• • Why Don’t You Come Up Sometime and Queer Me? • •
• • Reclaiming Mae West as Author and Sexual Philosopher • •
• • Jail time was publicity for Mae • •
• • Chase Dimock wrote: Mae West was sentenced to 10 days in jail for “corrupting the morals of youth” and, in vintage Mae West fashion, she turned the trial and jail time into a publicity stunt. She arrived at the prison in a limousine [sic] in her vamp persona and spent her time there entertaining the warden and his [sic] wife.
• • [Note: The N.Y. Times reported that Mae and other female inmates were driven to the Women's Workhouse together in a prison van. Also, the sad truth is that the warden’s wife had committed suicide recently, therefore, he was a widower when Mae arrived.]
• • Chase Dimock wrote: While the trial and conviction shot Mae West into stardom and eventually launched her movie career a few years later when talking pictures were developed, “The Drag” was ultimately never performed on Broadway. The Society for the Prevention of Vice threatened to place all Broadway plays under intense scrutiny if “The Drag” were to be staged.
• • Chase Dimock wrote: Although the play was wrapped in the spectacular sensationalism of its proposed drag performance, it was at its core an attempt to air discourse about the new urban visibility of homosexuality and to situate it within questions of its medical and legal standing in society. Thus, a play that contained a serious discussion of the legal status of homosexuality in America could not itself find a legal space in which to be performed.
• • Mae West’s medical and legal discourse on homosexuality • • . . .
• • 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 Thursday, 11 September 1947 • •
• • Mae West and Jim Timony had sailed to England aboard the RMS Queen Mary and they arrived at Southampton on Thursday, 11 September 1947.
• • The newspapers quoted the fresh impressions of Mae West, who said she’d developed a liking for scones and clotted cream, along with having her afternoon tea. The actress told a British reporter that English cooking had made her gain 6 lbs.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "We haven't had any perfectly Natural Figures since the war took beer away."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • A Texas daily mentioned Mae West.
• • Mae, chic, dainty, a Parisienne from the heels of her tiny slippers to the crown of her golden head, has truly as she claims "a style all her own." Fresh from the hands of Parisian modistes, merry Mae sings her songs and delivers her impromptu dialogue with a pleasing individuality that marks her for an even higher place in the professional field than she occupies now.
• • Source: Item in the San Antonio Light; published on Sunday, 6 September 1914
• • 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 4040th 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 • • Mae arrives at The Brown Derby in 1940 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest
NYC Mae West
That is a most interesting fact revealed today in your blog, regarding the recent death of the Prison Warden's wife. That sheds some light on Mae West being invite to eat with a meal with him. While there are other sites offering insights into Mae West, you consistently come up with fascinating new facts!
ReplyDelete• • Thank you for spotting the note about Mrs. Schleth's suicide. His wife felt very isolated on this lonely island where the only people were guards, prison matrons, and inmates.
ReplyDelete• • Warden Henry O. Schleth was very sympathetic to Mae, even telling the reporters it must have been rough that everyone just yelled "Mae!" at her, when she had been used to more respect.
• • After supper, he would take her for a drive around the island.
• • As to that "limo" nonsense, The N.Y. Times, etc. had reported: "[Mae] arrived shortly after nine o'clock in the morning, in company with five fellow prisoners, two colored, from the Jefferson Market Prison, where she spent Tuesday night. ..."
• • Every historian ought to know that inmates travel together under supervision -- in a lowly prison van -- not in a private limousine. Ridiculous, eh?