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A very long article about MAE WEST and her career in Tinseltown appeared five years ago. It was written by Paul Phaneuf. Let's enjoy it together. This is Part 39.
• • Mae West: "I'm here to make talkies" or Censor Will vs. Diamond Lil • •
• • This entire scene was excised • •
• • Paul Phaneuf wrote: Suspected of murder, she was not indicted for lack of evidence; arrested for possessing stolen bonds, the bank president refused to prosecute; when a millionaire disappeared from his yacht on which she was the sole guest, she inherited some of his money, and was acquitted. This entire scene was excised. (However if you look closely at the opening of the film, as the camera pans over the crowd, you'll spot two newspaper headlines reading "Rudy Carter Innocent" and another "Grand Jury Frees Ruby Carter.")
• • Also cut was dialogue from her arrival in New Orleans on a paddle boat, regarding Mae receiving five male visitors to her cabin. In the revised version, the only surviving reference is heard when she disembarks and is being followed by a group of eager men. When asked by someone what all these men want, she answers "Give 'em all my address!"
• • tossed some garters out • • . . .
• • This was Part 39. Part 40 will appear tomorrow.
• • Source: Article by Paul Phaneuf in Films of the Golden Age Magazine; issue dated 5 November 2011. Used with permission.
• • On Thursday, 27 February 1936 • •
• • Joseph Breen wrote to Will Hays about Mae West and "KIondike Annie." His letter is dated for Thursday, 27 February 1936.
• • Newspapers were aware of the bickering and the chaos. The Los Angeles Herald printed a news story on page 4 about the censorship issues on Thursday, 27 February 1936. It was never easy being Mae West.
• • On Sunday, 27 February 1938 • •
• • On Sunday, 27 February 1938, in Perth Australia, their Sunday Times newspaper echoed the after-shocks of "The Chase and Sanborn Hour" in December 1937: Mae West's un-Scriptural portrayal of Eve in a national broadcast has aroused the wrath of hundreds of American women and infuriated the clergy. They are shocked because, instead of the serpent tempting Eve, as the Book of Genesis records, Mae West tempted the serpent.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Asserting that right is might, Frank Wallace today renewed his efforts to obtain a court order declaring him to be the husband of Mae West, motion picture star.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "It's time someone in Hollywood — — speaking very frankly — — showed what is known as intestinal fortitude. They threaten us in the picture colony under penalty of having acid thrown in our face. And they don't stop at acid threats either. They threaten to kill. It's time someone called their hand. And if it has to be me, I'll do it."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • A California daily mentioned Mae West.
• • Mae West Says Little on Row • •
• • (By Associated Press) HOLLYWOOD, Feb. 26. Mae West played a sphinx-like role today as the cross-country debate between Ernst Lubitsch, film producer, and Jim Timony, her business manager, subsided to a mere whisper.
• • The blonde-buxom star had nothing to say when she arrived home with Timony late yesterday after a short visit to Chicago.
• • She still had nothing to; say when Timony, at her apartment, asserted that "the trouble with Ernst Lubitsch is he's sore because he was dying to direct Mae, himself, in her last picture, and she wouldn't stand for it."
• • Lubitsch, replaced as production chief at Paramount studios, Miss West's home lot, declared at Chicago that dissension between the actress and himself occurred "over my insistence that she give Victor McLaglen a break In 'Klondike Annie'."
• • He added: "Miss West originally wrote the part and reduced him to a mere 'stooge'." Lubitsch said he would produce and direct three or four pictures a year for Paramount under the new arrangement. ...
• • Source: Article by Associated Press rpt in San Bernardino Sun; published on Thursday, 27 February 1936
• • The Mae West Blog celebrates its 12th anniversary • •
• • Thank
you for reading, sending questions, and posting comments during these
past eleven years. The other day we entertained 3,497 visitors. And we reached a
milestone recently when we completed 3,500 blog posts. Wow!
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started ten years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 3648th 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
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • in 1936 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest
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It was Wednesday on 15 January 1936 and MAE WEST was feeling an evil breeze ruffling her feathered boa.
• • Her ally Emanuel Cohen [1892 — 1977] had packed up his bags at Paramount, which started to feel as cozy and congenial as the North Pole under the new studio boss Ernst Lubitsch [1892 — 1947].
• • Before long Variety Magazine was reporting doom and gloom on Hollywood and Vine. According to Variety — — in their issue dated for 15 January 1936 — — Mae West had been warned that she must strictly follow orders and that Paramount's production chief would not tolerate any challenges or deviations. Several directors found letters to that effect in their mailboxes as well.
• • Mae West Quits Studio • •
• • By early March it was getting even more contentious. On 5 March 1936 The N.Y. Times carried this article, penned by an Associated Press stringer in Los Angeles: "Mae West Quits Studio — She and Paramount Accuse Each Other of Breaking Contract." The reporter began the story like this: HOLLYWOOD, Calif., March 5 (AP). — — Mae West and the Paramount studio jointly accused each other of voiding her movie contract today. Out of a welter of conflicting statements, only one fact seemed clear — — that she would make her next picture for another company. ...
• • There were fireworks but some amends would be made, eventually. "Klondike Annie" was released in the USA by Paramount on 21 February 1936, as planned, before Lubitsch came aboard. However, later the same year, "Go West Young Man" (released on 18 November 1936 in the USA) was made by Emanuel Cohen Productions (as Major Pictures Corp.) and only distributed by Paramount Pictures. The same arrangement was in place for "Every Day's a Holiday" [1937]. But then a final upheaval would take place in early 1938 and rob Mae of the warm familiar embrace of a major studio.
• • Mae is probably the first woman who dared to inform Ernst Lubitsch that "William Shakespeare had his style — — and I have mine."
• • William Beckley • •
• • Before she began scripting her own material, Mae West was invariably cast as an Irish maid in Broadway shows and revues.
• • Always one to make sure that as many extras were working as possible, Mae would boost the cast number for any project she was able to. If a leading lady typically had one maid in a scene, Mae would try to get more actresses on the payroll.
• • Certain actors, too, were often typecast as servants, valets, or hotel staff. For instance, William Francis Beckley, who played the desk clerk in "Sextette," is best known for his role as Gerard the butler in "Dynasty," the TV series.
• • William Beckley was born in London, England in mid-January — — on 15 January 1930. We wish him a very happy birthday today. He is 82.
• • On Saturday, 15 January 1938 in the N.Y. Times • •
• • Anyone passing a newsboy in New York City on Saturday morning on 15 January 1938 could see this page one headline on a New York Times: "Mae West Script Brings Sharp Rebuke from FCC." Of course, it was Arch Obler who penned the skit for NBC. Mae West only read it for the radio with her sultry overtones and was instantly demonized by the Roman Catholic organizations. The censors pressed in on her, tighter and more uncomfortable than her corset stays.
• • On Sunday, 15 January 2012 in Australia • •
• • The 24th Midsumma festival will run from Sunday 15 January to Sunday 5 February, 2012. 
• • "COURTING MAE WEST: Sex, Censorship, and Secrets" will be presented on Saturday, 28 January 2012 in Melbourne, Australia as part of the city's 24th Midsumma Festival. Based on true events during the Prohibition Era, LindaAnn Loschiavo's serious-minded comedy will be seen at this centrally located theatre: Chapel Off Chapel, 12 Little Chapel St, Prahran Melbourne, Australia.
• • WHAT: "Courting Mae West: Sex, Censorship & Secrets" — based on true events during the Prohibition Era
• • WHEN: Saturday, 28 January 2012 at 2.00pm
• • WHERE: Midsumma Playing-In-The-Raw at The Chapel [Melbourne, Australia]
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said this in "Courting Mae West" — a brief excerpt from ACT II, Scene 1
• • • BACKGROUND: It's October 1928 and TEXAS GUINAN visits MAE WEST's dressing room at the Royale Theatre to warn her that the NYC police will raid the premiere of "Pleasure Man" at the Biltmore Theatre and shut it down tonight. TEXAS advises MAE to manipulate the media by playing the downtrodden damsel in distress to evoke sympathy.
• • • MAE WEST: Mae West doesn’t do PATHETIC. (pause) Tex, what can be done to trouble-shoot this?
• • • TEXAS GUINAN: Honey-child, the problem with trouble-shooting is that, invariably, trouble shoots back.
• • • MAE WEST: Aww! My butterflies just went into battle formation. Diamond Lil goes on in thirty minutes. ...
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • An art review on the exhibition of a British artist mentioned Mae West.
• • Andrew Graham Dixon writes: The exhibition at Pallant House sets the seal on this sudden resurgence in his critical fortunes, establishing him as one of the more fascinatingly singular and darkly imaginative British artists of the 20th century. Burra’s most highly prized work has until now been that of his earlier career, when he was at his most determinedly peripatetic, travelling to Paris and the south of France, as well as Spain, America and Mexico. After each trip, he would return to his boyhood home in the quiet Sussex town of Rye (“Tinkerbell Town” he called it with affectionate mock-contempt), where he also kept a studio.
• • Andrew Graham Dixon notes: Most of his earlier pictures were created there — — wry, lightly caricatural portrayals of the diverse milieus to which the artist felt drawn. Les Folies de Belleville, of 1928, is Burra’s characteristically camp celebration of the joys of the Parisian music hall: a troupe of scantily clad dancers flaunt their sexuality with such grim, impersonal intensity, they might almost be a chorus line of robots.
• • Andrew Graham Dixon continues: An air of noontime ennui hangs over Dockside Café, Marseilles (1929), as one matelot flirts with a pair of predatory barmaids while another puffs at his cigarette with an expression of faintly menacing boredom.
• • Andrew Graham Dixon explains: In Mae West (1934 — 1935), the feather-crowned film star floats across acres of cheap patterned cinema carpet. A screen goddess, gracing her own premiere, she wears a voluminous white diamanté ball gown while flashing the pearly smile of Hollywood’s number one vamp.
• • “He loved naughtiness,” the jazz musician George Melly once observed of Edward Burra. “He enjoyed depravity and bathed it in a glamorous eccentric light.” The remark is true, up to a point. A great shift occurred in the artist’s work during the second half of the Thirties. ...
• • Source: Art Review: "Edward Burra, at Pallant House, Chichester, Seven magazine review" written by Andrew Graham Dixon for The Sunday Telegraph [UK]; published on 13 January 2012
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started seven years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 2178th 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
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • in 1930 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest
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Mae West.
MAE WEST, the price of a movie ticket, and the American economy were on the mind of a New York City film critic this week. 
• • Let's begin by saying that DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg is putting up a good front these days.
• • In his intriguing piece in The Village Voice, J. Hoberman writes: "More optimistically and historically," Jeffrey Katzenberg recalled, the motion-picture product "has actually been recession-proof." Optimistic? You bet: Back in 1930, Hollywood had considered itself "depression-proof," too.
• • For the American people, the first five years of the Great Depression — 1930 through 1934 — were the worst of times and the really worst of times. For the American movie industry, the period would also bring the worst of economic times. In another way, though, it was the best. The early '30s were the days of "Breadlines & Champagne," as Film Forum has dubbed its month-long, all-35mm celebration of the pre-Code, the Socially Conscious, and the Screwball — three manifestations of the richest period in Hollywood history.
• • Crisis may be stimulus to popular art — the Nixon years were great for movies as well — and the Great Depression created chaos for all. Busily rewiring their theaters for newly developed "talking pictures" and importing verbally adroit talent from the Broadway stage to make them, the Hollywood studios initially ignored the stock market crash. The crash, however, did not ignore them. The novelty of sound soon faded. By the end of 1931, the record motion-picture audience of the previous year was down by a third and falling. So were ticket prices. Production costs, however, had doubled.
• • Warner Bros., the studio that led the initially profitable shift to talking pictures, was now hemorrhaging money. Universal terminated hundreds of employees and would soon join RKO in receivership — followed by Fox and, in what was then America's second largest bankruptcy to date, Paramount. As movie houses darkened, exhibitors played exploitation angles, promoting double features, dish giveaways, and weekly lotteries called "bank nights" — which, as part of its retro, Film Forum plans to revive. By the time Franklin Roosevelt took office in March 1933, theaters were empty, production slates slashed, cash flow dried up. The industry was near collapse. But the product was better than ever.
• • Sound brought a new hyper-verbal cinema, racy, and insolent. The talkies also changed the nature of stardom.
• • (The great voices of the early 1930s are recycled to this day: Cagney, Hepburn, Peter Lorre, Groucho Marx, W.C. Fields, and Mae West.)
• • Hard times pushed desperate producers toward sensationalism. The studios ignored their own Production Code. Crime paid, so did sin. Street-smart criminals traded brazen double entendres with fast-talking chorines. Gangsters ruled the 1931-32 season; bad girls followed, as Variety estimated 80 percent of the pictures released in the 1932-33 season had a "sex slant." 
• • • • The biggest hit of 1933 • • • •
• • The trend peaked with Mae West, whose first feature, She Done Him Wrong, was the biggest hit of 1933, returning 10 times its production costs in North America alone and precipitating a national crusade to clean up the movies. Fittingly, "Breadlines & Champagne" opens with West's follow-up, I'm No Angel — selling tickets at the Depression price of 35 cents.
• • The movies of the early '30s were at once more naturalistic and more theatrical than silent movies — and, thanks to tight budgets and the exigencies of the double feature, far snappier. In addition to trafficking in sex and violence, talkies assimilated the vaudeville aesthetic of ethnic stereotype and crazy comedy, creating a rowdy new American idiom in which every other line seemed to include an appreciative "Swell!" or questioning "On the level?" Extravagant fantasies alternated with cynical realism. The period brought forth a remarkable number of enduring celluloid archetypes: Paul Muni's Scarface and Jean Harlow's Platinum Blonde, the Universal horrors Dracula and Frankenstein, Tarzan and King Kong, Betty Boop and even Mickey Mouse. The chaos (and lack of supervision) allowed filmmakers like Ernst Lubitsch, Josef von Sternberg, and Busby Berkeley to do their best work — unlike today, when every project is necessarily pre-sold and vetted.
• • "Breadlines & Champagne" [at New York's Film Forum] doesn't showcase the full range of early-'30s Hollywood, but it is particularly rich in "preachment yarns" — movies that trafficked in lurid topicality while expressing a measure of passionately confused social protest. ...
— — Excerpt: — —
• • Article: "Why Hard Times Won't Mean Good Times at the Movies Again — — Brother, can you spare $12?"
• • Byline: J. Hoberman
• • Published in: The Village Voice
• • Published on: Tuesday, 3rd February 2009
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
• • "I'm No Angel" is being shown as part of the 1930s series "Breadlines and Champagne," which will run from Friday February 6th through March 5 at the Film Forum, 209 West Houston Street, New York, NY 10014. Info and screentimes are available by phoning 212-727-8110 — — or by visiting www.filmforum.org online.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • 1933 • •
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