Mae West: Diamond Delight

Eighty-two years ago MAE WEST sashayed into a glorious phase of her career. That was her big Broadway bonanza in 1928 — — and a gem it was.
• • "Diamond Lil" debuted at the Royale Theatre [242 West 45th Street, NYC 10036] on 9 April 1928. It was a box office success as well as a favorite with drama critics.
• • Though Mae had worn contemporary styles as Margy LaMont in "Sex," she situated her 1928 script on the Bowery [New York City] during the Gay Nineties. Even after the show's run, Diamond Lil would become the actress's enduring persona.
• • Engaging gowns designed by the British costumer Dolly Tree [1899— 1962] balanced Mae West's scarlet sisterhood style with a glamorous touch that made her more appealing to a middle-class audience.
• • Floor-sweeping creations featured the hour-glass waist, revealing cleavage, frills and flounces, feather boas, and 1890-ish accessories that have meshed with Mae West's iconic image.
• • Dolly Tree also worked with Mae West on the costumes for another project staged on Broadway in 1928: The Pleasure Man.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
________
Source:http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West as Diamond Lil • • 1928 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest
NYC
Mae West.

Mae West: A Revered It Girl

The timeless beauty of MAE WEST was the only eye-worthy topic that threaded its way through an otherwise ho-hum heard-it-before interview with a NYC-born Brit "it girl" who is supposedly "revered" among the trendy consumers who devour the Bible of bone-thin (aka Vogue). Revered! Wow! What a hallmark of exceptional humanity.
• • Jessica Hogan explains her awe of this sublime creature: Revered for her enviable style, actress and model Sienna Miller [birthdate: 28 December 1981] is also a big hit in the beauty world and is the face of the uplifting BOSS Orange Woman fragrance. VOGUE.COM caught up with Sienna during a break in her schedule to talk through her best beauty tips, favourite famous faces, and must-have holiday essentials.
• • Jessica Hogan asks: Who are your beauty icons?
• • Sienna Miller replies: Mae West, Bridget [sic] Bardot, Grace Kelly, and Marlene Dietrich — — they are all timeless beauties.
• • Fortunately, Mae West has an easy name because the twits at Vogue.com do not know how to spell a terribly difficult French name such as Brigitte Bardot. Tch-tch.
• • 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 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest
NYC
Mae West.

Mae West: 7 April 1935

In 1935, scores of young females were trying to achieve the MAE WEST look.
• • According to The Log Cabin Democrat, this intriguing news item was published 75 years ago on April 7th: How much should Miss 1935 weigh? Considerable controversy had been aroused over an edict of the American Society of Beauticians that said the ideal American girl of 1935 should weigh 100 pounds. That ran counter to recent mode established by Mae West with her gay ninety revival. Marion Quigley, weighing 100 pounds, was selected by beauty experts who met in New York, as the ideal girl. After many American girls had added pounds where they counted most to achieve the Mae West look, they were faced with the possibility of having to take the pounds off.
• • 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 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest
NYC
Mae West.

Mae West: Back to Bridgeport

A comedian who owes his snappy stage name to MAE WEST is appearing onstage in the coastal corner where "Sex" made a splash in 1926 — — Bridgeport, Connecticut.
• • According to staffwriter Joe Meyers of News Times: The performer got his name from Mae West back in the 1950s when he opened for the star at the Sahara — — "Joseph Charles Tafarella" overshadowed her name on the marquee, so she shortened it — — and over the next two decades he would come to know and perform with all of the show business greats from Frank Sinatra to Nat King Cole.
• • Joe Meyers adds: Steve Rossi [birthdate: 25 May 1928] is excited about being in a new show about the life of exotic dancer Sally Rand, who [sic] he met in the 1940s. "Fandance" allows Rossi to show off comic timing he has been honing for more than 50 years, as well as to sing some great tunes.
• • Performer Sally Rand was born in Missouri in April — — on 3 April 1904. "Fandance" will entertain an East Coast audience all during this month through 25 April 2010 at Bridgeport's Downtown Cabaret Theatre at 263 Golden Hill Street. If you are a fan of Sally Rand, then check out this production.
• • 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 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest
NYC
Mae West.

Mae West: Gems by Joseff

Once there was a Titania who put the tinsel in Tinseltown, creating the sparkly screen gems worn by MAE WEST in her most memorable motion pictures.
• • According to The Los Angeles Times, Joan Castle Joseff headed Joseff Precision Metal Products, a maker of aircraft and missile parts — — and Joseff-Hollywood, a producer of costume jewelry worn on and off the screen by some of the most notable movie stars.
• • Staffer Dennis McLellan writes: As president of Joseff-Hollywood — — it makes and rents dazzling costume jewelry that has been worn on and off the screen by Hollywood's most illustrious stars — — Joan Castle Joseff was hailed in a 1990 People Magazine story as "the High Priestess of Paste."
• • Mrs. Joseff, who took over running both Burbank, California based businesses after husband Eugene's death in 1948, died on 24 March 2010 of congestive heart failure at Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, said her daughter-in-law, Tina Joseff. She was 97. . . .
• • Staffer Dennis McLellan adds: The company's jewelry has appeared — — and reappeared — — in thousands of films and TV shows over the decades. Those items include an amethyst necklace, bracelet and earring set that Vivien Leigh wore in "Gone With the Wind" and pearl pendant earrings worn by Grace Kelly in "High Society."
• • Mae West, Greta Garbo, Ingrid Bergman, Marlene Dietrich, Myrna Loy, Marilyn Monroe, and Elizabeth Taylor are among the many other stars who wore Joseff's jewelry in films. Many of them also rented pieces to wear at the Oscar ceremonies.
• • "The heyday of our business was in the 1930s and 1940s, when people really dressed up and wore jewelry," Joan Castle Joseff told People Magazine in 1990. "Those days are gone."
• • A fascinating and informative obituary appeared on 4 April 2010 in The Los Angeles Times, from which these brief details have been extracted.
• • 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 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest
NYC
Mae West.

Mae West: April Triumph

MAE WEST knew she had a real hit on her hands, at last. On 4 April 1928, if you were standing outside of Leo Teller's Broadway Theatre in Brooklyn, New York [once located at Court Street and Stockton Street], you would have heard thunderous applause and cheers.
• • "You'd have thought that a favorite bootlegger had come back from Atlanta," wrote drama critic Robert Garland in the New York Evening Telegram on 5 April 1928. "[Mae] makes Miss Ethel Barrymore look like the late lamented Bert Savoy."
• • Mae West and her producers had decided to try out her play "Diamond Lil" in the actress's hometown before bringing it to Manhattan, where this "drama of the underworld" enjoyed a long engagement at the Royale Theatre on Broadway. Apparently, the show brought down the house. It was a clean sweep: both the critics and the public adored it.
• • It's always been said that Mae selected an 1890s Bowery setting because the corsetted turn-of-the-century fashions were more flattering to her curvy figure. No one has yet given her credit for recognizing that an old-fashioned saloon setting — — showing bar-goers enjoying their beer — — would touch the right nerve during the "parched" Prohibition Era.
• • So consider it said: Mae West understood her audience and gave them onstage what they missed very much in 1928 — — freedom to bend an elbow and imbibe in public. Brilliant, Mae!
• • Get the ice! On April 4th, drink a toast to Diamond Lil.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
________
Source:http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • April 1928 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest
NYC
Mae West.

Mae West: Greta Garbo

On one unusual evening, MAE WEST was invited to dinner — — along with Greta Garbo [18 September 1905 — 15 April 1990]. There was plenty of food but, alas, no conversation.
• • According to Hollywood producer William Frye, who wrote about this a decade ago for Vanity Fair [April 2000 issue], this is how the stars did not exactly sparkle and shine that evening.
• • William Frye writes: Greta Garbo and Gayelord Hauser rarely went out in the evening, but one of their infrequent excursions intrigued me: George Cukor invited them to his house for dinner with Mae West and one of her musclemen. The two fabled ladies had never met.
• • I went out to the guesthouse as they were preparing to leave. Garbo was in beige slacks and a beige sweater. “What are you planning to wear tonight?” I asked, knowing perfectly well that she was planning to wear what she had on.
• • “I am going like this,” she said.
• • “Put on your black slacks and sweater,” I said.
• • “Why should I do that?”
• • “Because Miss West is going to be in white. I’ve never been at dinner with her when she hasn’t worn white. Put on your black slacks, black turtleneck, and black patent-leather shoes.”
• • She took my advice, and the simplicity of the black clothes, combined with her wonderful hair, which was just beginning to turn gray, produced a stunning image.
• • I said, “Promise me tomorrow you’ll give me a blow-by-blow account of what happens.” She promised.
• • The next night she arrived as usual for her "Guttysark." We talked about this and that, but Garbo didn’t mention Mae West. Finally, exasperated, I said, “Well, what did you talk about with Miss West?”
• • “Oh,” she said, “I didn’t talk. During dinner, all Miss West discussed was monkeys. Do you know she used to have monkeys? I don’t know anything about monkeys, so I didn’t talk.”
• • “What about after dinner?” I asked. “Surely she didn’t talk about monkeys after dinner, too?”
• • “No. After dinner all she talked about was musclemen. I don’t know anything about musclemen, so I didn’t talk then either. I was home at 10:30, and I didn’t say a word the whole evening.” ...
— — Excerpt: — —
• • Article: "Classic Hollywood: The Garbo Next Door"
• • Byline: William Frye
• • Published in: Vanity Fair Magazine
• • Published on: April 2000 edition
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
• • 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 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest
NYC
Mae West.

Mae West: Sam Coslow

One songwriter provided MAE WEST with jazzy cinema numbers — — and several are still memorable. Though he worked in California for years, Sam Coslow died in New York City, his hometown, in the month of April.
• • Preparing for the release of her latest movie "Every Day's a Holiday" in 1937, Mae was busy rehearsing and taping Sam Coslow's number "Mademoiselle Fifi." The song was recorded during October 1937 with "Chorus and Paramount Studio." Wielding the baton was LeRoy Prinz.
• • A native New Yorker like Mae, Sam Coslow [7 December 1902 — 2 April 1982] — — was educated at Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn — — and became an Oscar-winning producer and songwriter. In 1928 he formed the music publishing company Spier and Coslow in The Big Apple, where he often wrote show tunes.
• • He wrote several songs for Mae West's motion pictures. These include "My Old Flame," "Troubled Waters," and "When a St. Louis Woman Comes Down to New Orleans" for "Belle of the Nineties"; "Now I'm a Lady" for "Goin' to Town"; and "Mademoiselle Fifi" for "Every Day's a Holiday."
• • Orchestra conductor LeRoy Prinz [1895 — 1983] first found work as a dance director on Broadway. Relocating to California, Prinz worked for Paramount Pictures (1933 — 1941) and Warner Brothers (1942 — 1957) among others.
• • 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 song scribe • • Sam Coslow • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest
NYC
Mae West.

Mae West: Barroom with Beery

MAE WEST worked in one project with a character actor who died on April Fool's Day.
• • In "She Done Him Wrong" [1933] the bejeweled chanteuse and brash entertainer Lady Lou (Mae West) works in the 1890s Bowery saloon of her boss and benefactor Gus Jordan (Noah Beery, Sr.), who has given her many diamonds.
• • Noah Beery as a Beer Keg King • •
• • Unbeknownst to Lady Lou, slick and sleazy Gus Jordan trafficks in white slavery (prostitution) and runs a counterfeiting ring (to help finance Lou's expensive rock collection). He also sends young women to San Francisco to be pickpockets. Gus works with two other crooked entertainer-assistants, Russian Rita (Rafaela Ottiano) and Rita's lover, the suave Serge Stanieff (Gilbert Roland).
• • Kansas City, Missouri native Noah Beery, Sr. [17 January 1882 — 1 April 1946] pursued a theatrical career from a young age.
• • Noah and his younger brothers William Beery and the legendary Wallace Beery all became Hollywood actors.
• • His much more successful younger brother, Academy Award winning Wallace Beery [1 April 1885 — 15 April 1949], was once wed to Gloria Swanson.
• • After a number of years touring on the stage, in 1915 Noah joined his brother Wallace in Hollywood to make motion pictures — — where he became a respected character actor adept at playing the role of the heavy.
• • Then, after years of working in silent films, he successfully made the transition to talking pictures. One film historian dubbed him "the villain's villain."
• • During a career that spanned three decades, Noah Beery, Sr. appeared in almost two hundred motion pictures.
• • In 1946, Noah Beery, Sr. died — — on his brother Wallace Beery's April 1st birthday — — in Beverly Hills, California of a heart attack at age 64.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
________
Source:http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • Noah Beery, Sr. on the right • • 1933 • •
NYC
Mae West.

Mae West: Outstripping

Earlier this month, determined Mae-mavens pursued a vintage MAE WEST promo — — and bid it up well beyond the original estimate. Outstripping the guessers, well! Here are the auction results.
• • According to the helpful folks at Urban Art and Antiques: One of the great surprises of the auction [that took place in late March 2010] came in the form of a Paramount 1933 Style A one sheet for the pre-Code classic "She Done Him Wrong," one of Mae West’s most famous films, based on a play the famous vamp wrote herself. Mae West’s performance as Lady Lou remains, to this day, a virtuoso accomplishment of wit and innuendo that garnered the film an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture, as well as devotion from fans more than 75 years after its release. The poster, which came into the auction with a $7,000 estimate, rapidly outpaced that prediction and, with several determined bidders, rose to nearly three times that amount to finally find a new home at $19,120.
• • Grey Smith, Director of Movie Posters at Heritage Auctions, had a lot to be happy about.
• • 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 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest
NYC
Mae West.

Mae West: Chesty Bond

One man formed a secret boudoir bond with MAE WEST, a trophy encounter he treasured but did not publicize for several decades. Here are the juicy details about a Chesty Bond original.
• • The origins of "Chesty Bond" • •
• • Chesty Bond is a long-lived fictional cartoon character and trademark for the Australian clothing company Bonds. Originally created in 1938 as part of a merchandising campaign to sell men's underwear (and the singlet — — a type of vest — — in particular), Chesty Bond is recognized by many Australians as a popular national icon.
• • In 1938, the teenager who posed for the original drawing was Max Whitehead [2 August 1922 — March 2010]. As a pro wrestler, fighting under the name “Max Steyne,” Whitehead traveled the world, and reportedly only lost to the famous Killer Kowalski.
• • By 1940, a Chesty Bond cartoon — — drawn by cartoonist Syd Miller — — was being featured three times each week in Sydney's Sun newspaper, eventually running for 20 years. Chesty, with his characteristically powerful jutting jaw and impressive physique, became a superhero when he pulled on his trusty Chesty Bond Athletic vest. As a result of the successful campaign, Chesty Bond became the archetypal Australian hero synonymous with Australian masculinity and an icon recognized Australia wide.
• • According to The Australian: As mourners gather today to remember Max Whitehead, who died last week at the age of 87, there will be much reflection on his rich life and his incredibly varied CV.
• • The Australian writes: "Not only was Max Whitehead the original Chesty Bond model, he was also the first captain of the Manly Sea Eagles and even had a long stint traveling the world as a professional wrestler. But journalist Steve Warnock, who interviewed Max Whitehead in the late 1980s, says there was another achievement Whitehead quietly claimed to have notched up: bedding — — or indeed, being bedded by — — Mae West. "He told me he'd kill me if I let on about it while he was still alive," Warnock told Strewth yesterday. Max Whitehead was in his early thirties at the time and his wrestling partner happened to be Mae West's lover; West was by then in her 60s, aging extremely well and entertaining a predilection for musclemen. When the wrestling partner had to go away for a week, he asked Whitehead to look after West. "Max wasn't bullshitting me," Warnock says. "He told me he turned up at the mansion with a toothbrush and a towel, was welcomed by a butler ('Mr Whitehead, I presume?') and shown to the bedroom, which he left a week later a bit the worse for wear." It would go some way toward explaining why Chesty Bond looked so pleased.
— — Source: — —
• • Article: "A Chesty Bond"
• • Byline: James Jeffrey
• • Published in: The Australian — — www.theaustralian.com.au/
• • Published on: 31 March 2010
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
• • 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 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest
NYC
Mae West.

Mae West: Done Wrong

It was on 29 March 1936 that a rather curious article appeared about MAE WEST.
• • Written by a journalist named Frank Daniel, his cover story was called "Has Mae West Done Herself Wrong?" The piece was published in the Atlanta Journal Magazine.
• • 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 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest
NYC
Mae West.

Mae West: 28 March 1927

In March 1927, in reaction to the Broadway aspirations of MAE WEST's play "The Drag," the New York State Legislature passed a law banning all depictions of homosexuality on the stage.
• • After the Grand Jury's indictments were finished, the courtroom trial began in earnest on 28 March 1927. First on the agenda was jury selection.
• • A few days later, Norman Schloss would open the case for the defense, pointing out the most obvious details: that "Sex" had already run for 339 performances, and it had been seen by more than 325,000 patrons, including members of the police department and their wives, by judges of the criminal courts, by seven members of the district attorneys’ staffs, and by citizens of the city who showed no moral impairment. A Broadway “play jury” had previewed the show, and belated prosecution was unreasonable.
• • The prosecutor would argue that the play "Sex" was obscene and he would be calling a series of detectives who became courtroom actors.
• • Sergeant Patrick Keneally of the Midtown Vice Squad seemed to relish reciting the more ribald lines from "The Drag," and imitating the walk and gestures of "the fairies" on stage.
• • The full-length stage play "Courting Mae West" dramatizes the trial and other matters leading up to it — — and, of course, the colorful aftermath.
• • 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 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest
NYC
Mae West.

Mae West: 1938 Cadillac

"I've been in more laps than a napkin," said MAE WEST. To sit in the same lap of vehicle luxury as Mae did will be possible if you spend this weekend in Florida.
• • According to South Florida Business Journal, a serious automobile auction will be conducted by RM Auctions from Friday to Sunday [March 26th — 28th]. From a “Mod Squad” convertible to a 1938 Cadillac once said to be owned by actress Mae West, more than 400 classic cars are up for auction this weekend at the Greater Fort Lauderdale /Broward County Convention Center. This event will also include a sporty Jaguar owned by Frank Sinatra and feature 130 cars from the estate of American collector John O’Quinn, whose collection included over 1,000 well-maintained classic cars.
• • 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 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest
NYC
Mae West.

Mae West: Tennessee Williams

His appreciation of MAE WEST was well-known. They enjoyed a mutual admiration until Mae began to suspect he was copying her.
• • Born in Columbus, Mississippi in the month of March — — on 26 March 1911 — — Tennessee Williams included a chalkware statuette of the screen legend in "A Streetcar Named Desire."
• • Excerpt from a letter in Spring 1943 • •
• • • • Dear Don:
• • • • I am just getting settled, it is sunset of my third day here which seems like the third month at least. I have taken a little 2-room apt. in Santa Monica, nothing at all grand, in fact a very honky-tonk air about it with stained wallpaper and a plaster model of Mae West on the dresser and very gaudy curtains. ...
• • • • Tennessee Williams, Letter to Donald Windham, 12 May 1943.
• • 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 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest
NYC
Mae West.

Mae West: Bad Girl Fan Club

In a recent interview, indie "It girl" actress Chloë Sevigny [born 18 November 1974] expressed her admiration of MAE WEST.
• • According to a one-on-one with The A.V. Club, the five-foot-eight blonde has had a hankering to step into the bad girl shoes.
• • AVC, Sean O'Neal: A lot of your characters have a very subtle sexuality — — but this one ["Barry Munday"] is really out there; you even do a striptease at one point. Was that unusual for you?
• • Chloë Sevigny: No, I kind of like that stuff. I am a Scorpio, and playing the seductress appeals to me. There are a lot of women throughout film history, like Mae West or Marlene Dietrich — — those are the women I was always attracted to. The bad girls. I felt like this character was a little bit of a bad girl. ...
• • Wonder how the 35-year-old East Coaster would be in the leading role of "Courting Mae West"? Can you see it, dear readers?
• • 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 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest
NYC
Mae West.

Mae West: Mammaries Memory

Memories of mammaries and the glory days of MAE WEST are being invoked as people prepare for "The Big Reveal," Jim Thorpe’s First Annual Burlesque Festival this weekend.
• • 2-Day Benefit for Mauch Chunk Opera House, Jim Thorpe, PA • •
• • According to an article in The Weekender, The Mauch Chunk Opera House, where the main event will be located, is one of America’s oldest vaudeville theaters. Opened in 1881, the opera house was a regular stop on the vaudeville circuit and has hosted legendary performers such as Mae West, Al Jolsen, W.C. Fields, and others.
• • Kenny Luck writes: In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, burlesque evolved as a working-class alternative to upper-class entertainment. Its popularity was fueled by exposing Victorian-era sexual taboos. However, the good times would not last. By the early 1930s, Burlesque began to fade in the collective consciousness as new forms of entertainment — and sexuality — emerged. Burlesque morphed into the striptease, while the more interesting artistic and creative aspects of the show disappeared.
• • Kenny Luck adds: However, by the mid-1990s a neo-burlesque revival was beginning to blossom with a new generation of performers such as Dita Von Teese leading the way. A major motion picture entitled “Burlesque” starring Cher and Christine Aguilera, is set to debut in November. ...
• • For details about the fundraiser taking place in Pennsylvania on March 26th — 27th, see the publication below.
— — Excerpt: — —
• • Article: "The best of burlesque"
• • Byline: Kenny Luck
• • Published in: The Weekender (Wilkes-Barre, PA) — — www.theweekender.com
• • Published on: 23 March 2010
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
• • Tell them you heard about it on the MAE WEST BLOG.
• • 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 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest
NYC
Mae West.

Mae West: Bud Burmeister

It was the 23rd of March 1924 and MAE WEST was deep in the heart of a Texan.
• • It's also true that she was 30 years old and watching her star-dusted dreams slowly dimming. When she did snag a booking, it was on a low-level variety circuit. Though a few years before she had negotiated an appearance fee of $500, in 1924 she was accepting gigs for only $125 a week. During this frustrating interval, she was hiring and firing her accompanists.
• • Imagine Mae's prickly state of mind as she trouped during the month of March in 1924 through the southwest, where she had accepted a four-week contract to perform on the Interstate Vaudeville Circuit. Covering Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Arkansas, this was one of variety's least desirable routes and a far cry from Broadway.
• • In Houston, Texas, the Brooklyn bombshell turned the head of a publicity flack for a nearby playhouse.
• • Eventually, the Associated Press discovered a marriage license [dated 22 March 1924] obtained — — but never used — — by Mae West and a local theatre press agent named R.A. "Bud" Burmeister.
• • Despite the fact that a marriage did not take place in Texas, on 24 April 1935 newspapers like The Berkeley Daily Gazette were announcing Mae had indeed tied the knot with Bud eleven years before. Yikes! And in 1935 it was discovered that a bald, skinny former vaudeville hoofer named Frank Wallace was legally still married to the movie queen.
• • What really happened in 1924? Was it a touch of Cupid or career capitulation that made Mae entertain the idea of settling down? Maybe Mae was overcome by the heat of hormones — — or did she have a pregnancy scare? And how long could she have known Mr. R.A. "Bud" Burmeister, a 34-year-old resident of Harris County, Texas anyway? Hmmmmmm.
• • Marching down the Playhouse Aisle in late March 1924 • •
• • Before any orange blossoms were ordered for the bride, Mae took off (as scheduled) on March 23rd for San Antonio, where she played through March 24th.
• • Perhaps this was the time when Mae registered at the famous Menger Hotel. Located in downtown San Antonio, Texas, this landmark was built in 1859 (23 years after the fall of the adjacent Alamo) by William Menger, a German immigrant. In 1898, Teddy Roosevelt had used the bar to recruit Rough Riders which fought in Cuba in the Spanish-American War.
• • The Menger was San Antonio's most popular hotel in the 19th Century. Mae West along with O. Henry, Robert E. Lee, Ulysses S. Grant, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Babe Ruth, Oscar Wilde, and others were known to frequent the bar and hotel, which was periodically enlarged and remodelled to accommodate more guests. The Menger Hotel is located here: 204 Alamo Plaza, San Antonio, TX 78205.
• • After such a rough ride with romance, Mae headed for the footlights in a Fort Worth theatre, and then saddled up for an engagement in Detroit before returning to the East Coast — — and a long hitch of unemployment.
• • 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 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest
NYC
Mae West.

Mae West: Story of O

While we're on the subject of another little record-breaker you may not have realized about MAE WEST, there's this story of O.
• • Best Picture and Oscar • •
• • According to cinemaphile Leonard Hayhurst, who pens the column "Ask 411 Movies": "Gone with the Wind" is the longest movie to win best picture at 3 hours and 54 minutes. The shortest is "Marty" at 1 hour and 31 minutes. The shortest ever Best Pic nominee is the Mae West vehicle "She Done Him Wrong" at 66 minutes — — and the longest nominee is "Cleopatra" at 4 hours and 2 minutes.
• • "She Done Him Wrong" should have won the golden statuette!
• • 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 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest
NYC
Mae West.

Mae West: Glamour as Armor

MAE WEST 's approach to glamour was discussed by a British columnist focused on matters of style versus substance.
• • "Nothing empowers women more than a good education and career, but since cinema began they have been unable to resist copying the fashions that give models and Hollywood stars allure," writes Carol Dyhouse.
• • Carol Dyhouse adds: It is tempting to ask whether glamour, once an escape for women, has now become a prison? But adult women aren't simply prisoners, dupes or victims, and there can be a playfulness around glamour, exemplified by many women performers, for instance: Mae West, Marlene Dietrich, Madonna, Courtney Love, and currently, the gloriously bonkers Lady Gaga. As soon as you think or write about glamour you enter dangerous territory. ...
• • To access this thought-provoking read, see the publication below.
— — Excerpt: — —
• • Article: "Glamour versus feminism? Just look at the images in the media we all adore!"
• • Byline: Carol Dyhouse
• • Published in: The Observer [UK] — — www.guardian.co.uk
• • Published on: Sunday, 21 March 2010
• • 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 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest
NYC
Mae West.