Mae West: A Poor Degenerate

Many great minds have contemplated MAE WEST — — but great minds don’t think alike. Academic and author Chase Dimock has written an interesting article on Mae as a playwright. This is Part 18.
• • Why Don’t You Come Up Sometime and Queer Me? • •
• • Reclaiming Mae West as Author and Sexual Philosopher • •
• • Nature or Nurture? • •
• • Chase Dimock wrote: The Doctor comes close to closing the circle, that if one is born black or white, but is socialized into being “Negro” and “Aryan” as social constructs, and if criminals are not born this way, but created by society, then the homosexual is himself a social construction as well.
• • Chase Dimock wrote: Yet the doctor stops short of this analogy; the homosexual is presumed to be a real, existing fact of biology that explains his habits and neuroses and that the problem they face is an intolerant law, not a medical practice of science that has pathologized him as a lesser being, an accident of nature, a poor degenerate.
• • The Doctor’s visit with David is then interrupted by a visit from the Judge (Rolly’s father), who wants him to testify in a case to determine the sanity of a defendant. The Doctor is reluctant to take on the task, “How do I know he is sane? Isn’t sanity or what we call insanity the state of a man’s mind — his viewpoint? …”
• • Should the law criminalize the psyche? • •  . .
• • His article will be continued on the next post.
• • Source: As It Ought to Be
• • Chase Dimock, who teaches Literature and Composition at College of the Canyons, is Managing Editor of As It Ought to Be.
• • On Saturday, 26 September 1931 in Billboard • •

• • About "The Constant Sinner," Jack Mehler wrote that "it has the makings of a good money show, both for Miss West and the Shuberts who are reported in on it." Mehler's entire review was published in Billboard's issue dated for Saturday, 26 September 1931.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • No less an authority than Edna Woolman Chase, editor-in-chief of Vogue, a smart fashion magazine, has been widely quoted as declaring that "we are really going Mae West."
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "I'm just as busy when I'm not making a movie."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • An article on film classics mentioned Mae West.
• • Out of the Past: A review of a classic movie • •
• • Craig Marshall Smith wrote: The address of the mansion featured in the film, 10086 Sunset Boulevard, doesn’t exist. The mansion that appeared was at 641 Irving Boulevard, at the corner of Irving and Wilshire.
• • Craig Marshall Smith wrote: Gloria Swanson, who plays Norma Desmond, was meant to be seen as an elderly woman, too old for the much younger Joe Gillis. In real time, Swanson was only 50 when she made the film, and Holden was 32.
• • Craig Marshall Smith wrote: Actress Mae West was considered for the role of Norma Desmond. . . .
• • Source: Colorado Community Media; published on Tuesday, 18 September 2018
• • 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 14th anniversary • •  

• • Thank you for reading, sending questions, and posting comments during these past fourteen years. Not long ago, we entertained 3,497 visitors. And we reached a milestone recently when we completed 4,000 blog posts. Wow!  

• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started fourteen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 4051st 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 1931 • •
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