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MAE WEST co-starred in the 1932 "speakeasy" film "Night After Night" with several interesting actresses.
• • Constance Cummings, who was 22 when she played the socialite Jerry Healy in the motion picture, was born in Seattle, Washington on 15 May 1910. 
• • 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.
• • Inspired by her mother, a concert soprano, in 1926 Constance Cummings made her show business debut in regional stock theater. By 1928, when she was on Broadway, she was attracting the attention of powerful people such as movie mogul Samuel Goldwyn, who lured her to Hollywood. In 1931 she appeared in her first screen role. By 1932 she was cast as a Park Avenue princess and George Raft's dominant love interest.
• • Although she played in 34 films, and then much later on she was seen in TV movies about a dozen times, the five-foot-four beauty was never thrilled about the parts she was getting. In 1934, she left for England. Though she won a Tony [in 1979] and other awards for her roles onstage, her fame in Britain did not polish her reputation stateside. All the same, she was awarded the C.B.E. (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in the 1974 Queen's Honours List for her services to drama.
• • At age 95, the actress died in Oxfordshire, England in November — — on 23 November 2005.
• • In November, Remember Barry Benton Bonds [1925 — 2007] • •
• • According to his family members, Barry Benton Bonds was born on 25 October 1925. He had a long and happy marriage and fathered two children: Alexis Greer and Gregor. His grandchildren described him as a proud WWII veteran, an avid sailor, and a skillful fisherman. Mr. Bonds performed in original national tours of ''On Your Toes'' and ''High Button Shoes'' — — and toured with Mae West. Theatre was in his blood and, after his performing days were over, he worked on Broadway in the box office for over 50 years. He died in the month of November — — on 23 November 2007.
• • On 23 November 1980 in The N.Y. Times • •
• • An excerpt from The N.Y. Times 31 years ago today: Mae West and diamonds were almost synonymous even before the creation of her most memorable character: Diamond Lil. ''I hadn't started out to collect diamonds, '' she said, ''but somehow they piled up on me.'' The onstage Diamond Lil was a singer in a Bowery saloon of the 1890's — — a bad girl with a good heart, who murdered her girlfriend, wrecked a Salvation Army hall, and sang ''Frankie and Johnny,'' wrote The New York Times [on 23 November 1980].
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "I got my own individual style. You know you can always tell Eugene O'Neill — — and you can always tell Mae West."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • An excerpt from "Celebrity, Inc: How Famous People Make Money" by Jo Piazza mentioned Mae West as the first celebrity who influenced the fragrance industry.
• • Jo Piazza writes: Celebrity fragrances can be an ATM for famous people — — paying high dividends for very little investment of time or money. ... The marriage between fame and fragrance also goes back decades, to the 1930s, when the fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli designed a curvy perfume bottle modeled after the actress Mae West’s figure.
• • Jo Piazza continues: In the 1950s, Givenchy created a scent for film star Audrey Hepburn that was musky and powdery, and in the early 1980s, Dynasty stars Joan Collins and Linda Evans promoted fragrances linked to their primetime soap opera. Elizabeth Taylor’s scent, White Diamonds, has been an Elizabeth Arden top seller since it launched in 1991, grossing more than $1 billion in sales and providing a nice revenue stream for an actress who was no longer spending much time in front of the cameras. ...
• • Source: reposted by Rack.com on Monday, 21 November 2011
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started seven years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 2124th 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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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • 1932 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest
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Mae West.
At age 87, MAE WEST suffered a series of strokes which finally resulted in her death on 22 November 1980 in Hollywood, California. 
• • The actress took her final breaths quietly in her Hollywood apartment (Ravenswood). Private services [conducted by Dr. Lloyd Ogilvie and attended by about 100 close friends and family] were held in the Old North Church at Forest Lawn, Hollywood Hills.
• • Her eulogy, written by Kevin Thomas and delivered by producer Ross Hunter, concluded: “Mae West always said that no one was ever to feel sorry for her, and she would not want anyone to start now. Mae West figured that in one way or another she would live forever. And she probably will.”
• • Entombment was in the West family mausoleum at Cypress Hills Abbey in Brooklyn, New York.
• • Cause of death: Complications from stroke
• • Burial: Cypress Hills Cemetery
• • Brooklyn, Kings County, New York, USA
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "My idea of sex appeal is very different from what some of my imitators have in mind. Sex doesn't mean a girl has to take off her clothes like Brigitte Bardot. I never posed for cheesecake in my life. In fact, I was always overdressed. I became a sex symbol because I have a sex personality, not because I favored nudity. ..."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • In November 1980, her eulogy, penned by L.A. Times columnist Kevin Thomas and delivered by the producer Ross Hunter, remarked that Mae West had been painted by Dali, admired by George Bernard Shaw, photographed by Avedon and Scavullo, praised by critics, damned by censors, loved by audiences, pursued by the ambitious, and criticized by a famed publisher [William Randolph Hearst] at a time when he and she were the highest-salaried man and woman in the USA. ...
• • Source: Eulogy by Kevin Thomas, November 1980
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started seven years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 2123rd 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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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • 1932 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest
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Mae West.
November 1932 was a busy time in Hollywood for MAE WEST. The play "Diamond Lil" had been brought to live audiences from Broadway to Beantown to Baltimore to Beverly Hills. Now the Bowery drama was making the leap — — from black and white typescript to black and white cinema and the Brooklyn bombshell was excited. But every day honked with a new distress call from the head goose at the Hays Office. 
• • On 9 November 1932, Paramount Pictures executive Harold Hurley wrote a memo to William LeBaron indicating the lines that must be cut in order to pacify the screenplay screeners. These included: "I ain't running no Sunday school!"; "Diamond Lil would do anything for diamonds, eh?"; "Enter a convent!"; "Gawd! You gotta give a man more than clothes!"; and "I always knew you could be had." [If you saw the movie, you know which lines Mae sneaked back in.]
• • On 16 November 1932, Will Hays communicated again with Adolph Zukor, insisting that his plans for a movie version of "Diamond Lil" must be scrapped. It was too filthy for Hays.
• • On 21 November 1932, Zukor assured the censors that the script had been "considerably cleaned up."
• • Meanwhile, in front of the cameras, Lady Lou was ramping up each nuance in her dialogue. The queen of innuendo was polishing her pearls, refusing to look dull in order to soothe stodgy Will Hays.
• • By 30 November 1932, the project had a new title: "She Done Him Wrong."
• • On 21 November 1948 • •
• • It was on 30 October 1948 that Mae West signed an Actor's Equity Association Stock Jobbing Contract on Equity's letterhead in New York. The Broadway star of "Diamond Lil" was agreeing to a weekly salary of $2,500, and the play would be opening in Montclair, New Jersey in the month of November — — on 21 November 1948.
• • A First Hand Recollection: Visiting 81-year-old Mae West • •
• • The year was 1974. Twenty-six years later, for her British readership, Food & Drink Columnist Caroline Boucher recalled an extraordinary afternoon in Apartment 611.
• • • My tea with Mae West [1974] • •
• • • It's tricky to interview a Hollywood star when you're surrounded by nude sculptures of her.
• • Her teatime outfit might have been formal, but Mae West's conversation was anything but. Within minutes of my arriving at her Hollywood penthouse one afternoon in 1974, she was lugging her exercise bicycle out of the dining room to prove her daily fitness routine: never mind that she was 83 [sic] and the bicycle was covered in a thick film of dust.
• • But she did look amazing. Fitted pink trouser suit, teetering platform heels, towering platinum-blonde hairpiece and false eyelashes that could have inflicted paper cuts. She'd swept through the double doors of her drawing room after being announced by her live-in lover at the time, Paul Novak — — a former Mr. California 30 years her junior.
• • "I have an extra thyroid gland," she announced airily. "It gives me twice the energy and twice, the, you know, everything else I guess."
• • I studied a nude portrait and several nude sculptures of Ms West while I digested this information.
• • Tea came in a silver service on a tray and was served by Novak: English tea and shop-bought shortbread, which I hogged much more of than she did. Although West was known for her curves, I got the impression she wasn't much interested in food, and certainly not in cooking it, although she talked at length about the benefits of putting coconut oil on her face.
• • When it was time to go I signed her visitors' book . . . .
• • Source: Personal Essay "My tea with Mae West" written by Caroline Boucher | Food & Drink Columnist for The Observer Food Monthly section; first published in The Guardian [U.K.]; posted on Saturday, 13 March 2010
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said (to Lou Rosenthal): "I think it is probably true that a sense of showmanship is natural to most artists in all the art forms. ..."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • Here's a brief excerpt from a news item written by Kevin Thomas about his friend Mae West.
• • Mae West was the genuine article — — even if not all her diamonds were real. Such were my thoughts as Joe Gold and I, both longtime friends of Mae's, went over the jewelry and memorabilia that her longtime companion Charles Krauser had stored after her death in 1980 at 87. Krauser, who died last year at 76, and Gold, founder of Gold's and World gyms, were in Mae's fabled muscle man chorus line in her 1950s nightclub act.
• • "Goodness, what diamonds!," said a speak-easy hatcheck girl to Mae, who replied, "Goodness had nothing to do with it," sashaying into film history in an otherwise forgotten 1932 film, "Night After Night." Yet in her personal life, Mae didn't go in for much jewelry. "I have to go to the safe deposit box and get the stuff out, and that's a lot of trouble," she explained. ...
• • Source: News Item: "Up for Bid: All That Glittered on Mae West" written by Kevin Thomas, Times Staff Writer for The L.A. Times; posted on 22 September 2000
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started seven years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 2122nd 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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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • 1932 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest
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Mae West.
He was the production manager on two motion pictures starring MAE WEST — — "Go West Young Man" [1936] and "Every Day's a Holiday" [1937].
• • Like Mae, he was a native New Yorker; Joe was born in The Big Apple on 2 June 1892. Well organized and detail oriented, Joseph H. Nadel worked his way up in the screen trade from production management during the 1930s to producer and associate producer of full-length features from 1934 — 1950 such as "D.O.A." [1950], "The Second Woman" [1950], "The Jackie Robinson Story" [1950], and "Champagne for Caesar" [1950].
• • Joseph H. Nadel died in Hollywood in November — — on 20 November 1950. He was 58 years old. He was laid to rest in Los Angeles in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. His loving wife Dorothy Nadel [1893 — 1959] was buried at his side nine years later.
• • In November, Let's Remember Fred Santley [1887 — 1953] • •
• • In the motion picture "She Done Him Wrong," the popular 1890s ballad "She's More to Be Pitied Than Censured" was sung in Gus Jordan's Bowery saloon by Fred Santley, who was billed as "the tenor" in the credits.
• • Born in Salt Lake City, Utah during the eleventh month — — on 20 November 1887 — — as Frederic Mansfield, Fred was the brother of the Hollywood actor/director Joseph Santley. He began his silent movie career in 1907 with a number of short comedies; he often played a continuing character named Bertie. In talkies, his rich tenor voice won him cinema roles such as Radio Announcer as well as pawnbrokers, pedestrians, doormen, reporters, and ticket clerks. Between 1907 — 1953, he was seen in 121 films.
• • It was on 14 May 1953 that the bit parts player Fred Santley died in Los Angeles, California. He was 65 years old.
• • On 20 November 1911 • •
• • In 1911 Mae West's high-stepping antics got her fired from "Vera Violetta" when she brazenly tried to trump the star, French diva Gaby Deslys. "Vera Violetta" opened on Broadway on 20 November 1911.
• • On 20 November 1988 in The Orlando Sentinel • •
• • Mae West once confided to a friend: "I felt Bill Fields had no class."• • This exchange was printed on 20 November 1988 in a Florida newspaper:
• • Q. After laughing through a home video of the comedy classic "My Little Chickadee," with W.C. Fields and Mae West, I cannot figure out why this priceless pair never played together again on screen. Can you?
• • A. Yes, on several counts. First, the picture didn't quite jell. Though it had many funny moments, it didn't do all that well with the movie critics of the day. In addition, the two stars clashed constantly. West said later, ''That picture was a mistake from the word 'Shoot!''' And Mae West also confided to a close friend, ''To tell you the truth, I felt Bill Fields had no class."
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "I'm a liberated woman — — I did everything I wanted. And I never wanted children. They'd have taken my mind off myself."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • Louis Nizer [6 February 1902 in London — 10 November 1994 in New York City] was a noted Jewish-American trial lawyer and senior partner of the law firm Phillips Nizer Benjamin Krim & Ballon. His death notice in the month of November mentioned Mae West.
• • From The New York Times: NEW YORK — Louis Nizer, the shrewd and voluble trial lawyer who made a long career of representing famous people in famous cases and whose autobiography, My Life in Court, was a best seller, died on Thursday at Beth Israel Medical Center in Manhattan. He was 92 and lived in Manhattan. ...
• • Mr. Nizer's wavy hair and near-classic profile adorned countless courthouses, board rooms and corridors of power as he talked his way to fame and fortune. In the course of his work as a trial lawyer, he made himself an authority on contract, copyright, libel, divorce, plagiarism and antitrust law, and on other kinds of law involving the entertainment world. His roster of celebrity clients included Mae West, Johnny Carson, Charlie Chaplin, Salvador Dali, Eddie Fisher, Alan Jay Lerner, the basketball star Julius Erving, and Spyros Skouros, once board chairman of 20th Century Fox films. . . .
• • Source: Obituary: "Louis Nizer, 92, Trial Lawyer, Author" written by The New York Times staff; printed on 11 November 1994
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started seven years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 2121st 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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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • 1937 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest
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Mae West.
MAE WEST was a guest on "Dick Cavett's Backlot USA" (a CBS TV special that aired in March 1976). When they sat down for this interview, Cavett was 39 years old and Mae was 83. 
One topic they discussed was censorship. Mae said she would add extra things to her script, on purpose, to give the Hays office something to take out and to add a little distraction. When Cavett wondered where Mae did her writing, she told him she writes in long hand in bed and she never learned to type. Throughout she displayed enormous poise and bubbled with a sense of fun. Delightful footage.
• • Born in Gibbon, Nebraska on 19 November 1936, Richard Alva Cavett is 75 years old today. He's had a varied career and one year ago, at the age of 74, he added a new title to his list of achievements: a husband. Happy Birthday to Dick Cavett today.
• • In November, Let's Remember Louise Dahl-Wolfe [1895 — 1989] • •
• • Born in San Francisco in the month of November, Louise Emma Augusta Dahl [19 November 1895 — 11 December 1989] was a noted photographer. She is known primarily for her work for Harper's Bazaar, in association with fashion editor Diana Vreeland, and also for "discovering" a fresh-faced teenage model who became the actress Lauren Bacall.
• • Louise Dahl-Wolfe's best known celebrity portraits includes this one: Mae West, Hollywood, for Harper's Bazaar, 1944.
• • On 19 November 1927 • •
• • When Mae's play "The Wicked Age" opened, The New York Times reacted with alarm: "The whole was in the best Mae West school of playwriting . . . ." Yes, you're right; this was never meant to be a compliment.
• • The curtain clanged down on "The Wicked Age" on 19 November 1927.
• • In November 1933 in The Nation • •
• • In the November 1933 issue of The Nation, an article on Mae West appeared on page 68. This piece is reprinted in the anthology "Cinema nation: The Best Writing on Film, from the Nation, 1913 — 2000."
• • On 19 November 1936 in The N.Y. Times • •
• • J.T.M. penned the movie review of "Go West Young Man," which was printed in the Times on 19 November 1936. His title read "May West at the Paramount in Go West, Young Man" [sic]. During the 1930s, publications were still spelling the star's first name as either "May" or "Mae," sometimes using both spellings in the same article.
• • J.T.M. wrote: "The suasively undulating Mae West is back on the Paramount screen with a new and engagingly robustious . . . ." Robustious, yes. Exactly.
• • On 19 November 1996 • •
• • A CD by Mae West "I'm No Angel" was released on the British label Jasmine on this date: 19 November 1996.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West wrote this line for the character Mavis Arden, an actress, in 1936: "I don't know, Morgan. I talked it over with myself last night — — and we both went to sleep." [Movie dialogue from "Go West Young Man"]
• • Mae West said: "I've no time for broads who want to rule the world alone. Without men, who'd do up the zipper on the back of your dress?"
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • An article about what you must not miss on TV [16 November 2011] mentioned Mae West.
• • British TV reporter Andrew Ryan writes: She Done Him Wrong on TCM, 11:30 p.m. ET; 8:30 p.m. PT — — Why is Mae West still considered the original big-screen sexpot? Watch this classic 1933 feature that made instantly made her one of Hollywood's biggest box-office draws. With hips a-swishing, West plays the wisecracking Lady Lou, who works as a singer at a rowdy saloon. The lowlife owner Gus (Noah Beery Sr.) gives Lou diamonds to win her affection, but the femme fatale is more attracted to the handsome temperance leader Captain Cummings, played by Cary Grant in one of his earliest film roles."...
• • Source: Article: "A select viewing guide for Wednesday, Nov. 16th" written by Andrew Ryan for The Globe and Mail [UK]; posted on 16 November 2011
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started seven years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 2120th 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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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • 1976 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest
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Mae West.
"Go West Young Man" starring MAE WEST (as the man-eating movie marquee marvel Mavis Arden) was released in the USA in the eleventh month — — on 18 November 1936. Since there is a clause in Mavis Arden's contract with Superfine Pictures, Inc. that bans her from going anywhere near an announcement of the Banns of Marriage, the starlet is always receptive to male attention and affection. It falls to Morgan, her press agent, to be sure she is not tempted. Resuming her publicity tour, Mavis is detained in a sleepy town ninety miles outside Harrisburg, Pennsylvania when her customized Rolls Royce breaks down. 
• • According to some vintage vehicle experts, this Rolls-Royce started life with a 1929 Phantom II chassis. However, in 1936 the original body was transferred to a RR Phantom III. During the pre-war era, the Hollywood actress Constance Bennett owned it, agreed to loan it to the movie studios, and it was featured in some films. A scene in "Go West Young Man" shows Mae West in Miss Bennett's automobile.
• • The production began in early August at General Service Studios and wrapped up on 29 September 1936.
• • There were many snappy exchanges between the long-suffering, ever vigilant Morgan and Mavis, believed to be demure, chaste, and ladylike — — of course, anything but.
• • • Morgan: But you'd better think of your reputation.
• • • Mavis Arden: You think of it. That's what you're bein' paid for.
• • In November, Let's Remember James B. Carson [1884 — 1958] • •
• • Actor James B. Carson [1884 — 1958] worked with Mae West in "Vera Violetta," which opened on 20 November 1911 at the Winter Garden Theatre. The Broadway veteran was cast as Professor Otto von Gruenberg. It was on 22 December 1884 that Carson was born in Missouri. He was active on The Great White Way from 1908 — 1928.
• • James B. Carson died in November — — on 18 November 1958. He was 73 years old.
• • "Vera Violetta," offered in repertory with "Undine," remained at the Winter Garden Theatre through the Christmas holidays, closing on 24 February 1912.
• • After the clash with Gaby Deslys, Mae West's part as Miss Angelique from the Opera Comique was awarded to Kathleen Clifford, who also worked with Mae on Broadway in "A Winsome Widow" [April — September 1912].
• • On 18 November 1927 • •
• • In February 1927, when Mae West was arrested and her play "Sex" was shuttered, she came face to face with Humphrey Bogart's wife Helen Menken, whose lesbian drama "The Captive" was raided on the same night. The previous year, Helen Menken had wed Bogart at her mother's posh residence on Gramercy Park. A nasty drunk, after an evening of bar-room carousing, he would come home and assault his wife whenever he was deeply intoxicated. That marriage did not even last two years. The couple divorced in November — — on 18 November 1927.
• • On 18 November 1995 • •
• • In the U.K., Virago (a British publisher specializing in women authors) reprinted the novelized version of "She Done Him Wrong" by Mae West. There was a book review in The Irish Times in the month of November — — on 18 November 1995.
• • Dublin-based critic Arminta Wallace called it "a hard-edged novella with a soft centre" and she wrote: "To put it frankly, Diamond Lil was a beautiful short course to hell." …
• • On 18 November 2003 • •
• • Auction house Christie's held a sale of "Entertainment Memorabilia" on 18 November 2003 in New York City at Rockefeller Plaza.
• • Christie's described it like this: A large collection of over fifty black and white photographs signed by various actors including Mae West, Barbara Stanwyck, Lillian Gish, Van Johnson, Cary Grant, Bette Davis, Claudette Colbert, Gilbert Roland, Joan Crawford, Norma Shearer, Irene Dunne, Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor, Gloria Swanson, Ginger Rogers, Ida Lupino, Mary Astor, Fay Wray, Tyrone Power, Lauren Bacall, Ava Gardner, Marion Davies, Clara Bow, Fred Astaire, Ethel Barrymore, Ronald Colman, and Paul Heinreid among many others.
• • On 18 November 2007 • •
• • The amusing article "Why blondes make men act dumb" written by David Wilkes was published in the British tabloid The Daily Mail on 18 November 2007.
• • David Wilkes began his feature with this first sentence: From Mae West and Marilyn Monroe to more modern examples such as Paris Hilton, "blonde" has long been a by-word for a woman not overly blessed in the brain department.
• • David Wilkes explained: Now the stereotype of the "dumb blonde" is so firmly ingrained in the male psyche that men subconsciously become more stupid than they really are when they see one, according to scientists.
• • David Wilkes continued: Without realising it, they mimic what they believe — — often incorrectly — — to be the lesser intelligence of a blonde woman in order to get along with her, a study suggests. ...
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West wrote this line for the character Mavis Arden, an actress, in 1936: "Don't be modest. Modesty never gets you anything. I know." [Movie dialogue from "Go West Young Man"]
• • Mae West said: "I like my clothes to be tight enough to show I'm a woman, but loose enough to show I'm a lady."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • An article about organizing a classic film fest in Prosser, Washington mentioned Mae West.
• • Local reporter Pat Muir writes: "A lot of parents are bringing their kids because they want them to see what they saw and make that connection," Rick James says.
• • That parents can share that by taking their kids to see films on the big screen rather than at home on a little TV or computer screen is important, Rick James explains. His own favorite so far is "She Done Him Wrong," the Mae West vehicle that The Princess Theatre ran in April [2011]. "Everyone talks about Mae West," he says. "I'd never seen Mae West on the screen and it was a blast to see her."...
• • Source: Article: "Prosser's picture show: Historic theater to show classic film" written by Pat Muir for The Yakima Herald-Republic; posted on 16 November 2011
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started seven years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 2119th 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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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • Mavis Arden's Rolls-Royce, 1936 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest
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Mae West.
MAE WEST was so well known during the 1930s that even an unfortunate experience would lead to mega-watt attention. The media capitalized on this, naturally. Her terrifying jewel robbery became a popular episode on the radio show "Calling All Cars" — — The Mae West Jewel Robbery.
• • And the heist even made the cover of True Detective Mysteries [issue for November 1934 — — "The Mae West Extortion Plot"]. When you're a movie queen, it seems that nothing is too gruesome to be commercialized. You can believe that this robbery was the real thing, too, not some flimsy hoax dreamed up by a press agent for the news men's attention. Phew!
• • In November, Let's Remember Rock Hudson [1925 — 1985] • •
• • Under the golden gaze of Oscar, Mae West made an appearance with this discretely gay actor who was born during the eleventh month — — on 17 November 1925. In 1958, the tall, dark, and handsome heart-throb sang a memorable duet with Mae — — "Baby, It's Cold Outside" — — during an Academy Awards Show.
• • Hailing from Winnetka, Illinois, handsome Rock Hudson [17 November 1925 — 2 October 1985] was a film and television actor who was a popular leading man during the 1960s and 1970s, most notably in several romantic screen romps with his most famous co-star Doris Day.
• • Rock Hudson was voted "Star of the Year," "Favorite Leading Man," and similar titles by numerous movie magazines, and was one of the most popular and well-known movie stars of the time. He completed nearly 70 motion pictures and starred in several television productions during a career that spanned over four decades. Hudson was also one of the first major Hollywood celebrities to die from an AIDS related illness.
• • On 17 November 1933 • •
• • It was in November — — on 17 November 1933 — — when Penrhyn Stanlaws [1877 — 1957] was interviewed about painting the face of Mae West, noted the Jackson Hole Star Tribune.
• • This portrait artist, who became famous for his paintings of beautiful women commissioned for the covers of magazines like The Saturday Evening Post, complained that Hollywood starlets were far from perfect beauties. The reporter for the Casper Tribune-Herald listed Penrhyn Stanlaws's critiques of stars such as Mae West, Katherine Hepburn, Constance Bennett, and Greta Garbo. His only criticism of Kay Francis, however, was that she had overdeveloped triceps but otherwise had "nicely balanced features."
• • On 17 November 2005 • •
• • One man looks at a pink corset and thinks of lacy lingerie covering a beauteous bustline. Another man might discover his ideal lass in glass.• • The exhibition "Decades in Glass: The 1960s" had a gala opening at the West Bridge of Museum [Corning, NY] on 17 November 2005; the show remained in place and could be viewed until 2 April 2006. 
The talented American artist Richard Marquis (born in 1945) created the Mae West Cup and it was on display. The catalogue credit for the piece read: Richard Marquis and Italy, Murano, Venini Glassworks, 1969-1970; Blown a canne glass; zippered cloth container; H: 8 cm, W: 12 cm, D: 10.5 cm. The Corning Museum of Glass.
• • Image: The delightful Mae West Cup by Richard Marquis• • Mae West Radio Trivia • •
• • The following is an account by radio script writer Arch Obler, who put together the Garden of Eden skit for "The Chase and Sanborn Hour" on short notice in 1937. He discusses Mae's nearsightedness and how she would never wear her eyeglasses in public.
• • "Now one thing the powers-that-be forgot," recalled Arch Oboler, "that in those days, unlike today, there were three things that an actress could not do. One was to have a child out of wedlock. Two, she could not swear. And three, she could not wear glasses. It was thought terrible for an actress to be seen in spectacles. Well, Miss Mae West, having all the usual good sense of all of us, did not wear her glasses during the rehearsals so she, being very nearsighted never saw my script. She bluffed her way through. It wasn’t until air time that she walked on stage waving these glasses, put them on . . . and for the first time saw the script. The result was a disaster. What she did to ‘Adam and Eve’ the Arabs had never done so miserably."
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West wrote this line for the character Cleo Borden in 1935: "I'm a good woman for a bad man." [Movie dialogue from "Goin' to Town"]
• • Mae West said: "Cigarette me, Cossack!" [Movie dialogue from "Goin' to Town"]
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • Several teenagers, ages 15 — 19, were competing for the Miss Tehachapi title recently and one costumed herself as Mae West.
• • Tehachapi, California Community Reporter Shirley Given writes that "the young ladies brought a sense of confidence and maturity to the stage. The girls’ first appearance on stage was that of a star or character they admired. Among those portrayed were Dorothy, from Wizard of Oz, Alice, from Alice in Wonderland, Mae West, Lucille Ball, Audrey Hepburn, Olivia Newton-John, Marilyn Monroe, Sophia Loren, and Bette Davis." ...
• • Source: Article: "Tehachapi has new ‘royalty’" written by Shirley Given, Community Reporter for Tehachapi News; posted on Tuesday, 15 November 2011
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started seven years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 2118th 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 • • 1934 • •
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