Mae West: Censorship Helped

MAE WEST used to joke, "Censorship made me.” A profile in an Irish paper published on Saturday, 2 November 2019 references that.
• • “How censorship made actress Mae West an international star” • •
• • As a collection of her possessions goes up for auction, Julia Molony tells why the acid-tongued iconoclast was destined for greatness.
• • Julia Molony wrote: When she was born on a summer night in Brooklyn, Mae West's parents couldn't have predicted that she would grow up to become a grande dame of Hollywood. But she'd been destined to be a diva from the moment she took her first breath, in 1893.  . . .

• • Julia Molony wrote: Mae's primary place in her mother's affections instilled an unshakeable self-confidence that was to endure throughout her life. Her sense of self was too secure to be rattled by the arrival of her two siblings, a brother and a sister.  . . .
• • Source: Belfast Telegraph; posted on Saturday, 2 November 2019
• • On Sunday, 20 November 1988 • •
• • Mae West once confided to a friend: "I felt Bill Fields had no class."
• • This exchange was printed in The Orlando Sentinel on Sunday, 20 November 1988.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Bette Midler recalled: When I started my career all those many moons ago, I used to do an impersonation of Mae West, and I did it on "The Johnny Carson Show" — — my very first time with Johnny Carson — — and Mae sent me a letter telling me to cease and desist, which I swear to god I still have.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: “Dieting? The only carrots that interest me are the number of carats in a diamond.”
• • Mae West said: "The men in my life walked around stiff-legged, watching each other like animals at a waterhole, ready to leap at each others' throats."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • A biographer discussed Mae West.
• • These somber moments are described by her biographer Jill Watts:
• • ... That night Mae's body was flown home to Brooklyn, New York and the following morning Paul Novak and Dolly Dempsey arrived at Cypress Hills for the interment. Two priests and a bishop offered short prayers and blessed the casket.  …
• • Source: Mae West: An Icon in Black and White. Author: Jill Watts. NY: Oxford University Press, 2001
• • 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 4,349th 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 • • onscreen with Cary Grant in 1933 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest
NYC  Mae West