Mae West: Devilish Panache

While you’re sleeping, college professors in Hungary are thinking about MAE WEST. Here’s a long, striking research paper you might have missed. This is Part 55, the final segment.
• • "Mae West. The Dirty Snow White" • •
• • Written by:  Zsófia Anna Tóth
• • she is a wisecracking philosopher • •  
• • Zsófia Anna Tóth wrote: It is the same with her stories that are rather simplistic since “[t]he plot is helpful for Mae West’s purposes, but is ultimately irrelevant; for all they matter, the sets and backdrops might as well be made of painted cardboard. They exist only to provide an excuse for West’s string of inverted aphorisms (Austerlitz 80), bon mots, witticisms and wisecracks as “she is a wisecracking philosopher, imparting her hard-fought wisdom with devilish panache (80).
• • Mae West’s devilish panache • •
• • Zsófia Anna Tóth wrote: For example, about I’m No Angel (1933), which is one of West’s greatest successes, Austerlitz, actually rightly remarks: “[n]o one went to a Mae West comedy for its plot, as she well knew, and her script for I’m No Angel is little more than a thin filament linking unrelated wisecracks” as “West’s philosophy of life emerges, one carefully packaged and delivered bon mot at a time” (81).
• • Mae West was one of the greatest comedians in American culture. She was larger than life, a myth, who managed to be so controversial that both critics and audiences can hardly agree on what and who she was exactly. Everybody can only be certain that she was an iconic figure who made a difference.
• • This has been Part 55, the last segment from a lengthy excerpt. Thank you for reading.
• • Source: Americana — — E-Journal of American Studies in Hungary; Vol. XI, No. 1, Spring 2015
• • On Wednesday, 20 April 1927 • •

• • The New York Herald Tribune ran with this headline — — Mae West and Two Men In Jail for Play "Sex" — — on Wednesday, 20 April 1927. Think of all the different ways a reader might have interpreted that headline.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Legendary entertainer Mae West was not talking about the 2016 Presidential race, but she could have been speaking for millions of Americans.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "Anything worth doing is worth doing slowly."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • An article in The Orlando Sentinel mentioned Mae West.
• • Allen Rose of The Sentinel Staff wrote: Dick Gordon of Indialantic still gets a laugh recalling the day he met Mae West, late star of stage, screen and radio, as they used to say, and self-proclaimed ''last of the red-hot mamas.'' . . . Let's just say that Mae resembled Dolly Parton physically. Blonde wigs, fancy gowns and all that went with them.  …
• • Source: Article: "In Days Before Dolly, There Was Mae West" written by Allen Rose for Orlando Sentinel; published on 20 April 1988
• • 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 13th anniversary • •  

• • Thank you for reading, sending questions, and posting comments during these past thirteen years. Not long ago, we entertained 3,497 visitors. And we reached a milestone recently when we completed 3,800 blog posts. Wow!  

• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started thirteen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 3942nd 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 1927 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest
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Mae West: A Star Persona

While you’re sleeping, college professors in Hungary are thinking about MAE WEST. Here’s a long, striking research paper you might have missed. This is Part 54.
• • "Mae West. The Dirty Snow White" • •
• • Written by:  Zsófia Anna Tóth
• • a lascivious smile stealing across her face • •
• • Zsófia Anna Tóth wrote: One thing is certain, as Saul Austerlitz asserts, when in Night After Night (1932) Mae West utters her iconic sentence as a reply to “Goodness, what beautiful diamonds!”: “Goodness had nothing to do with it, Dearie” (Mayo 1932), with “a lascivious smile stealing across her face, […] the movie — — and the history of American comedy — — would never be quite the same again” (75-76).
• • An Aspect of Mae’s Star Persona • •
• • Zsófia Anna Tóth wrote: As legend has it, George Raft said about this performance of West’s: “Mae West stole everything but the cameras,” and Austerlitz adds that “the audience wanted more, and so did Mae West” (76). It is again a significant aspect of West’s star persona and performances that she is so powerful that everyone else fades in comparison: “West is so much larger than life, so thoroughly demanding of our attention, that her supporting cast […] are wooden dummies, coached to walk and talk in the precise manner designed to best display the star” (Austerlitz 76).
• • she is a wise-cracking philosopher • •   . . .
• • This was Part 54 of a lengthy article. Part 55, the finale, will follow tomorrow.   
• • Source: Americana — — E-Journal of American Studies in Hungary; Vol. XI, No. 1, Spring 2015.
• • On Tuesday, 19 April 1927 • •
• • The sentencing of Mae West, Jim Timony, and the cast of "Sex" took place on Tuesday, 19 April 1927 in Jefferson Market Court (General Sessions). That trial and the dramatic guilty verdict end Act I of the full-length stage play "Courting Mae West: Sex, Censorship, and Secrets," a serious-minded comedy set during 1926 — 1932. Watch a scene on YouTube.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Ann (Making a Living) Jillian does fine in a good-hearted—but factually footloose—TV bio of the late actress-writer, who made high camp out of low suggestions. Among her co-stars are James Brolin as West’s manager-lover.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: “I’d been through a lot for art’s sake so taking off twenty pounds or more was just one more piece of the routine. I got down to 103 pounds. I stood in front of the mirror to study the results. I didn’t like it.”

• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • a NYC daily mentioned Mae West.
• • "Mae West Star In Raided Play Jailed and Fined" • •
• • Mae West, the star of one of three recently raided Broadway plays, was sentenced to ten days in the workhouse and also a fine by Judge Donnellan today as the penalty for participating in an obscene performance. A similar sentence and a fine were pronounced in the case of James A. Timony and a sentence without the fine for the producer William Clarence Morganstern. All the other 19 defendants in the "Sex" case received suspended sentences. . . .
• • Source: article in The N.Y. Times; published on Tuesday, 19 April 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 13th anniversary • •  

• • Thank you for reading, sending questions, and posting comments during these past thirteen years. Not long ago, we entertained 3,497 visitors. And we reached a milestone recently when we completed 3,800 blog posts. Wow!  

• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started thirteen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 3941st 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:http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml   
Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • in 1927 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest
NYC  Mae West