Monday, January 21, 2019

Mae West: Wanton Undress

In 1964, after dodging reporter Lewis Lapham for months, MAE WEST granted an interview. Ten years ago, he fondly recalled the experience in his piece “Transits of Venus.” Then a 31-year-old freelancer, Lapham discovered this: “At the age of 71, Miss West still possesses overwhelming sexual force.” Let’s join his in his journey. This is Part 6.
• • “Transits of Venus” written by Lewis H. Lapham [born on 8 January 1935]
• • In the state of wanton undress • •
• • Lewis H. Lapham wrote: . . . . At the movies, husbands and wives could not occupy the same bed, and children were delivered by storks. Booksellers banned novels depicting either the hero or heroine in a state of wanton undress; to publish a picture of a pubic hair was a criminal offense; a woman’s place was in the home; and sex was something that happened in France.    . . .
• • Lewis H. Lapham wrote: . . . I was no more at ease with the questions posed by my editors in New York — what is sex, and where is love — than was the blonde under the broad-brimmed straw hat seated next to me at the bar in the Beverly Hills Hotel curious to know whether I was looking for company.
• • Lewis H. Lapham wrote:  The blonde was easily fifty years younger than Mae West, a high-end daughter of joy deserving the adjectives that greengrocers assign to the grapefruit and the plums, but there was no laughter in the back of her voice or her eyes. And if I’d learned anything from the goddess in her temple on the beach at Malibu, it was that if there’s no play of the mind, there’s no game in Master John Thursday.   . . . The policy tabled the questions stored in the hope chest of America’s family values (what is moral and where is virtue?) and by so doing opened the market in desire to development well beyond the powers of Miss West to watch over and protect.  . . .
• • Lewis H. Lapham wrote: . . . This issue of Lapham’s Quarterly is intended to put Miss West’s bluebirds back in the sky. . . .
• • This concludes our Westian extracts from his longer article. We hope you enjoyed this series.
• • Source: Lapham’s Quarterly; published in the Winter 2009 issue.
• • On Saturday, 21 January 1950 • •
• • When the revival of "Diamond Lil" left the Plymouth Theatre on Saturday night, 21 January 1950, Mae West immediately took the show on the road. The hard-working performer has never let an understudy substitute for her onstage. How many actresses can say that?
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Mae West is Hollywood's Jekyll-Hyde. She revels in her two identities. On a picture she gave me she wrote, "A bad woman with a good heart." I'll bank on the good and applaud the bad.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "Just because I was born in Brooklyn, some people figure the West family tree is a rubber plant."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • The Film Daily mentioned Mae West.
• • The Film Daily wrote: Zeb Epstein and his assistants made a list of the notables who entered the Strand Theatre, to see "Little Caesar," during the 24 hours ending Monday midnight. Here they are: Mae West, Eddie Leonard, Texas Guinan, Bill Tilden, Pauline Starke, George Bancroft, Irving Berlin, Grant Withers, Tammany Young, Primo Carnera, and "Shipwreck" Kelly, who tried to crash the gate with his wife and whole family. ...
• • Source: "Film 'Little Caesar' Draws Notables" in Film Daily; published on Wednesday, 21 January 1931  
• • 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 4,100 blog posts. Wow!  
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started fourteen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 4131st 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/
________

Source: https://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml   

• • Photo:
• • Mae West • in 1950

• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest
  Mae West
 

No comments:

Post a Comment