Mae West: Her Lean Years

At last, MAE WEST gets an outstanding, intimate biography by a family member, her step-son, whose education she financed. This is Part 1 of 7.
• • “Mae West and the Count — — Love and Loss on the Vaudeville Stage” by Guido Roberto Deiro
• • Reviewed exclusively for The Mae West Blog by R. Mark Desjardins
• • This new book goes a long way toward filling in some missing chapters in Mae West’s early personal and performing history. Her memoir “Goodness Had Nothing to Do with It,” published in 1959, glosses over the lean years when West was struggling in vaudeville and does not mention, for instance, her being blacklisted from theatres in 1913 for creating a disturbance on stage.
• • Faced with an otherwise limited booking potential, she worked as a chorus girl. She avoided mentioning her first marriage to fellow performer Frank Wallace in 1911, and only years later, after attaining fame as a movie star, did she admit to their nuptials. 

• • A subsequent marriage in 1914 to Count Guido Deiro, a suave, musical headliner who attained popularity introducing the then unknown piano-accordion, was deliberately not mentioned either.
• • Mae meets Mr. “D.” in Detroit • • . . .
• • Mr. Desjardins’ book review will be continued on the next post.
• • Source: “Mae West and the Count” — — a biography by Guido Roberto Deiro. [Outskirts Press; published on 20 March 2019; 331 pages.]
• • On Tuesday, 6 August 1912 • •
• • In 1912 a teenage Mae West was invited to perform again at Hammerstein's Victoria. The singing comedienne was booked for a week-long engagement that began on Tuesday, 6 August 1912.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • A poll of American school children has revealed that “Mae West, Joe Penner, and Mickie [sic] Mouse are the three most popular American citizens today,” according to Key West Citizen [12 May 1934].
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "What I mean is I was coming to the conclusion that boys made much better playmates than girls."
• • Mae West said: "I used to like to play Post Office. Mamma didn't object. But she got mad if I started giving special deliveries to one boy all the time. She wanted me to play with them all."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • Motion Picture Herald mentioned Mae West.
• • Mae West, en route to New York City, stopped over for a day to confer with Emmanuel Cohen and Ben Piazza. As a result of the conference, and several telephone calls from William LeBaron, Paramount production head in Hollywood, Mae changed her plans and took the Santa Fe Chief back to Hollywood to discuss a new contract with Paramount.
• • It is understood, however, that if the Paramount deal fails, Miss West will form a Mae West Productions company with Mr. Cohen and make her own pictures with probable release through either Columbia or Paramount. ...
• • Source: Motion Picture Herald; published on Saturday, 29 February 1936
• • The evolution of 2 Mae West plays that keep her memory alive • • 
• • A discussion with Mae West playwright LindaAnn LoSchiavo — — 
• • http://lideamagazine.com/renaissance-woman-new-york-city-interview-lindaann-loschiavo/

• • The Mae West Blog celebrates its 15th anniversary • •  

• • Thank you for reading, sending questions, and posting comments during these past fifteen years. Not long ago, we entertained 3,497 visitors. And we reached a milestone recently when we completed 4,200 blog posts. Wow!  

• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started fifteen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 4272nd 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 • • book cover in 2019 • •
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Mae West: Narcotic Existence

Like MAE WEST, Diane Arbus was a native New Yorker. An Australian stage play, inspired by their Los Angeles meeting and photo session, was widely reviewed. To commemorate Arbus’s untimely death, age 48, in summer (July 26, 1971), let’s ponder some of those critiques.
• • Let’s hear from another Australian drama critic now. This is Part 10 of of 10 segments, the finale.
• • In Stephen Sewell’s charming “Arbus and West,” feminism boils to the surface • •
• • living in a dream state but yet trapped • •
• • Sandra D’Urso wrote: Sewell empathises with Mae West’s realisation that being a woman is tantamount to living in a dream state, trapped in a condition of artifice and alienation from the world.
• • Sandra D’Urso wrote: It is to enter a contractual agreement to live as though you were a species of living dead trapped beneath a crust of glamour. A narcotic existence, so seemingly pleasurable and sensual that the terror of it escapes all our notice.

• • Sandra D’Urso wrote: I may be over-reaching here, but in the era of #MeToo in the Australian theatrical context there is something deeply hopeful about our most prominent playwrights developing a feminist politics in their work.
• • The play “Arbus and West” was staged at Arts Centre Melbourne until 30 March 2019.
• • Sandra D’Urso’s review has concluded here with Part 10. So enjoyable to share it with you.
• • Source: The Conversation; published on Wednesday, 6 March 2019.
• • On Tuesday, 5 August 1913 • •
• • On Tuesday, 5 August 1913, The New York Tribune's critic commented that even Mae's low neckline and raunchy bumps and grinds were not enough to sway the hoi polloi at Hammerstein's.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • In the early 1930s, when Mae West was vacationing at La Cinta, a posh resort favored by Paramount executives, she had an amazing experience with Amelia Earhart that she wrote about in her memoir “Mae West on Sex, Health and ESP.”
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "Jazz suited me — — I liked the beat and emotions."
• • Mae West said: "I like my sexes stable."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • Motion Picture Herald mentioned Mae West.
• • Hearst vs. Mae West • •
• • The William Randolph Hearst newspapers editorially lambasted Mae West's new picture this week and followed through with a refusal to accept advertisements for the key city showings now in progress.
• • "Mae West's 'Klondike Annie' is a disgrace to everyone connected with it," editorialized the Hearst papers, adding: "Paramount and Will Hays' office should be ashamed to allow it to be shown to the public."
• • The Paul Block newspapers in the East acted similarly. And, yes, they often do.  …
• • Source: Motion Picture Herald;  published on Saturday, 29 February 1936
• • The evolution of 2 Mae West plays that keep her memory alive • • 
• • A discussion with Mae West playwright LindaAnn LoSchiavo — — 
• • http://lideamagazine.com/renaissance-woman-new-york-city-interview-lindaann-loschiavo/

• • The Mae West Blog celebrates its 15th anniversary • •  

• • Thank you for reading, sending questions, and posting comments during these past fifteen years. Not long ago, we entertained 3,497 visitors. And we reached a milestone recently when we completed 4,200 blog posts. Wow!  

• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started fifteen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 4271st 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 • • photo by Diane Arbus in 1965 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest
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