Mae West: Paris Movie Museum

MAE WEST images are admired in France amid the memorabilia in a unique movie museum.
• • According to Vivian Thomas: In movie-mad Paris, the Cinémathèque Française and its founder, Henri Langlois, have been cultural icons since the 1930s. . . .
• • Vivian Thomas explains: Founded in 1936 and the first institution of its kind, the Cinémathèque is dedicated to rediscovering, restoring and conserving old movies and making them available to the public. Realizing that films, considered disposable commodities, were fast disappearing, Henri Langlois became the first film preservationist, starting with silent movies and begging, borrowing and literally stealing films to create his collection. . . .
• • Serpent-topped headdress worn by Mae West • •
• • Vivian Thomas adds: Early engravings of cityscapes twinkle with tiny pinholes of light and hands-on exhibits abound: turn a wheel and a seagull flies, spin a dial and a ballerina twirls, rotate a handle and dancer Loïe Fuller flutters her shimmering multicolored scarves like silken butterfly wings. Film posters from all over the world adorn the walls and costume displays sparkle with a serpent-topped sequin headdress worn by Mae West and Louise Brooks's spangled silver flapper dress. . . .
• • Cinemaphiles and armchair travelers will find many interesting details here — — so check out this fine article.
• • In Paris, Cinémathèque Française is presently located at 51 rue de Bercy.
— — Excerpt: — —
• • Article: "The Cinémathèque Française"
• • Byline: Vivian Thomas
• • Published by: France Today
• • Published on: 1 January 2011
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • 1954 with Richard DuBois • •
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Mae West: A French Twist

On the Internet, searches for MAE WEST spike during her birth month. In her screenplay for "I'm No Angel," she lent lion lady Tira her own birthday.
• • • • Rajah: You were born in August.
• • • • Tira: Yeah, one of the hot months.
• • • • Rajah: It was on the 17th under the sign of Leo, the Lion.
• • • • Tira: Aw, King of the Beasts, huh.
• • So many images of the screen queen and all of them upbeat, vivacious, quick-witted, determined to triumph. In the cinematic miracle of wish fulfillment, fans put a hand in hers, knowing it will close on what they meant to find. After spending sixty-six minutes immersed in one of her motion picture classics, the world can become brighter, clear as a just washed picture window.
• • True Mae-mavens baptize themselves in this epistle of joy and laughter, reaching a lion-hearted clarity, and primed to charge anew like a rocket trailing sparks.
• • Proust said that truth is only a point of view about things. Romain, who is a new convert to the Mae West mania, shares his epiphanies with our readers.
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• • In commemoration of the thirtieth anniversary of Mae's burial, French follower Romain Tutak explains the influences that spurred his new obsession with Mae West.
• • Romain writes: I was born in France in 1986, six years after Mae West had died, and I am 24 years old now. My grandparents were not even alive when "She Done Him Wrong" was first shown in movie houses. In France, her impact on the cinema was not as important as in English speaking countries. It seems to me that very few French people know who she is.
• • Miss West wasn’t supposed to cross my path. But as I matured, I became even more interested in powerful women with a strong personality. Perhaps that is the link that connected me to her.
• • In 2006, when I was 20 years old, I discovered her. At the time I was a student studying English Literature and British Civilization. I was really into pin ups and the 1950s. Vintage was à la mode, it really was my thing such as watching old American movies with Marlene, Rita, Audrey etc. And since I was researching images of "the pin up girl" — — Bettie Page, Vargas, and Elvgren‘s drawings — — I discovered some graphics with powerful girl power message. I am part of The Spice Girls generation.
• • I hoped to learn more about these female identities in order to read their biographies. Then I found something that listed the pin-up girls by decade. Mae West was listed as one pin-up of the 1930s along with Marlene Dietrich. Her name rang a bell because I recalled her saying "I used to be Snow White, but I drifted."
• • That was enough for me to start digging deeper and I chanced upon a page with many of her one-liners. It blew my mind!!!
• • • • So Who the Hell Was This Funny Lady?! • • • •
• • I had to find out. Wikipedia gave me some quick details and then I fell in love. I HAD TO know more about her!!! I then discovered the Mae West Blog, which I had mentioned on a blog I was writing back in September 2006, and also the Mae West Color Site. Here I was hooked on Mae West, 26 years after her death, 74 years after her first appearance on the big screen, 80 years after "Sex," and 113 years after her birth.
• • So began my fabulous trip around the Mae West universe. I had previously been introduced to the Roaring Twenties by reading Francis Scott Fitzgerald's novel "The Great Gatsby" for my English class in high school. This started me off adoring that 1920s and 1930s look of glamour — — the fashionable silhouettes, the cabaret music, the big names: Louise Brooks, Mistinguett, Joséphine Baker etc. But Miss Mae West really nudged what was just a little crush into a Big Love Story!!!
• • The Internet helped me grow my modest collection of Westiana. First I got "Night After Night," and then "I’m No Angel," and then (I think) "Sextette," and others. Additionally, I’ve bought "The Fabulous Mae West and Other Wonderful Girls," Jon Tuska’s book (which I read from cover to cover without stopping). And I was still hunting for anything about Mae West online. [to be continued]
Written by: Romain Tutak, Paris, France
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• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • Movie Classic cover • •
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Mae West: Jean Paul Gaultier

Days ago, French fashion flaunter Jean Paul Gaultier presented a runway look inspired by MAE WEST.
• • Describing the Oscar-worthy Gaultier creations for readers of The New York Times, columnist Cathy Horyn wrote: "As the models came out in wafting mousseline gowns and velvet columns, headshots of screen legends — — Mae West, Louise Brooks, Audrey Hepburn, Rita Hayworth — — swam across the celestial blue backdrop."
• • Covering the show in Paris, front row couture-critic Godfrey Deeny also seemed to be enjoying the melodramatic, improbable spectacle.
• • Godfrey Deeny writes: Lights, camera, Gaultier! French fashion's enfant terrible Jean Paul Gaultier found it, at the movies with a fall 2009 haute couture collection on Wednesday, July 8, inspired throughout by cinema.
• • Gaultier telegraphed his punch to guests as soon as they walked in the door of his Paris headquarters by naming each area of the show space after a major studio.
• • Each look was named after a famous movie, opening with curvaceous Dutch model Lara Stone as Le Mepris of "Contempt," Jean Luc Godard's classic starring Jack Palance and Brigitte Bardot about the cynicism of film making. Lara Stone strutted out in leather trench-coat and seamed tights, her blonde hair piled up in a beehive just like Bardot in the movie. . . .
• • At times, the more outlandish looks seemed almost like living organisms, such as the crocodile scale ensemble that represented "Night of the Iguana." And few couturiers can draw out such fine craftsmanship from their ateliers as Gaultier — — whose satin Mae West look seemed made out of Wurlitzer organ pipes.
• • Gaultier took his concept even further with several outfits literally made of film strips, including one called "Rushes." The whole thing garnered great applause from an audience that included Kylie Minogue and Mickey Rourke.
— — Excerpt: — —
• • Article: Jean Paul Gaultier's Celluloid Couture
• • Published in: Fashion Wire Daily
• • Byline: Godfrey Deeny | reporting from Paris
• • Published on: Thursday, 9 July 2009
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• • 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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Mae West: Eugene R. Richee

MAE WEST was photographed by the best.
• • During the Depression, when a lack of employment impacted on the boxoffice, Hollywood studios - - in an effort to establish a dedicated fan base for their actors and actresses - - sent out thousands of still photos to newspapers.
• • Photographer Eugene Robert Richee was employed by Paramount Studios between 1925 and 1935. He took pictures of Mae West chiefly for "She Done Him Wrong" and "Belle of the Nineties." Beginning in 1932, he took head-to-toe studies of the Brooklyn bombshell as well as several eye-catching close-ups of Mae in millinery.
• • He also often photographed Louise Brooks, whose striking hair-do made her one of his favorite Hollywood subjects. Additionally, Richee did striking portraits of Veronica Lake, Marlene Dietrich, Claudette Colbert, Clara Bow, Kay Francis, Carole Lombard, and other stars. One of Richee's trademarks was his placement of lights, especially the tiny finishing spots that highlighted hair and cast long eyelash shadows onto cheeks. You can see an example of that trick in his portraits of Marlene Dietrich.
• • The Museum of Modern Art undercut Richee's reputation by their sly habit of reproducing photos with a credit line that named only MOMA's Film Archive. Unfortunately, Richee's name is less well-known than it ought to be - - but his pictures speak for themselves. With a still camera, he invented fantasy images whose sheen and seduction became the ultimate Hollywood trademark.
• • Eugene Robert Richee died in 1972.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • 1934 • • by Eugene R. Richee
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