Mae West: Dissed

MAE WEST, Kylie Minogue, Judy Garland, Liza Minnelli, and Barbra Streisand may be adored by gays around the globe — — but they will not be part of a major summer exhibition announced by London's National Portrait Gallery titled "Gay Icons." Instead, a 10-strong panel [comprised of Elton John, Jackie Kay, Ian McKellen, Billie Jean King, etc.] has cast its net beyond the bygones and has gone in search of other names.
• • Intentionally, we have dropped the "sir" honorific from those blimps who would deny the Empress of Sex a place on the wall of fame.
• • And with all due respect to Judy Garland and La Streisand, it is not in the history books that those beloved songbirds went to prison fighting for gay rights as Mae did during the Prohibition Era. There is a great deal more that the Brooklyn bombshell did to advance the agenda for homosexuals, female impersonators, and drag queens. And many people have not forgotten that.
• • And though the British gallery bigwigs are being coy about which faces made it into the final round of five dozen, these individuals have been picked: painters Francis Bacon and David Hockney; civil rights martyr Harvey Milk; writers Quentin Crisp, Joe Orton, Dame Daphne Du Maurier, Patricia Highsmith, and Walt Whitman; music makers Tchaikovsky, k.d. lang, Rostropovich, Will Young, and the Village People; entertainers Ellen DeGeneres, Kenneth Williams, and Lily Savage; also Nelson Mandela and Diana, Princess of Wales. Their stories will be illustrated by 60 photographic portraits including works by Andy Warhol, Linda McCartney, Lord Snowdon, Polly Borland, Fergus Greer, Terry O'Neill, and Cecil Beaton.
• • The National Portrait Gallery revealed several other "expected names" that will not be on display in London. Noticeably absent from this collection are: Mae West, Joan Crawford, Kylie Minogue, Dame Shirley Bassey, Oscar Wilde, Bette Midler, Marlene Dietrich, Joan Collins, Bette Davis, and Barbra Streisand. And no Liberace nor David Beckham neither.
• • The exhibition "Gay Icons" is set to coincide with the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall riots in New York City.
• • Opened to the public in 1856, the National Portrait Gallery is situated in St Martin's Place, WC2H 0HE, London, England.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • by Larry Salk • •
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Mae West.

Mae West: M & M

MAE WEST was Madonna's role model when she was still a wanna-be entertainer. Born in mid-August one day before her idol, the material girl was famously chided by her British husband for trying to stay youthful and sexy after her 50th birthday. Canadian Guy Barbineau meditated about this connection between M and M.
• • But before we line up his paragraphs for a moment in the spotlight, one correction must be made. Liberace's perceptive quote was: I cried all the way to the bank. "Laughed all the way to the bank" makes no sense, you know. You do know, Guy, we hope.
• • Writing for Xtra West, Vancouver resident Guy Barbineau observed: The one thing Madonna [born on 16 August 1958] has done that really offends people is being successful.
• • It's not religion. It isn't sex. It's all about who has power.
• • Society always did and still does get its knickers in a twist when smart, opinionated, and outspoken women and gay men come into power — — and have a public voice. To think otherwise is naive.
• • Now Madonna's being criticized for daring to be sexual at 50. Like Mae West, another gay icon, she's laughing all the way to the bank.
• • There are plenty of similarities between the two. West learned her walk, talk, and shtick from New York drag queens in the 1920s. She pushed buttons, landing herself in jail by writing and performing in plays like Sex and the homosexually themed The Drag — — thus drastically increasing their ticket sales — — before becoming the world's biggest movie star for several years in the 1930s.
• • "I believe in censorship. It made me a fortune," Mae West said. Madonna could say the same thing. ...
— — Excerpt: — —
• • Article: "Why we love Madonna — — As Sticky & Sweet rolls into town, Xtra West pays tribute to one of the world's biggest gay icons"
• • Byline: Guy Babineau in Vancouver, Canada
• • Published in: Xtra West — — www.xtra.ca
• • Published on: Thursday, 23 October 2008
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • none • •
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Mae West.