Mae West: Well-Curved

It was the Thursday issue on 1 February 1934 when newspaper readers were alerted to this headline in all caps: "MAE WEST SETS STYLE."
• • When Mae was born in 1893, the latter part of the Victorian Era, folks were feeding their burgeoning hunger, showing their prosperity proudly by an expansive Diamond-Jim-Brady-type waistline, and striving to keep time to the upwardly mobile rhapsody. But the Wall Street bull market in the twenties bulldozed the silhouette of the new strivers. John Held's flappers were trim, higher hemlines showing off slim athletic calves that loved to do the Charleston. Louise Brooks, the silent screen star, looked like a modern jazz baby, which is to say her figure was nothing like Lillian Russell nor Madge Lessing. As the flickers gave way to talking pictures, Hollywood headliners tended to be svelte, angular, and diamond-cheekboned.
• • Mae West's enormous popularity on the silver screen brought back the bountiful bosoms and curves of the Naughty Nineties. In Queensland, there was applause.
• • The value of a well curved figure • •
• • The article — — "MAE WEST SETS STYLE" — — printed on February 1st in Brisbane, Queensland's daily The Courier-Mail (on page 7) read: Mae West, the Broadway star, who made a picture called "She Done Him Wrong," is claimed to have caused a change in feminine fashions. Miss West is a well set up, curved blonde. Before she achieved success in her first starring picture, women had to be slim, or they were out of fashion. But Mae West has changed that. They were becoming slimmer and slimmer. They were then turning to bobs and Eton crops, the shingle, and the bingle. The picture that caused the change in style, "She Done Him Wrong," will be shown at the Tivoli Theatre on 9 February 1934. Patrons may then judge for themselves the value of a well curved figure, as against the thin and svelte types who have ruled fashion so long.
• • Karl Hajos [1889 — 1950] • •
• • A composer who wrote the incidental music for "I'm No Angel" [1933], the smash hit starring Mae West, died on the first of February.
• • Born in Budapest, Karl Hajos [28 January 1889 — 1 February 1950] immigrated to the USA in 1924 at the age of 35. Serious about composing and song writing, Hajos had studied in his homeland at at the University of Budapest and the Academy of Music in Budapest.
• • During the 1930s, when Hajos was contracted to Paramount Pictures, he wrote stock music for "I'm No Angel." Mostly uncredited in Hollywood, he raised his profile during the mid-1940s when two films he worked on earned Oscar nominations for Best Music. Occasionally, a fan will attribute a famous song to Hajos [such as "Falling Leaves" by Frankie Carle and Mack David], but it does not seem as though he had any hits.
• • Karl Hajos died in Los Angeles, California in February — — on 1 February 1950. He was 61.
• • On Tuesday, 1 February 1927 in Connecticut • •
• • On Tuesday, February 1st at 5 AM, Mae West was arrested along with her sister and the director Edward Elsner in Bridgeport, Connecticut.
• • The tabloid New York World covered the story on the front page on 1 February 1927 as did the New York Morning Telegraph, offering their voyeuristic readers every sin-soaked scrap about the scandal. The N.Y. Times also reported on this on February 1st but in less lurid detail.
• • Ballyhoo Magazine, February 1934 — The Mae West Number • •
• • Mae West's portrait appeared on the cover of Ballyhoo along with a slinky silhouette of a disgruntled Greta Garbo garbed in angry red. Here is one cartoon from this no-holds-barred humor magazine. Ballyhoo did not run ads because they wanted no restrictions on the editorial content.
• • Cartoon: Ballyhoo's illustrators depicted the "Mae West Influence" on fashion. Isn't this drawing wonderful?
• • In 16 Magazine in 1966 • •
• • Editor-in-Chief of 16 Gloria Stavers wrote: Tower has signed a cute little not-so-new blonde named Mae West, and her rock and roll LP called Way Out West (accompanied by Somebody's Children) is an absolute must. I mean, it really grooves. ...
• • On 1 February 1967 in England • •
• • Recording began for the album "Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band" in studio two at Abbey Road on 1 February 1967. When invited to be pictured on the cover, Mae West's first response was, "No, I won't be on it. What would I be doing in a lonely hearts club?"
• • February 1975 Club Magazine • •
• • A new soft-core publication for red-blooded males was Club Magazine. They launched their first issue in February 1975. Volume 1, Number 1's cover advertised that readers could enjoy a fresh interview with Mae West.
• • Mae West was interviewed for Club Magazine by Gordon McGill.
• • On 1 February 2008 • •
• • The paperback edition of "Mae West: Empress of Sex" written by Maurice Leonard was released on 1 February 2008. The first edition of Leonard's biography, in hardcover, had come out in August 1992.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "It's no good trying to be serious. I tried it 18 months ago by playing Catherine of Russia, but when I held out my hand to be kissed the audience was not happy until I raised my eyebrows in that way they like. So gradually the whole thing became a burlesque."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • An article in Tennessee discussed Mae West.
• • News Chanel 5 wrote: NASHVILLE, Tenn. — There are plenty of stages in downtown Nashville, but few that inspire its own soft and soothing country song like the Ryman Auditorium where country music stars have made history for 120 years.
• • "This stage has hosted everyone from Mae West to Louis Armstrong, Johnny Cash and all of the great country music artists," said Brenda Colliday. ...
• • Source: News Release: "Ryman Upgrades with New Stage" published on News Chanel 5; posted on 30 January 2012
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started seven years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 2195th 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: San Bernadino Upstart

During the 1920s, MAE WEST performed "Diamond Lil" onstage in San Bernadino in an imposing playhouse that seated 1200 — 1400 ticket-holders.
• • California reporter Nita Hiltner has researched the fascinating history of this building that was ahead of its time. According to Nita Hiltner: An elaborate red brick theatre, built in 1882 by mountain man and civic leader James W. Waters (who had traveled with Kit Carson and Herman Brinkmeyer), was furnished grandly with red velvet curtains, box seats, and an orchestra pit. The opera house at D and Court Streets was popular with the celebrities who performed there . . . .
• • Nita Hiltner writes: After James W. Waters died, Martha Kiplinger, his daughter, took over the management of the opera house in 1894 and began bringing in top entertainers such as Sarah Bernhardt, Al Jolson, Lillian Russell, Howard Kyle, Maude Adams, and George M. Cohan.
• • Nita Hiltner adds: From Broadway came magician Harry Houdini, Mae West, Will Rogers, and the Barrymores. ...
• • This is a must-read for theatre buffs and followers of California history, so check out the link while this is still online.
— — Excerpt: — —
• • Article: Southern California's first opera house — — SAN BERNARDINO: The facility was popular with the celebrities of the day who performed there.
• • By Nita Hiltner | Special to The Press-Enterprise
• • Published in: The Press-Enterprise — — www.pe.com/
• • Published on: 27 November 2010
• • Vaudevillians Fields and Carroll • •
• • Mae West performed at Hammerstein's Victoria during August 1912 and Fields and Carroll were on the same stagebill. Harry Carroll, a well-regarded American songwriter, pianist and composer, was born in Atlantic City, New Jersey in the month of November — — on 28 November 1892. Harry Carroll died on 26 December 1962, in Mount Carmel, Pennsylvania. His brilliant career will be the topic of another post.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West: Rudy Vallee

MAE WEST was accompanied in 1930 by Rudy Vallée, whose birthday and death date fall during the month of July.
• • Born in Island Pond, Vermont, Rudy Vallée [28 July 1901 — 3 July 1986] was an actor as well as a singer, bandleader, and popular entertainer. His parents had ancestors who were of French Canadian origin and some who had emigrated from Ireland. [Similarly, Mae West's father's side was from Ireland and Canada and her maternal grandmother was French.]
• • Rudy Vallée grew up in Westbrook, Maine. In high school, he took up the saxophone. Supposedly, he acquired the nickname "Rudy" after a then famous saxophonist Rudy Wiedoeft.
• • In the spring of 1930, Texas Guinan, who was covering "The Pleasure Man" trial for a newspaper, invited Mae to perform at a fundraiser she was co-hosting at the Imperial Theatre [249 West 45th Street]. This playhouse had 1443 seats. Texas Guinan had tapped entertainers such as Helen Morgan, Ruth Etting, Charles Butterworth, Lily Damita, De Wolf Hopper, Paul Ash, and Harry Richman.
• • Jobless herself, Mae agreed to sing a few numbers to raise money at the "Give a Job Benefit" taking place on 12 April 1930.
• • Rudy Vallée and his orchestra backed Mae as she sang "Frankie and Johnny" and a few other favorites on the wide proscenium stage of the Imperial. For awhile, Vallée's trademark was a raccoon coat and megaphone. Other co-hosts helping this worthy cause were Walter Winchell, Mark Hellinger, Jack Donahue, and the event's organizer Heywood Broun.
• • Rudy Vallée died on 3 July 1986 at the age of 84 in Hollywood.
• • Harmony and stage stars still find their way to the Imperial. If you have seen the current crowd-pleasing musical at this West 45th venue, then you know this playhouse looks rather different now.
• • 2009 TOUR: On Sunday afternoon 16 August 2009, the Annual Mae West Walk, will briefly visit West 45th. 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: Diamond Life

MAE WEST, whose Broadway blockbuster was "Diamond Lil," was fascinated by characters – – and the actress-loving gift dispenser Diamond Jim Brady was one of them. Since the very generous gent died in mid-April, it's time for a toast.
• • James Buchanan Brady, also known as Diamond Jim Brady [12 August 1856 – 13 April 1917], was an American businessman, a financier, and a philanthropist.
• • Known for his penchant for jewels, especially diamonds, he collected precious gems and favored his idol Lillian Russell with dazzling doo-dads such as a bicycle encrusted with mother-of-pearl inlaid and other imaginative tributes.
• • For another actress, Diamond Jim commissioned a hand-carved gilded swan bed [shown here].
• • After Brady died on 13 April 1917, Mae West managed to buy the swan bed from his estate. It was used onstage as part of the bedroom suite of "Diamond Lil" [1928] and Mae also finessed the vintage prop into the filmed version "She Done Him Wrong" [1933].
• • Where lies the gilded swan bed today? Who knows?
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West: Friday the 13th

Vincent Canby looked back on the career of MAE WEST in an article published in mid-February in The New York Times [Sunday — 13 February 2000] and focused on her sexpot image in a film released in the USA on 15 March 1940.
• • Did you see "My Little Chickadee"?
• • Vincent Canby writes: When Mae went to Hollywood, her good humor and bold assumption of sexual authority, coupled with her raunchy aphorisms of Wildean balance, transformed her into one of the world's biggest box-office attractions. She was also the reason Hollywood overhauled the Production Code, the apparatus by which the industry censored its own material, in this way to combat the new licentiousness represented by little Mae.
• • Her first three movies, ''Night After Night'' (1932), ''She Done Him Wrong'' (1933), and ''I'm No Angel'' (1933), are stuffed with the grand doubles-entendres that she never tired of recycling for the rest of her life.
• • It's in ''I'm No Angel'' that she plays Tira, a tyro at lion taming who sticks her head into the big cat's mouth, prompting an admirer to say significantly, ''She's safer in that cage than she is in bed.'' This is the same movie in which she enunciated as her dictum about men: ''Find 'em, fool 'em, 'n forget 'em.'' Which, in 1933, was her variation on what men, especially the sort whom Mae admired most, were supposed to say about women.
• • Yet by the end of the 1930's, Mae West's movies were no longer sure-fire box-office hits. It wasn't only because the Production Code was sanitizing her material. Her range was limited and she was repeating herself. She might have gone on forever as the supporting character actress she was in ''Night After Night,'' but she couldn't resist playing the star. When she hogs the screen a certain monotony creeps into her work; it soon seems as if she is imitating herself.
• • A further problem was her age. Mae started late in Hollywood; she had her 40th birthday while shooting ''I'm No Angel.'' Her ample figure was less easily disguised in contemporary clothes than in the sort of gowns worn by Lillian Russell, but she couldn't confine her films to tales set in the Gay Nineties.
• • Mae West isn't forgotten today, but she is probably best remembered in oblique ways, in association with other things, like the busty life jackets that World War II servicemen nicknamed for her. She is still recalled by occasional impersonators, some of whom are more bizarre than others. Following the murder of Jon-Benet Ramsey, there was a news photograph of the child wearing the sort of feather boa and cartwheel hat that Mae sported in ''She Done Him Wrong.''
• • Mae's films still can be found in video rental shops, of course. Yet I suspect that the one rented most frequently is ''My Little Chickadee.'' This 1940 comedy-western about a hooker and a card shark is not, strictly speaking, a true Mae West movie, having been stolen by the nimble, white-gloved digits of W. C. Fields, her larcenous co-star.
• • Mae made three films after ''My Little Chickadee,'' but she might as well have retired then and there. W.C. Fields — — no gallant gentleman he (as Mae well knew) — — damaged her reputation in subtle ways that, for lethal effect, equaled the destruction wreaked on her pictures by the Production Code.
• • Fields didn't try to clean up her act; he did something far worse: he made Mae, the laid-back, self-mocking good-time girl of ''She Done Him Wrong'' and ''I'm No Angel,'' look not only humorless but mean and spiteful. Though Mae, playing Flower Belle, sets up the elaborate gag that transforms ''My Little Chickadee'' into one of the funniest movies ever made, the way the gag works out demolishes Mae's public persona.
• • To escape Cuthbert J. Twillie (Fields), who believes he has conjugal rights, Flower Belle puts a goat in the bed of their bridal suite, blows out the lamps and leaves the room in darkness. Twillie enters from the bathroom and climbs into bed, noting, after a decent pause, that Flower Belle seems to be sleeping in her caracul coat. ''Better take it off, dear,'' says Twillie with concern, ''you won't feel the good of it when you go out. . . .'' When the goat lets out a long ''m-a-a-a-a!,'' Twillie is sent into paroxysms of bliss. ''The sweet little dear,'' he says, ''is calling for her mama. Such blind innocence. . . .''
• • The sequence is priceless, but it also has the effect of making Mae West appear to be frosty and completely out of touch with her co-star, which she was. Mae was not a team player. But then she knew enough to realize that the character she always played, Superhooker, couldn't stand too much realism. When actual joy, passion or even humiliation are evident, the Superhooker appears ridiculous, like Miss Piggy in an otherwise conventional adaptation of ''Little Women.'' Mae took top billing in ''My Little Chickadee'' but she wound up sandbagged by Fields.
• • Chicago native Vincent Canby [27 July 1924 — 15 September 2000] was a longtime film critic.
— — excerpt — —
• • Article by Vincent Canby
• • Published in The New York Times
• • Published on: 13 February 2000
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West: Tony Pastor

In her youth, MAE WEST was often taken to the theatre.
• • Clearly, the variety artists fascinated her because she enjoyed imitating them. In amateur competitions, "Baby Mae — Song and Dance" impersonated Bert Williams, Eddie Foy, Eva Tanguay, and many others. After seeing these performers again and again, Mae perfected their individual gestures and mastered their timing along with other nuances. Mae and her mother became very familiar with the trends set by Tony Pastor.
• • Born in Brooklyn, New York, Antonio Pastor [28 May 1837 — 26 August 1908] was the son of a theatre violinist. While still a youngster, Tony sang on the temperance circuit, then gave his first professional performance as a child prodigy at Barnum's Museum in 1846. Often considered the father of modern American vaudeville, he was involved in show business as an actor, impresario, and theatre owner.
• • After appearing in minstrel shows and with circuses, Pastor made his variety debut in 1861. At the time, variety still had rough edges. Most theatres had bars that actively pushed the sale of liquor and attracted low-class males. The ambitious Roman Catholic set out to elevate the tone and quickly succeeded. When he opened his first theatre in 1865, he discouraged alcohol, attempted to clean up off-color acts, and solicited family trade.
• • In 1881, Pastor leased the Germania Theatre on 14th Street in New York City that became widely known as Tony Pastor's Theater. He alternated his theater's presentations between operettas and family-oriented variety shows, creating what became known as vaudeville. His theater featured performers such as Ben Harney presenting a new style called "ragtime" as well as other up-and-coming talents such as Lillian Russell, May Irwin, and George M. Cohan.
• • A small, stocky, mustachioed man, Pastor regularly appeared on his own bills.
• • In the musical Hello, Dolly!, the song "Put On Your Sunday Clothes" includes the line, "We'll join the Astors at Tony Pastor's."
• • On Sunday 17 August 2008, during the "Mae West's Walk on the Wild Side" walking tour, the group will visit a location linked to Tony Pastor and a tune associated with the father of vaudeville will be sung live by a vivacious actress, a native New Yorker who has performed in many musicals.
• • Walking Tour: "Mae West's Walk on the Wild Side"
• • When: 1:00 PM on Sunday — — 17 August 2008 — — rain or shine
• • Meet: Village Restaurant, 62 West Ninth Street, New York, NY 10011
• • Price: $20
• • Subway: E or F [IND] train to West Fourth Street; PATH to 9th Street station
• • Attire: why not wear a Mae West-inspired hat?
• • Info: Seesaw864@juno.com
• • This event — — which is part of the Annual Mae West Birthday Gala — — is open to the public.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West: In Variety

In 2005, an exhibition on vaudevillians — — featuring MAE WEST — — opened in Doheny Memorial Library’s Treasure Room exhibition gallery, USC campus. The colorful show was called “Setting the Stage: The Rise of American Popular Theater” and it drew from the enormous collection and research of Armond Fields, whose relatives included the legendary stage comedian Lew Fields [half of Weber and Fields].
• • In middle age, when Armond Fields decided to explore his family tree, he discovered showbiz razz-matazz all over the branches. His initial research became a 552-page study “From the Bowery to Broadway: Lew Fields and the Roots of American Popular Theatre,” [NY: Oxford University Press, 1993].
• • Since then Armond Fields has written more than half a dozen biographical works about vaudevillians. His subjects included Lillian Russell, Eddie Foy, Sophie Tucker, Maude Adams, etc. These stage stars entertained millions coast to coast but peaked too soon for screen stardom.
• • Naturally, the vaudevillians who did make it into the Hollywood hit factory — — Mae West, Al Jolson, Eddie Cantor, W.C. Fields — — inherited posterity. Others, no matter their talents and popularity, are known only to scholars and theater-history buffs.
• • “Lillian Russell was the Madonna of her day, the Mae West, the Marilyn Monroe," said Armond Fields. "Lillian Russell [1861—1922] was married four times, she was her own manager, and she was outrageous in everything she did. Who knows Lillian Russell today, except a few people interested in early theater? Who knows Eddie Foy? They have vanished, and celebrity is fleeting.”
• • Since the California exhibition, Armond Fields was in possession of his next book, “Women Vaudeville Stars: Eighty Biographical Profiles,” which he had sent to McFarland & Co., his North Carolina-based publisher. He announced that his next project would be a biography of Tony Pastor, the impresario who launched vaudeville. “I am doing it because these people were so important in their era and because of the contributions they made.”
• • The term vaudeville, according to Armond Fields, likely derives from an old French term for pastoral plays. Look for his books.
• • On Sunday 17 August 2008, during the "Mae West's Walk on the Wild Side" walking tour, the group will visit Lillian Russell's former home and her trademark song "Come Down Ma Evenin' Star" will be sung live by Marlena de la Mora, who has performed with the NYC Opera, the Metropolitan Opera, etc.
• • Born in Iowa was the high-profile beauty and stage star Lillian Russell [4 December 1860 — 6 June 1922]. Mae West was inspired by her.
• • Lillian Russell's mother was a feminist Cynthia Leonard, the first woman to run for mayor of New York City.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West: Lillian Russell

Much admired by both MAE WEST and her mother was the actress Lillian Russell.
• • Millionaire "Diamond Jim" Brady was another devotee.
• • Lillian Russell [born Helen Louise Leonard in Iowa in December 1860] is in our thoughts during the month of June because the influential beauty died at age 61 on 6 June 1922.
• • Referring to the Victorian idol (and ideal example of womanhood) that Russell had become, Emily Wortis Leider writes: "Matilda [West] herself, a soft-spoken native of Bavaria whose stunning hourglass figure reminded people of the ripe and rounded opulence of reigning New York beauty, actress Lillian Russell, had married after a brief stint modeling corsets, a scant seven years after her arrival in America. She had once harbored hopes for a stage career of her own, but her respectable merchant family, kin to proprietors of a New York brewery renowned for its lager, forbade it. They probably had also discouraged her forays into the corset-modeling profession, which she glamorized with a French word, modiste. ..."
• • Leider's book "Becoming Mae West" is a well-researched and engrossing biography.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West: Diamond Jim

MAE WEST was fascinated by certain notables – – and the actress-loving gift dispenser Diamond Jim Brady was one of them.
• • James Buchanan Brady, also known as Diamond Jim Brady [12 August 1856 – 13 April 1917], was an American businessman, a financier, and a philanthropist.
• • Known for his penchant for jewels, especially diamonds, he collected precious gems and favored his idol Lillian Russell with doo-dads such as a bicycle encrusted with mother-of-pearl inlaid and other imaginative tributes.
• • For another actress, Diamond Jim commissioned a hand-carved gilded swan bed [shown here].
• • After Brady died on 13 April 1917, Mae West managed to buy the swan bed from his estate. It was used onstage as part of the bedroom suite of "Diamond Lil" and Mae also finessed the vintage prop into the filmed version "She Done Him Wrong" [1933].
• • Where lies the gilded swan bed today? Who knows?
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West: Keep Abreast

MAE WEST, who did more for corsets than Alexander Graham Bell did for gossip, wore foundations made by the Spirella Corset Company — — upside down. Mae custom-tailored the restrictive undergarment to give her a certain look for her starring role as "Diamond Lil."
• • A Bushwick neighbor, interviewed in 1928, commented that, when onstage at Broadway's Royale Theatre, Mae padded her bust to balance out her curvy hips. "She looked like an upholstered egg cup up-ended," recalled this Brooklynite.
• • A belle at the turn-of-the-century, such as Lillian Russell, would not have been wearing Spirella's labels, of course. It was not until 1904 that Spirella started making their made-to-measure corsets. Spirella’s first corsets were produced that year in America — — and by 1910 in Great Britain. In those days, bustiers were made by experienced specialty seamstresses who could operate the heavy-duty "industrial strength" sewing machines necessary to tackle the heavy brocades and coutils.
• • For her stage play "The Constant Sinner," Mae wanted a more modern look and she was outfitted by the Mayo Undergarment Company in 1929. The setting for Mae's character Babe Gordon was Harlem during the Prohibition Era.
• • This week, an article in The Comet asks readers: Can you tie up a corset company’s loose ends? Here is some information for the studious breast-historians out there.
• • Question: Did you work for the Spirella Corset Company in Letchworth [Great Britain]?
• • If you did, then a company supplying foundations and underwear for films, television, and theatre would like to speak to you.
• • Button-Boot and Spatterdash of Humberside is appealing for anyone with memories of the company, people who worked for Spirella Corset Company or used its service, in order to make a record of the information.
• • Dr. Geoffrey Duffield, senior partner at the company, said any information is welcomed, no matter how trivial, and stressed the importance of retaining the information while it was still in living memory.
• • His company can be contacted by letter, Freepost, Brigg, DN20 9BR; email corsetiere@corset.ndo.co.uk; phone 07973 222 767 or fax 01652 650651.
• • Spirella - - formed in England in 1910 by William Wallace Kincaid - - moved into the Spirella Building in 1920 and continued production of bespoke corsets until the 1970s when demand slowed and eventually the company closed.
• • The building was also known as Castle Corset or the Factory of Beauty.
• • The SCC was extremely important to the town's economy as one of the biggest and most influential employers, particularly during the 1920s to 1940s, said Terry Gray, public relations manager of Letchworth Garden City Heritage Foundation.
• • Around 2,000 people are said to have been employed there.
• • Among its customers, the company provided underwear for such film stars as MAE WEST and the Marx Brothers' staple Margaret Dumont. . . . [Spirella's claims that they outfitted Marilyn Monroe for the film "The Prince and the Showgirl" are inaccurate. Monroe did not wear this brand.]
• • As well as supplying corsets, Spirella manufactured parachutes and decoding machinery during World War II.
• • Send comments to Dr. Geoffrey Duffield: corsetiere@corset.ndo.co.uk
• • Source for portions of this text: The Comet, UK — — www.thecomet.net/
• • Published: 28 December 2006
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: Mae West • • • • 1928 • •
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Mae West.