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Handsome Tony Curtis was in one motion picture with MAE WEST.
• • If you saw "Sextette," perhaps you remember the scene when newly wed Marlo Manners (now Lady Barrington) and her groom Sir Michael Barrington finally are snug inside their hotel suite. However, the lovebirds are unable to go beddy-bye and celebrate their marital bliss because of noisome botherations. Coitus interruptus (sort of)! These cinematic intrusions are provoked by the demands of milady's career (such as interviews, dress fittings, and photo sessions). Additionally, there are entreaties and knock-knocks from men, including some ex-husbands. Apparently, the vast enrollment of membership in the Marlo Manners Fan Club includes: diplomat Alexei Andreyev Karansky (Tony Curtis), director Laslo Karolny (Ringo Starr), gangster Vance Norton (George Hamilton), and an entire athletic team from the USA, all of whom desire to have sex with Marlo. And, after all, Mae West once did tell an interviewer she had a special interest in foreign affairs.
• • Born during the month of June — — on 3 June 1925 — — the Bronx native started out in life with the ho-hum name of Bernard Schwartz. The five-foot-nine leading man enjoyed spreading urban legends about his role as Alexei Andreyev Karansky and Mae's difficulties on the set.
• • Perhaps Tony Curtis was feeling a bit spiteful after reading Vincent Canby's review, printed on 8 June 1979, five days after the actor celebrated his 54th birthday.
• • Here's a jetstream's worth of hissing from The New York Times film critic:
• • Movie Review — — Sextette (1978) • •
• • "SEXTETTE" is a disorienting freak show in which Mae West, now 87 years old, does a frail imitation of the personality that wasn't all that interesting 45 years ago. The movie, which opens today at the Victoria and other theaters, is a poetic, terrifying reminder of how a virtually disembodied ego can survive total physical decay and loss of common sense.
• • The character we see in this peculiar film looks less like the Mae West one remembers from even "Myra Breckinridge" than like a plump sheep that's been stood on its hind legs, dressed in a drag-queen's idea of chic, bewigged, and then smeared with pink plaster. The creature inside this getup seems game but arthritic and perplexed. She walks with apparent difficulty. One eye sometimes sags and the voice, despite Hollywood's electronic skills, cracks like the voice of the old lady she really is. Under these circumstances, the sexual innuendos are embarrassing. Granny should have her mouth washed out with soap, along with her teeth.
• • The story, based on a play written some years ago by Miss West, is about a world-famous movie star and her attempts to consummate her sixth marriage to Sir Michael Barrington (Timothy Dalton) despite repeated interruptions by former husbands, lovers, dress designers, secret agents, publicity people and delegates attending an international peace conference just upstairs. It's a plot that Miss West has often favored, and it freely reprises a lot of lines from earlier pictures.
• • The movie was directed by Ken Hughes ("The Small World of Sammy Lee," "Cromwell" and so on), a fellow you might think had better things to do than to prop up the Tower of Pisa. In addition to Mr. Dalton, "Sextette" features a number of other people who, in happier circumstances, are decent actors. These include Tony Curtis, George Hamilton, Ringo Starr, and the incomparable Dom DeLuise. There are some original songs and some old ones, a couple of which sound as if they'd been lip-synched by Miss West to old recordings.
• • The real problem with "Sextette" is . . . .
— — Excerpt: — —
• • Movie Review: "Sextette" (1978)
• • Screen: "Mae West, 87, Does an Encore:Trying for 6th Marriage"
• • Byline: By Vincent Canby | Film Critic
• • Published in: The New York Times — — www.nytimes.com
• • Published on: 8 June 1979
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
• • Mae-maven Mark Desjardins weighs in on Canby's commentary with a tertium quid.• • According to Mark Desjardins: Vincent Canby certainly was savage in his verbal attacks on Myra Breckinridge and Sextette in general — — and Mae West in particular. However, to his credit he did made somewhat of a deathbed apology for his bile filled comments.
• • When Canby reviewed the play Dirty Blonde and an off Broadway revival of Sex in the NYT in February, 2000, he mellowed sufficiently to admit that the plays kept alive he legacy of a vivid performer who appeal was really based on good humor and common sense.
• • Prior to his death, Canby reassessed is earlier view of Sextette that is was an affront to both man and beast and wrote that the film was Mae West's equivalent to the biblical epic about Salome in which Norma Desmond intended to make her return to the screen in Sunset Boulevard. He admitted to being embarrassed about the puritanical view he held of the film and West, and expressed his admiration for her tenacity in completing the film.
• • Mae's spirit must have been beaming that day! • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • 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.
We bid a fond adieu to a comedian who worked with MAE WEST.
• • Brooklyn native Dominick "Dom" DeLuise was born on 1 August 1933 to Italian American parents Vicenza and John DeLuise.
• • Like Mae, Dom DeLuise hailed from Brooklyn, New York. During the 1960s, the moon-faced entertainer was often seen on TV variety shows and also boosted the comic quotient in motion pictures featuring Mel Brooks and Burt Reynolds.
• • The 75-year-old funnyman passed away on Monday evening — — 4 May 2009 — — at St. John's Health Center in Santa Monica, according to his agent Robert Malcolm. DeLuise's wife Carol and three sons were at his bedside when he took his final breaths.
• • "Dom DeLuise was a naturally funny man," averred film critic Leonard Maltin. "He didn't need a script to be funny, but smart people like Mel Brooks knew how to give him just the right setting and showcase."
• • Dom DeLuise, who has many movie credits to his name, was also seen in Sextette [1978]. Released by Crown International, this musical comedy starred Mae West. Others in the cast included Timothy Dalton, Tony Curtis, Ringo Starr, George Hamilton, Alice Cooper, and Walter Pidgeon.
• • Dom DeLuise also played host in the documentary film "Mae West . . . and the Men Who Knew Her."
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • with Dom DeLuise in 1978 • •
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Mae West.
Reverend Jen, who has a new book out, explained that MAE WEST has been one of her heroes and role models.
• • In order of priority, Reverend Jen named the people she admires and listed her major influences: Mae West, Alfred Jarry, Picasso, Keith Moon, Mel Brooks, Gandalf, Spongebob, the Fonz, Pippi Longstocking, Anais Nin, Wonder Woman, Coco Chanel, Cleopatra, and Brad Prowley — — the karaoke guy who busks in this neighborhood.
• • Since the 1990s, Reverend Jen has called the Lower East Side home. She resides south of Houston Street with her chihuahua, Reverend Jen Junior — — a dog-clothes model. Her newest release is Live Nude Elf: The Sexperiments of Reverend Jen [NY: Soft Skull, 2009]. Her publisher described this paperback as “a witty, irreverent, brave, and sometimes portrait of the Reverend Jen Miller, the Patron Saint of the Uncool, examining the challenges of devoting one's personal and professional life of art.”
• • A writer, painter, and performance artist, Jen attended NYC's School of Visual Arts in 1990 “and has since experienced no financial success whatsoever,” she's quick to say. Awwww!• • 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.
Come up and see MAE WEST tomorrow — — Wednesday evening January 21st — — on the six-part PBS documentary series "Make 'em Laugh: The Funny Business of America" shown on television for two hours back to back.
• • Tomorrow these two segments will air — —
• • "Slip on a Banana Peel: The Knockabouts" — — features physical comedians including Charlie Chaplin, the Three Stooges and Jim Carrey.
• • "When I'm Bad, I'm Better: The Ground-breakers" — — focuses on those who pressed the boundaries of free speech, such as Mae West, George Carlin, and Richard Pryor.
• • Filmmaker Michael Kantor began work this project because he was inspired by the 2004 presidential election of George W. Bush. Ironically, his sextet is being broadcast when the United States is groaning under the weight of a grave economic downturn that many have likened to the Great Depression — — a time not unlike the era that produced many of America's most adored laughmeisters who enriched our lives with their comic capital such as, yes, yes, Mae West and W. C. Fields.
• • About the year 2004, Michael Kantor said: "The country was polarized, and the funniest comedy at the time, in my opinion, was 'The Daily Show' ... which made fun of both candidates. I began to think ... that comedy (could) reflect American culture in all its glory and weirdness."
• • Verne Gay of Newsday was not all that impressed with Kantor's banter.
• • Verne Gay wrote: "You have to admire PBS's ambition. This is a vast subject, probably too vast for a single program, even one six hours long. The strange paradox here is that there's too much on display and yet there's not enough. . . . In an effort to slip in references to just about everyone — — or so the illusion would suggest — — comics who deserve a richer, deeper exploration (Richard Pryor) have to make room for lesser luminaries. And just as a portrait starts to fill out (Mae West) ... zip! zap! zing! — — it's on to the next person. That said, this can be a hugely enjoyable viewing experience, and that's probably what viewers want. Sit back. Relax. Laugh."
• • Next Wednesday the final two hour-long segments will air:
• • "Never Give a Sucker an Even Break: The Wiseguys" — — looks at curmudgeons and snide humorists such as W.C. Fields, Groucho Marx, and Chris Rock.
• • "Sock It to ME? Satire and Parody" — — details comics who mock American life including Will Rogers, Mel Brooks, Johnny Carson, and Stephen Colbert. • • 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.
