Mae West: A Sex Worker

A cunning cartoon showed MAE WEST yanking G.B. Shaw's beard. If only the two controversial writers could chat during Shaw Fest, which is presenting “Sex” in Canada. Toronto drama critic Karen Fricker has critiqued the play. This is Part 9 of 9 segments, the grand finale.
• • Shaw Festival gives Mae West’s 1926 play “Sex” a thrillingly modern sensibility • •
• • Once a sex worker, always a sex worker? • •
• • Karen Fricker wrote: The writing, again, asks us to accept plot points that seem overwrought by contemporary standards, but the actors commit to the stakes of the situation, and there’s an interesting layer of class commentary provided by servant characters (Katherine Gauthier and Ben Sanders).
• • Karen Fricker wrote: The ways in which Margy LaMont’s old life seeps into her new one are theatrically powerful.

• • Karen Fricker wrote: Once a sex worker, always a sex worker? Is a happy ending possible for Margy — in 1926 or in 2019? Will audiences be willing to sit with ambiguity and come out debating the issues raised? I’ve already told many people I know that they should go along and embrace these questions for themselves. I’m Sex-positive.
• • Note: Karen Fricker is a Toronto-based theatre critic and freelance stringer for the Star. Follow her on Twitter: @KarenFricker2
• • This review by Karen Fricker has now concluded with this post. We hope you enjoyed it.
• • Source: Opinion, Toronto Star; published on Monday, 8 July 2019.
• • On Sunday, 22 October 1933 • •
• • On Sunday, 22 October 1933 The N.Y. Herald Tribune drew attention to the significance of Mae West, the hottest movie star of the year.  The editors noted Mae was as much one of the major phenomena of 1933 as the NRA, "The Three Little Pigs," or Senator Huey Long. Wow.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Will Hays wrote to remind studio boss Adolph Zukor that he must not register the titles "Diamonds" or "Diamond Lady" for any film project with Mae West.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "It's what they see in my eyes that counts."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • An article on a Broadway play mentioned Mae West.
• • Billboard wrote: "Mae West, a pretty young girl of attractive personality, gave a fine performance of a vampire lady, exhibiting a delightful talent for comic art."  . . .
• • Source: Review of "Sometime" in Billboard; published on Friday, 18 October 1918
• • 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 4,300 blog posts. Wow!  

• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started fifteen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 4328th 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 • • onstage in "Sex" in 1926 • •
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