Mae West: Impressive Earnings

MAE WEST had her share of coverage from Variety, whose publisher Sime Silverman was invariably scornful, condescending, and critical. In 2021, Variety’s editorial viewpoint turned tail, deciding they’d come this time “not to bury Caesar but to praise him.” The task fell to Tim Gray, who had this to say. This is Part 4 of 10 segments.
• • Mae West: The Sex-Positive Old Hollywood Icon Who Was Far Ahead of Her Time • •
• • Mae West: Recognized an opportunity for publicity • •    
• • Tim Gray wrote: Mae West chose to serve the jail term (10 days) rather than pay a fine, because she knew it was good publicity.

• • Tim Gray wrote: Variety reported that “Sex” was earning an impressive $10,000 a week at the 63rd Street theater.
• • Tim Gray wrote: She followed it up with “The Drag,” depicting homosexuals in a positive light.
• • Tim Gray wrote: More battles with censors, more big business.
• • Tim Gray wrote: She deadpanned, “I believe in censorship. After all, I made a fortune out of it.”
• • Mae West: Breaking rules • • …  
• • Tim Gray’s article will continue on the next post.
• • Source: Variety; published on Tuesday, 17 August 2021.
• • On Monday, 16 September 1928 • •
• • Mae West's play "Pleasure Man" opened on a Monday evening on 16 September 1928 at the Bronx Opera House in New York City.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Universal catches Mae West on a delayed rebound from Paramount, teaming her with W.C. Fields for a hefty package of lusty humor. Picture marks return of Mae West to the screen after two years absence.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said:  "I wouldn't do a picture if it weren't right for me."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • An American newsman interviewed Mae West.
• • Willis Thornton wrote: From the day when she was born in that Brooklyn fastness — —  which her nativity entitles her to call "Green-pernt" — —  she was destined for the stage.  But in those days few thought that the little daughter of Jack West, Brooklyn lightweight prize fighter of the days of Sullivan and Corbett, would rule the world of fashion.
• • Willis Thornton wrote: Mae West said she first went on the stage at four and a half. …
• • Source: "Go West Young Woman, Go West," a syndicated feature, appeared in various newspapers starting around  Sunday, 10 September 1933
• • 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 17th anniversary • • 
• • Thank you for reading, sending questions, and posting comments during these past seventeen years. Not long ago, we entertained 3,497 visitors. And we reached a milestone recently when we completed 4,800 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started fifteen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 4,823rd 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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• • Be sure to bookmark or follow The Mae West Blog
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • in 1928 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest

Mae West: Two Evils

MAE WEST had her share of coverage from Variety, whose publisher Sime Silverman was invariably scornful, condescending, and critical. In 2021, Variety’s editorial viewpoint turned tail, deciding they’d come this time “not to bury Caesar but to praise him.” The task fell to Tim Gray, who had this to say. This is Part 3 of 10 segments.
• • Mae West: The Sex-Positive Old Hollywood Icon Who Was Far Ahead of Her Time • •
• • Mae West: Her most remembered lines • •  
• • Tim Gray wrote: Two of her most remembered lines were: “When I’m good, I’m very good. But when I’m bad, I’m better” and “When caught between two evils, I generally pick the one I’ve never tried before.”

• • Tim Gray wrote: After creating her own material for a solo act, she expanded this talent by writing plays.
• • Tim Gray wrote: In 1926, Variety was upbeat about her play “Sex,” adding, “Miss West gives a remarkable performance.”
• • Tim Gray wrote: The New York Times, though, called it “crude and inept” and she ended up being arrested for “corrupting the morals of youth.”
• • Mae West: Recognized an opportunity for publicity • •  …  
• • Tim Gray’s article will continue on the next post.
• • Source: Variety; published on Tuesday, 17 August 2021.
• • On Tuesday, 15 September 1931 • •
• • The article “Mae West Returns” was printed in The New York Sun on Tuesday, 15 September 1931.
• • The stage review "Play 'Constant Sinner' Opens" was seen in the New York American on Tuesday, 15 September 1931.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • With Mae West starting the proceedings by remote control from Hollywood on Saturday night, Hollywood-at-the-Fair opened at the Chicago Fair with its new setup under the head of 0. W. Rosenthal and Raymond D. Berry.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "Lions surely do have halitosis."
• • Mae West said: "The score never interested me, only the game."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • An American newsman interviewed Mae West.
• • Product of the Theater • •
• • Willis Thornton wrote: Once more a woman of the theater dictates what her unprofessional sisters shall wear. And Mae West is essentially a woman of the theater.
• • Willis Thornton wrote: She is a trouper, and like almost every Broadway success, hides years of unwept, unhonored and unsung trouping behind the dazzling light of present-day success. …
• • Source: "Go West Young Woman, Go West," a syndicated feature, appeared in various newspapers starting around Sunday, 10 September 1933  
• • 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 17th anniversary • • 
• • Thank you for reading, sending questions, and posting comments during these past seventeen years. Not long ago, we entertained 3,497 visitors. And we reached a milestone recently when we completed 4,800 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started fifteen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 4,822nd 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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• • Be sure to bookmark or follow The Mae West Blog
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • in 1926 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest

Mae West: Sex Taboos

MAE WEST had her share of coverage from Variety, whose publisher Sime Silverman was invariably scornful, condescending, and critical. In 2021, Variety’s editorial viewpoint turned tail, deciding they’d come this time “not to bury Caesar but to praise him.” The task fell to Tim Gray, who had this to say. This is Part 2 of 10 segments.
• • Mae West: The Sex-Positive Old Hollywood Icon Who Was Far Ahead of Her Time • •
• • Mae West: How she challenged taboos about sex • •  
• • Tim Gray wrote: That doesn’t provide a lot of clues, but the phrase Mae used in her vaudeville publicity ― “her way is all her own” ― sums up her style and her work.

• • Tim Gray wrote: Mae West took charge of her life and career.
• • Tim Gray wrote: She challenged taboos by dealing with sex in a comic tone, when America’s Puritan streak was in full flower.
• • Tim Gray wrote: Her frank and bawdy humor opened doors for subsequent generations of comics and she was always in the driver’s seat with her career, never beholden to anyone.
• • Tim Gray wrote: Mae West perfected a slow sashaying walk and a deadpan delivery of one-liners, which were often double entendres.
• • Mae West: Most remembered films • •  …  
• • Tim Gray’s article will continue on the next post.
• • Source: Variety; published on Tuesday, 17 August 2021.
• • On Monday, 14 September 1931 • •
• • On Monday, 14 September 1931, Mae West's Harlem drama "The Constant Sinner" opened on Broadway. Mae took the role of Babe Gordon.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • The Hollywood Reporter wrote: Mae West is to do a modernized version of "Du Barry," from a story now being developed by the William LeBaron unit.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "Don't try to make me respectable.  My public expects me to be bad."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • An American newsman interviewed Mae West.
• • Madame Binner, New York's famous corsetiere • •
• • Willis Thornton wrote: Corsets? Sure! They go with the hour-glass figure. But Mae West feels they needn't be an encumbrance. Mae likes a figure which has identical hip and bust measurements, with a waist 10 inches smaller. But (in 1928) when she was about to create "Diamond Lil" she went undulating right down to Madame Binner, New York's famous corsetiere, and had herself designed a corset that encouraged an upward curve for the bosom, but was short enough not to interfere with freedom of the knees.
• • Willis Thornton wrote: The main thing, according to Mae West, about corsets, is "You got to have something to put in 'em. Know what I mean?" The whole world knows  — — or at least it will when the new fashions appear. …
• • Source: "Go West Young Woman, Go West," a syndicated feature, appeared in various newspapers starting around Sunday, 10 September 1933
• • 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 17th anniversary • • 
• • Thank you for reading, sending questions, and posting comments during these past seventeen years. Not long ago, we entertained 3,497 visitors. And we reached a milestone recently when we completed 4,800 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started fifteen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 4,821st 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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• • Be sure to bookmark or follow The Mae West Blog
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • on the vaudeville circuit in 1918 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest

Mae West: Sex-Positive

MAE WEST had her share of coverage from Variety, whose publisher Sime Silverman was invariably scornful, condescending, and critical. In 2021, Variety’s editorial viewpoint turned tail, deciding they’d come this time “not to bury Caesar but to praise him.” The task fell to Tim Gray, who had this to say. This is Part 1 of 10 segments.
• • Mae West: The Sex-Positive Old Hollywood Icon Who Was Far Ahead of Her Time • •
• • Tim Gray wrote: There weren’t many other figures of old Hollywood like Mae West, a bold comic performer who was at least 50 years head of her time in terms of her material and command of her career.

• • Tim Gray wrote: She was born August 17, probably in 1893, though accounts differ. Variety covered her vaudeville appearances starting in 1911, describing her as a “cyclonic young singer” in shows like “Big Gaiety Review.”
• • Tim Gray wrote: In 1912, Variety tried to discreetly describe her specialty act in Philadelphia, which was called “A Muscle Dance in a Sitting Position.”
• • Tim Gray wrote: The PR stated: “It is all in the way she does it, and her way is all her own.”
• • Mae West: How she challenged taboos about sex  • •  …  
• • Tim Gray’s article will continue on the next post.
• • Source: Variety; published on Tuesday, 17 August 2021.
• • On Sunday, 13 September 1953 • •
• • Walter Ames wrote the amusing article "Who's Marilyn Monroe, Queen Mae West Asks" for The Los Angeles Times. His piece ran on the front page — — of the weekend edition dated for Sunday, 13 September 1953.  
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Paramount's in-house publicists, Hollywood columnists, and newsmen often used catchphrases like "the Wild West," "West is West," and "Go West, Young Man" to promote Mae and her career.
• • One journalist of the 1930s wrote, "West is no longer a region; it's a woman. A brand new type of 'western' has suddenly appeared—nothing to do with cowboys and the great open spaces, but wild enough for all that. Mae West is a whole wild west show in herself."
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: “I can't be bothered with a husband right now. Maybe later ― ― if I ever get time.”
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • An article about a new TV show mentioned Mae West.
• • TV Guide wrote: Mae West, now 66, will soon star in a five-a-week, late night, quarter hour show locally, and then has plans for a film series, "Klondike Lou."  ...
• • Source: TV Guide; published on  Saturday, 13 September 1958
• • 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 17th anniversary • • 
• • Thank you for reading, sending questions, and posting comments during these past seventeen years. Not long ago, we entertained 3,497 visitors. And we reached a milestone recently when we completed 4,800 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started fifteen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 4,820th 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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• • Be sure to bookmark or follow The Mae West Blog
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • on the vaudeville circuit • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest

Mae West: Cadillac Fleetwood

MAE WEST used this limousine daily, then gifted it to Criswell.  Discover the Hollywood history of a 4-wheel star.
• • Mae West’s 1950 Cadillac Fleetwood 75 Limousine • •  
• • Elena Gorgan wrote: Along the years, several Cadillac limousines attached to the first Francis Ford Coppola-directed Godfather film have emerged for sale, which was to be expected. Set between the 1945-1955 decade, it features plenty of vehicles from that era, and some of them traded hands for handsome sums of money in the following years.

• • Elena Gorgan wrote: This particular one was also included in the film but is a bit more special. The listing at Hollywood memorabilia auction house GWS Auctions makes it sound as if we’re talking about a hero vehicle. This 1950 Cadillac Fleetwood 75 Limousine was used extensively during the filming and then went on to have what you might call an impressive movie career.
• • Elena Gorgan wrote: It also comes with celebrity provenance, having been used as a daily by actress and icon Mae West.
• • Mae West gave it to Criswell, her psychic friend • •
• • Elena Gorgan wrote: The 1950 Fleetwood comes with extensive documentation, the auction house notes. It’s been displayed publicly before, and comes with the purchase memo, documents from Keystone Entertainment, previous registration info, restoration records and a letter that attests Robert George Harrison bought it in 1991.
• • Elena Gorgan wrote: This letter mentions that Harrison was gifted the car by his employer, Charles Criswell King, who, in turn, had been given it as a present by his client, Mae West.
• • Elena Gorgan wrote: Should the celebrity provenance not be enough to impress you, this limo boasts a decent list of acting credits, in addition to the 1972 appearance in The Godfather. It’s also been featured in Call Me Madam and Peyton Place.
• • Elena Gorgan wrote: Selling out of Aurora, Illinois, the limo is offered with a bill of sale as part of an auction of a Hollywood memorability lot.
• • Source: Auto Evolution; published on Wednesday, 17 March 2021.
• • On Wednesday, 10 September 1947 • •
• • "50 Men for Mae" • •
• • Fifty hefty, middle-aged actors are wanted to play American tough guys in Mae West's own play, "Diamond Lil." In London, Mae, who turned down 2,000 [pounds sterling] a week to play in London before the war, has packed her bags for Britain due on September 11 to start rehearsals for London's most expensive straight play.
• • "Diamond Lil," a tale of New York's Bowery in the rip-roaring 'nineties, opens in Manchester on October 20th and in London in January. It has a cast of 50 gangsters, dope fiends, gigolos, crooked lawyers, political racketeers — — and Mae, the Bowery Queen.
• • Mae insisted on taking over two American actors  (Hal Gould and Dick Bailey)  to play a low down Tammany politician and a Chicago gangster [Chick Clark]. For the rest, Tom Arnold is holding daily auditions in London.
• • Qualifications: Applicants must "talk rough and look it."  
• • Source: The Singapore Free Press; published on Wednesday, 10 September 1947.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Due in large part to gangster threats, Mae West will not leave Hollywood on a personal appearance tour on completion of her next motion picture for Paramount.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "There wasn't anyone to play to. ... It was the first time I'd opened without my Mother."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • An Australian publication discussed how popular Mae West was.
• • "Grand Theatre — Second Week for Mae West" • •
• • Film World wrote: Only films that prove more than usually popular are permitted to occupy the screen for two weeks at the Grand Theatre and, naturally, the Mae West success, "I'm No Angel," falls into this class. It will enter on its second and final week today . . .
• • Source: The West Australian; published on Friday, 7 September 1934
• • 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 17th anniversary • • 
• • Thank you for reading, sending questions, and posting comments during these past seventeen years. Not long ago, we entertained 3,497 visitors. And we reached a milestone recently when we completed 4,800 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started fifteen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 4,819th 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/
________
Source: https://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml  
• • Be sure to bookmark or follow The Mae West Blog
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • 1950 Cadillac Fleetwood • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest

Mae West: Sex with Harpo

MAE WEST didn’t like working with W.C. Fields. But fans continue to appreciate the “Old West” comedy they made together in 1940. This is Part 2 of 2.
• • DVD Review: Mae West: The Glamour Collection on Universal Home Video. • •
• • Five fine Mae West films thrown together in a shoddy white plastic package. • •
• • Dan Callahan wrote: The DVD set concludes with the semi-classic “My Little Chickadee,” where Mae West met her match, W.C. Fields.
• • Mae West: Sex with Harpo Marx • •

• • Dan Callahan wrote: All this Old West-style comedy really needed was for the Marx Brothers to show up and the whole world to break down into sex (Mae West), drink (Fields), and self-defeating puns (Marx Bros.), concluding in the end of life as we know it: the sexual congress of Mae West and Harpo Marx, as Groucho watches and W.C. Fields passes out.
• • Dan Callahan wrote: “My Little Chickadee” is like a movie you dream of but can’t imagine actually happening, which is why it’s always a little prosaic, a tad disappointing.
• • Dan Callahan wrote: W.C. Fields gets the lion’s share of the laughs.
• • Dan Callahan wrote: But Mae West gets in her innings during a schoolroom scene where she counsels some unruly boys: “Two and two are four, and five’ll get ya ten if ya know how to woik it,” she advises.

• • Dan Callahan wrote: Mae West did one more disastrous movie after “Chickadee,” called “The Heat’s On,” then returned to the stage and later to nightclubs.  …
• • Dan Callahan’s very entertaining article continues on Slant, however, this excerpt ends here.
• • Source: Slant Magazine; published on Thursday, 30 March 2006.
• • On Sunday, 9 September 1934 • •
• • "Me and My Past" was reprinted in Delaware Star on Sunday, 9 September 1934. Among other matters, Mae West discusses ("How Her Famous Gait Was Born with Ed Wynn and Frank Tinney") the development of her slow, studied, slouchy strut while appearing on Broadway in "Sometime" with Ed Wynn, a comedian who moved very quickly across the stage.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Joyce Haber wrote: Arthur, the West Coast replica of the Manhattan discotheque, opened on La Cienega on Wednesday night. Everyone was there except Warren Beatty, because almost everyone is an investor.  ... And Mae West. Mae West in the flesh. Mae West with a long platinum mane, in a flip hairdo. Mae West in folds of white satin, crystal-beaded at the neckline. Mae West with Reg Lewis, who was Mr. Universal (sic) in an unidentified year.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "I'd have a little writing to do here and there, so he'd work mostly in the in the mornings. I'd come in after lunch... it was easier to for me to work in the afternoons. But [W.C. Fields] would be late. Or he'd delay shooting the scenes. Fields knew all the time what he was doin'. The director came to me one day and said that Bill was on the sound stage, and that he'd been drinking. I said if he's been drinking let's get him out of here for the rest of the day. I had to go down to work, and I saw him there, showing off in front of about two hundred extras. The director told him, "Tomorrow morning, Bill," so he left. Tipped his hat to me on the way out. He was humorous, maybe. We didn't talk too often. When you're a star, you don't get much time for conversation, unless it's part of a scene."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • Variety mentioned Mae West and the cast of “The Wicked Age.”
• • Variety was not impressed with Mae West's harmonica playing in "The Wicked Age."  They were not amused by "Satisfied" nor the other songs she thought up like "My Baby's Kisses."  But the most startling element was her racy, tummy-tossing physicality.  
• • Variety reprimanded her in their review: "Miss West is getting away at $3.85 with something the [burlesque] wheels don't dare at $1.65."
• • Source: Variety; published on Friday, 9 September 1927
• • 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 17th anniversary • • 
• • Thank you for reading, sending questions, and posting comments during these past seventeen years. Not long ago, we entertained 3,497 visitors. And we reached a milestone recently when we completed 4,800 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started fifteen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 4,818th 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/
________
Source: https://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml  
• • Be sure to bookmark or follow The Mae West Blog
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • onscreen in 1943 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest