Mae West: Self-Awareness

“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 14 of 27 parts.
• • “Get the Idea, Boys? Mae West’s Shoes” • •
• • Marilyn Monroe’s heels • •
• • Sabina Stent wrote: Marilyn Monroe, like Mae West, was incredibly self-aware and knew the power of her image, and heels often became a part of her character. “A lady never admits that her feet hurt,” she acknowledges in “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes,” her near-sighted character even tripping up on a fashion stage. In “The Seven Year Itch,” Monroe kicks off her heels in her awed neighbor’s apartment. Later in the iconic movie, she stands over the subway grate for “that scene.”

• • Sabina Stent wrote: As the breeze lifts her dress, the camera focuses on her feet. She is a fantasy in white stilettos.
• • Don’t shatter the illusion! • • …  
• • This long essay by Sabina Stent will be continued on the next post.
• • Source: Majuscule, Issue 2; posted in December 2019.
• • On Tuesday, 7 January 1930 • •
• • Stage and Screen: "Diamond Lil" • •
• • On Tuesday, 7 January 1930, the California newspaper Corsair wrote: Take a trip back to the gay days before prohibition with Mae West. As the slightly manhandled heroine, she gives a fine piece of acting. Although rather raw in spots, the public seems to eat this sort of thing.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Adolph Zukor [7 January 1873 — 10 June 1976] • •
• • For Adolph Zukor's autobiography, Mae West wrote this: “Very few people know my secret ambition to be a lion-tamer. It began when as a child my father took me to my first circus at Coney Island. Through the years I mentioned it very rarely and only to intimates.”
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: “When you got the personality, you don’t need the nudity.”
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • The Art Newspaper mentioned Mae West.
• • Rotterdam's Boijmans museum wants to make entire collection accessible to visitors • •
• • Joanna Moorhead wrote: By the end of 2021, the Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen will hold 151,000 pieces, of which 88,000 drawings and prints.  These include works by Rembrandt, Van Gogh and Monet, a 15th-century Madonna and Child attributed to Fra Angelico, Salvador Dalí’s Mae West Lips Sofa and contemporary pieces by Andy Warhol and Olafur Eliasson. …
• • Source: The Art Newspaper; published on Thursday, 19 December 2019
• • 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 4,382nd 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 • • photo of platform shoes worn by Mae West • •
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