skip to main |
skip to sidebar
MAE WEST was not often invited to the Oscars. Her performances and scripts were mostly overlooked by judges at the Motion Picture Academy.
• • But Mae’s appearance at the star-studded ceremony in 1958 made up for this previous invisibility. Her duet with Rock Hudson is still being applauded. The song they sang was "Baby, It's Cold Outside."
• • "Baby, It's Cold Outside" is a popular song written by Frank Loesser in 1944 and introduced to the public in the 1949 film "Neptune's Daughter."
• • “Neptune's Daughter" was released on the 9th of June — — on Thursday, 9 June 1949. No, not nearly as memorable as the duet by Mae West and Rock Hudson.
• • On Thursday, 9 June 1949 • •
• • "Mae West Gives Earl Wilson a Necktie for Birthday" • •
• • Syndicated night-life columnist Earl Wilson wrote: New York, June 9 — I'm the blissful owner of a birthday tie given to me by Mae West. A friend pointed out to me to me that it's Mae Westian in design. The figures on it are fig leaves, the friend said.
• • "You know," I commented to Mae, "I wouldn't know a fig leaf if I saw one."
• • "You mean," said Mae, "you wouldn't know one if you saw it on a necktie."
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Mae West races through pictures a male a minute.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "I didn't start out to collect diamonds, but somehow they just kept piling up."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • An academic paper mentioned Mae West.
• • Jenna Simpson wrote: Helen Gregory had wanted to see more plays that were morally proper, but she noted that "No one wants to see a dull play, no matter how decent it might be.” . . .
• • Jenna Simpson wrote: There was some controversy over theatre censorship laws in the early 1930s, especially as a trial of Mae West (which had begun back in 1928!) was just wrapping up in 1930 ("without convictions”), but far fewer readers chose to comment upon this in the Times than did those who felt strongly about the movies. . . .
• • Source: “Reforming the Stage and Screen: How Expectations, Audiences, and Economics Shaped the Film and Theatre Censorship Movements in Early-1930s New York” by Jenna Simpson; posted in 2005
• • 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 15th 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 4,400 blog posts.
Wow!
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started fifteen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 4,492nd
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 • • with Rock Hudson in 1958 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest
During the Oscar rehearsals in late March 1958, MAE WEST was caught by the candid camera of Life Magazine photographer Leonard McCombe. He was a fly on the wall that year as stars from Mae West, Rock Hudson, Russ Tamblyn, Paul Newman, Zsa Zsa Gabor, and Kirk Douglas came by to rehearse for the big event.
• • Leonard McCombe [1923 — — ] • •
• • Born in 1923 on the Isle of Man, off the coast of England, Leonard McCombe was able to create provocative images naturally. His abilities led him to become a fellow of the Royal Photographic Society at age 21. Through World War II, his images preserved the struggles and triumphs of the day. In 1945, at age 22, he began working for Life Magazine. By 1948, McCombe’s role in the US was solidified as a photographer for LIFE. In an article for Getty Images printed in 2006, McCombe was described as "now reclusive."
• • Photo [below and left]: Mae West and Rock Hudson playfully snuggle while rehearsing the flirty pop standard, "Baby, It's Cold Outside," as Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences president George Seaton glances over.
• • Photo [above and centered]: Russ Tamblyn, 23-year-old Best Supporting Actor nominee for "Peyton Place," stands in a group with other actors. But to the lower right of the frame Mae West looks over the script with Rock Hudson. Notice the eyeglasses (prescription sunglasses) worn by Mae West.
• • George Seaton [17 April 1911 — 28 July 1979] was an American screenwriter, playwright, film director and producer, and theatre director. In addition to his direct involvement in making movies, George Seaton was also very active within Hollywood organizations as President of the Screenwriter's Guild, President of the Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences (1955 — 1958), and Vice President of the Motion Picture Relief Fund.
• • On Monday, 26 March 1934 • •
• • The soundtrack to the motion picture "Belle of the Nineties" was recorded at Hollywood Paramount Studios in Los Angeles. On Monday, 26 March 1934, Mae West did the vocals for "Hesitation Blues" backed by Duke Ellington and His Orchestra.
• • On Wednesday, 26 March 1958 • •
• • Rock Hudson, age 32, and Mae West performed the song “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” together, in point style, at the 30th Annual Academy Awards on Wednesday, 26 March 1958.
• • The 1957 Academy Awards were presented at the RKO Pantages Theatre, Hollywood, California and broadcast on NBC-TV.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Mae West is now working on her new contract by the terms of which she gets $100,000 a picture.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "It cheers you up. Every time you see yourself in one of those table mirrors you get the feeling you're in the money. Cute, isn't it?"
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • The Stanford Daily mentioned Mae West.
• • "Organizers for movie festival find surprises in hooker trends" • •
• • "We go to movies when we're young and we don't realize what formula we're being fed," said Lottie Da. "Sexually motivated women were usually shown as French or German. That was Hollywood's way of dealing with it. It was hard to show the all-American girl coming across." One of the featured films is a seldom-shown Bette Davis and Humphrey Bogart classic, "Marked Woman." Lottie Da praised the film for showing women in a courageous role, but said that it minces by using the term "nightclub hostess" instead of prostitute.
• • "Klondike Annie" and "Susan Lenox: Her Fall and Rise," two other selections, present strong women characters, Da said, but they hedge on sexual realism. She said Mae West at the end of "Klondike Annie" is forced to say she's sorry for her life of sin and Miss Garbo at the end of Susan Lenox begs Clark Gable for forgiveness. ...
• • Source: Article in The Stanford Daily; published on Tuesday, 29 March 1977
• • 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 3143rd 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 • • in March 1958 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest
NYC Mae West
In her review of "Klondike Annie," Elizabeth Yeaman commented, "She is the same MAE WEST of all previous pictures." Yeaman's article "Big Crowds View Star's New Picture" was published in the Hollywood Citizen News on Friday, 28 February 1936.
• • Mae West — — Eternal Character • •
• • Interestingly, halfway across the world in Australia, the same opinion was being expressed at the end of February in 1936. One newspaper in Perth, announcing that "Goin' to Town" was about to debut there, wrote this: Paramount's "Now I'm a Lady," which comes to the Grand Theatre next Friday, brings Mae West back to the screen to win new laurels as a modern belle with ultra modern ideas. The costumes worn by Miss West in this motion picture are dashing and new, the situations are as up-to-date as tomorrow's newspapers, the backgrounds might even be termed ultra-modern, but Mae West is still the same — — grand Mae West. Shrewd, ingenious, robust, and full of sly humor and observation, she proves again that she is not necessarily a girl of the "Naughty Nighties" but an eternal character.
• • All these rosy reviews may have disguised the thorns that nettled the movie star. Will Hays was still sending scorching letters to Joseph Breen about "Klondike Annie."
• • Worse yet, scrappy opportunist Frank Wallace had realized his former wife was a goldmine and got out his pickaxe. On Friday, 28 February 1936, Mae West told a reporter: "The guy's trying to cash in again! I got a new picture out and he's pulling the same stunt he pulled the last time one was released."
• • February 1934 in the Hollywood Reporter • •
• • The Hollywood Reporter ran an article: "Mae West Captures Paris Fans."
• • They wrote: Mae West has taken Paris like the revolutionists took the Bastille. "I'm No Angel" is packing them in at Gaumont-Elysee, with long lines being turned away daily.
• • The Hollywood Reporter also ran this article in February 1934: "Mae West Not So Hot In Icy Stockholm."
• • A Stockholm reviewer wrote: The Swedes can't get the slant of America and England on Mae West in "She Done Him Wrong." Censorship board had to view picture twice before making up its mind. Now, while picture is doing well, critics and patrons don't care so much either for the subject matter of the film, or for the wiggles of Mae.
• • The Hollywood Reporter ran this interesting item, too: "Prinz Quits Paramount With Indie Pic Plans." Mae West was going to be a puppet. The article explained: Leroy Prinz, who has been at Paramount for the past year directing musical numbers, has handed in his resignation and plans to go into independent production. Prinz plans on making a series of shorts with puppets. The puppets are to be patterned after screen characters. He has already finished the first short, with the Mae West character featured.
• • On Friday, 28 February 2003 • •
• • In London, England Dr. James Pitt-Payne (in association with Doug Grierson) did a sequence and karaoke of "Good Night Nurse" by Mae West from 1912. Music by W. Raymond Walker; lyrics by Thomas J. Gray; copyright MCMXII by Jerome H. Remick and Co., N.Y. and Boston. You can download the midi of "Good Night Nurse" from his web site. The men completed this project on Friday, 28 February 2003 at 00.21.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "Sometimes a little lie will save a lot of trouble."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • An article about the Oscars mentioned Mae West.
• • Ireland's Daily Edge wrote: As Hollywood prepares for the biggest night on its calendar, TheJournal.ie looks back over some of the bigger controversies to have struck the Academy Awards show through the years, from a racy rendition of "Baby It’s Cold Outside" in the late 1950s to Marlon Brando’s award refusal in 1973. . . . Rock Hudson and Mae West caused a stir with their ‘kingsize’ rendition of "Baby It’s Cold Outside" at the 1957 awards show . . .
• • Source: Article: "Video: 5 of the biggest Oscar night controversies" printed in The Daily Edge, Dublin, Ireland; published on Sunday, 26 February 2012
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started seven years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 2223nd 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 • • 1936 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest
NYC
Mae West.
"Myra Breckinridge" [1970] starring MAE WEST will be shown on Wednesday, 18 January 2012 under the banner of "Weird Wednesdays: A monthly off-beat movie night" as half of a twin bill with "Tommy" [1975].
• • The Who's rock musical was a sensation on Broadway and this "Tommy" is the cinema version starring Ann-Margret, Roger Daltrey, Elton John, Tina Turner, Jack Nicholson, Oliver Reed, and musician Keith Moon — — who was featured in Mae West's final film.
• • In 1978, Keith Moon played a fashion designer in "Sextette." Camping it up, he may have even stolen the scene from Mae. "That dress is so fantastic, even I would wear it," he sputters in his strongest cockney accent. "In fact, I have."
• • Shortly after filming that scene with Mae, Keith Moon died of a drug overdose on 7 September 1978. He was 32.
• • WHAT: "Myra Breckinridge" — — starring Mae West, Raquel Welch, John Huston, Farrah Fawcett, Tom Selleck, Rex Reed.
• • WHEN: Wednesday, 18 January 2012 at 8:15pm (18+ event)
• • WHERE: Tribal Theatre, 346 George Street, Brisbane, Australia
• • About Tribal Theatre ( which shows Arthouse, Cult, Australian, Short & Classic films) — — Tribal Theatre opened with the vision to bring back an old fashioned movie experience, with nearly halved prices compared to other Brisbane cinema experiences. Tribal Theatre
• • The old Dendy Cinema — — now Tribal Theatre — — was the most prominent art house cinema in Brisbane. Modest from the outside, the interior decor creates a perfect atmosphere for a truly authentic cinema experience.
• • The George Street site originally housed The Lyceum, which opened is 1906 as Brisbane's first permanent picture theatre, the theatre was renamed the Elite Theatre in the 1920's, rebuilt at the George in 1965 (turned into a twin) then became the Dendy, and is now Tribal Theatre.
• • Tribal Theatre needs your support and your generosity. Tell them you heard about this double feature movie date on The Mae West Blog.
• • Cary Grant [1904 — 1986] • •
• • It's a kick to see January birthday boy Cary Grant [18 January 1904 — 29 November 1986] opposite Mae West before his own movie star status rose high on the marquee.
• • Lady Lou to Captain Cummings: "Why don’t cha come up sometime, an’ see me?"
• • Marc Eliot writes: Ironically, it was Cary Grant’s approach to playing the romantic lead in "She Done Him Wrong" that did it. His onscreen aloofness, a reflection of nothing so much as his own uncertainty as to how to play a love scene opposite the voracious West, was taken by the public to be just the opposite — — manly, moral resistance to Lil’s many charms — — and created a new type of romantic sophisticate, not only for Grant, but for the legions of actors who would thereafter try to imitate him. Grant’s “Hawk” was underplayed and always gentlemanly, resistance translated into self-assurance and moral righteousness, all highly glossed with what would become his trademark shimmering elegance. No one was more surprised than Grant at how successful he was opposite the voracious West. ... [from Cary Grant: A Biography written by Marc Eliot]
• • On Thursday, 18 January 1934 • • 
• • On the third day of the robbery and jewel heist trial in Los Angeles, on 18 January 1934, Mae West was called to the witness stand to speak about Edward Friedman.
• • Worried after receiving death threats, and flanked by a human shield of husky detectives, Mae West entered the courtroom strikingly garbed in purple in Los Angeles. Career criminal Edward Friedman was charged with robbing the movie queen of $12,000 worth of diamonds and $3,400 in cash.
• • On Tuesday, 18 January 1938 • •
• • Editorials began to appear defending Mae West after the uproar of Catholic groups who were reacting to "The Chase and Sanborn Hour" and the Garden of Eden skit. One man who wrote an editorial critical of the FCC was George C. Guinther. His open letter to the FCC, defending Mae, ran in a newspaper on Tuesday, 18 January 1938.
• • Bidding ends on 18 January 2012 • •
• • RR Auction is selling a rare autographed portrait of Mae West this month. Their catalogue offers only one sentence for a description: three-quarter length Kesslere photo of the actress in diamonds and fur, signed and inscribed in red fountain pen “My Dear Friend Josephine, Best Wishes, Mae West" — — and bidding for this keepsake ends on Wednesday, 18 January 2012
• • AUCTION INFO: RR Auction, 5 Route 101A, Suite 5, Amherst, New Hampshire. This mid-January auction offers an array of autographed memorabilia.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "Why don’t cha come up sometime, an’ see me? I'll tell your fortune!"
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • An article on "Baby, It's Cold Outside" mentioned Mae West.
• • Victoria Leigh Miller wrote: Their duet of "Baby, It's Cold Outside" at the 1958 Academy Awards made People Magazine's list of "Unforgettable Oscar Duos" — — and what a duo it was! Part steamy, part comedic genius, the 65-year old Mae West donned a feather headdress and kept a persistent Rock Hudson, then just 33 years old, at bay. ...
• • Source: Article: "Five Hot Versions of ‘Baby, It’s Cold Outside’ — Memorable Versions of a Wintertime Classic" written by Victoria Leigh Miller, Yahoo! Contributor Network; posted on 14 November 2011
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started seven years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 2181st 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 • • entering the courtroom, 18 January 1938 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest
NYC
Mae West.
