, but her throat and decolettage revealed strikingly fair, soft, youthful skin.” At various times throughout the book, West attributed her creamy skin to shunning the sun, baby oil, good sex or her five-enemas- a-day routine.
• • She may have projected the image of a sexually liberated woman on the screen, but when it came to other vices, Mae West was a prude. She didn’t smoke, drink or curse and she didn’t tolerate such behavior in others, as W. C. Fields found out on the set of “My Little Chickadee” in 1940.
• • “I got it in my contract that if he came to the set drunk, they would remove him from the premises. It looked OK for a while, and then he turned up drunk,” West said. “I didn’t hesitate. I said, ‘OK, boys — — throw him out!’ ” After that, she said, Fields was “a marshmallow — — no sign of any liquor.”
• • Friends since their vaudeville days, both West and Fields hit Hollywood at an advanced age—by Hollywood standards. West was 38 when she left New York to begin her film career. Paramount Pictures, on the brink of bankruptcy, was counting on the wisecracking sexpot to duplicate her Broadway success in its films. Moguls may not have fully understood the actress’ exact path to fame, however.
• • In 1926, Mae wrote and starred in a play on Broadway titled, simply, “Sex” — — the story of a Montreal Madam who sacrifices “a clean, wonderful love” when she realizes she can never escape her past.
• • “Sex” played to full houses for a year, but moral crusaders eventually hauled her into court. West spent 10 days in jail on obscenity charges. She emerged a star.
• • True to form, West kept the West Coast censors working overtime in her very first film, 1932’s “Night After Night” starring her friend (and lover) George Raft. Mae’s small part, which she wrote, produced a celebrated line. When the hat-check girl exclaims, “Goodness! What beautiful diamonds!” Mae replies, “Goodness had nothin’ to do with it, dearie.”
• • West did indeed salvage Paramount in the 1930s. “They oughtta build a statue to me, at least a bust,” she deadpanned later. But her risque banter put her at odds with the mores of the time and it cost her professionally. “When I was a girl,” she told Chandler, “I understood right away that there was this double-standard thing for men and women, not just in sex, but in everything. A man’s world was one of freedom, a woman’s one of limitations. I believe in a single standard for men and women.”
• • “She Always Knew How” is Mae West’s story in her own words in the months before she died, with Chandler, who has written a number of celebrity biographies, providing enough narrative to keep the time-line flowing. The actors, directors and assistants who add anecdotes are “friendly witnesses” who speak of “Miss West” with great affection, so the perspective remains one dimensional.
• • But a vision of Mae West as delightful, kind, honest, giving, supremely confident, smart, savvy, relevant, and fearless is just as entertaining.
• • Maybe goodness has everything to do with it.
• • SHE ALWAYS KNEW HOW: MAE WEST — — A PERSONAL BIOGRAPHY
• • By Charlotte Chandler
• • Simon & Schuster; 302 pages
• • • • Under the name Carol Jasen, Carol Crissey Nigrelli is a member of the Buffalo Broadcasting Hall of Fame.
— — Source: — —
• • Book Review: "Wisecracking West was clearly a figure to be reckoned with"
• • Reviewer: Carol Jasen [aka Carol Crissey Nigrelli]
• • Published in: The Buffalo News — — www.buffalonews.com
• • Published on: 8 March 2009
• • Illustration of Mae West by: Adam Zyglis/ Buffalo News
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
________
Source:http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • Adam Zyglis, illustrator • •
NYC
Mae West.

Mae West: Notes & Quotes

Concluding our eye-witness coverage of the MAE WEST panel at UCLA on Monday evening, 23 February 2009, here are some fascinating close-ups collected by our West Coast correspondents and also our indefatigable Hollywood-based Mae mavens, who sat up front and took it all in.
• • The brother of the producer of "My Little Chickadee" was in the audience. He was 92.
• • It was made known that a certain fellow — — a devastatingly delicious Angeleno who sports a number of well-placed Mae West tattoos — — was widely photographed at the February 23rd maypole frolics at UCLA. [We wish we had a few those mouth-watering negatives to share.]
• • Our invaluable Hollywood spies have relayed a juicy slice of riveting refreshment.
• • February 23rd panelist Kevin Thomas remarked that Mae West wrote down quips as they came to her on anything nearby and them put them in her purse. He says Paul Novak left him an entire boxful of unused lines. That is fantastic. Kevin Thomas talked at length about Mae fan, collector, and friend, Dolly Dempsey. This was one of the few women Mae West admitted into her inner circle — — a woman for whom she had genuine affection. Kevin Thomas said she was holding Mae's hand when she passed away in 1980. In the 1970s, Dolly Dempsey said to Kevin Thomas: "She loves Paul Novak — — she just doesn't know it."
• • Our West Coast onlooker writes: On February 23rd, panelist Tim Malachosky's recollections were very mundane and trivial. Kevin Thomas said (incorrectly) that Tim was the closest person to Mae West who is still alive. However, I can think of at least three right off the top of my head who were much closer to her. It is fair to say that Tim Malachosky was Paul Novak's helper and little more than that. It would appear that Charlotte Chandler and Tim Malachosky had a kinship of some sort — — something very 'proper old lady-like' that seemed extremely out of place in what was supposed to be a Mae West environment.
• • Our West Coast onlooker adds: One unsettling moment was when Kevin Thomas recalled that whenever he saw Tim Malachosky at Mae West's place, he always offered him a ride back to Santa Monica — — and Tim always refused. Kevin Thomas said someone finally told him: "You don't know why he refuses? It's because Timmy wants to the last person Mae sees." When Thomas called Mae "pleasingly plump," Malachosky looked as though he had been mortally wounded.
• • February 23rd panelist Jonathan Kuntz gave a great slideshow with commentary and high quality images (although several were under incorrect titles and years). He spoke at length about censorship.
• • February 23rd panelist Dan Price was the one fellow who seemed to have known the real Mae West very well — — and so he must have been good looking back then. Dan Price told some very funny stories (that were met with bemused expressions from Thomas and Malachosky). For instance, Dan Price said that Mae West and Paul reminded him of the movie "Sunset Boulevard," in that often Novak would get into full chauffeur gear to drive her somewhere. Price also said he mentioned Mickey Hargitay to her (in the 1970s). According to Dan Price, Mae West said: "Something was wrong with that guy. Why would he want THAT, when he coulda had THIS!" — — and lifted her right breast out with great pride. The audience roared!
• • February 23rd panelist Marvin Paige rehashed all of the usual "Sextette" on-set stories, which are a very, VERY stark contrast to the Mae West who is speaking in Charlotte Chandler's book. I was going to ask about this — — in that they were on the same panel — — but I refrained from causing a very, very awkward moment.
• • All of the February 23rd panelists agreed that Mae West had extremely beautiful skin, the loveliest complexion, amazing hands, and a 'special aura' unlike any other they had ever known. I have heard this before. Even a very, very critical friend of mine (who met Mae West on several occasions) once told me, "She lit up a room. She had a special aura about her."
• • A February 23rd panelist stated that Mae was a night owl, and woke up at noon usually. Considering she was an older lady, I find that really, really cool.
• • Mae West's racier motion picture clips were shown (pre-censorship) and ONCE AGAIN, this audience seemed clueless. They even missed the obviously funny lines. Only when they saw a scene from "Every Day's a Holiday" — — when Mae West's cape turns into her backdrop/ curtain — — did they all bust out laughing. Hmmm. I never even knew that was supposed to BE amusing! Only later, when a not-so-funny Mae quip was repeated [that is, "a long gown covers a multitude of SHINS"] and this audience roared with laughter, did I finally realize these adults must have been regular attendees to any and all free UCLA events.
• • Our West Coast onlooker reveals: NO ONE appeared to have bought or read this book, which I thought was very interesting to note. I was the only one there who had Charlotte Chandler's book with me.
• • I was startled to notice that over one-third of the audience was asleep and happily snoring away. Only when Kevin Thomas or Dan Price said anything amusing, did it seem to revive the place somewhat. Even Charlotte Chandler appeared to be dozing off on occasion!
• • Unfortunately, there were not too many voyagers into Mae West's storied past on February 23rd. UCLA's promotion coordinators put forth a rather low-energy outreach and the auditorium (which can accommodate 278 listeners) was barely half-full for this free event.
• • The Mae West blog is grateful to these stalwart screen-lovers for their patience and their comments. This concludes our front-row coverage of UCLA's somewhat lukewarm toast to the icon of the 20th century — — the Brooklyn bombshell herself.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
________
Source:http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • none • •
NYC
Mae West.