Mae West: Recline or Sit

“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 19 of 27 parts.
• • “Get the Idea, Boys? Mae West’s Shoes” • •
• • Mae West’s fluctuating weight • •
• • Sabina Stent wrote: Jo Swerling had first written it as a drama under the title of “Frivolous Sally,” but Mae, deciding otherwise, changed the name to “Sapphire Sal.” Jo Swerling, in disgust, hung his manuscript to a tree for the children to shoot at … Mae spent ten days in bed rewriting it, and then cabled me to make her dresses.

1970s high heels worn in public by Mae West

• • Sabina Stent wrote: Mae West and Elsa Schiaparelli were never in the same room for the fittings, and unfortunately, the designs did not appear in the movie. Due to West’s fluctuating weight, Paramount had the costumes remade in darker colours, and West was instructed to recline, sit, or remain still on the screen. In a twist of irony, having based West’s costumes on the fashions of the turn of the century, Paris during 1937 would now be influenced by West’s on-screen costumes.
• • Hello, Dali! • • . . . 
• • This long essay by Sabina Stent will be continued on the next post.
• • Source: Majuscule, Issue 2; posted in December 2019.
• • On Tuesday, 14 January 1958 • •
• • "Mae West Adds to Millions" • •
• • Hollywood — — Mae West added to her millions by unloading a hunk of real estate in Hollywood.  The Palladium, a new $500,000 version of the same-named landmark ballroom on Sunset Boulevard, will be built there. Miss West's Maemoirs [sic], incidentally, will be published by PrenticeHall next spring. Which for no reason at all reminds me of Milton Berle's crack about an actor who's ashamed of his past because there isn't enough dirt in it to warrant writing a best-seller!
• • Source: Mike Connolly's Hollywood column rpt in The Desert Sun; published on Tuesday, 14 January 1958.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • In mid- January Joseph Breen was shooting off another memo about Mae West. "'Now I'm a Lady' seems to us to be a definite violation of the Code," he wrote.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "Every script presented to me, no matter how imaginative a story, was built around a man and a woman. Mae West pictures, as written by me, were built around a woman and men, and the more the merrier."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • A new version of Dracula quotes Mae West.
• • Brilliantly Blood Curdling! As the BBC's gruesome new Dracula drama terrifies millions of viewers, Christopher Stevens gives a five-star thumbs-up • •
• • Christopher Stevens wrote: When a nun armed with a crucifix and a wooden stake tried to drive the dark lord away from the cloister gates, she reminded him he could not withstand the radiance of her Christian goodness. 'Goodness has got nothing to do with it,' smirked Dracula, quoting Mae West.
• • Christopher Stevens wrote: Bang, one of Denmark's most outstanding actors, was relishing every mouthful of his dialogue.  . . .
• • Source: The Daily Mail; published on Wednesday, 1 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 4,387th 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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