Mae West: Sy Oliver

In the 1950s MAE WEST worked with Sy Oliver.  Several tracks they did together were released in 1954 on the Decca label. Currently, you may find a few of these cuts on various compilations such as the LP called "Come Up and See Me Sometime" and others.

• • Born in Battle Creek, Michigan on 17 December 1910, Melvin "Sy" Oliver hailed from a musical family.  His mother was a piano teacher and his father was a multi-instrumentalist who made a name for himself demonstrating saxophones during an era when at a time that woodwind instrument was seldom used outside of marching bands. Their talent rubbed off on their son, who became a jazz arranger, trumpeter, composer, singer, and bandleader.

• • Mae loved to work with black musicians. With accompaniment by Sy Oliver's Orchestra, Mae recorded singles such as "I’m in the Mood For Love," "If I Could Be With You One Hour Tonight," "They Call Me Sister Honky Tonk," "A Guy What Takes His Time," and "My Daddy Rocks Me."

• • Melvin "Sy" Oliver died in New York City during May — — on 28 May 1988.  He was 77.

• • On Monday, 28 May 1934 • •

• • The Australian audience embraced "the new star" in their midst when their moviehouses showed "She Done Him Wrong" down under. But their local critics did not have the same reaction to "I'm No Angel."

• • On Monday, 28 May 1934, a lengthy article in The Argus emphasized that the second comedy "shows Mae West as a type rather than an actress."  The Argus found other faults but we'll only mention their viewpoint on this: "In her first film she had a good story and the support of a brilliant cast.  In 'I'm No Angel' she has an ordinary story and a commonplace cast.  Her own part is much the same as it was in 'She Done Him Wrong,' but the setting is very different.  . . ."  [Source: The Argus, on page 5, 28 May 1934.]

• • Nevertheless, the film did good box office and Mae's stock rose even higher in Tinseltown after two successes in the States, What's your opinion? Which Mae West film is your favorite?

• • In Her Own Words • •

• • Mae West said: "Come up sometime and see me." 

• • Quote, Unquote • •

• • An interview with an actress mentioned Mae West.

• • It was Monday, 28 May 1934 — — and Jean Harlow was asked: "Do you think the college woman of today is taking her studies too seriously?"

• • Jean Harlow replied: "College women are fortunately saved from that pitfall by the wholesome influences of such people as Mae West.  ..."

• • Source: Article: "Jean Harlow's Opinion of College" printed on page 6 of the Cornell Daily Sun, Volume 54, Issue 178; published on Monday, 28 May 1934

• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started seven years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 2314th 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: When Will Hays Won't

Will Hays did battle with MAE WEST, bleaching her scripts of fun and friskiness, and earning his title as the Hitler of Hollywood.
• • Born in Sullivan, Indiana, William Harrison Hays, Sr. [5 November 1879 — 7 March 1954], was the namesake of the Hays Code for censorship of American films, chairman of the Republican National Committee (1918–1921) and U.S. Postmaster General from 1921 to 1922.
• • He was the manager of Warren G. Harding's successful campaign for the Presidency of the United States in the 1920 election and subsequently was appointed by Harding as Postmaster General.
• • After a year in office, he resigned to become the choice of the Hollywood movie studios to become the first president of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America (MPPDA) until he retired in 1945. Will Hays began his new job, at a $100,000 annual salary, in the month of March — — on 6 March 1922.
• • After his retirement, Will H. Hays returned to his hometown in Indiana where he died in the month of March — — on 7 March 1954.
• • Remembering a Blonde Bombshell • •
• • In this excerpt from his insightful article in New Jersey's Star-Ledger, Stephen Whitty writes: The 100th birthday of Hollywood sex symbol Jean Harlow, who died at age 26 in 1937, is being marked next month. . . . “Would you be shocked,” she asked famously in “Hell’s Angels,” “if I put on something more comfortable?” But it was sex itself that Harlow made look comfortable on screen. She didn’t present it as a joke, the way Mae West did, but she sure made it look like fun, for women as well as men. Her characters had no illusions, and few inhibitions. . . . [Source: "1930s movie queen Jean Harlow's short life left behind a long legacy" written by Stephen Whitty/ The Star-Ledger on Sunday, 6 March 2011]
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West: Battenberg Lace

It was on 20 October 1947 that MAE WEST was photographed at Euston Station en route to Manchester to present "Diamond Lil" onstage. Some of her elaborate stage gowns were trimmed with Battenberg lace.
• • This week the spirit of the screen queen was sashaying her way through fashion week on the West Coast.
• • Fashion designer Sue Wong opened Los Angeles Fashion week with the Pre-Code Hollywood-themed "Glamour Goddesses" party and fashion presentation at her historic Wilshire Center Atelier on Friday, 15 October 2010.
• • Pre-Code Hollywood preceded the Hayes Code of censorship which was officially implemented in 1934, and was the free wheeling creative period at the dawn of the motion picture era, noted for its adventurous exploration of subject matters, including provocative takes on sexuality, challenges to authority, and a rejection of Victorian era traditions. "At a young age I became enamored of films such as Blonde Venus, The Tarnished Lady, and Dangerous Curves and the scandalous glamour goddesses of the Pre-Code silver screen, such as Mae West, Marlene Dietrich, Bette Davis, Barbara Stanwyck, and Tallulah Bankhead — — and their independent strength, their embrace of feminine sensuality and their sexually frank libertine spirit," said Sue Wong, who cites these iconic screen legends as the inspiration for her Spring 2011 Collection.
• • The Sue Wong Spring 2011 Collection features dramatic gowns and flirtatious cocktail dresses with intricately wrought hand details such as beadwork, applique, and embroidery and novel trim including leaves fashioned from taffeta, skirts of ostrich featers — — and scalloped tiers of Battenberg lace. "I wanted to evoke the chic elegance and cool mystique of Greta Garbo, the irreverent and indomitable spirit of Mae West, and the seductive sensuality of Jean Harlow," said Sue Wong, whose designs are sold in fine boutiques and department stores such as Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue, Bloomingdale's and Nordstrom and in more than 27 countries globally.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West: Lancaster County Show

MAE WEST spent time in Pennsylvania being creative, which included finding collaborators. One very accommodating individual was C. William Morganstern, the former proprietor of Pittsburgh’s Family Theater, where a teenage Mae had performed in 1912. In 1926, in exchange for his assuming the responsibilities of producer of "Sex," his daughter Constance Morganstern was cast in this Broadway play as Marie.
• • Creative women such as the Brooklyn bombshell will be the subject of a First Friday exhibit at the Lancaster Literary Guild — — taking place on 3 September 2010 from 5:00 — 9:00 PM in Pennsylvania.
• • Lebanon County artist Teri Traner was invited by the guild to do this show centered on 17 assemblages that link an eclectic group — — including Virginia Woolf, Flannery O'Connor, Jane Austen, Edith Wharton, Willa Cather, Frieda Kahlo, Georgia O'Keefe, Mata Hari, Annie Oakley, Janis Joplin, Emily Dickinson, along with a triptych of Mae West, Jean Harlow, and Marilyn Monroe. Teri Traner's work will be on display for an entire month. Viewers will enjoy how she combines objects, images, and words in startling and provocative ways to explore cultural icons, femininity, and mythology.
• • WHERE: Lancaster Literary Guild, 113 N. Lime Street , Lancaster, PA 17602; T. (717) 431-4433. The exhibition and its events are free and open to the public.
• • The West Sisters on West End Avenue • •
• • According to Christopher Gray: The most ambitious town house still standing on West End Avenue is No. 266, between 72nd and 73rd, built in 1896 by Julius Jaros, an importer. "It is sometimes said that Mae West occupied the house for a time with her sister, Beverly, who is indeed listed there in a 1933 directory," Christopher Gray writes in his most current Streetscapes column: "West End Avenue — — Three Apples of Somebody’s Eye"; The N.Y. Times; 2 September 2010. Though his feature will not tell you much more about Mae and Beverly's tenancy there, it's worth looking at if you have an interest in Manhattan's architectural past.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West: Naked by George

Thirty years ago, in 1980, a Hollywood photographer was sharing his naughty memories about MAE WEST as part of the promotional push linked to his California exhibition. The magazine has just reprinted the piece along with an offer to buy some signed portraits and prints originally posed for during the 1930s.
• • Back in 1980, Sharon Apfelbaum wrote: Dapper and energetic at 76, this septuagenarian artist is still going strong. While he photographs new celebrities in his grand old style, a major exhibit of his portraits, covering celluloid's last 50 years, opens December 18 [1980] at the Palm Springs Desert Museum. Entitled "The Hurrell Style," the show features photographs of such luminaries as Mae West, John Barrymore, Jean Harlow, and many others. ...
• • Mae West 'accidentally' dropped her clothes • •
• • Sharon Apfelbaum continued with this revealing recollection about Mae West: George Hurrell's glorification of beautiful women made him one of photography's highest-paid professionals. ... Hurrell's lens created a gallery of greats, all accompanied by cheeky anecdotes. "I remember when Mae West 'accidentally' dropped her clothes and stood there naked as a jaybird," he recalls, concealing a chuckle. "The studio door was locked, but still, there she was. And her boyfriend at the time, whatever his name was, got so upset he left. I had to unlock the door for him. Marilyn Monroe pulled the same routine, but it wasn't as natural with her.
• • "Of all my subjects, Joan Crawford's face was the closest to perfection," Hurrell told Sharon Apfelbaum. "She was also the most serious and relished a full day's shooting from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Crawford was tireless, but I had to take a day off after one of those sessions. Jean Harlow was the opposite of Crawford — never sweated over a shooting, was always gay and frivolous. Roz Russell was serious too, very ambitious and stagey. She wanted all her shots re-touched, with all the wrinkles in her face really ironed out. Rita Hayworth would do anything, and Marlene Dietrich had to watch herself in a full-length mirror at all times. Hepburn was the brainiest though, all spunk and spirit." . . .
• • To continue reading or to learn more about the Hurrell photo offer, see below.
— — Excerpt: — —
• • Article: George Hurrell — — His photographs recall Hollywood’s truly glamorous days
• • By Sharon Apfelbaum
• • Publication: Palm Springs Life / December 1980 / George Hurrell
• • Source: Reprinted from the December 1980 edition of Palm Springs Life Magazine.
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West: Cinematic Censorship

If an article is about cinematic censorship, can MAE WEST be far behind?
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
• • Susan Daly writes: Will Hays at the Motion Pictures Producers and Distributors Association (MPPDA) came up with a list of 'Don'ts and Be Carefuls' for movie-makers in 1927. No excessive (over 3 seconds) and lustful kissing — — and if it happened anywhere in the vicinity of a bed, at least one of the parties had to have a foot on the ground.
• • Hollywood studios, heading into the Depression of the 1930s and desperate to attract audiences, pretty much ignored the cautions. The response of the censors was to introduce an expanded Hays Code in 1930. Sex was for married people only, and where affairs had to be mentioned, they should not be "presented attractively."
• • Sex was not "the proper subject for comedy" (no Carry On . . . movies, then). Dance moves that encouraged "movement of the breasts" were regarded as pure filth. The new, iron-cast code was formulated by a Jesuit, Fr Daniel Lord.
• • The Hollywood Reporter asked in 1931: "Does any producer pay attention to the 'Hays Code'?", knowing no one did. At this time, Jean Harlow was still getting away with asking, "Would you be shocked if I put on something more comfortable?" in Hell's Angel (1930), while Maureen O'Sullivan's Jane went skinny-dipping with Tarzan in the 1932 and 1934 loincloth-and-vine films.
• • Resistance to the censorious overlords was futile, however. By 1933, the powerful Catholic League of Decency had launched a 'down with this sort of thing' crusade on the movies. In 1939, Gone With The Wind producer David O Selznick was fined $5,000 for leaving the final word intact in what is now cinema's most quotable lines: "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn."
• • Not everyone could afford to do a Selznick but, this being an industry of wheeler-dealers, creative ways were found to circumvent the code. Mae West films were jam-packed with double entendres, the brazen blonde firing off lines like "I feel like a million tonight — — but one at a time."
• • And where would Bogie and Bacall be without word play? "You know how to whistle, don't you, Steve? You just put your lips together — — and blow." (To Have and Have Not, 1944).
• • Mae West was particularly crafty. She used to write outrageous "decoy" scenes into risqué movies like I'm No Angel (1933) so that the moral guardians would focus on cutting those and let other, more subtly raunchy, material slip through. ...
— — Excerpt: — —
• • Article: "Red hot in black & white"
• • Byline: Susan Daly
• • Published in: Irish Independent — — Independent.ie
• • Published on: 10 April 2010
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West: Erotic Turbulence

MAE WEST was part of the "golden age of turbulence" in Hollywood history, explains a British film fanatic. A few morsels from his juicy column appear below.
• • Geoffrey Macnab writes: Hollywood in the 1930s and 1940s was a wildly contradictory place — — and its stars reflected this.
• • Geoffrey Macnab continues: On the one hand, in the early 1930s, the “golden age of turbulence” — — Mae West, Jean Harlow, James Cagney, and the Marx brothers were transgressive and risqué. This was the Depression era, and the sense of reckless desperation could be felt in musicals, gangster films and screwball comedies alike.
• • Geoffrey Macnab adds: But it was also the period in which Hollywood’s tendency toward self-censorship became evident. The so-called Hays Code had existed since the late 1920s, but its enforcement now became stricter. ...
— — Excerpt: — —
• • Article: "100 years of movie: The golden years — — In the dark decades of the 1930s and 1940s, the stars of the big screen shone more brightly than ever"
• • BY: Geoffrey Macnab, Film Columnist
• • Published by: The Independent [UK] — — www.independent.co.uk
• • Published on: 26 January 2010
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West: In Middletown

The Garden State will host classic motion pictures from the 1930s starring MAE WEST, Cary Grant, and others.
• • Middletown Township Public Library, a busy book-lovers junction in leafy Monmouth County, will channel that Tinseltown vibe during October when they present "Friday Afternoon at the Movies — Coffee, Dessert, and a Cool Classic Comedy with Victor Zak." A veteran journalist and film critic, Zak will enlighten the audience with anecdotes about the actors, directors, writers, and studios that supplied polish and pizazz during Hollywood's glory days before each screening.
• • This exciting series will begin at 2:00 PM on Friday 9 October 2009 with "I'm No Angel" [1933] — — written by and starring Mae West, and featuring Cary Grant, Gregory Ratoff, and even one of Mae's monkeys.
• • Directed by Wesley Ruggles, this Paramount Pictures favorite was originally released with great fanfare on 6 October 1933 — — 76 years ago.
• • Screen classics shown next month will include "The Awful Truth" [1937] with Cary Grant and Irene Dunne; "Libeled Lady" [1936] starring Spencer Tracy, Jean Harlow, William Powell, and Myrna Loy: and Greta Garbo in "Ninotchka" [1939].
• • Journalist and film commentator Victor Zak is the former travel editor for Gannett newspapers in New Jersey.
• • HERE: Middletown Township Public Library [55 New Monmouth Road, Middletown, NJ 07748]. The Main Branch is located just east of Route 35.
• • Take your questions directly to the library: 732-671-3700, ext. 333.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West: The Plot Sickens

It was seventy-five years ago and a humid summer in Tinseltown was heating up even more for MAE WEST, who was dealing with a serious attack of Hays fever.
• • A newspaper article published on Wednesday 11 July 1934 in the Midwest indicated that worrisome tom-toms from the West Coast chiefs were getting louder.
• • According to the national news desk in 1934: A selection of title for Mae West’s latest film has assumed headache proportions. The film first was called “It Ain’t No Sin” — — but the studio dropped it at the suggestion of the New York censors.
• • In other words, Hollywood's Hitler, Will Hays (a former Postmaster General) was harnessing up a less elastic film code more constricting than Diamond Lil's corset.
• • Will Hays to Mae West: "Honey, the plot sickens . . . • •
• • New York City based Time Magazine [issue dated 1 July 1934] ran a feature called "Movies' Moral Crackdown" by Richard Corliss — — alongside a splashy photo of a costumed Mae West.
• • Richard Corliss summed it up like this: "Goodness, what beautiful diamonds!" a hatcheck girl says to Mae West, who purrs, "Goodness had nothin' to do with it, dearie." That line, from West's 1932 "Night After Night," embodied the saucy spirit of early talkies. Now that Hollywood could speak, it did so in the tart cadences of fast-talking men and faster women. This freedom created fresh stars (James Cagney, Barbara Stanwyck, Jean Harlow) and a sexual impudence that riled the burghers of propriety.
• • In 1934 the potent Roman Catholic lobby formed the Legion of Decency to rate films. Soon after, Will Hays, the industry's political and moral arbiter, called on Joseph Breen, a prominent Catholic, to enforce a rigorous production code. Studios rushed to sanitize some projects (West got married at the end of Belle of the Nineties) and dump others (MGM had to wait 12 years to film The Postman Always Rings Twice). Moviegoers that summer Sunday may have been shocked by the sudden absence of shocking dialogue and situations.
• • But filmmakers evolved a new "code," one that traded starkness for subtlety, noted Time Magazine. Audiences quickly learned this covert language in which a woman's knowing smile was its own double entendre, and a kiss was never just a kiss. ...
• • "Goodness had nothing to do with it!" was a well-worn comeback Texas Guinan often used in her speakeasy when teasing her high-rollers, whom she always called "Suckers!" Her friend Mae West, who often visited Texas's midtown nightspots, borrowed the quip for the 1932 hatcheck scene which took place in a speak.
• • Here's another example of Mae tossing off a famous Texas Guinan echo: In the 1933 motion picture "I'm No Angel," Tira [Mae West] does her hootchy-cootchy act, and two ruffians exclaim, "ELEGANT! Now that's elegant!" Tira teases her hungry-eyed on-lookers: "Am I making myself clear, boys?" But as she exits, Tira mutters: "Suckers!"
• • • • Mae West and Texas Guinan Tour in mid-August • • • •
• • 2009 TOUR: On Sunday afternoon 16 August 2009, the Annual Mae West Walk reunites the two film icons and Broadway roust-abouts. This August the entertaining, informative birthday celebration of the actress-writer, which will begin at Shubert Alley and proceed uptown to Mae's WESTside apartment, is called "Gaudy Girls on The Gay White Way: Mae West and Texas Guinan in the Theatre District." These tours are always accompanied by vintage illustrations, memorabilia, and rare photos that show how the buildings, vaudeville houses, billboards, Playbills, and blockfronts looked when Mae West was there. Surprises are in store.
• • • • Mae West Walking Tours You Might Have Enjoyed • • • •
• • 2006 TOUR: Our regular Mae-mavens will recall seeing the historical exhibition "Onstage Outlaws: Mae West and Texas Guinan in a Lawless Era,” which opened to the public after a Gala Roaring-20s theme Press Preview on Mae’s birthday 17 August 2006. And on Sunday afternoon 20 August 2006, more than two dozen beautiful people gathered on West Ninth Street to enjoy a special treat — — "Washington Square Women: Mae West and Texas Guinan in Greenwich Village" — — followed by a Jazz Era brunch served with champagne and the Cos-MAE-Politan cocktail, garnished with two strategically placed plump raspberries.
• • 2007 TOUR: On Friday evening 17 August 2007, a fascinating guided adventure — — "The Mae West Side Story" — — escorted numerous intrepid walk-abouts to three of Mae's former residences along with other sites linked to the Brooklyn bombshell.
• • 2008 TOUR: On Sunday afternoon 17 August 2008, the captivating Diamond Divas led a group of over two dozen Mae-mavens to several locations in Greenwich Village linked to her stage career, gay themes, courtroom woes, and the work of individuals she admired such as Lillian Russell, Tony Pastor, Texas Guinan, Eugene O'Neill, and Rae Bourbon. The 2008 walking tour — — "Mae West's Walk on the Wild Side" — — celebrated the 115th birthday of the Empress of Sex with an extravagant musical program, performed live by Met Opera soprano Marlena de la Mora and Sharon Weinman, which included these numbers: "Everything's Coming up Mae West"; "Mon Coeur S' Ouvre a Ta Voix"; "The Prisoner's Song"; "Frankie and Johnny"; "Come Down Ma Evening Star"; "I Could Have Danced All Night"; "Gentleman Jimmy"; and a grand finale taken from the score of "Diamond Lil."
• • Tour photos can be seen on the Mae West Blog.
• • For more details, do read this blog and/ or post your email. [Your info will not be posted nor available so that miscreants and rascals can access it.]
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West: Bristol Stomp

The British actor MAE WEST put on the map in her motion picture classic "She Done Him Wrong" [1933] was encountered at a football match in his hometown 50 years ago.
• • Born in Bristol, England, Archibald Alec Leach [18 January 1904 — 29 November 1986] was better known by his stage name Cary Grant.
• • David Foot described his encounter with the Hollywood leading man at a stadium called Ashton Gate.
• • Sharing his "brush with fame" with readers of the UK newspaper The London Guardian, Foot reminisced at length.
• • David Foot writes: Meeting the Hollywood star at Bristol City was an overwhelming experience. It has always seemed to me that one appealing reason for going to a football match, apart from dutifully watching the play, is that we never quite know who we are going to meet. Half a century ago, yes really that long, I had a fleeting unscheduled half-time encounter at Ashton Gate, home of Bristol City, with Cary Grant. He'd been invited by the club's then chairman Harry Dolman, who had an opportunistic and civilized habit of asking celebrities — — proper ones in those days — — along on a spare Saturday afternoon to view his warriors.
• • Youthful Indiscretions and a Mentally Ill Mum • •
• • Archie Leach's allegiance to Bristol was unquestioned. He had been born in the city, had gone to a local grammar school, from where he had been expelled for a minor and hushed-up felony committed near the girls' toilets, and now continued to return to the West Country from the world of glamorous celluloid to visit his mother, Elsie, who had a history of mental illness.
• • But, in truth, he had no more than a passing schoolboy's cigarette-card regard for football and it could be argued that his home had been nearer to the Rovers ground than City's. When he left school he was more seduced by the backstage smells and bustle at the Hippodrome and Empire, where he joined an acting troupe and did a stint as call-boy, than wanting to kick a ball with his chums on Horfield Common.
• • Here he was now, however, passing me on the cold, uncarpeted steps leading up to the boardroom. His appearance was impossibly elegant. He should have had Grace Kelly on his arm. I felt I should say something at this seminal moment. Cary Grant had always been a distant hero of mine. My old sports editor and mentor on my evening paper in Bristol had once been the lift boy and he was used to taking the famous film star up to the editorial floor for an interview or new picture from the roof of the Northcliffe building. And he would be asked by his handsome charge how City and Rovers were doing, even if no more than a duty-bound inquiry.
• • Now passing him on the steps at Ashton Gate, I noticed how well proportioned he was. City's physio, if only they had one with that title in those days, wouldn't have had to work too strenuously on central defender Grant. In my fledgling days on a paper, which I found bubbling with youthful zest despite declining circulation, we were encouraged to save our employer's money by being versatile.
• • What DO you say to Cary Grant? • •
• • Apart from recording Big John Atyeo's mountainous goal tally, we were asked to be always on the look‑out for contributions to the gossip column. Here, in my consternation as I confronted an idol, was surely the chance to take Bristol City's too often rather dowdy deeds on to another human plain. A snatched supposedly esoteric word from me maybe about Mae West, Mary Pickford, or Jean Harlow? Hints of Dyan Cannon as a future wife No4? Even a mischievous throwaway about Cary's shared company with Randolph Scott?
• • But all I mumbled self-consciously was: "Not a bad game so far, is it?" Hardly a conversational pearl. I've no idea how he responded to such banality. . . .
— — Excerpt: — —
• • Article: "How Cary Grant Made Me Fluff My Lines at Ashton Gate"
• • Byline: By David Foot
• • Published in: Guardian News & Media 2008 — — in the UK
• • Published on: 25 May 2009
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West: Boca Raton

Would MAE WEST have been able to teach Hugh Hefner about sex — — or vice versa?
• • On Friday April 24th, Hefner's new documentary will be screened — — "Why Be Good? Sexuality and Censorship in Early Cinema" — — in the rat's mouth of Florida.
• • Robert Sims of The Palm Beach Post aired his opinion of it. He writes: Produced by Hefner, written by The Palm Beach Post's Scott Eyman, and narrated in mischievous fashion by Diane Lane, this bubbly documentary confirms what we already knew: Sex sold in 1909 as just as it sells today. While the audiences then didn't expect to walk into a comedy and see male nudity — — thank you, Observe and Report — — they were still treated to some racy stuff. Mae West, Louise Brooks, Marlene Dietrich, Jean Harlow and other sexpots knew how to flaunt their built-for-sin bodies, while Errol Flynn and Rudolph Valentino had women swooning. Then came a smattering of high-profile sex scandals — — the most infamous involving Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle — — that left the public shocked.
• • "Why Be Good?" offers its most intriguing analysis when addressing the friction-filled relationship between Hollywood and a government unsure how to rein in an industry that refused to keep sex behind closed doors. The government's concern eventually resulted in the establishment of the Production Code, or the Hays Code after its chief enforcer Will H. Hays, which effectively clamped down on what Hollywood could show or depict. Given Hef's fingerprints are all over this documentary, Why Be Good? obviously cast a disapproving eye on government determining what was morally acceptable for audiences from 1930 to 1968. Why Be Good? doesn't go as far as declaring the sexual revolution of the 1960s would have happened decades earlier were it not for the Hays Code. But it makes a case that the government should let the public decide what to see, not some close-minded pencil pusher.
• • Why Be Good? screens at 6:30 p.m. Friday at Florida Atlantic University, 777 Glades Road, Boca Raton, Florida; and also on 5 p.m. Monday at the Lake Worth Playhouse, 709 Lake Ave., Lake Worth in Las Vegas.
— — Source: — —
• • Film Reviews
• • By ROBERT SIMS, Palm Beach Daily News
• • Published in: The Palm Beach Post — — www.palmbeachpost.com
• • Published on: 22 April 2009
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• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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