Mae West: Magnetic Force

Malcolm H. Oettinger profiled MAE WEST for Screenland. Since this interview has rarely been seen, let us enjoy it together. This is part 13 of 13, the final segment.
• • “Going West” • •   
• • Mae West: Mae is both child-like and age-old • •
• • Malcolm H. Oettinger wrote: She is childlike in some respects, age-old in her knowledge of the world.  

• • Malcolm H. Oettinger wrote: To her colored maid she is a masterpiece of all the virtues; to the stagehands she is regular; to her public she is all things to all people.  
• • Malcolm H. Oettinger wrote: She has the magnetism over crowds that Texas Guinan has, that Aimee McPherson once had, and that Billy Sunday surely had in his palmiest days.
• • Malcolm H. Oettinger wrote: Mae met Billy Sunday while making "She Done Him Wrong." They posed at a property bar drinking property beer.  
• • Malcolm H. Oettinger wrote: And it is not unfair to guess that Mae West was saying to evangelist and a temperance movement leader Billy Sunday, "We've both done well, according to our lights."
• • This vintage interview has now been concluded with the final post. Did you enjoy it? Tell us.
• • Source: Screenland; published in the issue dated for June 1933.
• • On Saturday, 11 May 1935 • •
• • Movie critic Andre Sennwald offered his review of "Goin' to Town," starring Mae West, to the readers of The New York Times on page 21 on Saturday, 11 May 1935.
• • On Friday, 10 May 1935, this new motion picture opened in Mae's hometown at the New York Paramount.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • If you are wondering what Alice Faye looks like, I can best describe her as being like a young Mae West.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "So the men rule the world and the women rule the men — — though they don't know it."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • A syndicated newspaper columnist mentioned Mae West.
• • Hedda Hopper wrote: Mae West is back in Hollywood for her night club act at Ciro's beginning Thursday.  
• • Hedda Hopper wrote: Mae has bought herself a new home in Santa Monica — — 20 rooms, eight bedrooms and eight baths. …  
• • Source: Hedda Hopper's syndicated Hollywood column rpt in Chicago Tribune; published on Tuesday, 10 May 1955
• • 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 4,900 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started seventeen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 4,991st 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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• • Be sure to bookmark or follow The Mae West Blog
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • filming "She Done Him Wrong" on Monday, 5 December 1932 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest

Mae West: Hats Away!

MAE WEST and millinery: what a delightful pairing.
• • In her memoir, "Goodness Had Nothing to Do With It," Mae West revealed that custom millinery had always been her passion and her only real extravagance (aside from diamonds and furs). “I sometimes take my hats out of the closet and amuse myself for an hour or so before a mirror.”  
• • Mae added, “Then I put them away again. It may have some psychological meaning. I have never bothered to analyze it. Why try a head-shrinking technique on anything so delightful?”

• • Jon Tuska wrote: "Hats were one of Mae West's obsessions, greater even than her penchant for monkeys as pets."
• • Hollywood gossip columnist Hedda Hopper, an Olympian when it came to hat collecting, mentioned Mae's fancy headgear.
• • "Mae West — — there'll be plumes!" • •
• • Syndicated columnist Hedda Hopper wrote: For a beauty who has almost made a career of incredible lids, there is Carmen Miranda and her Inverted fruit basket. Ditto for Mae West's Diamond Lil chapeaux, large and lavish. Although Mae goes tropical in "Tropicana," you can bet your ol' gray bonnet ostrich feathers will be sticking out of every crevice.
• • Source: "Looking at Hollywood" by Hedda Hopper rpt in Chicago Tribune; published in 1943.
• • On Monday, 5 April 1954 in The N.Y. Times • •
• • A devout Roman Catholic, Jim Timony carried rosary beads and began each morning by going to Mass. Mae accompanied him during this daily ritual. For decades they went everywhere together — — on cross-country trains, on the Queen Mary, in Mae's "house car," and in limousines.
• • The New York Times obituary, alas, reported his age incorrectly when they announced his death on Monday, 5 April 1954 from a heart attack at his Hollywood home. According to his obit, Timony had been in retirement for five years due to poor health.
• • Calling James A. Timony the manager of Mae West for 25 years, and the person who "guided her to success," The Times also noted that he "received major credit for her development from a relatively obscure singer and dancer into an internationally known prototype of the American siren."
• • The Mae West Blog is saluting James A. Timony — — celebrating his life and successful partnership with the Empress of Sex.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Mae West in “She Done Him Wrong” created a furore in Paris, convincing the French that the hefty bosom, the opulent hip, and the glittering façade were the natural attributes of women and due for a comeback.
• • Thanks to Mae West, a tidal wave of correspondingly big gestures rolled in: enormous bags, huge blobby crystal bracelets and rings, mammoth hats, and cigarette cases bigger than the Lucky box for 50. In other words — and in a coconut-shell — inflation.
• • In Her Own Words • •

• • Mae West said: "Other people collect paintings to hang on their walls... for me, hats are works of art."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • Fan magazine writers often mentioned Mae West and her millinery.
• • No, mystery has replaced pep as the chief feminine allure. The new models simply ooze it.
• • Even Mae West goes mysterious in her "dining out" costume.
• • That's mostly because of that hat. It's huge. It is the largest black hat you ever saw and it has the flattest of crowns.
• • Mae’s black gown is of tulle and gently falls to the floor in a demurely wicked line. …
• • Source: Modern Screen; published in the issue dated for September 1933
• • 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 4,900 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started seventeen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 4,965th 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 • • in 1936; Gunter Hotel in 1939 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest

Mae West: Laughing Sex

MAE WEST was the topic of Hedda Hopper's Hollywood column printed on June 4th.
• • "Mae West on Sex: A Laughing Matter" • •

• • Hollywood — Mae West says our producers are just getting around to her subject — — sex: "But they forget to kid it as I always did. Back in 1926 I wrote and starred in the play 'Sex,' the first time the word was ever used on stage in that manner."
• • Miss Hopper's own newspaper publisher refused to run the title in ads, according to Mae's recollections. Mae continued: "They said, 'Mae West in that certain play.' After a two-year run, a rash of plays on the same subject broke put and authorities closed 12, including mine.  They couldn't find one objectionable line in my script (you have to hear the play to believe her), so they got me on a dance.  Yes, I fought it, not because I thought I'd win, but I knew going to jail would get me a million dollars worth of free publicity."  
• • "Am I Too Young?" • •
• • Hedda Hopper wrote: Mae's planning a picture in Rome, has written two novels based on her plays "Sex" and "The Drag." ("I'm a lazy novelist. I dictate — but not to a  machine.") She's recorded a rock and roll record. One side has an 18-year-old boy singing "Am I Too Young?" to her.
• • "Is he your new muscle man?" I asked.
• • "Oh, no, they're outmoded."
• • Maybe they went out with Mickey Hargitay.
• • Source: Syndicated Hedda Hopper column rpt in The Salt Lake Tribune;  published on  Monday, June 4, 1962.
• • On Tuesday, 4 June 1935 • •
• • Mae West was the cover girl for the French publication Midinette Journal Illustrate. Issue # 425 was dated for Tuesday, 4 June 1935. Oooh-la-la.
• • On Tuesday, 4 June 1940 in Look Magazine • •
• • The popular magazine Look featured Mae West, Greta Garbo, and Lana Turner in their issue dated for Tuesday, 4 June 1940.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • She said, with some show of annoyance that she had never married Mr. Frank Wallace nor any other man for that matter. And to show that she meant it, she refused to show herself in the streets of the film city for months afterwards. Which goes to show that the cinema queen is a woman of some modesty.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "I'm often asked why I like to play seductive females. It's because virtue has its own reward, but has no sale at the box office."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • The Ludington Daily News discussed Mae West on page 2.
• • The headline in this Michigan newspaper was "Mae West Takes First Plane Trip." Interestingly, the celebrated passenger was booked as "Miss North."
• • HOLLYWOOD June 4 — Mae West, who invites people to "come up and see me sometime" went up herself Wednesday but not to see anyone in particular.
• • The buxom film blonde took her first airplane ride Wednesday, flying from San Francisco to Los Angeles. She was a little nervous at first, but upon landing she said she was going to do "a lot of flying from now on."  Her new studio contract permits her to fly in planes.
• • Asked why she was booked as "Miss North" on a southbound plane, she replied, "I guess they got their directions mixed a little."
• • Source: Article: "Mae West Takes First Plane Trip" rpt by Ludington Daily News; published on Thursday, 4 June 1936
• • By the Numbers • • 
• • The Mae West Blog was started nine years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 2928th 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 the 1960s • •
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Mae West: Angled for Spangles

MAE WEST cut quite a figure on the Paramount Pictures movie lot, recalled columnist Hedda Hopper, who noted, "All of her costumes were usually ooed and ahed over." Let's see what else the tart-tongued Tinseltown tattler had to say.
• • "Hollywood by Hedda Hopper" • •
• • Hedda Hopper wrote: While walking over the Paramount lot on a recent afternoon, I thought of the many changes the years had brought to that studio. ...
• • Hedda Hopper continued: But real glamor came to Paramount when the dressing rooms were turned into suites tailored to the personalities of Carole Lombard, Marlene Dietrich, Gladys Swarthout, Claudette Colbert, and Mae West. During that period a singer named Bing Crosby had just moved on the lot; and Bob Hope hadn't appeared on the horizon. Jan Kiepura was imported from Poland. But he lasted for only one picture.

• • Hedda Hopper explained: It was the glamor girls who made the big noise. These goddesses of fortune kept producers, directors, designers, make-up experts and hair stylist shopping and sometimes hopping mad to keep pace with their demands. . . . Marlene Dietrich and Mae West came off with the biggest splash. Every trip Mae took from dressing room to sound stage was a major production. Surrounded by the most attractive men at the studio, she acted like a circus ringmaster, with whip in hand, in dealing with the boys. ... All of her costumes were usually ooed and ahed over. If one failed to get the attention she thought it deserved, a dozen seamstresses worked all night on it. Adding spangles by the bushels. Mae put on a honey of a show. Even the big executives were awed by it. ...
• • Source: Syndicated column rpt (on page 17) in Harrisburg Telegraph (Pennsylvania); published on Friday, 2 January 1948.
• • On Tuesday, 2 January 1934 in Chicago • •
• • On Tuesday, 2 January 1934, when Mae's sister Beverly applied for a marriage license in Chicago, it was hoped that her second Russian-born husband would be a better companion than her ex-husband Sergei Treshatny. The groom Vladimir Baikoff made Beverly's acquaintance when both were booked on a radio program. Beverly was doing her famous Mae West impersonation for a broadcast — — and Vlad was eager to conjugate some sultry Slavic verbs with her in private, after the show.
• • On her marriage license, Beverly gave her age as 27, meaning that she had been born in 1907. This was consistent with Mae's calculations; in 1934, Mae was giving her birth year as 1900 and the siblings were seven years apart.
• • Good thing the municipal clerks were not crossing checking New York State's records with Illinois — — otherwise someone might have wondered about the bride who was born in 1907, having been first married in 1917 when she was 10 years old.
• • Beverly's second marriage ceremony was performed at the Congress Hotel in Chicago. Judge Joseph Sabath (of divorce court fame) officiated.
• • On Sunday, 2 January 1938 in Singapore • •
• • A news brief appeared in Singapore on Sunday, 2 January 1938 with this headline: "Mae West, As Eve, 'Insult To Faith'" (page 13) date-lined from New York. Only two paragraphs long, the item reprinted sharp criticism of Mae's radio skit with comments that first appeared in a religious Brooklyn weekly.
• • The Straits Times wrote: Miss Mae West's interpretation of Eve in a broadcast skit, "Adam and Eve," has been attacked by the Roman Catholic weekly, Brooklyn Tablet as "an insult to every Christian."
• • Source: The Straits Times; published on Sunday, 2 January 1938.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Q. Did Mae West really make all those wisecracks, spontaneously, over the telephone to the thirteen editors in the nation-wide interview, or did she have rehearsals?
• • A. She did not have rehearsals. Mae's wit, both off the screen and on, is, apparently, as endless and as spectacular as her wardrobe.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "Sure, they are right, when they say I make a parody of Sex. That's my stock in trade. Any gal can get really sexy but it takes a smart dame to make guys and women both laugh at it."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • The New Movie Magazine mentioned Mae West.
• • Herb Howe wrote: After seeing Miss Mae West in "Night After Night" I had a recurrence of such temperature I thought I should have to resort to ice packs. ...
• • Source: The New Movie Magazine; issue dated for February 1933 
• • By the Numbers • • 
• • The Mae West Blog was started nine years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 2823rd 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 1933 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest
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