Mae West: Sleep with Mae

Known locally as the "MAE WEST house" thanks to its protruding porches, this charmer is situated in Cape May, New Jersey where Victorian era residences have been preserved in all their grand-scale glory.

• • Constructed circa 1922, the Kate McCreary House (1005 Beach Avenue) can be viewed in Cape May's extensive historic district.

• • Sleep in the Mae West Suite • • 

• • The Brooklyn bombshell inspired several hotelkeepers to offer a "Mae West Room." You can find one at the Inn at Long Lake in Maine or at the El Rancho Hotel and Motel in New Mexico.  Supposedly the movie queen spent the night at Colorado's Baldpate Inn, where their "Mae West Room" features a red claw-foot tub and awesome valley views.  In Arizona, the Cottonwood Hotel designated # 4 as the "Mae West Suite," furnished with a claw foot tub, separate sitting area, and queen-sized bed; the Hotel San Carlos created a generous, glitzy "Mae West Suite," which duplicates the movie queen's bed, here bedecked with a red brocade crown and overhang.  And in California, Palm Springs Gay Resort Hotel has named each unit for an iconic movie star including Mae West.

• • Salvador Dalí [11 May 1904 — 23 January 1989] • • 

• • Dali's fascination with Mae West was a long one.

• • Salvador Dalí was a Catalan-Spanish artist who became one of the most important painters of the 20th century. A gouache now in Chicago illustrates his original plan executed during the early 1930s for a "paranoiac-critical room" based on the features of Mae's face. When the Dalí Museum in Figueras was being constructed during the early 1970s, his Mae West Room was finally built to his specifications.

• • Genesis of the Mae West Lips Sofa (1937): Dalí had first painted The Face of Mae West (Usable as a Surrealist Apartment) in 1934. Later on, Edward James, a rich British patron of the Surrealists in the 1930s, commissioned this companion piece from Dalí. The Mae West sofa is the same color as the "shocking pink" lipstick shade inspired by the actress, and developed by the fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli.

• • On Saturday, 11 May 1935 • •

• • Movie critic Andre Sennwald offered his review of "Goin' to Town," starring Mae West, to the readers of The New York Times on page 21 on Saturday, 11 May 1935.

• • On Friday, 10 May 1935, this new motion picture opened in Mae's hometown at the New York Paramount.

• • On Friday, 11 May 2012 • •

• • Word comes today from Dallas, Texas that Frausun (a funky electronic musician from The Lone Star State) has just released his 11th studio album “FagGuts.” His latest compilation covers themes of war, faith, and sexuality with songs such as “A (Girl) Who Takes Her Time” — — a favorite Mae West cover.

• • In Her Own Words • •

• • Mae West said: "I was told I could pay the fine and get out of going to jail, but I made up my own mind. I decided it would be more interesting to go to prison."

• • Quote, Unquote • •

• • An article on an annual festival in Alabama mentioned Mae West.

• • Dothan, Alabama native Johnny Mack Brown [1904 — 1974] was 23 in 1927 when he was cast in his first motion picture. Seven years later, the handsome six-foot-one actor played the role of Brooks Claybourne in "Belle of the Nineties" [1934].

• • Alabama reporter Peggy Ussery notes: In all, Brown appeared in more than 165 B-Western movie and TV productions and starred with Hollywood legends like Mae West, Greta Garbo, Joan Crawford, Mary Pickford, John Wayne, and Tex Ritter. ...

• • Source: Article: "Annual festival seeks to keep memory of cowboy movie hero alive" written by Peggy Ussery for Dothan Eagle; posted on 11 May 2011

• • Quote, Unquote • •

• • An article on a museum exhibit mentioned Mae West and introduced the piece with a large Mae West photo under the title.

• • Lori Ettlinger Gross writes: The new exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum’s Costume Institute, “American Woman: Fashioning a National Identity,” examines the evolution of style in this country and the appreciation of the breeze-easy female. Replacing the cosseted woman with a spirited American paradigm trumpeted more than the exchange of a corset for a shift dress, however. It sparked an upheaval in social etiquette: Women of independent means began buying their own jewelry. Fashion may have rattled the cage for change, yet it was gems and precious metals that broke the chains of Europe.

• • Lori Ettlinger Gross continues: The years covered by the exhibition, 1890 to 1940, were arguably the most innovative in jewelry design. Venerable houses and ambitious designers vied for the necks of socialites and celebrities. Success and the wealth that follows create their own self-determination. Take Mae West, for example, who bought a casket’s worth of Beaux-Art jewels and transformed herself into Diamond Lil. ...

• • Source: Article: "The Bling Factor | ‘American Woman’ at the Met" written by Lori Ettlinger Gross for The N.Y. Times; posted on 11 May 2010

• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started seven years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 2297th 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: Williamsburg

MAE WEST is in the libraries this week. "She Done Him Wrong" [1933] will be the film feature today in Williamsburg.

 • • WHEN: 2 pm Thursday, 10 May 2012

 • • WHERE: Williamsburg Library Theatre, 515 Scotland Street, Williamsburg, VA

 • • On Friday, 10 May 1935 • •

 • • On Friday, 10 May 1935 Frank Wallace filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles, California against Mae West declaring she was damaging his reputation and his professional standing by denying they had wed.  The movie star spent quite a long time continuing to deny it.

• • On Friday, 10 May 1935 in NYC • •

• • On Friday, 10 May 1935, "Goin' to Town" opened in Mae West's hometown at the New York Paramount.

• • On Monday, 10 May 1948 in Brighton • •

• • According to Kate Elms, Brighton History Centre:

• • On Monday, 10 May 1948, screen siren Mae West took her seat at Brighton’s Theatre Royal for the European premiere of ‘Ladies, Please!’ She co-wrote the play and was in town to attend its European premiere, bringing with her a dash of Hollywood glitz and glamour. And, judging by reviews published in local papers, the play was an ideal tonic for a town still in the grip of rationing and other post war austerity measures.

• • • "Ladies Please!" at the Theatre Royal, Monday, 10 May 1948 • • •

• • According to Kate Elms, Brighton History Centre:

• • Heading the cast were George Gee and Betty Frankiss, who was famous for her panto appearances, supported by Pat McGrath and Dick Emery. The plot centered on two men (played by McGrath and Emery), who attend a birthday party dressed as women, with predictably comic results. The Brighton & Hove Herald declared that, ‘In a red wig and purple sequins, Dick Emery is irresistible and his clowning never flags, while Pat McGrath plays his platinum blonde companion with equal ease.’ And according to the Gazette, ‘It [the play] oozes sex from the opening lines to the final curtains but is honest enough to pretend to be nothing else but what it is — — a blasé farce.’

• • In Her Own Words • •

• • Mae West said: "Well, they've sued me for everything else."

• • Quote, Unquote • •

• • An article on a screening at MOMA mentioned Mae West.

• • According to NBC New York's Elizabeth Bougerol: WEST WAS WON: 1933’s “She Done Him Wrong” is best known for the bit where sassy saloon owner Mae West (who wrote the play the movie is based on) suggests to Cary Grant (whom she frankly looks like she could benchpress) that he might want to come up and see her sometime. The rest of the movie goes down just as easily, and is a nice reminder that not all early leading ladies were wispy, glowy butterflies or dark femmes fatales — West’s appeal is far more complicated than all that. MoMA, 8 pm  . . .

• • Source: News Item: "5/10: Ane Brun, Mae West, and the Electravox — — Three ways to pretend it’s not Monday" written by Elizabeth Bougerol for NBCNewYork.com; posted on 10 May 2010

• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started seven years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 2296th 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: Name-Calling

When MAE WEST finally unhitched herself from the balding vaudevillian Frank Wallace, one of Time Magazine's resident Anglophiles sneered that it was because the actress was afraid to be known in the movie colony as "Mrs. Mamie Szatkus."

• • MAMIE — This name has finally pushed back its Mamie Eisenhower bangs and is ready to join Maisie as a friendly May update, according to Pamela Redmond Satran. Satran has an opinion on MAE and MAY as well. Satran writes: Though they sound like identical twin names, Mae and May — — both of which are coming back strong as middle names — — give off somewhat different vibes. Mae is a bit sassy, a la Mae West, while May is sweeter and more sentimental and springlike.

• • Aren't you glad that issue is settled?

• • Fuzzy Knight [9 May 1901 — 23 February 1976] • •

• • “Fuzzy” Knight, who usually portrayed a comic sidekick in dozens of motion pictures, was born John Forest Knight in the month of May — — on 9 May 1901 — — in the Friendly City (Fairmont, West Virginia). He died on 23 February 1976.

• • Though some sources cite Fuzzy Knight's first film appearance as “She Done Him Wrong” [1933] with Mae West, the Internet Movie Data Base (IMDB) noted his first movie role was as an uncredited “party guest” in “Night Parade” [1929]. He went on to appear in “My Little Chickadee,” which starred Mae West and W.C. Fields.

• • On Sunday, 9 May 1937 in The L.A. Times • •

• • Usually supportive of Mae, Sidney Skolsky vented his frustrations in The L.A. Times on Sunday, 9 May 1937.  Skolsky wrote about the perfidiousness of Mae's denials when "she insisted that she was leveling with the press when she told them she had never been married to Frank Wallace."  He said he did not trust her any longer. Ah, those pesky retractions.

• • On Tuesday, 9 May 1944 • •

• • The National Collection of War Art owns a poignant line drawing.  The title is "Duncan McPhee, Mae West and Lt. Lindsay, near New Georgia, 9 May 1944" (and Lt. Lindsay is depicted wearing his Mae West).

• • On Monday, 9 May 2005 in Playbill • •

• • On Monday, 9 May 2005, Broadway buffs learned that Diamond Lil's theatre was to be renamed.  Mae West's play "Diamond Lil" was a huge hit for the Royale in 1928. However, on May 9th in New York City, the Plymouth and the Royale were re-dedicated as the Schoenfeld and Jacobs Theatres.

• • In Her Own Words • •

• • Mae West said: "They'll have me married to triplets next! Let this alleged Mr. Mae West c'm' up and see my lawyer sometime and prove it!"

• • Quote, Unquote • •

• • An article on the initial Cannes Film Fest mentioned Mae West.

• • Kenneth Turan writes: The initial Cannes film festival was scheduled for the first three weeks of September 1939. Hollywood responded by sending over "The Wizard of Oz" and "Only Angels Have Wings" along with a "steamship of stars" including Mae West, Gary Cooper, Norma Shearer, and George Raft. The Germans, however, chose 1 September 1939 to invade Poland, and after the opening-night screening of "The Hunchback of Notre Dame," the festival was cancelled and didn't start up again until 1946. .. .

• • Source: Article: "A festival of art and prostitution" written by USA critic Kenneth Turan for The Guardian [UK]; published on Thursday, 9 May 2002

• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started seven years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 2295th 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 • • April 1911 • •
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