Mae West: Lawsuit Resulted

Starring Australian actress Melita Jurisic as the American icon MAE WEST, a new play “Arbus and West” was onstage in Melbourne until March 30th. Naturally, Mae would have stipulated that her name was placed first in the title. Let’s enjoy a spirited review by drama critic Robert Reid. This is Part 2.
• • “Arbus and West” — — A one-way gladiatorial battle • •
• • Legendary Photo Session • • 
• • Robert Reid wrote: It’s set mostly during the legendary 1964 photo-shoot of West conducted by rising star photographer Diane Arbus that resulted in a lawsuit by West after she saw the published photo. This production, directed by Sarah Goodes, recreates an aging West who holds forth on her feelings about everything from feminism to the future, men and Hollywood and her favourite subject, herself.
• • Robert Reid wrote: As always with shows in which actors put on accents, it takes me a solid 10 minutes to see past them; they always feel thick and affected to me and get in the way of the dialogue. But once West and Arbus come together, they seem to relax into the performance and the characters emerge from behind the wall of affected regional New York drawl.
• • The impersonation of Mae West • •  . . .
• • To be continued on the next post.
• • Source: Witness, stage review; published on Wednesday, 6 March 2019.
• • On Sunday, 3 April 1927 • •

• • On page 184 of his biography of Mae West, Simon Louvish wrote: "But, on 3 April, the jury had to inform Judge Bertini [sic] that they could not agree ..."
• • Portions of this trial are dramatized in the full-length play "Courting Mae West." In the case of both obscenity trials [1927 and 1930] in New York City, the outcome would possibly be known by an audience of die-hard Mae mavens: a guilty verdict and jail in 1927 and a hung jury in 1930.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • The British author Graham Greene [2 October 1904 — 3 April 1991] was inspired by Mae West when he was creating his character Ida in “Brighton Rock.”
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "If I spent some time with a gay boy, he'd never go back to men."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • The daily papers mentioned Mae West.
• • "Mae West Fails to Testify" • •
• • News men were astonished, deprived of the star witness. Headlines on Wednesday, 2 April 1930 registered the disappointment: "Mae West Fails to Testify."  . . .
• • Source: various newspapers; published on Wednesday, 2 April 1930 
• • 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 4,100 blog posts. Wow!  

• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started fourteen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 4183rd 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 flanked by Stan Stanley and Jim Timony, 1927 • •
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