Mae West: Strike on Sex Plays

A Los Angeles Times cartoon showed MAE WEST yanking G.B. Shaw's beard. Since she avidly followed theatre gossip, it’s possible Mae was familiar with his prostitute play, “Mrs. Warren's Profession,” featuring a streetwalker who is now a wealthy madam. If only they could chat during Shaw Fest, which will present “Sex” this summer.  This is Part 6 of 10 segments.
• • Shaw Festival revives Mae West’s racy Broadway hit “Sex” • •
• • “The Drag” tackles conversion therapy • •
• • J. Kelly Nestruck wrote: Indeed, many of West’s 1920s plays make you question what you really know about the times she was writing in. For instance, “The Drag,” a 1927 “homosexual drama” that followed “Sex” to the stage, tackles what is now called conversion therapy and put New York’s LGBT ball culture on stage a full 90 years before “Pose” premiered on TV.
• • J. Kelly Nestruck wrote: Robertson Wojcik, the Chicago professor, suspects “Sex” – which had run 390 performances by the time police shut it down – may have been raided in part to keep “The Drag,” with its female impersonators and drag numbers, from transferring to Broadway. (Although the belated timing also had to do with the fact that theatre-loving New York mayor Jimmy Walker was away on holiday in Cuba, allowing the moralistic district attorney Joab Banton to make his strike on sex plays.)
• • For Canadian theatregoers, Sex’s appeal is its setting: Montreal • • … 
• • This preview article will be continued on the next post.
• • Source: The Globe and Mail; published on Monday, 6 May 2019.
• • On Thursday, 5 June 1952 • •

• • "Mae West to Open Summer Theatre" was the headline on Thursday, 5 June 1952 in a New Jersey newspaper.  Herbert Kenwith was announcing the world premiere of "Sextette," a play written by Frances Hope and adapted by the movie queen.
• • Source: Article: "Mae West to Open Summer Theatre" (on page 4) of the Raritan Township and Fords Beacon, published on Thursday, 5 June 1952.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • There is scarcely a player on the screen today whose emotional or artistic career has not been vitally affected by a coincidence.  Yes, even Mae West's career.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "She who laughs lasts."  
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • The New Westminster Record mentioned Mae West.
• • Lust, wit and Sex in the spotlight at Anvil Centre • •
• • When it was staged in 1927, an ad cautioned: “If you cannot stand excitement, see your doctor before visiting Mae West.”
• • Consider yourself warned when City Stage New West brings Mae West’s Sex to life at Anvil Centre as part of its Sips ’n’ Scripts reading series.  …
• • Source: The New Westminster Record; published on Tuesday, 21 May 2019
• • 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 4,200 blog posts. Wow!  

• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started fourteen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 4228th 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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