Mae West: Blind Ambition

At last, MAE WEST gets an outstanding, intimate biography by a family member, her step-son, whose education she financed. This is Part 4 of 7.
• • “Mae West and the Count — — Love and Loss on the Vaudeville Stage” by Guido Roberto Deiro
• • Reviewed exclusively for The Mae West Blog by R. Mark Desjardins
• • Timony shielded Mae from unsavory bigamy charges • •
• • Interesting, is that Mae’s name is listed as “Catherine Mae Belle,” a name she later used for characters in films and plays. Jim Timony, Mae’s lifelong friend and lawyer, in order to shield Mae from publicity and a possible bigamy charge, arranged to have the divorce accelerated and the alias used.
• • Matilda West was viewed differently by her Italian son-in-law • •

• • Mae West placed her mother Matilda on a pedestal, and credited her with shaping her into a star. The author pulls back the curtain behind the scenes at the West home to give us glimpses of a very tough stage mother who lived vicariously through her daughter's career, and went to great lengths to ensure that nothing got in the way of her blind ambition for Mae.
• • Count Deiro appears to be one of the few men who ever stood up to Matilda.
• • Book possesses “the ring of truth” • • . . .
• • Mr. Desjardins’ book review will be continued on the next post.
• • Source: “Mae West and the Count” — — a biography by Guido Roberto Deiro. [Outskirts Press; published on 20 March 2019; 331 pages.]
• • Released on Tuesday, 9 August 1994 • •
• • The documentary film "Mae West and the Men Who Knew Her" was released in the USA on Tuesday, 9 August 1994.
• • Gene Feldman [1920 — 25 August 2006] directed this bio-pic.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Enough for a Hollywood reporter to remember he must not bring up the subject of clothes to Kay Francis; must not infer Irene Dunne is cultivated and well-mannered, even though it is obvious in all she says and does; must not write of Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald in the same paragraph. Mention of Mae West’s business acumen is taboo, and Sonia Henie’s enormous earnings as a skating star of rink and screen must be ignored.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: “The best way to hold a man is in your arms.”
• • Mae West said: “I had to stay in command of my career.”
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • Photoplay mentioned Mae West.
• • Broadway’s Steve Cochran (he last appeared on the stage with Mae West in “Diamond Lil”) has just about become Hollywood’s most despicable heavy. But there’s no doubt but what he’ll be handed his stardom after this performance.  …
• • Source: Photoplay; published in the issue dated for March 1951
• • 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 15th anniversary • •  

• • Thank you for reading, sending questions, and posting comments during these past fifteen 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 fifteen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 4275th 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   
Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • dining out with her husband Guido Deiro in 1913 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest
NYC  Mae West