Mae West: Not Born Female

While you’re sleeping, college professors in Hungary are thinking about MAE WEST. Here’s a long, striking research paper you might have missed. This is Part 47.
• • "Mae West. The Dirty Snow White" • •
• • Written by:  Zsófia Anna Tóth
• • Not Born a Woman • •
• • Zsófia Anna Tóth wrote: While examining the issue of “femininity as construction” in the figures of femmes fatales Bruzzi unites Riviere’s masquerade and Butler’s idea of performativity concerning “the dynamics of the body/social performance relationship” as well as Beauvoir’s famous sentence that “[o]ne is not born a woman, rather becomes one” (166). According to Butler, the corporeal performance provides a surface sign and that “incorporation” is only the effect of “corporeal signification” (Bruzzi 166), thus the corporeal performative enactments are only constructions:
• • Zsófia Anna Tóth wrote: [s]uch acts, gestures, enactments, generally construed, are performative in the sense that the essence or identity that they otherwise purport to express are fabrications manufactured and sustained through corporeal signs and other discursive means. (Butler qtd. in Bruzzi 166-167)
• • clothes and the body • •  . . .
• • This was Part 47 of a lengthy article. Part 48 will follow tomorrow.   
• • Source: Americana — — E-Journal of American Studies in Hungary; Vol. XI, No. 1, Spring 2015.
• • On Tuesday, 10 April 1928 • •

• • The New York Times reported on "Diamond Lil" on Tuesday, 10 April 1928 on page 32. The review carried this headline "'DIAMOND LIL' IS LURID AND OFTEN STIRRING" and a sub-title "Mae West's Melodrama at the Royale Suffers From a Bad Third Act."
• • Despite the caveat about the last act, there was praise. The critic from The Times noted: "Miss West has a fine and direct way of approaching that subject" — — i.e., sex — — "that is almost Elizabethan. If you can stay in the theatre, you are likely to enjoy it."
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Like scores of other film players, buxom Mae West finds the lure of the footlights is irresistible. Now in New York, the famous Diamond Lil of stage and screen announces that shortly she will produce and act in a Broadway production of her own.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "They brought in a script. It wasn't right. It may have been all right for somebody else — — but it wasn't a Mae West story. Should I rewrite it? I couldn't really. The structure was wrong."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • An academic conference mentioned Mae West.
• • “She Stole Everything but the Camera”: Demonstrating Mae West’s Powerful Embodied Performance Presence  was a paper given at this event by Dr. Alissa Clarke (De Montfort University, UK).
• • Event: “Performing Stardom”: New Methods in Critical Star Studies on Friday, 29 May 2015.
• • NoRMMA organised an interdisciplinary conference on non-traditional approaches to star studies research.  The one-day event was held at the University of Kent on May 29th, 2015.
• • Source: Item on an academic calendar; published on Friday, 29 May 2015
• • 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 13th anniversary • •  

• • Thank you for reading, sending questions, and posting comments during these past thirteen years. Not long ago, we entertained 3,497 visitors. And we reached a milestone recently when we completed 3,800 blog posts. Wow!  

• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started thirteen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 3936th 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 • • on a song sheet in 1928 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest
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Mae West: Wilds of Brooklyn

In November 1933, a literary magazine printed an essay written by Paul  Connolly about the allure and appeal of a rising movie star named MAE WEST. This is the second excerpt.
• • "A Philosopher Looks at Mae West" (continued) • •
• • After his opening pages, essayist Paul Connolly commented about this:  Mae herself was at one time in burlesque as a strong woman, following a girlhood spent in the wilds of Brooklyn.  As to her early schooling and home life this writer has no information. As philosophers, however, we all have the certitude of visible evidence, that she has an interesting background.
• • Paul Connolly recalled:  A few years ago Mae was starring on Broadway both as an actress and as an authoress. Apparently, however, there were neither philosophers nor cultured men in the New York City Police Department, for they failed to recognize the humor in her play "Sex." The result was that Mae spent a few days as the "guest" of the State.
• • We have seen that "our Mae" is an interesting subject for psychological research and it is easily proven that she is equally as interesting to the other branches of philosophy.  Logicians could say:  "Cultured people enjoy Mae West." Cosmologists could point to her as a fine example of vital phenomena.  The Ontologists might term her "the most common of all notions."
• • Well, it may be that we have not gotten anywhere with this article, but everyone must admit that Mae West is a great character and an interesting topic for discussion. At least I have enjoyed my journey into the spaces of philosophical thought — — led by a star.
• • My mind is up there now — — up, up — — in the third degree of abstraction.  It is great up here.  "You must come up some time."  
• • Part 2 of this selected excerpt ends here.
• • Source: Excerpt from the essay "A Philosopher Looks at Mae West" by Paul Connolly first printed by The Alembic  (Providence College); published in the issue for November 1933.
• • On Saturday, 3 November 1990 in The L.A. Times • •
• • When the Los Angeles Times ran his obit, this was the title: "Craig Russell, Actor and Widely Known Female Impersonator, Was Mae West Fan." The bio-note that touched on his exciting career highlights, printed on Saturday, 3 November 1990, informed their West Coast readers that "Craig Russell, star of the 1977 film 'Outrageous,' hailed by critics as an insightful tale of the gay underworld in which a schizophrenic girl moves in with a struggling female impersonator, has died of a stroke resulting from AIDS, a Toronto hospital official said. He was 42. ..."
• • On Saturday, 3 November 2001 in The Scotsman • •
• • A book review of a Mae West biography by the California scholar Jill Watts ran on Saturday, 3 November 2001. Critic Carole Morin wrote this first paragraph: Mae West was 39 by the time she made it to Hollywood as the big blonde who had lost her reputation and never missed it. She began performing at the age of four, encouraged by her pushy mom, Tillie, and her boxer father, bad Jack. Tillie ran a bootleg hotel for Owney Madden, owner of the Cotton Club, giving mineral water-drinking Mae and her alcoholic sister opportunities for affairs with gangsters and actors. ...
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • As soon as Mrs. West noted that her little Mae had golden hair and an assertive personality, she encouraged her in all the little smartnesses that might mean theatrical talent.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said:"She who laughs lasts."
• • Quote, Unquote • •

• • The Columbia Daily Spectator mentioned Mae West and the Royale Theatre.
• • "To Mae West's theatre" • •
• • From the Cornell Club at 38th Street and Madison Avenue, the hilarious gang proceeded to Mae West's theatre, then to the Paramount Grill, uncorking vigorous cheers at each stop. Then returning to the Campus with enthusiasm unabated the men treated the Barnard girls to some cheers and concluded with a "Good Night, Ladies." Then to John Jay Hall where the rallyites reluctantly dispersed, happy in the thought of a good job well done. . . .
• • Source: Item (Page 4) in Columbia Daily Spectator (NYC): published on Saturday, 3 November 1928  
• • The Mae West Blog celebrates its 11th anniversary • •    
• • Thank you for reading, sending questions, and posting comments during these past eleven years. The other day we entertained 3,497 visitors. And we reached a milestone recently when we completed 3,200 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • • 
• • The Mae West Blog was started ten years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 3302nd 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 1928 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest
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