Mae West: Purred Suggestively

“In real life, I’m very boring, so I made up the walk and the talk,” said MAE WEST.
• • British freelancer Dr. Sabina Stent, whose area of study included “Women artists, Surrealism, and unconventional females,” penned a fascinating essay on Mae’s customized double-decker footwear. This is Part 26 of 27 parts.
• • “Get the Idea, Boys? Mae West’s Shoes” • •
• • Mae West was a persona of contradictions • •
• • Sabina Stent wrote: Mae West was a persona of contradiction, often described as bawdy, camp, brash, and other such dynamic adjectives. Always “on” and maintaining her on-screen persona, she is best remembered as the Hollywood star who purred suggestively at Cary Grant in “She Done Him Wrong” (1933). However, West lived a life of non-excess, dominated by dedication to her craft and devoid of stimulants. She was an illusionist of artifice.

• • Sabina Stent wrote: I stood in the Hollywood Museum, thinking about how her shoes served as the opposite of Schiaparelli’s Shoe Hat, an unusual piece of headwear and, basically, an upside-down high-heeled shoe. Made in both black and her trademark shocking pink, Schiaparelli intended the item to proudly display on the body in an unconventional and contrary way; a contrast to the secrecy of what would become a static part of West’s everyday costume.
• • Mae West could inject attitude into any sentence • • … 
• • This long essay by Sabina Stent will be concluded on the next post, part 27.
• • Source: Majuscule, Issue 2; posted in December 2019.
• • On Sunday, 23 January 1927 in the New York Herald Tribune • •
• • The New York Herald Tribune sent a journalist to cover "Sex" and this newspaper printed perhaps the longest diatribe against Mae West's play in their weekend edition on Sunday, 23 January 1927.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Thieves have beset Mae West and she has gone about escorted by grim and burly bodyguards who looked as if they were hand-picked by the casting department for the part.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "I freely chose the kind of life I led because I was convinced that a woman has as much right as a man to live the way she does if she does no actual harm to society."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • A PBS announcement mentioned Mae West.
• • PBS highlighting women with a summer of programming. Gloria Steinem, ex-Texas Gov. Ann Richards, Toni Morrison, and Mae West are among women featured in specials. …
• • Source: KCRG; published on Friday, 10 January 2020
• • 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 4,394th 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  
• • Be sure to bookmark or follow The Mae West Blog
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • Mae West's platform shoes • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest