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The battles of MAE WEST and the censors inspired a young poet in Chicago to pen this 8-line verse called "Lament."
• • You didn't know the Campus Scout
• • Was treated like Mae West;
• • For after writing all my jokes
• • Some scrounge-o cut the best.
• • Oh, Mae, you have my sympathy,
• • We share a sorry plight;
• • Oh, Mae, you share my misery,
• • So, can I c'me up tonight?
• • Source: Poem "Lament" in The Daily Illini; published on Sunday, 9 September 1934.
• • On Sunday, 9 September 1934 • •
• • "Me and My Past" was reprinted in Delaware Star on Sunday, 9 September 1934. Among other matters, Mae West discusses ("How Her Famous Gait Was Born with Ed Wynn and Frank Tinney") the development of her slow, studied, slouchy strut while appearing on Broadway in "Sometime" with Ed Wynn, a comedian who moved very quickly across the stage.
• • On Friday, 9 September 1927 in Variety • •
• • Variety was not impressed with Mae West's harmonica playing in "The Wicked Age." They were not amused by "Satisfied" nor the other songs she thought up like "My Baby's Kisses." But the most startling element was her racy, tummy-tossing physicality. Variety reprimanded her in their review: "Miss West is getting away at $3.85 with something the [burlesque] wheels don't dare at $1.65." [Variety's issue was dated for Friday, 9 September 1927.]
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • "Political Boom for Mae" • •
• • Worcester, Mass. — — Mae West nearly broke into politics in the Suffolk district when, at a recent Democratic convention, she polled two votes for secretary. Mae went down to defeat, however, when a poll was demanded and her supporters declined to identify themselves.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "All my pictures have made big money."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • Joan Rivers mentioned Mae West in her stage act.
• • Joan Rivers [8 June 1933 — 4 September 2014] • •
• • Joan Rivers was born in Brooklyn, NY on Thursday, 8 June 1933 — — forty years after Mae West was born in the borough. When Mae died in 1980, Joan was then 47 years old.
• • Brooklyn's Botoxed Bio-Pic Star • •
• • There may be something that's piped into Brooklyn water, though, that makes an entertainer refuse to close the book and blow out the candles. Certainly, Mae West never spent much time in a rocking chair. Ditto for Kings County's Joan Rivers, who was still doing stand-up in her 80s and telling jokes onstage about having anal sex. Unlike Mae's humor, Joan's material was very blue. Unlike the Brooklyn bombshell, Joan was not surrounded by men.
• • Attending Mae West's funeral in 1980 is one thing the comedienne discussed in her 2008 stage show "Joan Rivers: A Work In Progress by A Life in Progress" in England. When Joan intoned “she outlived her fame,” it is understood that Miss Rivers surely intended to avoid that.
• • For a comedienne who boasted about writing new one-liners all the time, however, here's the irony. Many of us wonder why Joan Rivers was rarely funny, never memorable, and almost never clever. If you can find even one Joan Rivers joke worth repeating, let us know.
• • "What Joan Rivers does isn't funny or clever or contemporary" • •
• • About Janeane Garofalo, for example, Joan Rivers said: "She looks like a bag lady," Rivers sniped. "Is this girl a pig or what?"
• • Janeane Garofalo had this to say: "I've been known in my day to be acerbic, so I have no leg to stand on, but what Joan Rivers does isn't funny or clever or contemporary," Garofalo said in response. "But with me, she took it to extremes. She said I was an embarrassment to the institution of the Emmys, that I looked like a bag lady — no offense to bag ladies — and then she said, 'Is this girl a pig or what?' I thought, 'Now you've gone too far!'"
• • "Once you read Joan River’s jokes, you realise they’re bad" • •
• • According to Fraser McAlpine of the BBC: Joan Rivers, whose act often consists of finding unsayable things to say about sensitive issues, is in the middle of a big media windbag hurricane because she said some things about Adele’s weight and rather than ignore her, or issue a smackdown of her own about plastic surgery, Adele responded by demanding an apology, as if she was the victim of a crime.
• • The BBC's Fraser McAlpine continued: So it’s all a bit of a nothing, except that once you read Joan’s jokes, you realise they’re… bad. They’re not good jokes.
• • Fraser McAlpine observed: The real crime isn’t that the outrageous comic Joan Rivers is poking fun at a successful singer, that’s basically her job. No, the crime here is that the outrageous comic Joan Rivers can’t think of anything funnier to say about Adele than this, from The David Letterman Show:
• • “She sang live and said, ‘My throat, my throat, I don’t know if I can swallow.’ And I said, ‘Oh, you can swallow.'”
• • Fraser McAlpine summed it up for the BBC audience: That’s the peak moment of Joan’s wit on the topic, a resounding six-out-of-ten gag. ...
• • Active on TV, still doing sets at comedy clubs, and booked to the end, Joan Rivers had out-patient surgery on her vocal cords and went into cardiac arrest. She never regained consciousness and died in New York on Thursday, 4 September 2014. The comedienne was 81.
• • Source: to read a more traditional obituary of Joan Rivers, see The L.A. Times, etc. ; published on Thursday, 4 September 2014
• • The Mae West Blog celebrates its 3,000th blog post • •
• • This blog got 670 views yesterday! Thank you one and all!
• • The Mae West Blog celebrates its 10th anniversary • •
• • Thank you for reading, sending questions, and posting comments during this past decade.
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started ten years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 3000th 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 • • poem about Mae in 1934 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest
NYC Mae West
It was June 1954 and MAE WEST debuted her new muscleman act at the Sahara Hotel in Las Vegas. One of her hot numbers was “Take It Easy, Boys,” which the prolific Lester Lee had originally written for Rita Hayworth to perform in her 1953 Columbia film "Miss Sadie Thompson" [Columbia Pictures, 1953], however, the censors deleted these scenes.
• • A native New Yorker (like Mae), Lester Lee was born in The Big Apple on 7 November 1904. He attended an all-boy school, Manual Trades High School in the Fort Greene section of Brooklyn. An accomplished author and composer, he joined ASCAP in 1942. Working with his chief musical collaborators, Ned Washington, Allan Roberts, Zeke Manners, and Bob Russell, Lester Lee turned out numerous pop songs. A versatile hit-factory in his prime, with numerous chart-toppers to his credit, Lester Lee wrote many musical-production tunes. In 1943, he signed a contract with a Hollywood film studio. From 1945 on, he was creating special material for radio.
• • Lester Lee died from a heart attack in Los Angeles in the month of June — — on 19 June 1956. He was 51 years old.
• • On 19 June 2009 • •
• • Dreamwell Theatre presented "The Drag" written by Mae West. The limited run began on 19 June 2009.
• • Since the beginning of May 2009, Chuck Dufano and his cast and crew had been rehearsing The Drag, a 20-century play written by silver-screen star Mae West. This presentation, a Dreamwell Theatre production, was performed at the Universalist Unitarian Society, 10 S. Gilbert St., at 7:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and also on June 26-27, 2009.• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • An enjoyable article appeared in The Independent (Ireland) with this title: "Funny girls. . . who says women aren't the Mae West?" — — but can someone please explain why it was offered in this Irish newspaper's farming section?
• • Originally published in Ireland Review, one of those staffwriters had explained: And if Hollywood's history is light on hilarious women, that's probably because men wrote most of the screenplays and preferred to cast females as the decorative butt of male jokes. But there are honourable exceptions to this rule, and the evidence shows that when given the chance female comediennes can more than match the efforts of the men.
• • The Irish staffwriter continued: Early Hollywood comediennes could be surprisingly bawdy, and Mae West was very much the Joan Rivers of her day. She didn't stand around waiting for men to tell jokes, she told them herself, and her salty witticisms became legendary. "When I'm good I'm very good," she once boasted, "but when I'm bad I'm better."
• • The Irish staffwriter clarified: Mae West became a huge Hollywood star in the early 1930s, and was famous for rewriting her scenes. In the 1932 film Night by Night, a hatcheck girl stopped West and said "Goodness, what beautiful diamonds." "Goodness has nothing to do with it dearie," was the actress's self-penned reply. ... If Mae West made her name playing the sassy blonde, Goldie Hawn resurrected the old stereotype of the dumb blonde. ...
• • Source: Article: "Funny girls. . . who says women aren't the Mae West?" written by staff of the Ireland Review, reprinted by The Independent (Ireland); posted on 18 June 2011
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started seven years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 1966th 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 • • 1954 • •
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Mae West.
MAE WEST worked with many colorful cast mates in "Sextette" [1978].
• • Born in the USA during the month of May — — on 20 May 1917 — — Patrick Sullivan Burke often was placed in fantasy roles. His first role was as a leprechaun in "Darby O'Gill and the Little People" [Walt Disney Productions, 1959]. Over the years he appeared in a dozen projects for TV and the big screen, cast variously as a witch, a soldier, a bartender.
• • In "Sextette" [1978], he played a live person, namely the Irish Delegate. The same year he was seen in "Lord of the Rings" and he played the Head Angel on an episode of "Little House on the Prairie" before retiring.
• • Patrick Sullivan Burke died at age 76 on 3 January 1994 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
• • May 1935 • •
• • "Goin' to Town" opens in movie houses across the USA.
• • May 1946 • • 
• • The stage play "Ring Twice Tonight" opens in Long Beach, California on 16 May 1946 before moving forward on its cross-country tour. The title gets changed and becomes "Come On Up."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • Critic Scott Renshaw writes: But since great comedy has at its core always been about subversive honesty, we've had a long road culturally — — from Mae West to Joan Rivers to Sarah Silverman — — toward being comfortable with it coming out of the mouths of the fairer sex. While we've been more willing to appreciate slapstick charmers like Lucille Ball and Carol Burnett on the small screen, the history of American mainstream comedy box-office stardom has generally been as female-friendly as a third-grade boy's birthday party. ...
• • Source: Movie Review: "Nasty Girls: Bridesmaids" written by Scott Renshaw for Colorado Springs Independent; posted on 12 May 2011
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started seven years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 1936th 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 • • 1946 poster • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest
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Mae West.
The absurd Lady Gaga whisperings that the chart-topper might have a penis bring to mind the equally ridiculous speculations about MAE WEST decades ago.
• • Though critics never seem to wonder if a male performer might have a vagina tucked inside his trousers, the same columnists and dart-throwers have often compared Mae to a drag queen, hinting that the movie queen was really born a male.
• • At the time, Mae tossed out this curved ball to the press corps: “Well, was he for me — — or against me?”• • When I die, you are going to be very surprised! • •
• • In connection with a special Pride show on Thursday, 24 June 2010 in Manhattan, Joan Rivers got a column devoted to her in The Villager, whose hard-working reporter asked the Botoxed-to-death comedienne if there was anything yet to be revealed. “Only for you,” Joan Rivers said, referring our plea for an exclusive nugget: “I am a man. Mae West did that all her life. Mae would say to her audiences, ‘When I die, you are going to be very surprised!' Then she died and there was no surprise — — but how clever.” [Source: The Villager, Volume 80, Number 4 | June 23 - 29, 2010.]• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/________
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • none • •
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Mae West.
MAE WEST did not fill her household with any remnants from old wedding albums, even though she was legally married twice. But she did not mind playing the oft-married blushing bride Marlo Manners, who enters a posh London hotel lobby on the arm of her sixth husband, only to be greeted by an adoring mob of Marlo fans in "Sextette" [1978]. There is a very impressive rendition of "Hooray for Hollywood" by a large cast of performers. The iconic song was written by Johnny Mercer, who died in the month of June — — on 25 June 1976 — — from a brain tumor at age 66.
• • Unlike Mae West, the singer—songwriter has been honored by the United States Postal Service with his portrait placed on a stamp in 1996. Amazing who gets on an American postage stamp and who does not, eh?
• • Born in Savannah, Georgia, Johnny Mercer [18 November 1909 — 25 June 1976] was an American lyricist, songwriter, and singer. Though he is best known as a lyricist, he composed music, too. He was also a popular singer who recorded his own songs as well as those written by others. From the mid-1930s through the mid-1950s, many of the songs Mercer wrote and performed were among the most popular hits of the time. The prolific musician wrote the lyrics to more than fifteen hundred songs, including compositions for movies and Broadway shows. He received nineteen Academy Award nominations, and won four. Mercer was also a co-founder of Capitol Records.
• • "Hooray for Hollywood" • •
• • "Hooray for Hollywood" is a film song first featured in the motion picture "Hollywood Hotel" [1937], a number that has since become the staple soundtrack element of any Academy Awards ceremony. Curiously enough, "Hooray for Hollywood" is even frequently played during non-American movie ceremonies, e.g. the French César Awards. The popularity of the song is notably due to the lyrics by Johnny Mercer, which reference the American movie industry and satirize the illusory desire of many people to become famous as actors. Richard A. Whiting [1891 — 1938] composed the music, then had a heart attack at the height of his fame.
• • When I die, you are going to be very surprised! • •
• • In connection with a special Pride show on Thursday, 24 June 2010 in Manhattan, Joan Rivers got a column devoted to her in The Villager, whose hard-working reporter asked the Botoxed-to-death comedienne if there was anything yet to be revealed. “Only for you,” Joan Rivers said, referring our plea for an exclusive nugget: “I am a man. Mae West did that all her life. Mae would say to her audiences, ‘When I die, you are going to be very surprised!' Then she died and there was no surprise — — but how clever.” [Source: The Villager, Volume 80, Number 4 | June 23 - 29, 2010.]
• • 25 June 1926 • •
• • Speaking of Benefits and good deeds that were scheduled right after the first day of summer, on 25 June 1926, Mae West appeared with Houdini and other entertainers (such as George M. Cohan, Fanny Brice, the Marx Brothers, Al Jolson, Ann Pennington, Hazel Dawn, Eddie Foy, etc.) at the Polo Grounds on West 155th Street in Manhattan's Washington Heights area [zipcode 10032].
• • The fundraiser, organized for the benefit of the United Jewish Campaign, was staged by Mae's old dancing teacher Ned Wayburn.• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/________
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • none • •
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Mae West.
So many in the cast of MAE WEST's "I'm No Angel" have a link to June you might almost suspect that Tira's astrologer Rajah set it up that way.
• • Born in Princeton, New Jersey during the month of June — — on 13 June 1891 — — Nell Craig was cast as Mrs. Bond. Best known today for her recurring role as the floor nurse Parker in MGM's "Dr. Kildare" series, brunette actress Nell Craig had begun her long screen career with Essanay in Chicago as a 22-year-old fresh face in 1913. Talkies, unfortunately, reduced her chances to be anything more than a bit player although she managed to stay employed in Hollywood for decades.
• • After retiring in the late 1940s from the screen trade, Nell Craig spent her final years as a resident of the Motion Picture Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, California. She died there on 5 January 1965.
• • Brooklyn's Botoxed Bio-Pic Star • • • • There may be something that's piped into Brooklyn water, though, that makes an entertainer refuse to close the book and blow out the candles. Certainly, Mae West never spent much time in a rocking chair. Ditto for Brooklynite Joan Rivers, born during the month of June — — on 8 June 1933 — — and still telling jokes about having anal sex onstage. "It's so convenient to have anal sex," Joan Rivers tells her audience, while bending over and imitating the gestures of ironing your clothes and answering mail, multi-tasking as she gets a back-door workout.
• • This weekend the documentary "Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work" opened in New York City.
• • As Mae West did, Joan Rivers writes her own material. She proudly points to a wall of file cabinets where jokes are filed under topics such as Sex, Cooking, Brides, Jewish, Gay, Holidays, etc. To illustrate, she plucks a card from her archives and reads a joke about why it's not necessary to be a good cook — — just so your husband can tell a hooker "My wife makes a great pot roast!" and another joke-in-progress has Joan recalling a former First Lady known as Jackie O and wanting to call Michelle Obama Blackie O. Her assistant informs Joan Blackie O is not funny at all. It's quite astonishing to see this elaborate file system when so few of the jokes featured in this bio-pic are laugh-worthy. Wince-worthy, yes. But, hey, that's why canned laughter was invented.• • One segment in this bio-pic is devoted to the show she tried to launch in Great Britain at the Fringe and in the West End: "Joan Rivers: A Work in Progress by a Life in Progress." Ultimately, it did not win a fistful of stellar reviews, which finalized her decision not to bring it to her hometown. During this particular show, Joan Rivers had offered her views on many people including on how eccentric the elderly Mae West had become. The Botoxed-to-death comedienne claimed she invited Mae West for mandatory candlelit dinners (at River's home) where everyone was instructed to listen in silence as she reminisced in that famous "Mae West" voice. Not having seen the "Work in Progress" show, it is hard to say more except that Mae definitely made an impact on Joan. Obviously, the sadness of Mae West's funeral — — when only a handful of industry people came to pay their last respects to the Hollywood Icon — — pushes Joan Rivers forward daily, driven by her fear of being forgotten.• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/________
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • none • •
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Mae West.
MAE WEST met many characters — — and more than a few were men of the cloth.
• • According to old newsprint, Leroy Jenkins, who had charmed his way into Mae West's circle, was a man of convictions. Some of those oddball beliefs got him sentenced to a 12-year prison term in 1979. That probably crimped his style a bit. Imagine how it must feel to be an Elmer Gantry type of revivalist, setting up a tent and taking up collections from those who feel they are listening to a prophet. All that undeclared income can buy a lot of flashy outfits and sequined capes befitting Moses. Then one day the law burst in onto the scene like an overzealous stage manager, unexpectedly bringing the curtain down. Show's over.
• • Born in 1937, Jenkins, a self-promoting salesman and faith-healer, has been accused by some individuals of being a heel and a swindler. But the spiel goes on. And on.
• • Out of the blue, Canadian columnist Dave Goulet started writing about this shady slicker and roping in Mae West (ouch!). Goulet exclaims: Just when I thought I’d seen every crazed TV preacher on the market, I ran across Reverend Leroy Jenkins this past week. . . .
• • Dave Goulet continues: But what really caught my eye was the physical appearance of the preacher. Between the coiffed hair and obvious facelift, he looked like a cross between Elvis and Joan Rivers. His eyebrows, more appropriate for a supermodel, were stuck in a perpetual slant, which gave him a fierce frown.
• • I was so curious to know more about Rev. Leroy Jenkins that I looked him up on the Internet. According to his website, he’s been a faith healer since he himself was healed by a preacher as a young man. He started his own church and one day God told him to drill a well outside the building. This well gave forth miracle water. Armed with this healing H20, Leroy became quite famous in the Bible Belt as a faith healer.
• • Profound • •
• • Dave Goulet adds: Screen siren Mae West, in her later years, was a close friend of Rev. Jenkins. In the early 1990s [sic], a movie was made about Jenkins (produced by Leroy Jenkins), titled "The Calling" [released in December 2002]. Actress Faye Dunaway [born in Florida on 14 January 1941] played Mae West. For some reason, the good reverend feels this adds stature to his ministry, because we all know what a profound theologian Mae West was. . . .
— — Excerpt: — —
• • Essay: "Drawing from Reverend Leroy's well"
• • Byline: By Dave Goulet | "Two Cents" columnist
• • Published in: Barry's Bay This Week [Ontario, Canada] — — www.barrysbaythisweek.com
• • Published on: 2 June 2009
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • none • •
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Mae West.
MAE WEST was featured in an article "How starlets survived before Photoshop." 
• • Writing for Lemondrop, Erin Donnelly observed: Today's celebs are maintained by a steady supply of tan in a can, hair extensions, straightening irons, and mascara galore — — and that's just the Jonas Brothers.
• • Erin Donnelly added: But before we start waxing nostalgic about the good ol' days when men looked like Cary Grant and women didn't leave their panties in the glove compartment, let's not forget that the silver-screen stars of Old Hollywood weren't exactly "natural beauties" either. In fact, as this little trip down memory lane will attest, many of these bizarre old-school beauty tricks would make even Joan Rivers wince. If she could.
• • Erin Donnelly had this to say about Mae West:
• • The queen of double entendres relied on eight-inch platform heels to maximize her stage presence, and spent two hours a day massaging cold cream into her breasts to keep them nice and perky. She's also rumored to have undergone a daily enema.
— — Excerpt: — —
• • Article: "Old Hollywood Beauty Tricks: Looking Pretty, Pre-Photoshop"
• • Byline: Erin Donnelly
• • Published in: Lemondrop.com
• • Published on: 25 November 2008
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • 1934 • •
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Mae West.
Joan Rivers was born in Brooklyn, NY on 8 June 1933 — — forty years after MAE WEST was born. When Mae died, Joan was 47 years old.
• • Attending Mae West's funeral in 1980 is one of the things the 75-year-old comedienne discusses in her stage show "Joan Rivers: A Work In Progress by A Life in Progress" (now playing in London). When Joan intones “she outlived her fame,” it is understood that Ms Rivers surely intends to avoid that.
• • British drama critic Sharon Garfinkel recently described the performance for readers of The Tribune Magazine: "The show is set in a dressing room, which has been allocated to Joan backstage at the Oscars. Sadly for her, it is dressing room two, her make-up artist of 30 years is absent, and her producer is merely an assistant. The delightful Emily Koskoski is her make-up artist and Nathan Osgood acts as her producer. Still, as she gets ready for the big night, she tells us all numerous anecdotes from her life: the good and the bad, including her husband’s suicide as well as sex for the over 60s. She reminisces about attending Mae West’s funeral and how she was shocked that, despite West’s great acclaim, only a few others attended. . . ." [Source: The Tribune UK — — www.tribunemagazine.co.uk — — 17 September 2008]
• • Reviewing the Joan Rivers show for the London Theatre Guide earlier this month, British drama critic Peter Brown had written: "And [Joan Rivers] discusses meeting a veteran Mae West who required special conditions in order to be entertained. Later, she describes Ms West's funeral which had only a handful of people present, in spite of the fact that an entire studio owed its continued existence to Ms West's celebrity. ..."
• • Did you see the show?
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • none • • NYC
Mae West.
Covering the last live show by snarky Joan Rivers, Masha Savitz recounts an off-beat onstage narrative about MAE WEST.
• • Writing for The Epoch Times from the West Coast, a publication sadly in need of a copy editor, Masha Savitz tells it this way: "Hi, Cooper darling, it's Nanny New-Face!" is what Joan Rivers says to her grandson, referring to her extensive plastic surgery, during the world premiere of 'A work in Progress by a Life in Progress' in an on-stage phone conversation at Los Angeles's Geffen Playhouse on 22 March 2008, during the early show filled with the silver-haired crowd. . . .
• • The audience is treated to classic Joan Rivers' irreverent, scathing humor, as she makes fun of herself and anyone else.
• • In another such aside, she talks about hosting the elderly and eccentric Mae West for mandatory candlelit dinners at River's home where everyone was instructed to listen in silence as she reminisced in the infamous 'Mae West' persona and voice.
• • Joan Rivers also talked about a strange encounter with Joan Crawford, and other screen greats. Along with speaking openly about the great tribulations of her life, like when her husband Edgar committed suicide after a severe depression following serious heart surgery, and at 56 needing to start all over again when she was fired from the network on the premise that a widow whose husband kills himself is not funny, Rivers explains, "It is how I always got through life by telling jokes."
• • She triumphantly brings us on the journey with her, through the pain, towards faith and perseverance, while keeping us howling with laughter in the isles [sic] — — heartfelt and hilarious.
• • The Epoch Times prints some howlers — — for instance, laughter in the isles and "who's" when the writer means "whose" or run-on sentences. And I corrected most of the Epoch errors but deliberately left a few for your enjoyment. How many did you spot? — — excerpt — —
• • "Joan Rivers: A Work In Progress by a Life in Progress"
• • Byline: Masha Savitz, Los Angeles Staff Writer
• • Published in: The Epoch Times
• • Published on: 3 April 2008
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • none • •
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Mae West.
