Mae West: Wrong Pix in Cineaste

Cineaste printed a tribute to MAE WEST, erroneously posting a teenage photo of Clara Bow [1905–1965] taken in 1921 by Nickolas Muray and labeling Clara as “young Mae.” The piece is fully available to subscribers (who, I hope are pointing out the incorrect picture). Since Cineaste called Mae “a ghost in the room,” their selection of a wrong picture is even more ironic. This excerpt is Part 1 of 5.
• • Playing Her Script Their Way: A Reconsideration of Mae West • •
• • J. E. Smyth wrote: [Writing about the 1941 film The Lady Eve, Barbara] Stanwyck’s Jean has a foolproof way to deal with the rich guy who is immune to her charms—she trips him and literally picks him up. The rest is history.

• • J. E. Smyth wrote: But, on reflection, so is Mae West—for she’s the ghost in the room, the woman who taught all those other broads how to make an impression on a guy.
• • J. E. Smyth wrote: None of them have Mae West’s beauty or strategically placed assets or any dialogue, but they know the moves and make the most of them—to no avail.
• • Mae West: Over the top charm • • …
• • This will continue on the next post with Part 2.   
• • Source: Cineaste, Vol. XLVII, No. 1; published in Fall 2021.
• • On Saturday, 11 January 1930 • •
• • According to a letter dated on Saturday, 11 January 1930, Colonel Jason S. Joy, Director of the Studio Relations Office of the AMPP, discouraged Universal against hiring Mae West.
• • The play went through "formula," i.e., was scrutinized according to the Production Code, on 22 April 1930, when Paramount was considering adapting it for the screen.
• • On 19 October 1932, Will H. Hays, head of MPPDA, wrote to Paramount President Adolph Zukor, stating that Diamond Lady and Diamonds, the suggested film titles, had both been rejected because "changing the title [of the play] is not enough." ...
• • Source: Excerpt from: AFI Catalog of Feature Films — The First 100 Years, 1893–1993; undated.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Compared to Brando, Beatty or Granger, Mae West was a paragon of the Protestant work ethic. Few worked harder in Hollywood. Her famous sexual innuendo and throw-away style were the products of much rewriting and rehearsal.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "I take it out in the open and laugh at it."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • A fan letter appreciated Mae West.
• • Mae West deserves an unholy halo for her work in "I'm No Angel." She proves that she may and can get her man if she so desires.
• • She flaunts her diabolic plumage in no unmistakable manner, leading willing victims to her shrine. And we are quite surprised to find a tear mingled with our laughter. …
• • Fan letter written by: Lenore Bolger, Grand Rapids, Mich.
• • Source: Photoplay Magazine; published in the issue dated for January 1934
• • 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 17th anniversary • • 
• • Thank you for reading, sending questions, and posting comments during these past seventeen years. Not long ago, we entertained 3,497 visitors. And we reached a milestone recently when we completed 4,800 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started seventeen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 4,906th blog post. Unlike many blogs, which draw upon reprinted content from a newspaper or a magazine and/ or summaries, links, or photos, the mainstay of this blog is its fresh material focused on the life and career of Mae West, herself an American original.

• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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• • Photo: • • Mae West • • in 1928 • •
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Mae West: Bert Leighton

Bert Leighton received credit for writing the version of "Frankie and Johnny" sung by MAE WEST in "She Done Him Wrong" [1932]. This folksong is much older but it seems that he and his brother contributed some original material most suitable for the Lady Lou character.
• • Born in Beacher, Illinois on 28 December 1877, Bert Leighton was a composer and vaudeville song and dance man who collaborated with his brother Frank Leighton.
• • Supposedly, the 1912 version of "Frankie and Johnny" by the Leighton Brothers and Ren Shields identified "Nellie Bly" as the new girl to whom the roving Johnny has given his heart.
• • Bert Leighton died of cancer in San Francisco, California in the month of February — — on 10 February 1964.
• • Iconic Tonic After Myra B's Bitters • •
• • Farrah Fawcett, who had a bit part in "Myra Breckinridge" [1970], which starred Mae West as Leticia Van Allen, was photographed a few years later in red swimwear for a 1976 poster that helped make the "Charlie's Angels" actress an instant sensation. That one-piece bathing suit was just donated to the Smithsonian's popular culture history collection.
• • Op-Ed columnist Meghan Daum writes: And while Farrah Fawcett could probably have worn a grocery bag and still dominated the wall art of teenage boys' rooms everywhere, it's hard to imagine that a bestselling swimsuit poster these days would be such a no-frills affair.
• • Not that there's anything new about that. Sexiness just keeps getting sexier, or at least more revealing. Clara Bow, the first It Girl, in the 1920s, looks like a veritable librarian compared with her 1930s successor Mae West, who in turn seems positively matronly compared to the 1940s' Betty Grable, who might as well be invisible next to come-hither Marilyn Monroe and Brigitte Bardot ... [Source: L.A. Times, 10 February 2011, byline Meghan Daum].
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • 1932 • •
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Mae West: Eternally Edith

Born in the month of October, Edith Head is one of several costumers who whipped up wicked fashions for screen queen MAE WEST.
• • Still traveling the theatre circuit is the one-woman show "A Conversation With Edith Head" written by and starring Susan Claassen, who received her inspiration from a TV bio-pic about Edith Head.
• • The Oscar-winning designing woman Edith Head [28 October 1897 — 24 October 1981] once told an interviewer that "Mae West taught me everything I know about sex, clothes-wise." Claassen, as her alter-ego Head, dishes her dry-witted Hollywood dirt to the audience. The show has played in London's West End, at the Fringe Festival, and elsewhere.
• • Certainly Edith Head would have a lot to talk about since she spent six decades in Tinseltown. Over 40 years were at Paramount Pictures, where Edith Head dressed Mae West, Clara Bow, Grace Kelly, Audrey Hepburn, Bette Davis, and others.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • a costume design by Edith Head • •
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Mae West: The Star Museum

An intriguing museum not far from The White House and the Lincoln Memorial — — housing autographs and other curiosities linked to MAE WEST — — offers an exhibition this month with a vaguely Hallowe'enish theme: “Hell’s Belles!”
• • Owned and operated by Robert Weisfeld, The Star Museum features a galaxy of memorabilia tied to Tinseltown and the nascent film industry, especially silent screen luminaries.
• • Rarities preserved and displayed by Robert Weisfeld include unusual apparel and accessories such as Clara Bow's hat, Joan Crawford's elaborate black opera coat, Valentino's blue monogrammed handkerchief, and the bonnet Lillian Gish wore in D.W. Griffith’s "Birth of a Nation."
• • The current exhibit “Hell’s Belles,” which opened on 9 October 2009, runs until 30 October 2009. If you pass their picture windows this month, you will notice items related to New England's infamous axe assassin Lizzie Borden and murdered actress Sharon Tate, who was eight months pregnant when Manson family lunatic Susan Atkins killed her.
• • If you especially dote on silent screen stars, there is an eyeful here.
• • Where: The Star Museum [170 E. Main Street, Abingdon, Virginia] presenting “Hell’s Belles!” through October 30th; info: (276) 608-7452.
• • Featured: Mae West, Lizzie Borden, Jayne Mansfield, Sharon Tate, Janis Joplin, Marilyn Monroe, Vivien Leigh, etc.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • none • •
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Mae West: A New DVD

MAE WEST pops up onscreen again in a new DVD released this week.
• • The title is: "WHY BE GOOD: SEXUALITY & CENSORSHIP IN EARLY CINEMA" [Image, unrated, 2008] — — hey, hey, hey, this is hoo-ha central!
• • Accompanying this frisky footage is the actress Diane Lane, who narrates a breezy documentary that looks at the ways in which sexpots Mae West, Clara Bow, and Marlene Dietrich pushed the va-va-voom envelope in the days before Hollywood adopted proto-MPAA Production Code. Extras: None.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • none • •
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Mae West: West End

Edith Head is one of several fashion costumers who whipped up wicked fashions for screen queen MAE WEST.
• • Soon to be opening in London's West End (and how appropriate) is the one-woman show "A Conversation With Edith Head" written by and starring Susan Claassen, who received her inspiration from a TV bio-pic about Edith Head.
• • The Oscar-winning designing woman Edith Head [28 October 1897 — 24 October 1981] once told an interviewer that "Mae West taught me everything I know about sex, clothes-wise." Claassen, as her alter-ego Head, will be dishing her Hollywood dirt at the West End’s Arts Theatre this month. Previews begin 29 July. The run is scheduled from 31 July to 30 August 2008.
• • Certainly Edith Head would have a lot to talk about since she spent six decades in Tinseltown. Over 40 years were at Paramount Pictures, where Edith Head dressed Mae West, Clara Bow, Grace Kelly, Audrey Hepburn, Bette Davis, and others.
• • Arts Theatre: 6-7 Great Newport Street, West End, Greater London WC2H 7JB.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • Edith Head's design for Mae • •
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Mae West: Sexpot or Sex-bomb?

The Florida Times-Union did an article on "The Evolution of Sex Symbols" — — and MAE WEST was accorded her due as a bombshell and a sexpot. Encompassing both male and female sexpot types, the writers' categories included: Bombshells and Sexpots, The sex bomb, Bikini Babes, Flappers, The red-hot lover, The femme fatale, The girl next door, The gamine, Heroin chic chick, The bimbo, et cetera.
• • What's the difference between screen queens who are "bombshells and sexpots" versus "sex bombs"? Indeed we wondered, too. Read on.
• • Sex symbol surveyors David Bauer and Laura Capitano began by taking "stock of the bodies and souls that have seduced our imaginations over the years."
• • Bauer and Capitano wrote: Fads and fashions have always played roles in determining sex symbols. While physical attractiveness is about the only timeless quality, remnants of the categories from the early part of the 20th century are with us today. Instead of fading away and being replaced by a new genre, many of them continued and new ones were added, so many of today's sex symbols are amalgamations of one or more of the categories from the past.
• • Here's how they define "Bombshells and sexpots" — —
• • Little did the advertising people behind Jean Harlow's 1933 film Bombshell know their words would be ageless when they called her the "blond bombshell of filmdom." Harlow ushered in a new category of sexy starlet: Usually buxom, often blond, and frequently full-figured. Others — — like Mae West — — and, to a degree, Harlow, established a genre of sexual, defiant characters.
• • Examples: Mae West, Jean Harlow, Fay Wray, Joan Blondell, Marlene Dietrich, Greta Garbo.
• • Notice how their definition of "The sex bomb" — —
• • Although breathy, sensual, and screaming of sexuality, the Sex Bomb also had a clearly naive side. Although she would flaunt her beauty, she sometimes didn't even recognize her own sexuality.
• • Examples: Marilyn Monroe, Mamie Van Doren, Brigitte Bardot, Sophia Loren, Gina Lollobrigida.
• • Bauer and Capitano include Theda Bara and Clara Bow under their label "Vamps" — — and Norma Talmadge and Louise Brooks as "Flappers."
— — Source: — —
• • Article: "The Evolution of Sex Symbols"
• • Byline: DAVID C.L. BAUER and LAURA CAPITANO
• • Published in: The Florida Times-Union — — www.jacksonville.com
• • Published on: 13 April 2008
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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• • Photo: • • Mae West • • none • •
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Mae West: Dressed

The Scotsman printed an interesting article about the designer who dressed MAE WEST for the screen — — Edith Head.
• • Reporter Jackie McGlone wrote that "Edith Head believed modesty was unbecoming and that you could have anything you wanted in life, so long as you dressed for it. And, boy, did she know about dressing. The legendary designer saw all the Hollywood greats stripped down to their knickers (or even less), from Mae West and Audrey Hepburn to Robert Redford and Paul Newman."
• • Prolific Head had her finger in most movies, it would seem. During a 60-year career, Edith Head designed clothes for 1,131 films — — about 35 a year — — and dressed virtually every star who shimmered on screen in the golden age of film. She won more Oscars than the actresses she clothed.
• • According to Jackie McGlone:
. . . Always discreet about the size and shape of the stars' backsides, she knew about all the skeletons in their closets but she was never one to gossip, although she did reveal that full-figured Clara Bow was known as "a sausage," that Claudette Colbert was "mean-spirited," and that Barbara Stanwyck was "frumpy" until she took over her designs.
. . . Of course, Head knew what she was talking about — — she was, after all, the woman who knew the intimate secrets around Mae West's vast bosom, Gloria Swanson's wide waist and small feet (size two-and-a-half), and swan-necked Audrey Hepburn's broad shoulders. Which is presumably why she often boasted that she was a magician, who "accentuated the positive and camouflaged the rest". . . .
• • Read the rest for yourself: - http://living.scotsman.com/
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West dressed by Edith Head • • 1932 • •
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Mae West: April 1974

MAE WEST was prominently featured in the April 1974 issue of Ms Magazine. Their cover story — — "What Movies Have Done to Women" — — featured Hollywood blondes such as Mae, Jean Harlow, Carole Lombard, Ginger Rogers, Marion Davies, Alice Faye, Doris Day, along with non-blondes such as Clara Bow, Joan Crawford, Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich, etc.
• • Of all the blondes, Ms decided that Jean Harlow and Mae West were the most interesting — — and the Art Director filled three-quarters of a page with Mae's photo.
• • Ms noted that Mae West "swaggered from one artificial costume epic to another, writing her own scripts, and emanating her brand of vulgarity and ribald comedy. ..." Her nine films were "enough to convulse the censors."
• • Calling Mae a "self-styled drag queen," Ms concluded that it was not the actress's appearance that riled the censors but rather that Mae West "as author and star, controlled plots and manipulated males with the deftness of a puppeteer. ..."
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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• • Photo: • • Mae West • • in vaudeville • • circa 1916
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