Monday, July 06, 2015

Mae West: Voluptuous Best

An article "MAE WEST Talks about Her Marriage," written by Mr. Kirtley Baskette, was published in Photoplay Magazine in the summer of 1935. This is Part 3.
• • Mae West Talks About Her "Marriage" • •
• • About this interview, Kirtley Baskette told his readers:  Mae dropped a stitch with her eyebrows. "Well — what about him?" she repeated.
• • "Frank Wallace says you married him in Milwaukee." 
• • "It was funny for a while — even to me," says Mae. "It wasn't so bad when it was just one marriage, but now it's practically bigamy!"
• • Frank Wallace of New York might have paraphrased the title of one of Mae's pictures. "She Done Him Wrong." He claims that Mae's denial has made him suffer.
• • "The only thing I know about Milwaukee," said Mae, "is that they make beer there. It's pretty good beer — but it never was good enough to make me get married and  then forget about it."
• • "Then," I rallied, "he says you played Omaha."
• • "Wrong again," said Mae, "I picked Nellie Flag. Us girls have got to stick together," she explained. "I wish I had played Omaha," she sighed wistfully, "on the nose."
• • "Pardon me," I said, "but I mean the town."
• • "Oh," said Mae, "I thought you meant Omaha the racehorse. Well, either way, it's a horse on me. I never played either one."
• • "This Wallace quotes certain figures," I began.
• • "I've heard some favorable quotes on mine," interrupted Mae.
• • "Let's take a look at his figures — "   I began again.
• • "You wouldn't be interested in taking a look at mine, would you?" queried Mae. "I think it speaks for itself. What do you think?"   
• • All these so-styled ex-husbands of Mae's have quoted heart-balm figures. "But," says Mae, "I've heard some favorable quotes on mine."
• • "I'm not thinking straight," I assured her.  "Mind if I open a window?"  
• • "Not at all," said Mae, "but don't fall out — and don't shout for help."
• • "Hardly," I replied gallantly. "Now about these husbands — "
• • "Husbands," said Mae airily, "are all right in their place."    . . .
• • Part 3 ends here. This very long interview may be continued, perhaps, at another time.
• • Source: Article in Photoplay Magazine;  published in the issue dated for August 1935. 
• • On July 6th • •
• • To those who share a Mae West mindset, memories tied to the sixth of July will be forever linked to the deaths of two men she admired, gifted black musicians who died of heart attacks on that day.
• • Born in New Orleans, Louisiana, Louis Armstrong [4 August 1901 — 6 July 1971] was a versatile and innovative singer and jazz trumpeter nicknamed Satchmo.
• • Impressed by Armstrong, Mae asked him to participate in "Every Day's a Holiday" [1937].
• • Louis Armstrong died shortly after a heart attack in New York City. He was 69.
• • Born in Washington, DC, Van McCoy [6 January 1940 — 6 July 1979] was an accomplished musician, music producer as well as an arranger, orchestra conductor, and lyricist. He is best known for his massive 1975 international hit "The Hustle." 
• • Mae West, who starred and wrote the screenplay for "Sextette," asked Van McCoy to write the theme song, and to make a cameo appearance in her motion picture.
• • Van McCoy was in Englewood, New Jersey when felled by a fatal heart attack. He was 39.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • The three movie sets that an outside photographer positively can't enter in Hollywood are those of Mae West, Shirley Temple, and Greta Garbo.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said:  "My life hasn't been any bed of roses. I never felt anything like secure until just recently. I've never felt free to get married."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • An Illinois newspaper mentioned Mae West.
• • "Off to the Theatre" • •
• • Beverly Bryant wrote: Mae West is back again in "Goin' to Town," which comes to the Princess Theatre Sunday for three days.  Mae is at her voluptuous best. The plot concerns the story of a cow-town dance hall girl who wins a bunch of oil wells when her fiance dies. . . . No longer swathed in the clothes or the social emenities of the "Gay Nineties," Mae West becomes an up-to-date girl with ultra-modern ideas in modern surroundings. The opening scenes of "Goin' to Town" are laid in the middle west where Mae West acquires a lot of money by the process of getting rid of her wealthy husband. Then she really starts going places.  . . .
• • Source: Item in the Urbana Evening Courier; published on Saturday, 6 July 1935
• • The Mae West Blog celebrates its 11th anniversary • •    
• • Thank you for reading, sending questions, and posting comments during these past eleven years. The other day we entertained 3,497 visitors. And we reached a milestone recently when we completed 3,200 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • • 
• • The Mae West Blog was started ten years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 3215th 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 • on the set in 1935

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