Mae West: Dick Off

Since “The Drag” by MAE WEST is onstage all weekend in Paris, let’s look back at an article published in 1997, or 21 years ago, when no one had yet had the idea nor courage to revive her two gay plays.
• • Mae West Wrote Plays; Pity We Can Only Read Them • •
• • Rick Whitaker wrote: The Drag (1927), subtitled A Homosexual Comedy in Three Acts , is a rather heavy-handed defense of social difference, which was West’s main theme. Tragedy, for her, resulted from being pushed out, or kept out, of a class or club to which one feels entitled to belong. In The Drag, Rolly Kingsbury manages to alienate himself from every connection. The crazed man in love with him (West called him “an outcast” in her cast list) kills Rolly in the end; Rolly’s father-in-law arranges for the act to be called a suicide.
• • Rick Whitaker wrote: The comedy in the subtitle is provided by the gay guys with their campy lines about cabdrivers and ball gowns, and by the situation of Rolly’s loopy wife, who doesn’t understand what’s wrong with her marriage. (“What’s he done?” she’s asked. “Why, nothing. That’s just it,” she replies.)
• • One girl’s big brother cuts the actor’s dick off. • •
• • Rick Whitaker wrote: The Pleasure Man is a revision of The Drag . The story is of a modern Don Juan, an actor who seduces one girl after another and who eventually gets punished for his sins: One girl’s big brother cuts the actor’s dick off. Again, there are homosexuals everywhere, but they are just the spice for what would otherwise be a bland play that “tells a moral story” — — which is how West described it in court.  . . .
• • Source: Book Review for London’s Observer; published on Monday, 27 October 1997.
• • On Saturday, 22 June 1935 in Picturegoer • •

• • The British film magazine Picturegoer, issue dated for 22 June 1935, offered an article "Previews of the Latest Films" and the first one was "Goin’ to Town" starring Mae West.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Mae West's name was in the news again on Tuesday, 22 June 1982 when her former partner Paul Novak sued to have her Will overturned.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "He's the kind of man a woman would have to marry to get rid of."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • A trade magazine mentioned Mae West and Mike Todd.
• • Mike Todd has penciled in "Catherine Was Great," the Mae West opus for late June.
• • Source: Item in Billboard Magazine; published on Saturday, 3 June 1944 
• • The evolution of 2 Mae West plays that keep her memory alive • • 
• • A discussion with Mae West playwright LindaAnn LoSchiavo — — 
• • http://lideamagazine.com/renaissance-woman-new-york-city-interview-lindaann-loschiavo/

• • 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 3,900 blog posts. Wow!  

• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started thirteen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 3986th 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 1935 • •
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