Mae West: Glamour in Bangor

A collection of classic MAE WEST motion pictures received high marks from an enthusiastic critic in Bangor, Maine.
• • Reviewer Christopher Smith writes: “The Glamour Collections”: From Universal, three women, three collections, 15 movies — ”The Marlene Dietrich Glamour Collection,” “The Mae West Glamour Collection,” “The Carole Lombard Glamour Collection.” So, yes, that should be enough glamour for anyone — and each is a must.
• • In “Dietrich,” fine films are assembled, including “Morocco,” “Blonde Venus,” “The Devil is a Woman,” “Flame of New Orleans” and “Golden Earrings.”
• • For Mae West, look for “Go West Young Man,” “Goin’ to Town,” "I’m No Angel,” “My Little Chickadee,” and “Night After Night.”
• • Slapstick rules in the Lombard movies . . . .
• • All three of these women were dancing — — sometimes literally, often metaphorically — — and some scenes in these collections are more than memorable — they’re iconic. In “Morocco,” for example, Dietrich dons a tux with tails and bends to kiss a woman, which caused a sensation . . . .
• • For Mae West, all she has to do is put a hand on her hip, flash her eyes and screw up her face, and she gets a laugh. It’s the surprise that comes out of her mouth, however, that sends you over the edge. Grade: A
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• • Column: DVD Corner: “The Glamour Collections”
• • Byline: Christopher Smith | Special to the NEWS
• • Published in: The Bangor Daily News — — www.bangordailynews.com/
• • Published on: 4 July 2009
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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 • • 1936 • •
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Mae West: Perils & Peroxide

MAE WEST inspired those hard-working film-buffs at River City Cinema. For this year's summer series of six frisky motion pictures al fresco, their theme is "The Perils of Peroxide." Leading off their annual salute to screen gems, River City immediately unleashed a handful of blonde badness by presenting "She Done Him Wrong" — — and look at their poster.
• • They kicked off the Friday film fest with the Bowery queen herself.
• • Chris Smith wrote: that mincing blonde bombshell herself, Mae West, in 1933’s "She Done Him Wrong." What a movie — — and what an outrage it created back in the day with the National Legion of Decency, an organization that successfully pushed for "cleaner" fare after West created her presumed affront to the moral senses.
• • Based on West’s stage play "Diamond Lil," "Wrong" features West in her first starring role in a movie. Here, she’s Lady Lou, a saloon singer with a penchant for diamonds, a bump in her grind, and a way of attracting men that has nothing to do with subtlety — — and everything to do with subtext.
• • Her first line in the movie sets the tone for all that’s to follow: "I’m one of the finest women who ever walked the streets." Another highlight comes when a potential suitor notes that he has heard so much about her. Lou’s response? "Yeah, but you can’t prove it." And on it goes, with the one-liners rolling with uncanny ease and Lou eventually setting her sites on one Captain Cummings, a missionary played by a young Cary Grant, who proves with this early, charismatic performance that he was destined for stardom. . . .
— — Excerpt: — —
• • Byline: Chris Smith
• • Published in: Bangor Daily News [Bangor, Maine 04401]
• • Published on: 27 June 2008• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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• • Photo: • • Mae West • • "Perils of Peroxide" • •NYC
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Mae West: Whitehall Inn

During July 1956, MAE WEST stayed at the venerable Whitehall Inn built in 1900 in Camden, Maine. Last August, President Bush's daughter was staying there when she received a marriage proposal.
• • Greg and Sue Marquise, owners of the Whitehall Inn [Camden, Maine], confirmed that Jenna Bush and her fiancé Henry Hager stayed at the inn during August 2007, the day before Hager’s well-publicized proposal on the slopes of Cadillac Mountain on Mount Desert Island.
• • Bush and Hagar are expected to marry Saturday, 10 May 2008, at the Bush ranch in Crawford, Texas.
• • After the visit last summer, one Whitehall Inn employee rejected an offer from a national tabloid newspaper looking for details of the first daughter’s stay at the inn.
• • The 108-year-old inn, however, is not shy in talking about its past guest list, which has included MAE WEST, Bill Clinton, Prince Abdullah [now King of Jordan], Walter Cronkite, David Brinkley, Billy Joel and Christie Brinkley, Linda Ronstadt, Tallulah Bankhead, Lillian and Dorothy Gish, and many sports stars.
• • The young couple stayed in a simple room, with a view of Penobscot Bay across a second floor roofline. The only famous guest known to have occupied the same room was Wally Cox, a comedian and actor, known as Mr. Peepers and eventually a regular on Hollywood Squares.
• • The Whitehall Inn [52 High Street, Camden, ME 04843] is best known for its role in the filming of "Peyton Place" and for the discovery of local poet Edna St. Vincent Millay when she entertained guests in 1912.
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• • Article: "President’s daughter was guest in Camden at Whitehall Inn prior to her engagement last summer"
• • Published in: Camden Herald — — www.mainecoastnow.com
• • Published on: 6 May 2008
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• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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• • Photo: • • Mae West • • none • •
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Mae West: Camden Caper

Fred E. Crockett, 96, who died on 25 April 2008 asked MAE WEST to come up sometime to Camden, Maine. And Mae arrived on 19 July 1956.
• • Born in Camden, Fred was heavily involved over his long and busy life in promoting good causes and creating publicity for the communities where he lived.
• • Perhaps his greatest publicity coup dates back to the 1940s, and involved promoting the idea that the hole in the doughnut was created in his ancestor’s farmhouse on Old County Road, in what was then still part of Camden. The ancestor was Capt. Hanson Crockett Gregory, and for Fred this story was a thing of great pride and significance.
• • For the rest of his life Fred operated the whole doughnut thing with great humor and all due respect, and many people were enrolled by him as Admirals in the Doughnut Fleet. Maine Gov. Ed Muskie was one of them, as was the actress Mae West (see photo). About the last person to be created Admiral was the late Jim Moore of Rockport, who worked years for the Portland Press Herald.
• • Fred’s last public outing was perfectly in keeping with the way he lived his life, and took place in June 2007 during the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the filming in Camden, Maine of the movie “Peyton Place.”
• • He took part in a reception at the Whitehall Inn, and had a fine time. Then he rode in the small motorcade, and although he was a little unsteady on his legs he didn’t miss a beat when the Herald photographer came to snap his picture. He instantly snapped to attention and produced one of his well known public-relations smiles, which was one of his many charming characteristics — — and not the least so because he was being perfectly genuine.
• • In 1957 Fred was in charge of the local chamber of commerce, and helped grease the wheels for the movie company when it decided to make the film of the infamous Grace Metalious novel here. One of his duties that year was to introduce Bette Davis to local people, when she visited town.
• • He was extremely knowledgeable about the many vessels that used Camden Harbor in the 1920s and 1930s, wrote a regular column about these vessels for the Courier-Gazette, and wrote a book on the history of the Presidential yachts.
• • His family owned and operated Crockett’s Five & Dime on the corner of Chestnut and Elm, a spot now occupied by Camden National Bank. His father, David Crockett, was also well known in town as a member of the business community.
• • Fred was gone from Camden for many years, returning to the area in the 1990s and settling in Rockland, which is why many people in town of a certain age are less familiar with him than would have been the case had he stayed here. But he was still widely known among those with functioning memories.
• • A graveside celebration of his life will be held 2 pm on May 9 — — at Mountain View Cemetery in Camden.
— — Source: — —
• • Article: "Fred Crockett of Camden dead at 96 — Famous historian of doughnuts & local yachts, and a great booster for community"
• • Byline: By David Grima
• • Published in: Camden Herald — — www.mainecoastnow.com
• • Published on: 28 April 2008
• • Photo: GREG MARQUISE/ WHITEHALL INN PHOTO
• • Photo caption: Fred Crockett enrolls the actress Mae West into the Doughnut Fleet, July 19, 1956, at the Camden Opera House [29 Elm Street].