Mae West: A Queer Identity

While you’re sleeping, college professors in Hungary are thinking about MAE WEST. Here’s a long, striking research paper you might have missed. This is Part 12.
• • "Mae West. The Dirty Snow White" • •
• • Written by:  Zsófia Anna Tóth
• • “queen of the bitches” • • 
• • Zsófia Anna Tóth wrote: Marybeth Hamilton, in another work, even calls her “the queen of the bitches” (1995, 136) which ― while obviously relevant to her eternal sexual enactment in performance of the gold-hearted prostitute ― it also has allusions to her queer identity and West’s strong relationship with and support of homosexual people and their rights in her contemporary American society.
• • Zsófia Anna Tóth wrote:  Mae West, contrary to the general belief, was a champion of egalitarian ideas and a defender of women’s rights. She stated that “I freely chose the kind of life I led because I was convinced that a woman has as much right as a man to live the way she does if she does no actual harm to society” (West 1970, 91). Far from being an outright feminist activist, she still contributed immensely to the amelioration of women’s situation in her times.
• • challenged and unhallowed social convention • • . . . 
• • This was Part 12 of a lengthy article. Part 13 will follow tomorrow.
• • Source: Americana — — E-Journal of American Studies in Hungary; Vol. XI, No. 1, Spring 2015.
• • On Thursday, 20 February 1936 in Hollywood • •

• • There is a Joseph Breen PCA office memo, dated Thursday, 20 February 1936, in the "Klondike Annie" PCA case file. Alas, Breen felt that Mae West was "censorable" and he never let up.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Mae West is to the New York stage what a match is to a scuttle of gunpowder — what a hot fire is to a shivering Wienerwurst.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said:  "I've always been aware of sex, and it's always been aware of me."
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said:
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • The Chicago Sun Times mentioned Mae West
• • A lucky reporter at the entertainment desk covered Mae's night club act for The Chicago Sun Times. Noticing the reaction of the males in the audience, the staffwriter noted that Mae West seemed to be able to rejuvenate even the most anemic old codgers who bought a ticket — — "wreathing middle-age males at the Chez Paree in their happiest leers since they leafed through Captain Willy's Whizz Bang or the Police Gazette." ...
• • Source: The Chicago Sun Times; published on Sunday, 20 February 1955

• • The Mae West Blog celebrates its 13th anniversary • •  

• • Thank you for reading, sending questions, and posting comments during these past thirteen years. Not long ago, we entertained 3,497 visitors. And we reached a milestone recently when we completed 3,800 blog posts. Wow!  

• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started thirteen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 3901st 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 1936 • •
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