Mae West: Drug Addict

MAE WEST was a soft touch for a hard luck story. Mae rarely discussed her generosity in an interview, however, which makes this seldom seen piece in Screenland worth reading. This is Part 4 of 18 segments.
• • Mae West’s Secret Self • •
• • Mae West: A visitor from the Women’s Workhouse! • •
• • Aileen St. John Brenon wrote: Strangely enough, during the interview, a young woman came into the dressing-room just then. She was wearing a new dress.
• • Aileen St. John Brenon wrote: "It's swell," she said to Mae West, "to be wearing a dress I didn't have to take."
• • Aileen St. John Brenon wrote: It developed that this was one of the girls from Welfare Island, where Miss West was a visitor for ten days at the government's insistence because of a certain play she appeared in.  
• • Aileen St. John Brenon wrote: The young lady had become addicted to drugs, and the drug habit led to shoplifting. Miss West heard about it, and gave her some money in the hope of building up the girl's morale.
• • Mae West: Tried to cure an inmate of her addiction • • …
• • This will be continued on the next post.
• • Source: Screenland; issue dated for October 1933.   
• • On Friday, 21 July 1933 in Los Angeles • •

• • On Friday, 21 July 1933 a wire service photo from Wide World with an attached paper caption explained that "Mae West Blonde Stage and Screen Star Made a Sensation at the Huge Public Barbecue Given by Sheriff Eugene Biscailuz."
• • Mae is wearing a sweet small hat in the photo, seemingly inspired by the perky paper caps worn in the 1930s by soda jerks.
• • Eugene W. Biscailuz [12 March 1883 — 16 May 1969] was the 27th Sheriff of Los Angeles County, California and organized the California Highway Patrol.
• • On Tuesday, 21 July 1936 • •
• • On Tuesday, 21 July 1936 this curious article was printed in The New York Herald.
• • "Mae West Type of Posture Is Hit by Doctor" was a health how-to, informing readers that Mae's posture and the "society slouch" for women, and the military carriage for men, were condemned as menaces to health by Dr. Olive B. Williams of Worcester, Mass.
• • July 2004: Mae West Blog launches • •
• • What are we up to, writing about the Brooklyn-born bombshell for eighteen years now?
• • We’re here to keep Mae mavens up to date, correct errors, celebrate each revival of a play she wrote, post the latest Westian stage and book reviews. And answer our fan mail!
• • The light’s still on. Come up and see Mae every day.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Mae West and Jim Timony are apparently as devoted as when Mae first tackled Hollywood.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: “Listen, there’s some bad in all women. I work off my energies — — and I’ve got plenty of energy — — by being that sort of woman on the stage and screen. If I didn’t have that outlet, I might have been one of ’em myself. I couldn’t make any prophesies. I’ve always been interested in women like that. Maybe it was the theatre that saved me.”
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • A newspaper mentioned Mae West.
• • "Sextette" • •
• • An article about "Sextette" (the 1961 stage play) mentioned Mae West.
• • After her leading man Alan Marshal died in Chicago, Mae West tried to replace him with Tom Conway, who was no longer working regularly. He auditioned but declined.
• • "Sextette" moved to Detroit first, had an engagement in Ohio, then was staged in Miami Beach. After that Mae closed it.
• • Always unkind and ready with a snarky put-down, Variety wrote: "The Edgewater was unable to sell a single theatre party for the show, and it goes down as the silo's biggest box office flop to date." ...
• • Source: Variety; published on Wednesday, 19 July 1961
• • 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 18th anniversary • • 
• • Thank you for reading, sending questions, and posting comments during these past eighteen years. Not long ago, we entertained 3,497 visitors. And we reached a milestone recently when we completed 5,000 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started eighteen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 5,042nd 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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• • Be sure to bookmark or follow The Mae West Blog
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • on 21 July 1933 • •
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Mae West: Impressive Earnings

MAE WEST had her share of coverage from Variety, whose publisher Sime Silverman was invariably scornful, condescending, and critical. In 2021, Variety’s editorial viewpoint turned tail, deciding they’d come this time “not to bury Caesar but to praise him.” The task fell to Tim Gray, who had this to say. This is Part 4 of 10 segments.
• • Mae West: The Sex-Positive Old Hollywood Icon Who Was Far Ahead of Her Time • •
• • Mae West: Recognized an opportunity for publicity • •    
• • Tim Gray wrote: Mae West chose to serve the jail term (10 days) rather than pay a fine, because she knew it was good publicity.

• • Tim Gray wrote: Variety reported that “Sex” was earning an impressive $10,000 a week at the 63rd Street theater.
• • Tim Gray wrote: She followed it up with “The Drag,” depicting homosexuals in a positive light.
• • Tim Gray wrote: More battles with censors, more big business.
• • Tim Gray wrote: She deadpanned, “I believe in censorship. After all, I made a fortune out of it.”
• • Mae West: Breaking rules • • …  
• • Tim Gray’s article will continue on the next post.
• • Source: Variety; published on Tuesday, 17 August 2021.
• • On Monday, 16 September 1928 • •
• • Mae West's play "Pleasure Man" opened on a Monday evening on 16 September 1928 at the Bronx Opera House in New York City.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Universal catches Mae West on a delayed rebound from Paramount, teaming her with W.C. Fields for a hefty package of lusty humor. Picture marks return of Mae West to the screen after two years absence.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said:  "I wouldn't do a picture if it weren't right for me."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • An American newsman interviewed Mae West.
• • Willis Thornton wrote: From the day when she was born in that Brooklyn fastness — —  which her nativity entitles her to call "Green-pernt" — —  she was destined for the stage.  But in those days few thought that the little daughter of Jack West, Brooklyn lightweight prize fighter of the days of Sullivan and Corbett, would rule the world of fashion.
• • Willis Thornton wrote: Mae West said she first went on the stage at four and a half. …
• • Source: "Go West Young Woman, Go West," a syndicated feature, appeared in various newspapers starting around  Sunday, 10 September 1933
• • 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 17th anniversary • • 
• • Thank you for reading, sending questions, and posting comments during these past seventeen years. Not long ago, we entertained 3,497 visitors. And we reached a milestone recently when we completed 4,800 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started fifteen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 4,823rd 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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• • Be sure to bookmark or follow The Mae West Blog
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • in 1928 • •
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Mae West: Prison Diary #1

There are many myths about MAE WEST as a prisoner — — silliness such as she drove there “in a limousine” or she arrived “carrying roses” and “accompanied by her maid.” What better way to banish the total B.S. than invite the Brooklyn bombshell to describe this experience in her own words. This is Part 1 of 7 segments.
• • Mae West, Sunbeam, Trips from Prison • •     
• • Island's Lady Bountiful Plans a Prison Library • •  
• • Reporter Elenore Kellogg wrote: Mae West, the sunbeam of the workhouse, left that institution yesterday after ten [sic] days of study and cotton stockings. Her sentence for being star and co-author of "Sex," convicted of immorality, ended at 4 p. m.

• • Elenore Kellogg wrote: Before she left, Warden Henry O. Schleth described her as "a woman of wonderful character." He said the $1,000 she receives from Liberty magazine for a story of her experiences will go to found the "Mae West library" for unfortunates in the workhouse.
• • Elenore Kellogg wrote: "I'm not going to keep a nickel of it," chimed in the actress, her usual self again in black satin, blonde curls, and just a ladylike touch of mascara.
• • Mae West had a run in her silk stockings • •  . . . 
• • Note: Stage play “Courting Mae West” covers her two Prohibition Era trials in NYC. Producers can request a copy.
• • (N.Y. Daily News photo) Starry-eyed Mae West on the ferry leaving Welfare island.
• • Source: N.Y. Daily News (New York, NY); published on Thursday, 28 April 1927.
• • On Monday, 25 May 1936 • •
• • Sydney, Sunday — — Australians will not be permitted to view Mae West's latest picture, 'Klondyke Annie,' as the Federal film censorship has placed a ban on it, explained Brisbane's Courier-Mail in an article printed on Monday, 25 May 1936.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Jewelry historian Janet Zapata wrote: The actress who epitomized, or possibly caricatured, extravagance was Mae West.  Her line "Without diamonds, honey, I'd feel undressed" encapsulates the importance of jewelry to her and to the film business of the period.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: My play “Sex” was a work of art.
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • A fellow inmate mentioned Mae West.
• • Mae on Welfare Island • •
• • Manhattan: About your write-ups of Mae West "doing her bit" on Welfare island, I am contradicting them. She is not doing any mopping. She is playing a piano and taking sun baths. Also, she wears silk stockings and high heeled shoes. She is working hard at writing a new play.
• • Meanwhile, I "wrote my plays" with a Workhouse mop. Too bad I was not an actress. — — EX-INMATE.
• • Source: N.Y. Daily News (New York, NY); published on Wednesday, 27 April 1927
• • 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 4,481st 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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• • Be sure to bookmark or follow The Mae West Blog
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • on a ferry leaving Women's Workhouse, 1927 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest

Mae West: Daybreak Jailbreak

On Wednesday, 27 April 1927, shortly after daybreak, MAE WEST was released from her jail cell at the Women's Workhouse and wrote about the experience for Liberty Magazine.
• • "How I Was Jailed for Sex"  • •
• • "10 Days + $500 — The Experiences of a Broadway Star in Jail" • •
• • • • Mae West wrote:  The warden appeared to be sorry that I was leaving. He smiled wistfully. I thanked him for his kindness, and he said, "Come and see us again, sometime."
• • • • Mae West wrote: And I said, "Thanks, I will, but not via the Little Black Wagon."
• • • • Mae West wrote: He said, "Oh, I didn't mean that."
• • • • Mae West wrote:  I said, "Oh, I know, but I just wanted to make sure." The doors closed behind me. That's my story.
• • The week before, The N.Y. Daily News (one of her hometown papers) ran with this headline: "Common Nuisance Mae West Goes to Jail."
• • On Tuesday, 19 April 1927 Mae West had been sentenced to ten days in the Women's Workhouse (then located on Welfare Island) in the middle of the East River.

• • During the trial in March and early April — — presided over by Judge George Donnellan in General Sessions — — Mae West had argued in a written statement that her plays were a work of art. Her lawyers made a case that "Sex" was a morally instructive drama. Mae did not take the stand. At Jefferson Market Court, Justice Donnellan had suggested a guilty verdict would be fitting, before the jurors went off to deliberate. Six hours later, the verdict came in. At her sentencing, Mae West was fined $500 and given 10 days to repent at an off-shore detention center.  The Women's Workhouse on Welfare Island was self-described as a "place of quiet reformatory meditation for the vicious."
• • Warden Schleth shortened her sentence by two days for good behavior.
• • The play "Courting Mae West" dramatizes the trial, Mae's actions, and the melee in court when the guilty verdict is read aloud.
• • Liberty Magazine paid Mae $1,000 to document her experiences. [Some of her essay appears on the Mae West Blog.] Sorry that the female prisoners had nothing to read, Mae donated that $1,000 to the workhouse to establish a library for female inmates.
• • Released from the lock-up on April 27th, Mae told the reporters — — who were waiting for her like Stage Door Johnnies — — that she had enough material for several plays now. Criminal street cred served the playwright well when she sat down to write "Diamond Lil" about a woman with a thing for bling, whose motto is, "My career is diamonds."
• • On Thursday, 27 April 1911 • •
• • Ah, the Folies Bergere.  Vaudeville mogul Jesse L. Lasky had built his Parisian-style cafe and cabaret on a Louis XIII scale. Located at 206-214 West 46th Street [opened on 27 April 1911], it was in a prime position within kissing distance of two well-known Broadway theatres: the Globe and the Gaiety.
• •  Eighteen-year-old brunette Mae West got her first big break when she was cast in the legitimate show "A la Broadway" at New York's Folies Bergere Theatre. Ned Wayburn (Mae's former dancing teacher), who was staging this, pulled her in. The lavish revue premiered on 22 September 1911 — — and lasted for eight performances.
• • On Saturday, 27 April 1935 • •
• • Columnist Louella Parsons mused in the weekend edition of the Los Angeles Examiner on Saturday, 27 April 1935, that maybe this long-lost husband story was a publicity gimmick dreamed up by Paramount Pictures as they released "Goin' to Town" starring Mae West.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • By the way, Mae 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: "Frank Wallace? Never heard of the guy!!"
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • The Daily Illini mentioned Mae West.
• • "Hutchins Says He Is No Mae West Spouse" • •
• • CHICAGO, April 26 [AP] — — Dr. Robert Maynard Hutchins described himself today as neither a communist nor any one of Mae West's husbands. The University of Chicago president, addressed a law school assembly, lapsed into a bit of levity in replying to charges that radical influences obtained at his school. He asserted: Just as I am not any one of Mae West's husbands, neither am I helping the Russian communist government.  . . .
• • Source: wire service item rpt in Daily Illini; published on Saturday, 27 April 1935 
• • 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 3165th 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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• • Photo: • • Mae West • • in May 1927 • •
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Mae West: Dep't of Corrections

It is so fabulous to see MAE WEST featured in New York Magazine — — in a sassy shortie scripted by the venerable Frank Rich, formerly The N.Y. Times's chief drama desk dragon.
• • Rich's fascinating feature is here, in its entirety. It behooves us to clarify the account, however, and correct errors of fact made by Frank Rich directly underneath his text.
• • • Mae West “Sex” Capade! • • •
• • • Plays prostie on the Great White Way, wears silk undies in jail • • •
• • • By Frank Rich, New York Magazine, 1 April 2012 issue • • •
• • • • • • 1927 • • • • • •
• • • Frank Rich writes: In a 1925 — 1926 New York theater season with acclaimed new plays by O’Neill (The Great God Brown), O’Casey (Juno and the Paycock), and Coward (Hay Fever), critics agreed that the rock bottom was Sex, the first Broadway vehicle written by and starring the voluptuous vaudeville trouper Mae West. Sex was “street sweepings,” in the verdict of The New Yorker, and “a crude, inept play, cheaply produced and poorly acted,” according to the Times. The paper’s review did helpfully note that the show’s “one torrid love scene” lived up to its title. An ad warning patrons who “cannot stand excitement” to “see your doctor before visiting Mae West” didn’t hurt either. The play outlasted nearly all the competition. Variety christened its heroine, a Montreal lady of the evening with a fondness for sailors, “the Babe Ruth of stage prosties.”
• • • Frank Rich writes: Politics turned a hit into a Jazz Age phenomenon. When New York’s rakish mayor, Jimmy Walker, took a Havana holiday in February 1927, the acting mayor, Joseph V. (“Holy Joe”) McKee, raided three risqué Broadway shows. West was the prime target: Sex, then in the tenth month of its run, had been seen by 325,000 theatergoers. To the delight of the tabloid press, its twenty actors were hauled off to a police station in Hell’s Kitchen. The star spent the night in the Jefferson Market Women’s Prison.
• • • Frank Rich writes: West bailed out her company. The court had offered to drop charges if she would close the show. But she knew that in showbiz, crime paid. The grand jury’s claim that her “obscene, indecent, immoral, and impure drama” would abet “the corruption of the morals of youth” was better than any rave review. Festooned with white roses, she rode a limo [sic] to incarceration on Welfare Island and boasted of wearing silk underwear throughout her eight-day stay there. When Liberty magazine paid her $1,000 for an exit interview, she used it to start a Mae West Memorial Library for female prisoners.
• • • Frank Rich writes: A later West play — — The Pleasure Man, awash in female impersonators and homosexuality — — would be raided and shut down at its second Broadway performance [sic] in 1928. Undaunted, she eventually revived Sex and toured the Depression-era Midwest without incident, before arriving in Hollywood, where, paired with Cary Grant and W. C. Fields, she hit superstardom as she was reaching 40. The Bushwick-born, self-invented West (1893 — 1980) wrote the Ur-text for Madonna and Lady Gaga, repeatedly breaking gender and sexual barriers over a marathon career as a writer, performer, free-speech provocateur, and showbiz entrepreneur. Her pioneering playbook for turning scandal into profits remains the gold standard in American pop culture to this day. [ Download the Complete History of Scandals ]
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
• • Corrections about Mae's ride to the Workhouse in April 1927 • •
• • A New York City police van drove Mae West along with two Black inmates and two police matrons to the Women's Workhouse. There were no flowers and no limousine mentioned in any news accounts nor in Mae's own article about the experience, printed in Liberty Magazine.
• • On 20 April 1927 several newspaper headlines read: "Mae West Goes to Workhouse to Start Sentence" and the subhead explained further: Actress-Author of "Sex" Taken to Welfare Island With Two Negresses.
• • Here is one front page headline: MAE WEST GOES TO WORKHOUSE IN VAN WITH TWO NEGRESSES. In the middle of the bridge, a huge elevator lowered the vehicle onto the island.
• • Here is another front page headline along with a news item: MAE WEST BEGINS TEN DAYS TERM IN PRISON — — Mae West, the star and the co-author of SEX, and two negresses and two white women as fellow passengers left Jefferson Market Women's Prison today for the workhouse on Welfare Island where she will serve nine days of the ten days sentence imposed yesterday for giving an obscene performance. Clarence W. Morganstern manager of the production and James A. Timony are serving their ten day sentences at the Tombs. ... [Source: Associated Press, printed in Frederick News Post on 20 April 1927 on the front page]
• • Corrections about "The Pleasure Man" police raid October 1928 • •
• • PHOTO: Mae with the cast in court on 3 October 1928
• • Mae West's play "The Pleasure Man" was staged at the Biltmore Theatre. The raid at the Biltmore is dramatized in Act I, Scene 1 of "Courting Mae West." At the Royale Theatre, as Mae puts on her costume and prepares to go onstage as Diamond Lil, Texas Guinan comes backstage to tell her police have already surrounded the playhouse on West 47th Street and are prepared for a raid on opening night, Monday, 1 October 1928.
• • Producer Carl Reed and lawyer James Timony secured an injunction. "The Pleasure Man" was able to give a second performance on Tuesday, 2 October 1928, then the police padlocked the show for good.
• • Headlines in The N.Y. Times on Tuesday, 2 October 1928 (front page) — —
• • • • RAID MAE WEST PLAY, SEIZE 56 at OPENING; Police Arrest Entire Cast of "Pleasure Man" After Last Act at Biltmore Theatre. INDECENCY IS CHARGED Law Hits Actress-Author a 2nd Time — — Playhouse Is Surrounded After Show. No Theatre Attaches Held. Police Guard Exits. RAID MAE WEST PLAY, Order Treated Lightly. Author Freed on Bail. 21 Seized in Raid on "Sex." WEST PLAY A "HODGE-PODGE." "Pleasure Man," With Vaudeville Background, Scrambled in Theme. NY Times. Oct 2, 1928. p. 1 (of 2 pages)
• • Headlines in The N.Y. Times on Wednesday, 3 October 1928 (page 33) — —
• • • • COURT STAYS POLICE on MAE WEST PLAY; Writ Bars Interference Until Friday and 'Pleasure Man' Is Performed to Full House. CASES OF 56 UP TOMORROW Cant Pleads Not Guilty and Bail Is Continued — — Walker Revealed as Instigator of Raid. Seeks Conference With Warren. Arrests May Still Be Made. Author Appears Concerned. NY Times, Oct 3, 1928. p. 33
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
• • The legal battles fought by Mae West and Jim Timony are dramatized in the play "Courting Mae West: Sex, Censorship, and Secrets," set during the Prohibition Era. Watch a scene on YouTube.
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started seven years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 2264th 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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• • Photo: • • Mae West • • in court, 3 October 1928 • •
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