Mae West: Thrilling Sex

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 3 of 9 segments.
• • Shaw Festival gives Mae West’s 1926 play “Sex” a thrillingly modern sensibility • •
• • What is thrilling about “Sex” at ShawFest • • 
• • Karen Fricker wrote: I could go on about the history of Sex, The Drag and Mae West as playwright — it’s rich and challenging stuff, subject of a raft of 1990s feminist theatre scholarship that Hinton-Davis and company have clearly mined in their preparations.
• • Karen Fricker wrote: What is thrilling about this production is that, while still honouring the period setting, it’s infused with the sensibility of the here and now — that is, the politics of sex and gender circa 2019, with all the questioning of binaries and emphasis on fluidity this brings with it.
• • Karen Fricker wrote: The first important thing to establish about this production is that Diana Donnelly is not playing Margy LaMont as Mae West — she’s not attempting to imitate the entendre-laden delivery that’s still well-known today thanks to YouTube and the force of reputation.
• • the cast invests in their characters instead of camping it up • •  . . .
• • This review by Karen Fricker will be continued on the next post.
• • Source: Opinion, Toronto Star; published on Monday, 8 July 2019.
• • On Monday, 14 October 1929 • •

• • This illustration is from a special 1929 "Diamond Lil" Program starring Mae West. The Windsor Theatre on Fordham Road, Bronx, NY began a two-week engagement of the Broadway hit on Monday, 14 October 1929. The poster showed Jack LaRue (as the lethal latino Lothario Juarez) embracing Mae in the Elizabeth Street hide-away furnished by her friend Frances. No, you did not see this sultry sex scene in the white-washed Paramount Pictures version. But, yes, we brought it back for the stage version mounted in Manhattan in 2013 starring the actress Darlene Violette as the Queen of the Bowery.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Editorial guns of William Randolph Hearst's New York American, recently trained upon Mae West for her production of "Klondike Annie," were pointed screen-ward again on Friday with American news-reels the target and their relations with Amkino the specified provocation.
• • Note: Amkino was the American distributing company for the state-controlled pictures made in Russia, or from the Russian government itself.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "The box office business in the entire industry has dropped off 30 per cent in the past four months."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • Motion Picture Herald mentioned Mae West and her lawyer.
• • Nathan Burkan remained Charlie Chaplin's friend and advisor until his death.
• • He figured in the trial of Mae West and 44 others for taking part in the allegedly indecent play, "The Pleasure Man." It was a long trial, and in the end the jury deliberated 10 hours, but failed to reach an agreement. Mr. Burkan also represented Miss West when her play "The Drag'' was raided in New York a few years ago.  . . .
• • Source: Motion Picture Herald; published on Saturday, 13 June 1936
• • 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 4322nd 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 with Jack LaRue in 1929 • •
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