SEX según Mae West

"SEX según MAE WEST," announced a very eye-catching poster. Recently, the Goethe Institute of Buenos Aires had decided to stage Mae's play from 1926.
• • Here's what else was happening onstage in Argentina via the guiding hand of René Pollesch:
• • Sex… de René Pollesch no es una obra de teatro. Es un texto que debeser usado como instrumento según palabras de su autor. Fue escrito para Sophie, Caroline e Inga, tres actrices de su compañía que compartían este discurso desde el deseo. Uno de los mayores desafíos es que Dolores, Ideth y Cecilia deseen decir este texto, se apropien de él.
• • [Thursdays] jueves 21 hs - ELKAFKA espacio teatral
• • SEX según Mae West
• • de RENÉ POLLESCH
• • dir. LUCIANO CÁCERES
• • Traducción: Pola Iriarte para el Instituto Goethe
• • ELKAFKA - LAMBARÉ 866 - RESERVAS 4862-5439
• • este espectáculo tiene el apoyo de Embajada de Alemania en Argentina - Goethe Institut Buenos Aires
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
________
Source:http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • none • •
NYC
Mae West.

Mae West: George Hurrell

George Hurrell made many memorable portraits of MAE WEST.
• • A master lensman, Hurrell is the darkroom genie responsible for many terrific photographs of Mae West (and other Hollywoodites) during the 1930s.
• • In 1933, Hurrell shot numerous publicity stills of Mae West alone – – as well as with her Paramount Pictures co-stars. Here's Mae on the set of "She Done Him Wrong" with character actor Noah Beery, who played the shady saloon-keeper Gus Jordan.
• • George Hurrell was born in the month of June in Cincinnati, Ohio: 1 June 1904. After a long and successful career, he died in 1992.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
________
Source:http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • by George Hurrell • •
NYC
Mae West.

Mae West: Lillian Russell

Much admired by both MAE WEST and her mother was the actress Lillian Russell.
• • Millionaire "Diamond Jim" Brady was another devotee.
• • Lillian Russell [born Helen Louise Leonard in Iowa in December 1860] is in our thoughts during the month of June because the influential beauty died at age 61 on 6 June 1922.
• • Referring to the Victorian idol (and ideal example of womanhood) that Russell had become, Emily Wortis Leider writes: "Matilda [West] herself, a soft-spoken native of Bavaria whose stunning hourglass figure reminded people of the ripe and rounded opulence of reigning New York beauty, actress Lillian Russell, had married after a brief stint modeling corsets, a scant seven years after her arrival in America. She had once harbored hopes for a stage career of her own, but her respectable merchant family, kin to proprietors of a New York brewery renowned for its lager, forbade it. They probably had also discouraged her forays into the corset-modeling profession, which she glamorized with a French word, modiste. ..."
• • Leider's book "Becoming Mae West" is a well-researched and engrossing biography.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
________
Source:http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • none • •
NYC
Mae West.

Mae West: Curdling Melodrama

MAE WEST would, no doubt be capable of delivering "curdling melodrama," predicted the publication Hollywood Citizen News in its issue dated 17 June 1932.
• • Correspondent Elizabeth Yeaman thrilled her readers by announcing, "Excitement will pick up when Mae West gets into town on Sunday."
• • Yeaman explained, "This actress-playwright has had a stormy career, on more than one occasion being hailed into New York courts to defend herself against the charges of immodesty on the stage. You may have seen her a couple years ago when she came to the Biltmore Theater [California] in Diamond Lil, of which she was both the author and the star."
• • Added Yeaman, "Paramount is bringing her out from New York to make her film debut in Night After Night. Since, on the stage, she is fond of playing scarlet ladies, it is presumed that she will have a similar role in this picture. At least the title suggests that the picture might contain such a part.
• • Of course, Mae West would not be only attraction in the film.
• • According to Elizabeth Yeaman, Mae "will have strong competition in Nancy Carroll, Wynne Gibson, George Raft, and Allison Skipworth. The plot concerns the dramatic events that take place during twelve hours in an aristocratic old mansion that has been converted into a speakeasy."
• • And here's the line that will whip your cream: "With the exception of Nancy Carroll, all the players selected for the cast are quite capable of playing heavy character roles," Yeaman noted, "so you may look for some curdling melodrama in Night After Night when it is released. But do not count on that title, for it may be changed again before it reaches the theaters."
• • Along the way, Paramount Pictures dropped Nancy Carroll and cast Constance Cummings instead for the role of the heiress Jerry Healy.
• • Source: Hollywood Citizen News
• • Byline: Elizabeth Yeaman
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
________
Source:http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • none • •
NYC
Mae West.

Mae West: Antenna Up

MAE WEST is coming to the TV screen tomorrow evening on June 4th.
• • Why June? Who knows! Mae-mavens know that the Brooklyn bombshell was born "on a cool night in a hot month" [17 August 1893].
• • Mae-mavens also know that the actress died in November [1980]. So why televise this episode in the month of June? Anyway, on Monday Mae will be on the air. Come up and – – tune in.
• • Always charismatic onscreen and onstage, ever-ready Mae is probably the only actress who did not have an understudy. When Mae did not go on, there was no show. There were no "regional tours" of her plays with a different cast. Mae West was irreplaceable.
• • Fortunately, Mae kept herself healthy and rarely cancelled a live performance except for extreme emergencies – – such as a broken ankle.
• • Enjoy a preview from the web site of The Biography Channel:
• • www.thebiographychannel.co.uk/biography_video_preview/421/12/Mae_West.htm
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
________
Source:http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • circa 1932 • •
NYC
Mae West.

Mae West: Groovy

Mae West said: "No. I won't be in it. What would I be doing in a lonely hearts' club?"
• • Naturally, Britain's Fab Four wrote personally to the Hollywood vamp, who then agreed to join Fred Astaire, Marlon Brando, Karl Marx, and others on the cover of the Beatles' latest album, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, which was released 40 years ago . . . we'd like to say today. . . but, in fact, this album was released 1 June 1967 in the United Kingdom. However, it was played on May 20th on the BBC show Where It's At in its entirety except for A Day in the Life which was banned due to suspected drug references.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
________
Source:http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • none • •
NYC
Mae West.

Mae West: Paris

MAE WEST turned up in a bit on – – of all places – – The Huffington Post.
• • Recently writer Rachel Shteir, by way of scolding heir-head air-head Paris Hilton, compared the bleached blonde (who is en route to jail in June for driving while drunk again) with the iconic Brooklyn bombshell, who prized sobriety.
• • According to blogger Shteir, Full confession: whenever I give anyone who wants to be an icon advice, I always think of Bad Girl Extraordinaire, Mae West. I ask myself: "What would Mae do?"
• • It's not worth cluttering up this space with any more nonsense about Paris Hilton but it is nice to see that some people are still asking themselves: Well now, what would MAE do?
• • Indeed!
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
________
Source:http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • none • •
NYC
Mae West.

Mae West: Jack Dempsey

It was "lust at first sight" the night that MAE WEST met Jack Dempsey.
• • The world heavyweight champion came up to see Mae onstage at the premiere of "The Mimic World of 1921." One of the characters Mae played was "Shifty Liz."
• • After the performance, the champ and the actress enjoyed their own private performance in her dressing room.
• • Since today is May 31st, the Mae West Blog commemorates the dashing prizefighter who died on 31 May 1983. Jack Dempsey held the title from 1919-1926.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
________
Source:http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • none • •
NYC
Mae West.

Mae West: Dave Apollon

Few people made MAE WEST laugh louder than Dave Apollon.
• • Born in Kiev, Russia on 23 February 1897, Dave's heavy "sour cream accent" was so hilarious that Mae West knew exactly how to increase his comic capital when they worked together during 1922 in the ill-fated "Ginger Box Revue" [slated to open at the Greenwich Village Theatre in Sheridan Square].
• • When a shady producer short-changed the cast by not producing the expected costumes and scenery, Mae pushed Dave Apollon onstage to deliver a prologue. Apologizing for the third-rate production the audience was about to see, Apollon muttered under his breath, "Ach! It was better under the czar with the lousy pogroms!"
• • Dave Apollon also worked as a mandolin player.
• • The vaudevillian died in Las Vegas at age 75 during the month of May: 30 May 1972.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
________
Source:http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • none • •
NYC
Mae West.

Mae West: 1932

MAE WEST co-starred in the 1932 "speakeasy" film "Night After Night" with two actresses who are linked to the month of May.
• • Constance Cummings, who was 22 when she played a socialite Jerry Healy in the movie, was born in Seattle, Washington on 15 May 1910. At age 95, the actress died in Oxfordshire, England on 23 November 2005.
• • Constance's blueblood persona was based on the heiress Barbara Hutton (who inherited the Woolworth fortune), who had once lived in a rowhouse on West 56th Street – – before it was turned into a ginmill operated by gangster Larry Fay.
• • Wynne Gibson, who played the "tough" cookie Iris Dawn [the dame George Raft's character Joe Anton is getting tired of], died on 15 May 1987 of cerebral thrombosis.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
________
Source:http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West's co-star • • 1932 • •
NYC
Mae West.

Mae West: Memorial

MAE WEST had many fans in the military.
• • Her 1926 play "Sex" featured actors clad as sailors.
• • A flotation device was famously nicknamed "the Mae West."
• • Mae never liked to make her humor political nor bipartisan. For all that, Mae West was proudly all American. How many actresses dressed in a Statue of Liberty outfit – – twice?
• • Edith Head designed this iconic costume for Mae West in 1970 for the film "Myra Breckinridge."
• • On Memorial Day, we salute a unique creation that was made in the United States of America: Mae West.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
________
Source:http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West costume • • 1970 • •
NYC
Mae West.

Mae West: May 1956

"MAE WEST Says Every Man Has Sex Appeal," trumpeted the headlines of various newspapers around the country on 1 May 1956.
• • At the time, the Brooklyn bombshell was touring New York City's night clubs and hitting other venues with her muscleman act, and the press obliged by pumping out interviews.
• • Commenting that sometimes men who are not good-looking are even sexier than Clark Gable, Mae said, "Mr. Eisenhower's a leader, and a leader has drive and decision and power, and that makes a man a man."
• • "Adlai Stevenson and Estes Kefauver have got it, too," Mae said.
• • The actress added that she is "strictly nonpartisan" in her views on the male species.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
________
Source:http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • none • •
NYC
Mae West.

Mae West: Hard Rock

Shades of MAE WEST wannabe-ism way out West!
• • This weekend at the Hard Rock Cafe in Las Vegas, you can buy Janet Jackson's "Mae West" costume [created in 1973-1974].
• • According to Guernsey's: "Young Janet Jackson wore this tailored Mae West costume while performing with her family in a 1974 Las Vegas stage act. The dress is fashioned in shades of a pink satin-like material and embellished with sequins and layers of tulle at the hemline. Includes a matching ornate hat. Excellent condition."
• • Auctioneer: Guernsey's [108 East 73rd Street, New York, NY 10021]; tel 212-794-2280.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
________
Source:http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West costume • • 1974 • •
NYC
Mae West.

Mae West: Jack Sparrow

MAE WEST and other vaudevillians who created a unique character — and, often, a memorable tag line and signature look — paved the way for Johnny Depp's "Jack Sparrow," notes a recent column in a Pennsylvania newspaper.
• • According to columnist Sharon Eberson, "Jack Sparrow joins a unique line of iconic characters." Eberson elaborates: From The Marx Brothers to John "Die Hard" McClane, actors have created characters who burst onto the scene, grab a foothold in pop culture and are instantly recognizable ever-after.
• • Without benefit of a book, play, TV show, or any other medium to start them on their way, these iconic characters are created with a unique look and often, a signature line. And best of all for the actor and the studio who collaborate on a popular character, along with adoration comes a sequel or two — or more.
• • About those zany Marx Brothers: Groucho, Chico, Harpo, and Zeppo took their insane brand of humor to the screen from hit plays (George S. Kaufman wrote some of their vehicles). And other early film characters arrived from vaudeville stages: MAE WEST, W.C. Fields, Al Jolson, Burns & Allen, etc.
• • These vaudevillians paved the way for the iconic characters of today, who are instantly recognizable by the steely stare, a beatific smile or the slant of a three-corner hat.
• • Take, for instance, Captain Jack Sparrow and the "Pirates of the Caribbean."
• • Previous summer blockbusters telling the further stories of Spider-Man(comic book) and the animated Shrek (children's book) came with ready-made backgrounds for talented actors Tobey Maguire and Mike Myers.
• • For Depp and director Gore Verbinski, there was a Disneyland ride about generic pirates, period. . . .
- - excerpt - -
• • Source: Pittsburgh Post Gazette
• • Byline: Sharon Eberson
• • Published: 24 May 2007
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
________
Source:http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • none • •
NYC
Mae West.

Mae West: Coming Soon

Come up and see MAE WEST the first week of June.
• • Where: The Biography Channel

• • When: Monday 4th June 2007 — 6:00 PM

• • The producers of this TV segment described it —— somewhat inaccurately —— like this: "Discover the life of this actress who wrote her own dialogue and set herself up as a provocative sex symbol and as the mistress of verbal innuendo. She appeared on Broadway in Sex, The Drag [sic],and Diamond Lil and her films included She Done Him Wrong, I'm No Angel, and Goin' to Town."
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
________
Source:http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • none • •
NYC
Mae West.

Mae West: Margaret Hamilton

MAE WEST's film "My Little Chickadee" [1940] featured an American character actress who died in May.
• • Severe looking and sharp featured, Margaret Hamilton was born in Cleveland, Ohio on 9 December 1902. Hamilton played the role of prudish Mrs. Gideon, who faints on the train when Flower Belle Lee, Mae's character, pulls out two guns.
• • Then there is the scene where Cuthbert J. Twillie [W. C. Fields] is told that there is nothing good about Flower Belle Lee by the holier-than-thou Mrs. Gideon [Margaret Hamilton], and he responds: "I can see what's good. Tell me the rest!"
• • Best known for her iconic portrayal of The Wicked Witch of the West, who imprisons the ruby-slippered Dorothy from Kansas [Judy Garland] in The Wizard of Oz, Margaret Hamilton died on 16 May 1985 in Salisbury, Connecticut.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
________
Source:http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West 's co-stars • • 1940 • •
NYC
Mae West.

Mae West: Silent Film

MAE WEST wanted to break into the screen scene. Here is an outtake from a silent screen test in New York City during the early 1920s.
• • Shortly after meeting the heavyweight champ in 1921, Mae also did a screen test with her paramour Jack Dempsey on 168th Street in Manhattan.
• • How many other "silent screen tests" are out there featuring the Brooklyn bombshell?
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
________
Source:http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • circa 1921 • •
NYC
Mae West.

Mae West: "Afrodainty"

How many children would recognize MAE WEST in an amusing parody of a Greek hero penned for the elementary school set?
• • Kirkus Reviews did not get too enthusiastic over J.P. Homer's The Thesoddy [authored by J.D. Peterson], published by Aventine Press in 2006. However, this title is still popping up in recent book reviews.
• • In this slim [108 pages] paperback, Thesod follows roughly the same path as Odysseus, with a stop at a place similar to the Land of the Lotus Eaters and an excursion into the Underworld — or rather, the “Underwhere” — a land that may elicit a few laughs from readers familiar with The Odyssey.
• • And beautiful “Afrodainty,” the goddess of love, turns out to be a Mae West type who invites the hero Thesod to come up and see her sometime.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
________
Source:http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • none • •
NYC
Mae West.

Mae West: Ontario Oddity

Tabloids were abuzz recently with the news that a certain former athlete, who murdered his beautiful estranged wife, Nicole, was refused service at a restaurant not far from the Kentucky Derby. Perhaps that sparked this questionable "remembrance" about MAE WEST.
• • Writing for the Daily Bulletin, Canadian columnist David Allen recalls an Ontario diner owner who said, 'Go east, Mae West'!
• • According to David Allen: Ford Lunch was a cafe at Euclid and A streets in Ontario in the mid-century. Ford was sometimes visited by people headed for Palm Springs, including Hollywood celebrities, since A Street, now Holt Boulevard, was the pre-freeway route. But apparently not all of the notables were allowed in, according to Darlene Blocker of Ontario, whose grandfather, Gene Rock, cooked at Ford and at nearby Coffee John's.
• • "I remember a story of Mae West stopping at Ford Lunch on her way to Palm Springs," Darlene Blocker said. "The owner, Frank Hobart, wouldn't serve her 'type'." . . .
• • Source: The Daily Bulletin [Ontario, Canada]
• • Byline: David Allen, Columnist
• • Published: 20 May 2007
• • Can we trust Darlene Blocker's memory when it comes to Mae West?
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
________
Source:http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • none • •
NYC
Mae West.

Mae West: May 1927

It was in May 1927 that MAE WEST returned to the Women's Workhouse on Welfare [now renamed Roosevelt] Island.
• • This time, however, she was the invited guest of a group of society women who were bent on social reform, and who wanted to inspect the prison and inmates for themselves. The actress gaily led the tour, trailing a string of newsmen and photographers.
• • Mae was even delighted to show these Park Avenue females the paddy wagon that she had ridden in after her arrest on 9 February 1927. In the photos, the women are all smiling – – but what must they have been thinking?
• • One of Mae's duties in the workhouse was to clean the jail's library. It struck her that there were so few books to read here. When a magazine offered Mae $1,000 to write an article about her experiences as an inmate, the Broadway star donated her check to the women's workhouse to fund the "Mae West Memorial Library."
• • The yellowed page you are looking at was part of the article Mae wrote, published in 1927.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
________
Source:http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • 1927 • •
NYC
Mae West.