Mae West: Truman Capote

Truman Capote once said: “Mae West is the Big Ben of the hourglass figures.” And clearly the writer always kept one eye on the clock and the other on the first line of his obituary. In a cheeky essay "Self-Portrait, 1972," Capote offered this bit of in-wit: "Not long ago, my doctor suggested that I adopt some healthier hobby other than wine-tasting and fornication. He asked if I could think of anything. I said, 'Yes, murder.'"
• • Well, the gay blade may be dead but his fifteen minutes are still carving out an extension. Two months ago, Random House released a tomb-sized collection, Portraits and Observations: The Essays of Truman Capote.
• • Tavo Amador, book critic for The Bay Area Reporter, had a few things to say about the late author, Mae West, Andre Gide, and Jean Cocteau.
• • Tavo Amador wrote: Truman Capote (1924-84) lived in the beau monde and, when focused, was a superb writer. He's become a cottage industry during the last few years. Portraits and Observations: The Essays of Truman Capote. His sketches range from gay French writers Andre Gide and Jean Cocteau to Mae West, whom he met in the 1950s at a party while she was appearing in her nightclub act in Manhattan [at the Latin Quarter].
• • Using a whole lot of sibilants, Truman Capote observed: "Removed from the protective realm of her hilarious creation, her sexless symbol of uninhibited sexuality, she was without defense: her long lashes fluttered like the feelers of a beetle on its back."
• • Tavo Amador adds his two cents: Only when a young woman told West she had seen her play Diamond Lil at the Museum of Modern Art did West show her toughness. "Whaddya mean, a 'museum?'" . . .
• • Tavo Amador's remarks about Mae were spooned into his book column in The Bay Area Reporter on 6 December 2007, which ran under the bland tapioca title "Book suggestions for holiday giving." [Yawn.]

• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
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Mae West.