Mae West: Nine and a Half Inches

"Beauty knows no pain" — — one saying not attributed to MAE WEST — — might have been muttered under her breath on numerous occasions.
• • The stage actress deals with illusions and perceptions. Since one of Mae's secrets was her height, barely five feet tall, this had to be carefully stage managed during every live show.
• • Most women will wear high heels to increase their stature. An insufficiently tall star must go one better, which led to some custom-made footwear with very high platforms. Though her evening slippers were usually disguised under gowns, and no one was the wiser, Mae's poor little feet surely took a beating. These made-to-order "performance shoes," worn in the mid-1950s during her Las Vegas years, measure a good nine-and-a-half inches high.
• • These shoes were received by the FIDM Museum as part of a large donation of footwear and Jule Park undergarments worn by Mae West. [Gift of Kevin Thomas in Memory of Dolly Dempsey.]
• • Located at 919 South Grand Avenue in downtown Los Angeles, the FIDM Museum is devoted to the exhibition and interpretation of dress and textiles. The FIDM collection focuses primarily on the 19th and 20th centuries, with an emphasis on American and European dress. When you're in California, come up and see FIDM sometime.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • Mae's shoes in 1953 • •
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Mae West: 22 November 1980

Mae West, whose 1926 Broadway play "SEX" is having a revival in a West Coast theatre this season, breathed her last on 22 November 1980. 

• • These somber moments are described by her biographer Jill Watts: 
• • Soon [Mae West's] personal physician arrived. He announced that nothing more could be done. [Paul] Novak summoned a priest from the church just down the block, who gave Mae a blessing. Only a few minutes later, at 10:30 A.M., Mae West passed away [at the age of 87 years old].
• • ... At [Stanley] Musgrove's urging, Paul Novak organized a private service. On the afternoon of November 25, 1980, one hundred of Mae's family, friends, and acquaintance gathered at Forest Lawn's Old North Church to memorialize Mae West.
• • ... That night Mae's body was flown home to Brooklyn, New York and the following morning Paul Novak and Dolly Dempsey arrived at Cypress Hills for the interment. Two priests and a bishop offered short prayers and blessed the casket.
 • • [Source: Mae West: An Icon in Black and White. Author: Jill Watts. NY: Oxford University Press, 2001.]

• • Her funeral was invitation only, at the Old North Church in Forest Lawn, Hollywood Hills, California. 100 mourners attended. Mae was laid out in a white negligee in an open casket. The lower half was covered in white roses. A Presbyterian minister characterized her as a "good woman," and that "goodness had everything to do with it," a play on her famous line. As mourners left, "Frankie and Johnny," the song she sang in Diamond Lil, was being played on the organ. 
• • [Source: Mae West page on "Find a Death" website.]

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• • Mae West was born on 17 August 1893 in Brooklyn, NY.
• • Mae West died on 22 November 1980 in Los Angeles, CA. 
• • The Empress of Sex lives forever in our hearts.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/________ Source:http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml
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Mae West.