Friday, August 16, 2013

Mae West: In Brooklyn Daily


The newspapers have started to commemorate the mid-August birthday of MAE WEST.
• • Columnist Joanna DelBuono wrote: The borough’s first diva, the platinum-haired Mae West was the saucy, sexy goddess that had men’s hearts aflutter. To celebrate her birthday, (she was born in Bushwick on August 17, 1893), borough daughters LindaAnn LoSchiavo and Darlene Violette are putting on a performance of West’s first Broadway success, “Diamond Lil.” ...
• • Joanna DelBuono's saucy feature is delightful: "Is that Standing O in your hand?"
• • Read "Standing O" this week (and every Thursday) on BrooklynDaily.com.
• • Link to the article printed on Friday, 16 August 2013:
http://www.brooklyndaily.com/stories/2013/33/all_standingo_box_2013_08_16_bd.html
• • On Sunday, 16 August 1964 • •
• • An article "Return Engagement" appeared in The New York Times on Sunday, 16 August 1964. Plans were then in the works for Mae to be featured on the TV sit-com "Mister Ed" for a second episode. Mae was to have played a saloon keeper. This TV project fizzled out, it seems.
• • Save the Dates: August 17th and August 18th • • 
• • What: two more events timed to celebrate the 120th birthday of Mae West, born in Brooklyn, NY on August 17, 1893
• • There are some seats left so tell your fun-loving friends about these special dates!
• • All of the sex and none of the censorship . . . • • 
• • The novel "Diamond Lil" closely follows the 3-hour production Mae performed onstage from 1928 — 1951, and it is much more exciting than the family-friendly screen version. Playwright LindaAnn Loschiavo massaged Mae's classic opus into an 85-minute adaptation featuring all of the sex and none of the censorship. No intermission. 
• • There will be two stagings of "Diamond Lil" on August 17th and August 18th in NYC.
 • • The Cast: Starring Darlene Violette as Diamond Lil, Queen of the Bowery and also featuring Sidney Myer, Anthony DiCarlo, Joanna Bonaro, Gary Napoli, Juan Sebastian Cortes, Kimmy Foskett, Jim Gallagher and live music by Brian McInnis
• • New Adaptation: "Diamond Lil" by Mae West in a new adaptation for the stage by LindaAnn Loschiavo — and costumed in 1890s Bowery style.
• • On Saturday, 17 August 2013 at 7:30pm on West 38th St. • •
• • One night only! • •
• • Where: John Strasberg Studios, 555 8th Avenue, Suite 2310, New York, NY 10018;  accessible to wheelchairs
• • August 17th Mae West Raffle Tickets are free
• • August 17th  Admission: $10 — must be pre-paid!
• • RSVP: Advance sale tickets: you must email MaeWestDiamondLil (at) gmail (dot) com
• • Closest MTA subway stations: 42nd St./ Times Sq. via A, C, E, 1, 2, 3 
• • The public is invited (suitable for age 18 and over)
• • Updates: facebook.com/MaeWestDiamondLil
• • On Sunday, 18 August 2013 at 7:00pm on West 46th St. • • 
• • One night only! • •
• • Where: Don't Tell Mama, 343 West 46th Street, NYC 10036; T. (212) 757-0788
• • August 18th Mae West Raffle Tickets are free
• • RSVP: August 18th  Admission:  $15.00 cover charge plus a two drink minimum
• • Reservations: www.donttellmamanyc.com
• • Closest MTA subway stations: 42nd St./ Times Sq. via A, C, E, 1, 2, 3 
• • The public is invited (suitable for age 18 and over). Join us as we turn the iconic NYC nightspot Don't Tell Mama into Gus Jordan's "Suicide Hall"!
• • Updates: facebook.com/MaeWestDiamondLil 
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "There's a rumor going around that I broke my ankle stumbling over a pile of men."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • The San Francisco Chronicle wrote about Mae West.
• • Melanie Lawrence wrote: Her eccentric gifts reached their apotheosis in "Diamond Lil," West's ultimate stage persona, whom she went on to duplicate time after time in her film career, "a taboo- breaking, slangy, singing and dancing New York hussy; an amiable underworld type . . . who flourishes on her own terms." Emily Wortis Leider shrewdly points out that "intrinsic to her comic appeal was her ability to distance herself enough from everything in her path to make a joke of it."
• • Melanie Lawrence wrote: This sense of control — — the professional discipline behind her nonchalant stage facade — — was what made Mae West an overnight success in Hollywood at age 39. (She was done wrong by the Hays Office after a mere eight films; they objected to such Westian aphorisms as "A man in the house is worth two in the street.") Diamond Lil was a meticulously honed creation, but, like Fred Astaire, West made her shtick -- the rolling walk, the offhand innuendo -- look effortless.
• • Source: Book review for The San Francisco Chronicle; published on Sunday, 1 June  1997 
• • By the Numbers • • 
• • The Mae West Blog was started nine years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 2718th 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 Diamond Lil

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