Mae West: Hearst’s Hex

On Saturday, 7 March 1936 the current issue of Motion Picture Herald was discussing MAE WEST. Her box office figures were holding their head up higher and higher despite a divisive campaign against her by the publishing titan William Randolph Hearst.
• • Grossing Above Average • •
• • In the face of Mr. Hearst's newest editorial vitriol, and the refusal of his newspapers to accept advertisements on "Klondike Annie" from theatres, the motion picture is grossing from $2,500 to as much as $8,500 over average, per box-office.
• • The array of consequences and developments relating to "Klondike Annie" as portrayed by Miss Mae West and the impact of that picture upon the American public were adequately forecast, well in advance, in the regular order of treatment of coming product by Motion Picture Herald in its issue of February 15, in the department of Showmen Reviews.

• • In Boston, where Mr. Hearst's American and Sunday Advertiser shot both barrels at Mae West and the production, the Metropolitan theatre grossed $20,000 last Saturday and Sunday, starting off to a house record, established last week by "Louis Pasteur," grossing $44,385 for the whole week. Elsewhere, "Klondike Annie" has been performing at the box office similarly, as follows:  …
• • Note: In 1936, James J. Braddock, the tall, dark, and handsome world heavyweight champion boxer, visited the set and posed with Mae West and Hollywood director Raoul Walsh.
• • Source: Motion Picture Herald; published on Saturday, 7 March 1936.
• • On Thursday, 8 March 2001 • •
• • On Thursday, 8 March 2001, Manila Standard columnist Karenina Yaptinchay wrote: If I may quote Mae West’s famous line here – "I am single because I was born that way." She cannot be more right. We were all born single and if we are destined to find a partner, we later evolve into one-half of a couple. ...
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Associated Press has reported that "Mae West and the Paramount studio in Hollywood are jointly accusing each other of voiding her contract."
• • Note: Further details to come on tomorrow’s post.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: “I have found men who didn't know how to kiss. I've always found time to teach them.“
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • Motion Picture Herald mentioned Mae West.
• • The present "open season" in Hollywood for star shootings at studio heads already has embroiled George Raft, Marlene Dietrich, and Mae West at Paramount, and Ann Dvorak, Pat O'Brien and Mr.  Cagney at Warner Brothers, all with varying consequences.
• • Paramount both won and lost the Raft tilt, labeled along Hollywood Boulevard as a case of "professional jealousy."  Mr. Raft had objected to the cameraman assigned to shoot him with Carole Lombard. The sleek-haired star complained that Cinematographer Teddy Tetzlaff gave Miss Lombard "all the breaks." Mr. Tetzlaff was not removed, but Paramount pacified Mr. Raft with another assignment.
• • Marlene Dietrich just upped and walked off the Paramount lot, in the middle of shooting, for a trip to Europe. Paramount got her "promise" to return sometime — probably in September.
• • Mae West dropped Paramount ― ― and Paramount dropped Mae West. …
• • Source: Motion Picture Herald; published on Saturday, 14 March 1936
• • 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 17th anniversary • • 
• • Thank you for reading, sending questions, and posting comments during these past seventeen years. Not long ago, we entertained 3,497 visitors. And we reached a milestone recently when we completed 4,900 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started seventeen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 4,945th 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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• • Photo: • • Mae West • • on the set in 1936 • •
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Mae West: Torrid Episode

Many stories have circulated about MAE WEST, a famous Tinseltown temptress. This account, published in 1936, claims Raoul Walsh filmed sexy scenes that were never meant for the screen but for his own private R-rated viewing. See what you think.
• • Modern Screen wrote: "Why not lead off this month's news with a Mae West item?" we have just asked ourselves, and hearing no reply at all, here is this month's Mae West item: As you know, Mae's leading man in "Klondike Annie" is Victor McLaglen [10 December 1886 — 7 November 1959].
• • Modern Screen wrote: Now, Vic is big and tough, but around the ladies he's not exactly what you'd call a Gablemore. He is, briefly, shy.
• • Modern Screen wrote: So our Mae took him in hand during a love scene, and in conspiracy with director Raoul Walsh, gave Vic what is known in technical circles as "the works."

• • Modern Screen wrote: By the time the scene ended, the McLaglen countenance was crimson, and he still doesn't know that the torrid love episode was filmed, not for the picture but for Raoul Walsh's private collection of scenes that Mr. Hays and his hirelings will never view.
• • Modern Screen wrote: While we're on the subject of Mr. Raoul Walsh, it might be nice to mention a fine gesture on his part during the shooting of "Klondike Annie."
• • Modern Screen wrote: During several weeks before Christmas, Walsh shot scenes which required the presence of a number of old timers. Instead of choosing his players at random from the casting office, Walsh ordered a couple of assistants to check on the financial status of the candidates.
• • Modern Screen wrote: As a result, the neediest cases were given jobs and a much more pleasant Christmas than they anticipated.
• • Source: Modern Screen: published in the issue dated for March 1936.
• • On Tuesday, 29 September 1914 • •
• • The newspaper the Philadelphia North American reviewed the more prominent variety artists who were performing onstage in the City of Brotherly Love on Tuesday, 29 September 1914. The arts critic thought well of Mae, who was then calling herself "The Original Brinkley Girl." When he referred to her stage act, he called her a "nut comedienne."
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • The "doubles" for famous stars make an interesting group. The stand-in for Claudette Colbert is Pluma Noisom; for Crawford, Kasha Le Seuer; for Garbo, Chris Meeker and for Mae West, Virginia Rendell.  
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "I objected to the underwear they gave me at the Island. It was rough on the body. ‘I want to wear my silk underwear.’ ‘This ain’ Saks Fifth Avenue,’ said a toothless old hag.”
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • A foreign newspaper mentioned Mae West.
• • "I've Come to Find out, Says Mae." • •
• • The Singapore Free Press wrote: Mae West invited goggle-eyed British reporters to "come up and see me sometime" when she ran the first gauntlet of them on her arrival at Southampton at two o'clock on Wednesday morning.  
• • Just to keep everything above board, Mae West asked the newsmen to a press reception at the Savoy Hotel. …      
• • Source: The Singapore Free Press;  published on Tuesday, 23 September 1947
• • 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 17th anniversary • • 
• • Thank you for reading, sending questions, and posting comments during these past seventeen years. Not long ago, we entertained 3,497 visitors. And we reached a milestone recently when we completed 4,800 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started fifteen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 4,832nd 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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• • Be sure to bookmark or follow The Mae West Blog
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • in 1936 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest

Mae West: Blu-Ray Mae #5

MAE WEST returns in Blu-Ray Releases, thanks to Kino Lorber Studio Classics.
• • Dillon Gonzales wrote: Kino Lorber Studio Classics has unveiled the details of their June 2021 Blu-Ray releases including works from such icons as Mae West, Benny Hill, Chris Rock, Dave Chappelle, Jennifer Connelly, Robert Altman, Alastair Sim, Cary Grant and more.
• • “Klondike Annie” • •
• • Dillon Gonzales wrote: Synopsis: The glamorous Mae West ("My Little Chickadee") stars as a “kept” woman who flees to Alaska and the Gold Rush of the 1890s in "Klondike Annie."

• • Dillon Gonzales wrote: After the beautiful Rose Carlton (West) escapes from the clutches of the wealthy and possessive Chan Lo (Harold Huber, The Thin Man), she finds herself on a ship bound for greater pastures.
• • Dillon Gonzales wrote: The ship’s captain, Bull Brackett (Victor McLaglen, The Informer), instantly falls for Rose but she is distracted by her new cabin mate, Sister Annie Alden (Helen Jerome Eddy, Madame Butterfly).
• • Dillon Gonzales wrote: Exchanging philosophies, the unlikely pair develop a meaningful friendship before Sister Annie becomes sick and passes on.
• • Dillon Gonzales wrote: In desperation, as her past starts to catch up with her, Rose changes her identity with her deceased friend and is inspired to a new calling.
• • Dillon Gonzales wrote: West is at her best as she brings the immoral townspeople to their knees with her unconventional style of evangelism in this spirited tale of divine transformation.
• • Dillon Gonzales wrote: Co-written by West and directed by the great Raoul Walsh (The World in His Arms, White Heat).
• • Bonus Features: NEW Audio Commentary by Film Historians Alexandra Heller-Nicholas and Josh Nelson | 6 Mae West Trailers
• • Source: Geek Vibes Nation; posted on Tuesday, 11 May 2021.
• • On Friday, 23 June 1922 in Variety • •
• • Mae West and Harry Richman performed together in Manhattan during June 1922, billing their act "Bits of Musical Comedy — — Mae West assisted by Harry Richman," and most of the material was written by The Firefly of Broadway herself.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Fergus Cashin's highly suspect biography on Mae West was released in paperback by Virgin Books in mid-June [on Thursday, 17 June 1982].  Before you try to find this trifle, however, read the review by Kirkus, which slams it and explains why. Clearly, the former reporter wished to "cash in."
• • Kirkus wisely listed Cashin's silly “biography” in this category: fiction.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "Half the people in the world impersonate me. Men, women, and even children. They put their hands on their hips or something."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • A Kirkus Reviewer scorched a lousy biography of Mae West.
• • MAE WEST: A Biography by Fergus Cashin • •
• • Kirkus wrote: Compared to this slipshod little book (released on 15 March 1982), the somewhat dubious big Mae West bio by Eells and Musgrove looks like the zenith of serious scholarship.
• • Kirkus wrote: Fergus Cashin, an English show-biz journalist, is out to debunk the West "legend"; he sees her as a "psychopathic egomaniac" full of "inhibitions and hangups"; he implies that she lived a virtually sexless life; he takes the old Mae West rumors — that she was a transvestite or hermaphrodite — seriously; he suggests that Mafia connections may have been responsible for her success.
• • Kirkus wrote: Impossible ideas? . . .
• • Source: Kirkus Reviews; published on Monday, 1 March 1982
• • 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 16th anniversary • • 
• • Thank you for reading, sending questions, and posting comments during these past fifteen years. Not long ago, we entertained 3,497 visitors. And we reached a milestone recently when we completed 4,700 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started fifteen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 4,762nd 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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• • Be sure to bookmark or follow The Mae West Blog
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • in 1936 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest

Mae West: Raoul Recalls

MAE WEST came up in conversation in April 1974, when Columbia University interviewed Raoul Walsh. Let's listen in, outside his suite at the Warwick Hotel.  Quiet on the set, please.
• • "Reminiscences of Top Filmmaker Raoul Walsh" • •
• • by Columbia University students George Robinson and Ira Hozinsky • •
• • Columbia Daily Spectator wrote:  Raoul Walsh was in town this week. The name may not ring a bell, but a list of the 87-year old director's films should — The Thief of Bagdad, What Price Glory, The Roaring Twenties, High Sierra, They Died With Their Boots On, White Heat. Ira Hozinsky and I encountered Walsh in his suite in the Warwick, where he was staying after being re-presented by the Museum of Modern Art, where the first comprehensive retrospective of his work is currently being held, to the New York which is his birthplace. Walsh, whose autobiography is being published this summer by Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, is still an imposing figure at 87. He still has the rugged frame of the cowboy and roustabout of his youth, and the eye-patch over his right eye gives him a faintly piratical air.  In short, he remains as commanding, even intimidating, a figure as he must have been in his days in Hollywood.  . . .

• • G.R.:  What was it like at Fox around that period?
• • Walsh:  When the crash came, (William) Fox lost $300 million. Sheehan (Winfield Sheehan, head of production at Fox) got out of the business. Then Darryl Zanuck took over and called it Twentieth Century Fox. They had me make their first picture for them, a thing called "The Bowery" with George Raft and Wally Beery (1933).
• • I.H.:  Was there much trouble with "The Bowery" with audiences or censors at the time? There's a lot of racial humor in it.
• • Walsh: Yes. The censors were always on my tail. So I'd make about eight risque scenes and they'd cut out five, and that way I'd still have three.
• • G.R.: Did you have trouble like that when you were working with Mae West ("Klondike Annie," 1936)?
• • "With Mae West, the cops were in there all the time . . ." • •
• • Walsh: With Mae West, the cops were in there all the time. (Laughter.) Actually, I think they cut a reel out of "Klondike Annie."  When I made that Norman Mailer picture, "The Naked and The Dead" (1958), the censors cut out the naked and just left the dead.  . . .
• • Source: Article-Interview (page 7) "Reminiscences of Top Filmmaker Raoul Walsh" written by George Robinson and Ira Hozinsky for Columbia Daily Spectator; published on Wednesday, 24 April 1974.
• • On Wednesday, 24 April 1935 • •
• • Mae West Impatient as 'Marriages' List Grows • •
• • HOLLYWOOD, April 24 (By United Press) — — Mae West, curvesome lady of the screen, today called for a showdown to settle the somewhat confusing question of her spinsterhood. "I've got a sense of humor," she said. "Nobody can say I haven't. But this thing is going too far."  . . .
• • Source: United Press interview rpt in San Bernardino Sun; published on Thursday, 25 April 1935.
• • On Thursday, 24 April 2008 • •
• • Goldmine Magazine featured Mae West on Thursday, 24 April 2008.
• • Goldmine Magazine said: Mae West did it all, even 45s.  Mae West was sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll before there was sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll.  After Mae West, the rest of us just tried to keep up.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • "Night After Night" was 73 minutes long. No one remembers anything about this film except for the hilarious moments when Mae West was onscreen.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said:  "Adam sure started something. Men are a very important subject."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • Backstage mentioned Mae West.
• • Kate McClanaghan noted: Many of the characters used in animation today are loose or distorted impersonations of old Hollywood stars or famous folks. Ex: the voice of Stimpy from “The Ren and Stimpy Show” is an exaggeration of Peter Lorre, rather than a direct impersonation. Try this: Take an impersonation of someone famous — even a bad impersonation — of Orson Welles or Jack Nicholson or Mae West and see where that takes you. Regardless of how poor or awkward the impersonation might be, you’re likely to discover a character all your own.  ...
• • Source: Article in Backstage written by  Kate McClanaghan; published on Wednesday, 8 April  2015
• • The Mae West Blog celebrates its 10th anniversary • •    
• • Thank you for reading, sending questions, and posting comments during this past decade. The other day we entertained 1,430 visitors. We reached a milestone recently when we completed 3,100 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • • 
• • The Mae West Blog was started ten years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 3164th 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
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • with Raoul Walsh and Marlene Dietrich, 1936 • •
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