Mae West: More Barrymore

It's doubtful that MAE WEST would have had much to discuss with Ethel Barrymore. But she kept tabs on her career.
• • When Mae brought "Diamond Lil" to California, she was interviewed by Edgar Waite of the San Francisco Examiner. She spoke of the box-office uplift that followed her out West during the cash-crunched winter of 1929.
• • Mae West assured Waite: "Last Monday at the Curran, we took in $300 more than Ethel Barrymore on her opening night last summer. . . ."
• • The year before, critic Robert Garland compared the Brooklyn bombshell and the stately dramatic actress.
• • "You'd have thought that a favorite bootlegger had come back from Atlanta," wrote drama critic Robert Garland in the New York Evening Telegram [5 April 1928]. "Mae West makes Miss Ethel Barrymore look like the late lamented Bert Savoy."
• • Born on 15 August 1879, Ethel Barrymore died during the month of June — — on 18 June 1959. Praised for her work on the stage, Ethel was an Academy Award-winning screen actress and a member of the famous Barrymore family.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
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Mae West: Box-Office Uplift

In the winter of 1929, MAE WEST was interviewed by Edgar Waite of the San Francisco Examiner. Here is a portion of their conversation.
• • Edgar Waite: Is it your purpose to reflect life as it is lived — — or are you trying to elevate the stage?
• • Mae West: Don't kid me. I've had one dominating purpose in writing such plays as "Diamond Lil," "The Drag," "Sex," "The Wicked Age," and "Pleasure Man."
• • Edgar: Moral uplift?
• • Mae: Box-office uplift.
• • Edgar: What luck?
• • Mae: Assorted. Last Monday at the Curran, we took in $300 more than Ethel Barrymore on her opening night last summer. On the other hand, if the district attorney of New York hadn't closed "Sex" because the curbstone bidding for tickets took too many cops off their regular beats, I'd have owned my own theatre by now.
• • Edgar: Do you consider your plays quite moral?
• • Mae: I consider them a theatrical representation of those phases of life which interest the public more than anything else, and have since the days of Sappho, Aspasia, and Delilah.
• • Edgar: And when was that?
• • Mae: Forever. . . .
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• • The Curran Theatre, where Mae West performed her play in 1929, is located at 445 Geary Street, San Francisco, CA 94102.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West.

Mae West: Frisky in Frisco

MAE WEST is back in California, according to the SAN FRANCISCO EXAMINER.
• • Staff Reporter Label Ephriam did a quickie with the actress who will star in "Sex" — — and here's what he wrote about leading lady Delia MacDougall:
• • The Bay Area-based actress will grace the stage (in a role Mae West created for herself) in “Sex,” opening today at the Aurora Theatre Company in Berkeley, California. Mae West wrote, produced, directed, and starred in the controversial 1926 show, which was raided by police in [February] 1927. West was arrested (along with the cast) and charged with “corrupting the morals of youth.” She spent 10 days in prison; the publicity surrounding her arrest provided unprecedented nationwide exposure.

• • Question: What do you do to prepare yourself to embody screen legend Mae West?
• • Delia: The part I play in “Sex” is a character named Margy Lamont. “Sex” was written two years before Mae West perfected her famous persona with her successful play “Diamond Lil,” later to become the film “She Done Him Wrong.” I suspect Margy Lamont will move and sound an awful lot like Mae West, but will be more of an homage rather than a straight impersonation.

• • Question: Is it easier presenting the play “Sex” given today’s political climate?
• • Delia: “Sex” actually ran for a year without any trouble from the censors. It was only when Mae West was planning to open her next play, “The Drag,” that “Sex” was raided as a means of keeping it from opening. I expect the exploration of hetero sex was much more acceptable than opening the Pandora’s box of the exploits of cross-dressing men. Who knows how that show might be accepted in some of the states today?

• • Question: What is your favorite West quip from the show?
• • Delia: One of my favorite Mae West quips in the show is when Margy, a prostitute, confronts a society lady she knows has stepped out on her husband with Margy’s ex-pimp. Margy tells her, “The only difference between us is that you could afford to give it away.”
— — Source: — —
• • Publication: The San Francisco Examiner
• • Byline: Label Ephriam
• • Published on: 2 November 2007
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• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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