Mae West: Ringo Recalled

In 1967, 73-year-old MAE WEST told Helen Lawrenson (during an interview for Esquire) that “if you didn’t know how old I am, a person’d think I’m twenty-six.”  
• • Eleven years later, in 1978, Mae would play a coquettish bride in "Sextette." Was it a good film or a misfire? Journalist Steve Palace has his own perspective. This is Part 5 of 6 parts.
• • "Sextette" — Mae West’s Last Movie Saw Her Play the Vamp in Her 80s! • •
• • Mae West: Aching for the spotlight • •

• • Steve Palace wrote: Ringo Starr recalled an invitation to dinner during the making of "Sextette." He says: “Mae gets there an hour earlier than you to do the lights… we heard later she does that wherever she goes.” Even away from the camera she wanted to be the perfect movie star.
• • Charlotte Chandler interviewed West in 1979. “I ached for it, the spotlight,” the veteran revealed, “which was like the strongest man’s arms around me, like an ermine coat.”
• • "Sextette" was distributed independently from Hollywood studios by Crown International Pictures. In previous times West worked with Columbia, Paramount and Universal Pictures.
• • Her salacious antics practically wrote the book on media censorship. Now she was out on her own.
• • With a budget of up to $8 million, the film had a lot riding on it. It made a mere $50,000 at the box office.
• • Mae West: An embarrassing attempt at camp • • ...      
• • This feature will continue until the sixth segment.
• • Source: The Vintage News; published on Tuesday, 29 September 2020.
• • On Wednesday, 15 January 1936 • •
• • Mae West's ally Emanuel Cohen [1892 — 1977] had packed up his bags at Paramount, which started to feel as cozy and congenial as the North Pole under the new studio boss Ernst Lubitsch [1892 — 1947].
• • On Wednesday, 15 January 1936, Variety Magazine was reporting doom and gloom on Hollywood and Vine. According to Variety: Mae West had been warned that she must strictly follow orders and that Paramount's production chief would not tolerate any challenges or deviations. Several directors found letters to that effect in their mailboxes as well.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Mae West was more than just her measurements and her ferocious frankness. She was a keen marketer, creating projects for herself when none were available or even being offered. She took her talents to Broadway, to regional theater, she toured the country with her revue, and kept her soon to be celebrated vulgarity as a topic of publicity rag reality.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "Like men? Sure, I've known lots of them, but in later years I've never found one I liked well enough to marry."  
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • An article on “Sextette” discussed Mae West.
• • Mae West Made this "Insane" Film in her 80's • •
• • PBS wrote: The film "Sextette," which Mae West made when she was in her 80's, was actually a "radical power move," according to comedian Natasha Lyonne. It demonstrated West's supreme confidence as a woman trying to defy the taboo against sexual older women. At the same time, it showed that the persona Mae West created in the 30's was so original that it could endure into the 1970's and beyond.  ...
• • Source: PBS; posted on Tuesday, 16 June 2020
• • 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 4,600 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started fifteen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 4,649th 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/
________
Source: https://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml  
• • Be sure to bookmark or follow The Mae West Blog
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • in her last film in 1978 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest

Mae West: Klair Bybee

MAE WEST starred in "Sextette" [1978] and Klair Bybee was seen as Ringo's cameraman.

• • Born in Bell, California, Klair Bybee came into this world in the month of June — — on 12 June 1939.  A member of AFTRA and SAG, the five-foot-eleven actor played minor roles in 5 feature films [1966 — 2010] and has also made appearances in TV movies.

• • Klair Bybee is celebrating his 73rd birthday today. Hey, handsome! Enjoy yourself.

• • On Friday, 29 June 2012 • •

• • Mae West said, "You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough." And though one lifetime was long enough for her to love in, the folks at Dearly Departed (a tour company, not a funeral parlor) would be thrilled to show you where the screen queen drew her last mortal breath.

• • Last breath locations include (besides Mae West), Michael Jackson, Bela Lugosi, River Phoenix, Whitney Houston, George Burns, and 90 others in Los Angeles.

• • WHEN: mid-day on Friday, 29 June 2012

• • WHERE: 6603 W. Sunset Blvd., Hollywood, California

• • Eddie Fetherston [9 September 1896 — 12 June 1965] • •

• • Mae West starred in "Go West, Young Man" along with many East Coast natives who, like Mae, had traveled westward, for instance, Brooklynite Eddie Fetherston.

• • In "Go West, Young Man," Eddie Fetherston played a reporter. Curiously, he must have had the manner or the ink-stained fingers of a local news re-write man. Tinseltown casting agents frequently hired him to portray either a wise-cracking journalist, a photographer, or a newspaper staffer in dozens of motion pictures.

• • Born in Brooklyn, NY on 9 September 1896, Eddie Fetherston had launched his career as a vaudeville comedian. The character actor appeared (albeit briefly) in numerous shorts and movies directed by Frank Capra, La Cava, McLeod, John Ford, etc.

• • On 12 June 1965, Eddie Fetherston had a fatal heart attack at his home in Yucca Valley, California.  He was 68.

• • On Saturday, 12 June 2004 • •

• • Paul Bush screened his various short subjects throughout May 2005 in London at the Curzon Cinema. A one-minute hat-tip to Mae was recorded on Beta: "Busby Berkeley's Tribute to Mae West" [2002] — — as imagined by director Paul Bush.  This playful short was first released in the USA on Saturday, 12 June 2004.

• • In Her Own Words • •

• • Mae West said: "Loves conquers all things except poverty and toothache."

• • Mae West said: "The inmates were very interesting. Will have enough material for ten shows. I didn't think so much of the bed."

• • Quote, Unquote • •

• • An article about prison mentioned Mae West.

• • The Hollywood Reporter wrote: Mae West received word yesterday that the inmates of the Iowa State Penitentiary have voted her their favorite, this despite her having been instrumental in sending a man to prison recently for robbing her. Jail's news organ, the Presidio, has asked her for a photograph and an interview. ...

• • Source: Article: "More Mae West Fans" written by The Hollywood Reporter; published in April 1934

• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started seven years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 2329th 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/
________
Source:http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • 1978 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest
NYC  Mae West.

Mae West: Keith Allison

MAE WEST starred in "Sextette" [1978] surrounded by a bevy of young men who had minor roles. Rocker Keith Allison was patched into a scene as the waiter in Alexei's suite, perhaps one of his attempts to broaden his fan base by appearing on the silver screen, and also one of the producer's ploys to attract a younger audience with music marquee names such as Ringo Starr, Keith Moon, Alice Cooper, Van McCoy.
• • Born in Coleman, Texas in the month of August — — on 26 August 1942 — — Keith Allison was the songwriter and bass guitarist for Paul Revere and the Raiders from 1968 — 1975. Between 1972 — 2003 Allison was featured in fourteen film or TV projects such as "American Bandstand's 20th Anniversary" [1973 TV movie] with Paul Revere and the Raiders. He was last seen as Capt. James J. White in "Gods and Generals" [2003].
• • Happy Birthday to former mop-top Keith Allison. The rock-and-roller is 69 years old today.
• • Mae West on the Bookshelf • •
• • Mae West is featured in a new nonfiction book: "Dreamers of a New Day: Women Who Invented the Twentieth Century" written by Sheila Rowbotham, published in the UK by Verso. The Bristol, England native explores a half-century of women’s thinking and activity between 1880 and 1930. We wish the British author much success.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West wrote this: "“Personally, I like two types of men — — domestic and foreign.”
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • A passionate East Coast foodie is inspired by Mae West.
• • Amy Barry writes: Jocelyn Ruggiero, better known as Foodie Fatale, . . . developed the role of La Divina Cucina for an assignment in a performance class. "We had to use four objects-I grabbed a can of San Marzano tomatoes, the book 'A Lover's Discourse' by Roland Barthes, a boa and a Mae West CD, and I went to class and made my first segment in five minutes-a recipe for tomato and clam sauce over pasta. "It was completely spontaneous and true to who I am-a little Mae West, tomatoes, and Roland Barthes," Ruggiero notes. Ruggiero has appeared as La Divina Cucina in various venues in New York City. ...
• • Source: Article: "Foodie Fatale’s passionate encounters with everything edible" written by Amy J. Barry, Special to the Day, for The Day; posted on 24 August 2011
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started seven years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 2034th 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/
________
Source:http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • 1978 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest
NYC
Mae West.

Mae West: Bernie from the Bronx

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/
________
Source:http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • none • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest
NYC
Mae West.

Mae West: Dom Gone

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/
________
Source:http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • with Dom DeLuise in 1978 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest
NYC
Mae West.

Mae West: Ken and Then

Ken Hughes once worked with MAE WEST.
• • Then 56 years old when he was at the helm of "Sextette" in 1978, based on Mae West's play ["Sextet"], the British director died in the month of April and is being remembered. Not unlike reading the work of a very clever Marxist, the script's logic is impeccable, even when the premise — — that an actress in her 80s can portray a 26-year-old sexpot — — is wrong.
• • "Sextette" was the middle-aged director's first American film — — as well as Mae West's final screen appearance.
• • Vincent Canby, then the film critic of The New York Times, pursed his lips and gave the project a sound spanking. Canby wrote: 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 . . . [N.Y. Times 8 June 1979].
• • On 19 January 1922, Kenneth Graham Hughes was born in Liverpool, England.
• • The Hollywood director developed Alzheimer's disease and died on 28 April 2001 in Los Angeles. Several of his obituaries reminded the public that "Sextette" was a camp disaster and, furthermore, that the writer/ director had had a prolific but "remarkably inconsistent career" with only one hands-down triumph: "The Trials of Oscar Wilde." Hard to believe the same person directed the family musical and moneymaker "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang," the James Bond loser "Casino Royale," and "Sextette."
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
________
Source:http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • none • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest
NYC
Mae West.

Mae West: George Hamilton

Sextette is a 1978 Crown International motion picture starring MAE WEST. The cast includes Timothy Dalton, Dom DeLuise, Tony Curtis, Ringo Starr, Keith Moon, George Hamilton, Alice Cooper, and Walter Pidgeon.
• • The role of Vance Norton fell to George Hamilton [born in Memphis on 12 August 1939] — — who was 39 years old at the time. Known chiefly for being well-tanned and as impeccably groomed as a circus poodle, the actor has turned his Hollywood compost heap into an autobiography he is hoping will prove to be a page turner.
• • "Don't Mind if I Do" is his 305-page memoir (published by Touchstone) that trades on tidbits from motion pictures he was cast in, the women he dated (including Elizabeth Taylor, in the mid-1980s) along with the other Hollywood legends he knew (such as Mae West, Cary Grant, and Judy Garland).
• • I take issue with that sneaky word KNEW. How well does an actor "know" Mae West because the man had one scene with her, eh?
• • But if you are broken up because Hugh Hefner is no longer "dating" Holly Madison, then you may wish to console yourself with a box of truffles and the sugar-coated flaky leavings from Hamilton's Hollywood exhaust valve.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
________
Source:http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • none • •
NYC
Mae West.

Mae West: Timothy Dalton

MAE WEST co-starred with some extraordinarily handsome leading men such as Timothy Dalton, who is celebrating his 64th birthday today.
• • Timothy Dalton was born in Colwyn Bay, Wales on 21 March 1944. Though Welsh-born, he is of British, Italian, and Irish ancestry. His mother is from the New York City borough the Bronx. Timothy grew up in Manchester, England with a background in show-biz, since both of his grandfathers were vaudevillians. After leaving school, he joined the National Youth Theatre for 3 summers, and studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art for 2 years. He joined the Birmingham Repertory Theatre in 1966, where he played many leading roles.
• • When he was 33 years old, Timothy Dalton first flew to Hollywood in 1977, to become the leading man of the iconic screen queen Mae West [1893—1980] in her last film. In Sextette (1978), with a cast that included Tony Curtis, Ringo Starr, George Hamilton, Walter Pidgeon, and George Raft, Timothy even ended up marrying the cinema legend whose sexual suggestiveness was as amorously artful as it was essentially innocent. In an interview, Timothy Dalton said he would never ever forget the experience.
• • "I'll never forget meeting her for the first time. We went in to see Mae West in a room where everything was white with gold trim on it. It was quite small, I thought, for somebody as fabulously rich as she was. It was only later that I realized that she owned the entire apartment block — — though I doubt that she ever spent a penny on herself in her life; everybody was too busy buying her presents and asking her out.
• • "Then Mae West came in. She was wearing a white suit and a large bouffant hairstyle and these long nails ... there was a great lady. I was very curious, very fascinated by her. Not to put too fine a point on it, we were all wondering, knowing how old she was, if we were going to be able to work with her.
• • "As it happened, she was delightful. I think the most extraordinary thing about knowing Mae West was the realization that she was a brilliant lady. When somebody is that famous, you're never quite sure whether her fame stems largely from the publicity hokum, but she could always come up with a line that was funnier than anybody else's. . . ."
• • "Of course," adds Timothy with a smile that conceals more than reveals, "she was a bit of a flirt. But she tried it only once with me! She had a nice twinkle in her eye, a nice sparkle. Oh, it was definitely an experience I wouldn't have missed for the world."
• • Get ready to come up and see Mae onstage in mid-July 2008.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
________
Source:http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Mae West
• • Photo: Mae West • • Timothy Dalton • • "Sextette" 1978 • •
NYC
Mae West.