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MAE WEST will return to the Pittsburgh area tomorrow night in a rollicking nostalgia-rich stars and stripes production set during wartime.
• • "A USO Tribute Variety Show" will focus on the heyday of Bob Hope's tours, the World War II years of the 1940s. There are some GIs who still can remember when Bob Hope ventured out to the war zones taking with him a constellation of Broadway's best and Hollywood's biggest names.
• • Bob Hope would be accompanied by high-profile stars such as Mae West, Judy Garland, the Andrews Sisters, Bing Crosby, Rita Hayworth, the Marx Brothers, the Three Stooges, Shirley Temple, Jack Benny, and more.
• • All these famous entertainers (and many others) will come to life again through the 50-member — — the largest ever for ACT — — cast.
• • "A USO Tribute Variety Show" was written and organized by producer Paul Wright of North Buffalo and co-directors Cortney Bavera of Worthington and Laura Lloyd of Washington Township.
• • "A USO Tribute Variety Show" is being presented by Pennsylvania's Armstrong Community Theater
• • When: Thursday — Saturday on February 19, 20, and 21, 2009 at 7:30 PM.
• • Info: 724-763-3680
• • Location: Armstrong Community Theater Group at Lenape Technical High School [2215 Chaplin Avenue, Ford City, PA 16226-1608]• • 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.
MAE WEST makes an appearance in a new release by a film-buff.
• • Star-struck by age four, Jan Wahl has penned "an autobiography of sorts" titled, Through a Lens Darkly, which chronicles his life in the film industry, detailing his experiences rubbing elbows with Hollywood notables such as Mae West, Rita Hayworth, Robert Mitchum, among others.
• • This Sunday, Jan Wahl will appear at Way Public Library [101 East Indiana Avenue, Perrysburg, Ohio 43551] at 2 o'clock to promote this title, according to the author who now makes his home in Toledo, Ohio.
• • 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.
While Broadway is playing musical chairs, the return of a 68-year-old musical to the Gay White Way on 18 December 2008 has a whiff of MAE WEST.
• • Which names would you cast in the principal roles in Rodgers & Hart's "Pal Joey"?
• • The Hollywood Reporter reminded readers this has never been a creampuff of a show.
• • According to the Hollywood Reporter: For all its legendary status today, the reviews for the original production — — it opened December 25, 1940, at the Barrymore and made a star of Gene Kelly — — were decidedly mixed. It lasted less than a year (374 performances), with the 1952-53 revival (540 performances) being much more warmly received. Later revivals were done with the title role played by Bob Fosse (1963) and Christopher Chapman (1976).
• • Meanwhile, Columbia bought the film rights early on, but for various reasons — — including hassles from the Production Code Office because of the "Joey" story line and lyrics of several of its songs — — it took 17 years before cameras turned.
• • Along the way, however, several interesting casting ideas for it were announced: Gene Kelly and Rita Hayworth, the latter playing the young love interest, in the 1940s; Marlon Brando and Mae West as the older woman in the early 1950s; as well as Jack Lemmon and Marlene Dietrich — — Dietrich eventually turning it down because, at the time, she'd never heard of Lemmon.
• • It was finally done in 1957 with Frank Sinatra as Joey and the older woman played by Hayworth, who at 39 was three years younger than her boy toy. . . .
— — Excerpt: — —
• • Published in: Reuters/ Hollywood Reporter
• • Published on: 5 December 2008
• • 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.
In 1944, 22-year-old Brooklynite Richard Sylvan Seltzer landed a small part in MAE WEST's Broadway show, "Catherine Was Great."
• • Born on 29 August 1922, he was the younger of two sons of impoverished parents who were evicted from their apartment several times. More than once, Richard and his brother, Benson, lived in homes for troubled boys. Their father abandoned the family when Richard was a teenager.
• • Like many children who dream of something better, he got his start as a young actor with minor roles in several Broadway shows and was in the cast of "Dead End," which starred the Dead End Kids.
• • When the show closed in 1937, Blackwell moved to Los Angeles with his mother and brother and found work in movies, starting with "Little Tough Guy" (1938) — — a spinoff of the Broadway show he left behind. He got another small role that year in "Juvenile Court," starring Rita Hayworth.
• • Meeting Mae West in the mid 1940s was unforgettable. Shortly afterward, he met movie producer Howard Hughes, who changed his name to Richard Blackwell. Howard Hughes chose the name to sound "theatrical, polished, memorable," Blackwell wrote in his autobiography.
• • Eventually, he became "Mr. Blackwell," whose annual "worst dressed" list dressed down movie stars, music icons, and European royalty with the predilection for making a fashion faux pas. This helped turn him into a household name.
• • Blackwell died on 19 October 2008. He was 86.
• • 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.
MAE WEST's measurements inspired both admiration and frustration, reveals a new book on Hollywood's costume design.
• • Hollywood's leading ladies may get the best lines, but their scene-stealing outfits are the ones to watch, explains Bronwyn Cosgrave in The Age.
• • Bronwyn Cosgrave writes: THERE IS A "FIFTH character" in Sex and the City: The Movie — — the costumes for Carrie Bradshaw and her trio of well-heeled friends, Charlotte York Goldenblatt, Miranda Hobbes and Samantha Jones. Shaping this fifth character required "strategising and finessing and negotiating", akin to wooing an A-list Hollywood star to sign a film deal, says the film's star, Sarah Jessica Parker. . . .
• • By the golden age of the ' 30s, every "big five" studio, including Paramount, MGM and Warner Bros, ran sophisticated wardrobe departments presided over by highly skilled designers. Paramount's Travis Banton cut costumes from the finest textiles, including tweeds from Linton, the knitwear manufacturer in the Scottish Borders used by Chanel. He bought embellishments such as bugle beads and sequins from the Paris supplier that Elsa Schiaparelli patronized, and altered the work of the famed surrealist couturier when in 1937 she was enlisted to design for Mae West for the comedy Every Day's a Holiday. West failed to report to Schiaparelli's Place Vendome atelier and instead sent it a Venus de Milo bust that was meant to replicate her shapely proportions. It didn't quite work out that way — — the statue was evidently a little more modest in size and Schiaparelli's intricate handiwork sat too close on buxom West.
• • Hollywood became a fashion capital as major studios reproduced affordable variations of screen costumes and the most iconic became department-store bestsellers. They included a fluffy Gilbert Adrian gown Joan Crawford modelled in 1932's Letty Lynton, Walter Plunkett's Vivien Leigh antebellum-inspired frocks from 1939 blockbuster Gone with the Wind and a strapless Edith Head number Elizabeth Taylor displayed in A Place in the Sun from 1951.
• • Dressed: A Century of Hollywood Costume Design, Deborah Nadoolman Landis' recently published coffee-table tome, presents myriad Hollywood looks that have influenced generations of fashion designers and movie goers over time, including the body-hugging, strapless satin gown Columbia's Jean Louis created to enhance curvaceous Rita Hayworth's seductive number in Gilda, Taylor's bejewelled decadence and Grace Kelly's glacial glamour, as well as Theadora Van Runkle's late-'60s handiwork for Faye Dunaway. . . .
— — Excerpt: — —
• • Article: A star is worn
• • Written by: Bronwyn Cosgrave
• • Published in: The Age — — www.theage.com.au/
• • Published on: 17 May 2008
• • 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.
According to movie buffs Ben Davey and Joanna Cohen, there are five outstanding "lady is a tramp" motion pictures — — and "the fabulously carnal" MAE WEST stars in one. 
• • Each week, Australian film geeks Ben Davey and Joanna Cohen claim that they "mask their lack of creative ability by writing a column about clever things that others have made." Here are their amusing pronouncements about the scarlet sisterhood of the cinema.
• • She Done Him Wrong (1933)
• • Synopsis: Captain Cummings: Haven't you ever had a man who made you happy? Lady Lou: Sure, lots of times. Mae West lewdly quips her way through her first starring role as Lady "Diamond" Lou in this adaptation of the 1928 Broadway stage play Diamond Lil. She is a dame with a lot of diamonds, a lot of "friends" — — and a smart mouth.
• • Joanna Cohen: You can't have a tramp compilation and not include the fabulously carnal Mae West. Her character, Lady Lou, proves her tramp stripes by being recognized by every inmate as she sashays down a cell block to visit her possessive and, unfortunately, violent and vicious criminal fella, Chick Clark (Owen Moore). It is often speculated that it was the films of Mae West that caused the crackdown and enforcement of the Hays Production Code in 1934. If that is the case, then I think it is safe to assume that this particular film may have contributed to the code supporters' anxiety. The innuendo that was so shocking in the 1930s is pretty tame today and the plot is ludicrous so, unless you are a Mae West fan, you may not get too much out of this flick. I, however, love a sassy bird and as far as I am concerned, West is the leader of the pack.
• • Ben Davey: There are few who could have pulled off some of the dialogue in this film. It works for Mae West and Cary Grant, partly because the ludicrous plot allows them to play up and partly because the audience thinks they are watching the actors themselves verbally jousting , not just the characters they play. When West says "Why don't you come up sometime and see me? I'm home every night" — — the delivery shapes our perceptions of the sassy bird we think she would be in real life. While such perceptions lent West a certain authenticity when playing feisty dames, it certainly contributed to her being typecast. But hey, when you get to play a quip-machine that rattles off such memorable innuendo so often, being typecast can also have its merits.
• • Top five 'the lady is a tramp' films • •
• • 1. Gilda (1946)
• • Synopsis: Johnny Farrell: "Pardon me, but your husband is showing." The most gorgeous tramp of all, Gilda (Rita Hayworth), plays wicked games with the two men in her life — — her husband, Ballin Mundson (George Macready), and her man from the past, Johnny Farrell (Glenn Ford) — — employing a handful of Argentinian playboys as her props. [Gilda is a woman to be simultaneously despised and desired.]
• • 2. The Last Seduction (1994)
• • Synopsis: Dodgy Bridget (Linda Fiorentino) double-crosses her doctor husband, Clay (Bill Pullman), stealing the money made from the sale of medicinal cocaine. Now on the lam, Bridget decides to lie low in a small town where she begins an affair with Mike (Peter Berg), who quickly becomes enamoured with the mysterious blow-in. Lots of back-stabbing and general naughtiness ensues. [Keen spotters may pick up the Double Indemnity reference with one of Bridget's aliases.]
• • 3. Gone with the Wind (1939)
Synopsis: An adaptation of Margaret Mitchell's 1936 Civil War epic, it follows the flirts and flounces of the South's first lady, Scarlett O'Hara (Vivien Leigh), as she overcomes the poverty, loss and chaos of wartime, defends her beloved plantation, Tara, and leaves broken hearts in her wake.
• • 4. She Done Him Wrong (1933) [see above]• • 5. Ilsa: She-Wolf of the SS (1974)
• • Synopsis: Nazi commandante Ilsa (Dyanne Thorn), whose motivations revolve around torture and rompy-pompy, finally meets her match in the bump-ugly stakes when she encounters a prisoner with peculiar prowess. This discovery proves a distraction from Ilsa's efforts to prove, via nefarious experiments on war-camp prisoners, that women can withstand pain better than men.
— — Source: — —
• • Article: Top five 'the lady is a tramp' films
• • Written by: By Ben Davey and Joanna Cohen
• • Published in: The Sydney Morning Herald — — www.smh.com.au/
• • Published on: 3 November 2005
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • 1933 • •
NYC
Mae West.
Wouldn't you love to own a lavender feathered headdress that once adorned the head of Mae West? Robert Weisfeld yearned to — — and did.
• • A movie-maven since he was in elementary school, Robert Weisfeld always dreamed about collecting things that were once used, worn, or signed by the famous. Among his first teenage purchases was a hand-tinted poster of 1920s siren Jean Harlow. A black bonnet worn by Lillian Gish in the 1915 silent film “Birth of a Nation” is the oldest item in his possession.
• • The 53-year-old native of Abingdon, Virginia estimated that he has now amassed well over 500 bits of glitterati including Mae West's ornamental plumage, a “Kelly’s Heroes” military helmet autographed by Clint Eastwood, and a top hat of Fred Astaire’s. Footwear attracted his eye, too. He owns Betty Grable’s silver heels, three pairs of Jean Harlow’s size-3 shoes, and Bette Davis’ baby shoes.
• • For years, these keepsakes were in storage until his 80-year-old mother Martha had a brainstorm: put them on display.
• • Opened on 26 July 2007, Star Museum covers the 20-by-88-foot first floor of an 1865 building in downtown Abingdon, Virginia. Robert Weisfeld is planning for a seasonal rotation of his memorabilia, elements built around his appreciation of pop culture, Hollywood, and music.
• • Robert Weisfeld developed his collection as an adult living in Manhattan for almost 17 years. He scoured second-hand emporiums, thrift shops, antique stores, flea markets, and he attended the estate auctions of Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, and Rock Hudson. Eleven years ago, he returned to his Southern roots when he came home to be editor of the Virginian.
• • His collection has been insured for about $160,000. Not counting boxes of letters, newspapers, copies of Life Magazine, and photos, Weisfeld estimates he owns close to 1,000 unique bits that were once in the hands of a notable individual, for instance, actress Rosalind Russell’s $10.64 check for a 1947 electric bill and Richard Burton’s Roman shield from “Cleopatra.”
• • One showcase is arranged as if Marilyn Monroe had dropped her faux-leopard purse. Her wallet, sunglasses and paste chandelier earrings have slipped out, as well as a Las Vegas hotel swizzle stick, a pair of Frank Sinatra’s cuff links, and John F. Kennedy's White House matchbook.
• • The museum also genuflects to several musical and pop-culture personalities. Visitors will see clothing worn by Elvis Presley, Loretta Lynn's concert gown, and a 1949 Life Magazine cover signed by slugger Joe DiMaggio. But the museum’s focus — — from the photos on its walls to the evening gloves on view — — is the Hollywood studio heyday of the 1920s to the 1950s.
• • Come up and see Mae West in Abingdon, Virginia — — along with Jean Harlow, Marilyn Monroe, Rita Hayworth, Fred Astaire, Janis Joplin, Loretta Lynn, and Elvis.
• • Collect even more Mae West memories on Friday evening 17 August 2007, when a guided tour will explore Manhattan's WEST-side during the "Mae West Side Story" walking tour. The event — — open to the public — — is timed to salute Brooklyn's own sexpot on her birthdate. [See the Annual Mae West Gala posting below.]• • Only 11 more days until Mae's birthday!
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • 1934 • •
NYC
Mae West.
MAE WEST factors into an exhibit now on display in Ohio at the Dayton Art Institute.
• • The exhibition – – "Marilyn Monroe: Life As a Legend" – – was organized by Antoma in Hamburg, Germany, and is being circulated by International Arts & Artists, Washington, DC. Curator Laine Snyder has assembled 250 works relating to life of Marilyn Monroe and her continuing effect on artists.
• • An intriguing featured attraction is a Marilyn play. It is a one-woman show "Marilyn: Forever Blonde" starring Sunny Thompson.
• • Promotional copy for the show "Marilyn Monroe: Life As a Legend," now at the Dayton Art Institute through June 24, notes that this exhibit impresses the audience "with the scope of its insights into the iconic Hollywood star of the 1940s and 1950s."
• • In his recent article, "The Undying Marilyn Mystique," journalist Jerry Stein, The Cincinnati Post's arts writer, had something to say about Mae West's influence on Marilyn Monroe - - as expressed in a modern painting.
• • Jerry Stein writes: The pop artist Robert Indiana offers a sunburst of the head and nude torso of Marilyn Monroe at center. Surrounding this image, made in 2001, are the first names of great beauties - Betty (Grable), Rita (Hayworth), Jean (Harlow), Mae (West), etc. Each name is done in a single color. But below the sunburst, the name "Marilyn" is printed in larger type with each letter of her name done in a separate color used for the names of her beautiful predecessors.
• • Stein concludes: "It is as though Robert Indiana is saying with his rainbow coloring of the actress' name, Marilyn Monroe had it all. ..."• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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• • Photo: • • Mae West • • none • •NYC
Mae West.
