Mae West: Pushing Too Far

A very long article about MAE WEST and her career in Tinseltown appeared five years ago.  It was written by Paul Phaneuf. Let's enjoy it together. This is Part 19.
• • Mae West: "I'm here to make talkies" or Censor Will vs. Diamond Lil • •
• • Billy Sunday • •
• • Paul Phaneuf wrote:   While the picture was being filmed, a quick-thinking publicity agent for Paramount saw that popular evangelist Billy Sunday was visiting Los Angeles and invited him to the set of "She Done Him Wrong" and arranged a photo shoot. A picture featured Sunday lifting a chair as if to strike Mae, and had a caption reading "Still Fighting the Devil's Rum!" Paramount seemed to be doing a balancing act between pushing the boundaries, but not pushing too far.
• • Either way, audiences ate it up. Released in early 1933, the film went on to gross $2.2 million in less than three months, being the biggest release of the year for Paramount. Mae's popularity soared, and she was soon getting 1,500 fan letters a week. And after its initial run, theatres brought it back for repeated showings. It also received an Academy Award Nomination for Best Picture.
• • Lusty Entertainment • •  . . .
• • This was Part 19. Part 20 will appear on Monday.
• • Source:  Article by Paul Phaneuf in Films of the Golden Age Magazine;  issue dated 5 November 2011. Used with permission.
• • On Monday, 27 January 1930 • •
• • The death of Matilda Delker West was reported in The Brooklyn Eagle on Monday, 27 January 1930. A heartbreaking loss for her daughter Mae, who was born and bred in Brooklyn, where her mother introduced her to the vaudeville circuit.
• • On Friday, 27 January 1933 in the USA • •
• • The red carpet premiere of "She Done Him Wrong" took place in Hollywood on Friday, 27 January 1933. What a great day for Mae West.
• • On Thursday, 27 January 1938 in The N.Y. Times • •

• • Frank S. Nugent, The Times man on the aisle, gave his review of "Every Day's a Holiday" on page 17 [N.Y. Times on 27 January 1938]. Nugent didn't care for the motion picture per se but seemed to appreciate the live music played by Benny Goodman and his orchestra that was part of the New York Paramount Theatre's stage show.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Mae always liked Karl Struss to photograph her pictures.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said:  "I mean actors with sex appeal, which to me is a primary factor In any motion picture."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • An Irish paper mentioned Mae West.
• • We strive for originality, but perhaps old phrases should, like Mae West's discarded lovers, be given a new chance with someone else.  ...
• • Source: Item in Dublin Review of Books; published on Monday, 14 January 2013
• • The Mae West Blog celebrates its 12th 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 3,500 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started ten years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 3627th 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 • • in 1937 • •
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