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Was MAE WEST in the rehearsal room yesterday on West 38th Street? 
• • The "Courting Mae West" cast had just run through a complex court scene set during April 1927 — — a trial that concluded when Judge George Donnellan entered and told Mae West that the jury found her guilty, that she is going to jail, and that on April 19th sentencing would be imposed.
• • Based on true events, this is an emotional scene, featuring Mae's German-born mother Matilda West reacting to the verdict by standing up and pleading with the judge not to jail her daughter again.
• • "Why do you make bad laws in this country that punish good people?" yells Matilda West before stumbling and falling. A melee begins as the reporters photograph and crowd around Mae West — — who is trying desperately to reach her mother. 
• • The cast had just paused for a food break and director Louis Lopardi was about to announce the time of the next rehearsal (which is tomorrow on Monday).
• • The windows in the rehearsal room are closed and covered with heavy paper and hidden behind heavy black curtains.
• • Suddenly, the thick black curtains moved — — and THREE empty CHAIRS and a TABLE moved in unison about 2 feet into the room.
• • The cast found this occurrence quite strange.
• • Mae West, was that you?• • "COURTING MAE WEST" opens at 6 o'clock on Saturday night July 19, 2008 at the Algonquin Theatre [East 24th Street and Park Avenue South].
• • "COURTING MAE WEST" — — showtimes
• • July 19th, 2008 — — 6:00 PM
• • July 20th, 2008 — — 2:00 PM matinee
• • July 21st, 2008 — — 6:00 PM
• • July 22nd, 2008 — — 9:00 PM
• • Tickets to "COURTING MAE WEST" are $18 per adult.
• • Theatermania.com sells the tickets — — http://www.theatermania.com/content/show.cfm/show/144297
• • Questions? Phone 212-779-3051.
• • The play is 95 minutes.
• • Get ready to come up and see Mae West, Texas Guinan, and the gang onstage in mid-July 2008.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • "Sex" trial April 1927 • •
• • Photo: • • Mae West cast • • Eric Eastman plays Barry O'Neill • •NYC
Mae West.
In Act I, Scene 3 of "Courting Mae West" — — the raid at Daly's 63rd Street Theatre on 9 February 1927 — — MAE WEST meets the rogue news dealer Declan Rourke (one of the play's fictional characters). Before long, Declan Rourke will be stealing Mae West's "Sex" posters, autographing them himself, and doing viral marketing for his newsstand business. 
• • Portraying the lovable scoundrel is Steven Viola, who slips into the part without fuss as if he were born to the brogue. With his supple, muscular voice and intriguing gestures, he effortlessly holds the audience's gaze.
• • Director Louis Lopardi, observing intently, says, "I knew he was right for the part."• • Steven Viola recently portrayed another scoundrel, Iago, in a Village Voice-acclaimed production of "Othello" directed by Elfin Vogel at Theatre 22.
• • Steven Viola studied acting with Gloria Maddox and Carol Prescott at the Terry Schreiber Studio. His theatre credits include: "The Man who Corrupted Hadley Burg" (as Edward); "A Doll's House" (as Dr. Rank); "Our Country's Good" (as Arscott, Sanford Meisner); "Table Manners" (as Norman, The Kraine Theatre); and "Once in a Lifetime" (as George Lewis, Samuel Beckett Theatre); and many others. He also appeared in the film Nuke 'Um High and the TV shows "Steals & Deals" and "Toonces & Fences."
• • He is also a founding member of The Cranston and Spade WWOW Radio Mystery Theatre Company which performs old-time radio favorites at the Partners & Crime Bookstore in Greenwich Village.
• • "COURTING MAE WEST" opens at 6 o'clock on Saturday night July 19, 2008 at the Algonquin Theatre [East 24th Street and Park Avenue South].
• • "COURTING MAE WEST" — — showtimes
• • July 19th, 2008 — — 6:00 PM
• • July 20th, 2008 — — 2:00 PM matinee
• • July 21st, 2008 — — 6:00 PM
• • July 22nd, 2008 — — 9:00 PM
• • Tickets to "COURTING MAE WEST" are $18 per adult.
• • Theatermania.com sells the tickets — — http://www.theatermania.com/content/show.cfm/show/144297
• • Questions? Phone 212-779-3051.
• • The play is 95 minutes.
• • Get ready to come up and see Mae West, Texas Guinan, and the gang onstage in mid-July 2008.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West cast • • Steven Viola • •
NYC
Mae West.
When MAE WEST was 83, Jason was a newborn — — and now he is portraying her lover in New York City. 
• • Jason Emanuel was born in Johannesburg, South Africa and emigrated to Vancouver, Canada with his family at the age of 13 months. Attracted to the dramatic arts, after high school graduation he began studying at the Gastown Actors' Studio, where he received training from many diverse instructors in many areas of the craft.
• • After some time spent in drama school, Jason began his professional career while continuing to hone his craft. He worked steadily in film and TV, guest-starring in such shows as, 'Mysterious Ways' NBC, 'Breaking News' TNT, 'Stargate SG1' MGM, and 'Masters of Horror' Industry Entertainment. He has also worked in such films as, 'Angels In The Endzone' Disney, 'Like Mike 2' 20th Century Fox, and 'The Visual Bible' where he was cast as the Apostle Simon Peter to Mr. F. Murray Abraham's 30 year older version.
• • His desire to bridge the film world with the theater world launched a project called 'The Actor's Jam' (an evening of one-act plays) for which he served as Co-Artistic Director, Producer, Director, and Actor. Critics were paying attention and soon Jason found himself part of the Savage God Shakespeare company where he acted in such plays as 'Antony and Cleopatra', 'Merchant of Venice', 'Troilus and Cressida', as well as others. In 2006, Jason was nominated for a Jessie Richardson Theater Award (Best of Vancouver Theater), in the category of 'Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role', for his portrayal of 'Aaron', lover to 'Tamora, Queen of Goths' and enemy to 'Titus', in Shakespeare's bloodiest play, 'Titus Andronicus'. This then led to a production of 'Shakespeare's R and J' by Joe Calarco, where he was cast as 'Romeo', the doomed star-crossed lover. He played to popular and critical acclaim.
• • Following many successes and laurels in Vancouver, Jason decided he was ready for The Big Apple, where he furthered his studies with Terry Schreiber at T. Schreiber Studios.
• • Cast as the alluring leading man in "Courting Mae West," Jason is extremely excited to be portraying the complex newsman Mario 'Shortie' De Angelis in a rich project with an historical basis.
• • Learn more about Jason Emanuel at www.imdb.com.
• • "COURTING MAE WEST" opens at 6 o'clock on Saturday night July 19, 2008 at the Algonquin Theatre [East 24th Street and Park Avenue South].
• • "COURTING MAE WEST" — — showtimes
• • July 19th, 2008 — — 6:00 PM
• • July 20th, 2008 — — 2:00 PM matinee
• • July 21st, 2008 — — 6:00 PM
• • July 22nd, 2008 — — 9:00 PM
• • Tickets to "COURTING MAE WEST" are $18 per adult.
• • Theatermania.com sells the tickets — — http://www.theatermania.com/content/show.cfm/show/144297
• • Questions? Phone 212-779-3051.
• • The play is 95 minutes.
• • Get ready to come up and see Mae West, Texas Guinan, and the gang onstage in mid-July 2008.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • Jason Emanuel • •
NYC
Mae West.
MAE WEST gets her day in court — — when she returns to the Times Square area on Saturday 29 March 2008. 
• • COURTING MAE WEST will be featured at The Producer's Club [358 West 44th Street, NYC] on March 29th under the direction of Louis Lopardi, who has selected a number of actors to do a table reading.
• • COURTING MAE WEST opens at the Algonquin Theatre (NYC) on 19 July 2008 at 7:00 PM.
• • SYNOPSIS [100 words] • •
• • Based on true events during the Prohibition Era, this 95-minute play follows a vaudeville veteran whose frustrations with the rules of male-dominated Broadway have led her to write her own material and cast her own shows. Is the Gay White Way ready for love stories that feature New York City drag queens instead of card-carrying members of the union? Is the legitimate theatre ripe for racially integrated melodramas set in Harlem? Is the Rialto raring to reward a working-class heroine determined to sin and win?
• • Come up and see Mae West as she challenges bigotry, fights City Hall, and climbs the ladder of success wrong by wrong.
• • How about a date?
• • Plan ahead. Get ready to come up and see Mae onstage in New York City when the Annual Fresh Fruit Festival presents "Courting Mae West: Sex, Censorship and Secrets" (based on true events 1926 — 1932 when Mae West was arrested and jailed) under the direction of Louis Lopardi at the Algonquin Theatre [123 East 24th Street, NYC 10010] July 19th — 22nd, 2008.
• • "COURTING MAE WEST" opens at 7 o'clock on Saturday night July 19, 2008 at the Algonquin Theatre [East 24th Street and Park Avenue South].
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
• • "COURTING MAE WEST" — — showtimes
• • July 19th, 2008 — — 7:00 PM
• • July 20th, 2008 — — 1:00 PM matinee
• • July 21st, 2008 — — 6:00 PM
• • July 22nd, 2008 — — 9:00 PM
• • Tickets to COURTING MAE WEST will only be about $20 - $25 per person.
• • The theatre has 99 seats.
• • SPECIAL: $100 - $150 donation — — donor gets name in the Program — — and 1 free ticket to the play.
• • $151 - $500 donation — — donor gets name in Program and TWO free tickets to the play and invited to all parties.
• • Fresh Fruit Festival: a non-profit group organizes this ambitious annual festival [now in its 7th year]. The colorful two-week arts festival is a money-losing venture sustained by funds from The New York City Council, a culture grant from New York State, a stipend from Senator Tom Duane, and donations from good people.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • 1927 • •
NYC
Mae West.
MAE WEST made a brief appearance in an article about strong women even though the focus was on Bette Davis who was, Johann Hari wrote, "self-confident enough to demand to look bad on camera."
• • Johann Hari's column observed: Precisely a century ago, in a suburb of Boston, a child called Bette Davis erupted into the world. She was not only a woman; she was an electrical storm with skin. With nothing but raw talent and raw determination, she became the most famous woman in the world, taking on the Hollywood studio system, the FBI and the Catholic Church.
• • For a while, this not-especially-beautiful woman in her forties ruled Hollywood, playing tough women who chose their careers and their own desires over sacrificing for men or children or a picket fence. She never pretended to be dumb, or a little girl. She didn't do soft, or simpering. She had a voice like sour cream, and eyes like a raven. Humphrey Bogart said about her: "Unless you're very big she can knock you down." And she was one of the great events of her time.
• • She was popular with the mostly-female movie audience - women like my grandmother, who gave me my first glimpse of Bette Davis movies from her lap - in part because her characters will not accept 'their place.' They want more, more, more. It was not easy to be a strong woman then; she said, "When a man gives his opinion he's a man. When a woman gives her opinion she's a bitch." But she fought, and women responded to it. She was only the most shimmering example of a generation of tough Hollywood women whose characters saw the world as a place not to cower from or simper at, but to conquer: MAE WEST (who made her first film at 40), Lauren Bacall, Katherine Hepburn, Joan Crawford, Barbra Stanwyck, Rosalind Russell, Marlene Dietrich, and more. ...
— — Excerpt: — —
• • "Where have all the strong women gone?"
• • Byline: Johann Hari
• • Published in: The London Independent — — www.independent.co.uk/
• • Published on: 27 March 2008
• • 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.
Several New Yorkers had seen Mae West's play "Sex" more than once — — including Sergeant Patrick Keneally, who had taken an exhaustive number of notes while attending three performances at Daly's 63rd Street Theatre in the line of duty.
• • Police action against "Sex" had been more in opposition to "The Drag" than to Margy LaMont's lascivious adventures, explains Jill Watts in her impeccably researched bio: Mae West: An Icon in Black and White. • • According to Jill Watts: While efforts to mothball "The Drag" succeeded, "Sex" played to capacity crowds for several more weeks. However, by the beginning of March [1927], attendance had died off and profits shrank. Desperate to keep the production alive, the Morals Production Corporation ordered a 25% pay cut for everyone. Several players handed in their notices. Finally, on Sunday, March 19, after the evening's performance, Morganstern announced that Mae West was physically exhausted and was closing the play. Yet he also emphasized her determination to fight the case to its end.
• • According to Jill Watts: Only a few days later, the New York State senate passed the Wales Padlock Bill, which required the district attorney to prosecute everyone associated with an indecent production and to lock down for one year any theatre that hosted such shows. It was less severe than mandating a stage censor and allowed the power over Broadway to remain with the district attorney, who in New York was the Tammany Hall loyalist Banton. The bill now sat waiting on Al Smith's desk.• • In Jefferson Market Police Court (on Sixth Avenue and West Ninth Street) the defendants from the "Sex" raid came to trial on 28 March 1927. The prosecution's case rested on the testimony of Sergeant Keneally and his ability to take rapid, accurate stenography in a darkened playhouse. New York's district attorney, perhaps addicted to the fortissimo eloquence of inner lives magnificently thwarted by the law, was prepared to step into his gladiator mode to do battle with the dauntless leonine jezebel of the Jazz Era — — Mae West.• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • The serious-minded comedy "Courting Mae West" by Greenwich Village playwright LindaAnn Loschiavo, set during 1926 — 1932, explores Mae West's legal woes. Act I, Scenes 3 — 4 dramatize both the police raid on 9 February 1927 and the tense aftermath at Jefferson Market Police Court.
• • Using fictional elements, the text is anchored by true events and has several characters who are based on real people: actress Mae West; Beverly West; Jim Timony; Texas Guinan; Mr. Isidore, a news seller on Sixth Avenue and West 9th Street; and Sara Starr, based on the Greenwich Village flapper Starr Faithfull, whose death inspired John O'Hara's novel "Butterfield 8" and a dozen other books.
• • "Courting Mae West: Sex, Censorship, and Secrets" will be onstage at the Algonquin Theatre [123 East 24th Street, New York, NY 10010] by July 19, 2008.
• • Get ready to come up and see Mae onstage in mid-July 2008.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • 1927 • •
NYC
Mae West.
MAE WEST fan and drama critic Glenn Loney pens a fascinatin' column for New York Theatre Wire called "Glenn Loney's Show Notes." 
• • The text below is a brief excerpt from Glenn Loney's in-depth article that appeared in the month of March eight years ago [on 1 March 2000].
• • Glenn Loney wrote: Over a decade ago, the trio of talents who run Glasgow's Citizens' Theatre asked me to get them a copy of "Sex." They wanted to produce it as part of their brilliantly eclectic repertory.
• • I found it impossible to get a copy of the script. Nor were performance rights available.
• • When I was advising Dr. Richard Helfer on his CUNY PhD Dissertation research for a study of Mae West and her banned plays we found it impossible even to quote lines from the plays.
• • The Mae West Estate must have had a recent change of heart. ...
— — Excerpt: — —
• • Article: "Sex" a Play by Mae West
• • Byline: Glenn Loney
• • Published on: www.nytheatre-wire.com/
• • Published on: 1 March 2000
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
• • Since that bleak black-out period, "Sex" has been performed by companies in New York City; by Icarus Falling in Lansing, Michigan during October 2005; and (most recently) by the Aurora Theatre Company in Berkeley, California, where the well-received production starring Delia MacDougall was held over until 23 December 2007.
• • Get ready to come up and see Mae onstage in New York City when the Annual Fresh Fruit Festival presents "Courting Mae West: Sex, Censorship and Secrets" (based on true events 1926 — 1932 when Mae West was arrested and jailed) under the direction of Louis Lopardi at the Algonquin Theatre [123 East 24th Street, NYC 10010] July 19th — 22nd, 2008.• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • 1926 • •
NYC
Mae West.
MAE WEST stayed at the Hotel San Carlos in Phoenix, Arizona during the 1930s — — and the owners never forgot the honor. 
• • Currently, Shirley Peterson, a vivacious 80 year-old songstress is helping to reinvigorate the Hotel San Carlos by entertaining the guests.
• • There the porcelain-skinned blonde sits under a black and white portrait of Mae West [costumed for her role in "She Done Him Wrong"] and plays the grand piano in the Copper Door on Saturdays, commanding the attention of the cocktail crowd in the charmingly historic room.
• • Just before the hotel celebrated its 80th anniversary in March 2008, general manager Corrin Green contacted Shirley Peterson, asking her to play in the first-floor space that — — even with such a long history — — felt oddly empty, soulless even.
• • "And as soon as we got Shirley in here, there was no question. She owned the room," said Green.
• • How could the Copper Door feel "empty" or "soulless" with the Brooklyn bombshell presiding over the salon? Well, no doubt, Peterson and Mae West are making beautiful music on Saturdays in Arizona. We can only hope that Shirley plays a mean version of "Frankie and Johnny."
• • Did you know that the Grand Canyon State has its very own copy of Hollywood's star-studded sidewalk? The sidewalk outside Phoenix's historic Hotel San Carlos — — which opened in 1928 as the first air-conditioned hotel in the state — — has its own walk of fame.
• • Celebrities such as MAE WEST, Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy, Carole Lombard, and Marilyn Monroe stayed at the hotel when visiting the desert. To commemorate the hotel's 65th anniversary in 1993, the walk of stars was added outside, on both Central Avenue and Monroe Street.• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: Mae West • • 1933 • •
NYC
Mae West.
The past is another country — — and MAE WEST was most comfortable there.
• • However, in her Broadway blockbuster "Diamond Lil" [1928] Mae's aim was not to resurrect the naughty nineties — — but to present that bygone decade's sins in shifty soft focus. The world of Diamond Lil, restrained by Victorian morality despite a certain cheeky daring, was a backwards glance to a time of innocence, picturesque entertainment, well-behaved wildness, corset-clad temptresses, The Police Gazette's seductions, and 5-cent beer.
• • Drama critic Stark Young [1881—1963] analyzed Mae's clever maneuvers in his article for The New Republic:
• • "Diamond Lil" is as daring in the end [as 1926's "Sex"], the same sexy morsels, embraces, interventions of the law with rank suspenses, frank speeches, underworld, and so on. But it is more covered, continuous, and studied than the other production, and the crowd of characters, the costuming and vaudevillistic intervals, pull the whole of this later play into a more familiar style, less crudely, and sheerly singular than "Sex" appeared to be [excerpt from The New Republic — 27 June 1928].
• • Louis Lopardi, who will direct "Courting Mae West: Sex, Censorship and Secrets" in July at the Algonquin Theatre, also feels enriched by the past. His own production — — The Purgatory Project, Part 2 — — reimagined the lives led by four famous historical figures: Sigmund Freud, Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky, J. Robert Oppenheimer, and Lee Harvey Oswald.
• • A history buff as well as a thespian, Lopardi especially enjoys plays with a classical echo, texts rooted to a mythic past. For instance, he found "Metamorphoses," a play based on the Greek poem Metamorphoses by Ovid, fascinating and he relished the modernized adaptation written by Mary Zimmerman a few years ago. Ovid works onstage because those depictions of yearning and confused desires are timeless, feels Lopardi.
• • Since he has frequently decanted Ovid's ancient songs, he noticed right away the mythic skin underneath "Courting Mae West" — — the Brooklyn bombshell's story reimagined as the metamorphosis of King Midas. How you get the golden touch is one of the subtle sub-plots here. As Mae's career goals recalibrate her box office appeal, she will earn her hard cold slice of success — — but at a cost.
• • "I like a multi-layered comedy," admits Lopardi. "The best shows make you laugh for an hour and a half — — and then, untethered from your Playbill, you mull it over at home."
• • Bringing "Courting Mae West" to an audience requires funding. To support A Company Of Players, a non-profit theatre group established in 1979 to present meaningful theatre, please click on this link — — http://www.companyofplayers.com/support.htm
• • A Company Of Players is recognized by the IRS as a 501(c)3 type organization, and donations to the group are considered a charitable, tax-deductible contribution.
• • Contribute through "Pay Pal" or you can mail a check to: A Company Of Players, 545 Eighth Avenue, #401, New York NY 10018-4307.
• • "Courting Mae West: Sex, Censorship, and Secrets" will be onstage at the Algonquin Theatre [123 East 24th Street, New York, NY 10010] soon after the Independence Day holidays.
• • Get ready to come up and see Mae onstage in mid-July 2008.
• • 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.
