Mae West: What I Have

MAE WEST, so often described by critics and newspaper reporters, occasionally permitted a devoted fan to come up ‘n’ see her. Michael St. John visited the Brooklyn bombshell. Read about his encounter. This is Part 7, the final first-person excerpt.
• • Mae West Relates Sexual Times to “The Saint” • •
• • “What I have between my legs . . .” • •
• • Michael St. John wrote: Mae laughed and said she did. “You’ve got to expect things like that in this business,” she reminded me. “But you can tell your readers that what I have between my legs wasn’t put there by no surgeon. All of it is the real thing.”
• • Michael St. John wrote: Mae and I talked long after the stipulated hour. And because she had enjoyed our afternoon together so much that she suggested that I call her dear friend Roddy McDowall for an interview, too.

• • Michael St. John wrote: As I left her apartment, I was in a daze. She had won my heart, my respect and I had come to understand what a real Hollywood star was supposed to represent — — everything! It was one of those magical times that made me understand why I was so fascinated with the business, and the people who make it what it is. It was an incredible lesson from a credible, well-seasoned teacher.
• • Source: St. John's Confidential File in Canyon-News (Calif.); published on Saturday, 24 October 2015.
• • On Thursday, 29 November 2018 • •
• • Until Thursday, 29 November 2018, preview tickets to the stage play “Arbus and West” are still available to subscribers.
• • The new play about Diane Arbus and Mae West, written by Stephen Sewell, will be onstage next year from 22 February 2019 — 30 March 2019 in Australia at Arts Centre Melbourne, Fairfax Studio.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • On a trip Diane Arbus took to Los Angeles in 1964, Robert Brown, who by then was living there, chauffeured her to Mae West's house.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "I had in mind several stories as possibilities. And between shows I secluded myself at my hotel or in my dressing room and did some real work."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • A Missouri event calendar mentioned Mae West.
• • Rivers Newborn Exhibit • •
• • The Corinth Library [in Corinth, MS] is hosting an exhibit of art by Rivers Newborn of Corinth through Saturday, 29 December 2018. Newborn enjoys painting the classic silver screen actors of the 1940s and 1950s, such as Jean Harlow, Mae West and Clint Eastwood. …
• • Source: Missouri event calendar; posted on Wednesday, 21 November 2018
• • The evolution of 2 Mae West plays that keep her memory alive • • 
• • A discussion with Mae West playwright LindaAnn LoSchiavo — — 
• • http://lideamagazine.com/renaissance-woman-new-york-city-interview-lindaann-loschiavo/

• • The Mae West Blog celebrates its 14th anniversary • •  

• • Thank you for reading, sending questions, and posting comments during these past fourteen years. Not long ago, we entertained 3,497 visitors. And we reached a milestone recently when we completed 4,000 blog posts. Wow!  

• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started fourteen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 4094th 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: A Commemoration

MAE WEST: some call her a Hollywood icon, others consider her vulgar, and many are awed by the controversial trailblazer. Has it really been thirty years since the movie queen left us? Considering the fact that she still inspires fashion designers to do a spread on her (such as in the current issue of Harper's Bazaar); that her name pops up in the news almost daily; that a variety of people across the world quote her; and that she is regularly being reinterpreted by dramatists, biographers, actresses, and vocalists; it's fair to say that Mae West is still in the building.
• • There is a queer island of time pooling on North Rossmore. For some, this singular destination has been a blessed habitat where the brain displaces oddments of former lives. Images from Mae's two-bedroom suite, apartment 611, can gleam with rare decorum, suddenly, lifting you out of ordinary time. A door opens to reveal a veritable banquet of a human being. Mysteries are breathing in and breathing out.
• • Proust said that truth is only a point of view about things. Mark, a devoted Mae-maven, who has a most intriguing viewpoint about Mae West, shares his thoughts with you.
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• • In commemoration of the thirtieth anniversary of Mae's burial, Canadian R. Mark Desjardins writes about "the most interesting woman I never met."
• • Mark recalls: When I was 17, I obtained a paperback copy of "The Wit and Wisdom of Mae West" and it was one of the few items I brought with me when I left home to go to college.
• • In 1979, when I graduated, I decided to visit Los Angeles for six months, rather than go to Europe, which was the trend at the time. Ironically, I used to hang out within three blocks of Mae's Ravenswood Apartment, her California residence since 1932 — — not knowing she was alive and well there at the time. Before returning to Canada, I saw a double bill movie in San Francisco featuring "Sextette" and I was surprised at how much the audience howled at the in jokes.
• • • • One a-MAE-zing Dream • • • •
• • Fast forward to the early summer of 1992. I had finished the teaching year and was able to stay up late to catch the midnight CBC Television broadcasts of the only two Mae West movies they had rights to, "Goin'' To Town" and "Klondike Annie."
• • Most fans can say that they came to be interested in Mae West — — but I believe Mae West came to me. Shortly after viewing those two films, I had a very vivid dream whereby I went back in time to when I was in Los Angeles. In this apparition, I was invited to a quiet dinner party by an older man who had been an actor in the mid 1950s. When I arrived at the soiree, an older lady, quite well dressed and dignified was already seating at the dining table. After the meal, some of the men left the room to smoke. As I didn't smoke, I stayed behind. Someone asked me If I would like to be introduced to Mae West. Of course, I said yes! I went up to her and she looked me up and down coyly and asked me to sit down beside her. We talked about her films I had seen and my impressions of Los Angeles. She seemed very sharp witted and very furious about life.
• • What came next was a shock. She stated I should research the facts of her career. "You might find it interestin'," she insinuated with a throaty laugh. I was dumbfounded at her request, but spontaneously accepted the invitation.
• • Reflecting back on this dream, I've asked myself many times what tweak of imagination this must have been. Perhaps what is even more remarkable — — is that I listened to this dream and immediately sought out any Mae West biographies the local Vancouver used bookshops offered.
• • In short order, I learned that Mae West had an early Broadway career, wrote plays, books and screenplays. I soon exhausted local resources and headed towards Seattle in hopes of finding more out of print books by her. Little did I realize that I would soon be drawn into an incredible journey of not only learning more about Mae West, but also fulfill a buried desire within me — — to become a researcher and writer.
• • Perhaps the spirit of Mae West came to me because of this unresolved desire within me. Whatever the case, once I caught the fever there was no turning back. From friendships I made in Seattle, I learned of a secret horde of Mae West furnishings hidden in storage there. I decided to travel to New York City on the 100th anniversary of Mae's birth in 1993 and that opened doors that eventually lead me to travel of Los Angeles and met Tim Malachosky, Mae's last secretary, and many of the "inner circle" of young men that comprised the mafia with whom she held court in her Ravenswood lair.
• • • • Mae's Hometown: New York City! • • • •
• • I decided to travel to NYC for the 100th anniversary of Mae West's birth [17 August 1993] with the idea that I could visit her grave site and retrace some of her footsteps in order to get a better idea of her Broadway career. . . . [to be continued]
Written by: R. Mark Desjardins of Vancouver, B.C. Canada
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• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West: East Meets West

MAE WEST inspired Martin Kreloff's painting "East Meets West."
• • A long-term resident of Miami's colorful Art Deco precinct, the artist and portraitist favors vivid tropical hues and freely mixes Eastern archetypes (such as sumo wrestlers and geisha girls) with images drawn from America's entertainment culture. In Kreloff's recent artwork, Donald Duck's nephews frolic in the kitchens of Japanese characters doing the dishes, and Tokugawa sumo wrestlers pay their respects to Broadway star Ethel Merman. Anime creatures and Kabuki figures mingle with Joan Crawford and other Hollywood stars.
• • Maybe Martin Kreloff has been channeling Ed Hardy in his current exhibition now being shown at the Laura Henkel Gallery of Fine Art, 107 East Charleston Blvd., Suite 100, Las Vegas, Nevada. This display will be on view from now through 21 August 2010.
• • Mae West on the West Coast • •
• • In 1932, Mae West established her primary residence in Los Angeles on Rossmore Avenue at the Ravenswood Apartments. Considering her courtroom woes, it's amusing that Mae would settle into a boulevard named for Judge Ross — — not that she even realized how Rossmore got its name. These fascinating factoids (below) on Rossmore's history will interest dedicated Mae-mavens. Or maybe you knew everything already.
• • HISTORY OF ROSSMORE AVENUE • •
• • Ida Hancock Ross named Rossmore Avenue, the western border of the Hancock Park residential area, in honor of her second husband, Judge Erskine Mayo Ross. The couple was married in 1909, a merger of an oil multimillionairess and an esteemed California judge. ...
• • The El Royale apartments have been home to Huell Howser, Nicholas Cage, Cameron Diaz and — — at the Ravenswood apartments — — Mae West. An apartment at The Mauritania was home for a few weeks to President John F. Kennedy during the 1960 Democratic Convention in Los Angeles.
• • It was in 1920 that Wilshire Country Club opened on Rossmore Ave. and Beverly Blvd. on property leased from G. Allan Hancock.
• • The avenue also serves as the eastern boundary of Hancock Park. ...
• • To continue reading or to learn more about the history of this area of Los Angeles where Mae West made her home for several decades, see below.
— — Excerpt: — —
• • Article: "History of Rossmore Avenue"
• • Larchmont Chronicle [542½ North Larchmont Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90004] — — www.larchmontchronicle.com
• • Editor & Publisher: Jane Gilman
• • Published on 1 July 2010
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• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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