Friday, January 03, 2020

Mae West: The Stigma

“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 12 of 27 parts.
• • “Get the Idea, Boys? Mae West’s Shoes” • •
• • Feet-ishism • •
• • Sabina Stent wrote: In High Heel, Brennan guides us through the ubiquity of heels from mythology to folk tales, fairy tales, history, movies, and sociology, tracing and challenging our relationship with these items pleasure and pain, and the stigma that surrounds them. Silver slippers may remind us of the classic fairy tale Cinderella, of glass slippers, fairy godmothers and the servant girl who wins the heart of the Prince.
• • Sabina Stent wrote: However, before it became a much-loved Disney movie, the fairy tale was much darker.
• • Sabina Stent wrote: “Mae West’s affection for plots that mimic “Cinderella,’” Emily Wortis Leider notes in her biography of West, “tracing an ascent from sneered-upon lowdown-ness to palatial splendor, springs directly from her own life experience.”
• • Mae West learned how to play the vamp and “teasing seductress” • • . . .  
• • This long essay by Sabina Stent will be continued on the next post.
• • Source: Majuscule, Issue 2; posted in December 2019.
• • On Friday, 3 January 1936 • •
• • "Mae West Proves 'Lucky Star' to Those Who Work with Her" • •
• • HOLLYWOOD. Jan. 3. — [U.P.] — About Mae West's lucky influence there seems to be little doubt. It started back in the day when Harry Richman and Vincent Lopez were her accompanists. Harry Richman now is a night club, radio, stage and picture star. Vincent Lopez is an orchestral maestro.
• • "Cary and Kent" • •
• • Then there was Cary Grant, who was a so-so figure of a leading man until he became Miss West's "tall, dark and handsome" co-star in "She Done Him Wrong." He night have made the grade regardless, but being with Mae speeded things up. The same is true of Kent Taylor, just a "stock actor" until Mae picked him for a picture.  . . .
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Few things in popular culture can date as fast as humour but Mae West, the brassy, man-eating comedienne whose heyday was the 1930s, remains a figure of surprising relevance and enduring appeal.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "I figured I owed just one kiss to reformers as a class. So Charlie Winninger gets it.  He's old enough not to take it too seriously."
• • Mae West said: "I have found men who didn't know how to kiss. I've always found time to teach them."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • The Hollywood Reporter mentioned Mae West.
• • Mae West in Paramount's "She Done Him Wrong" — Now Shooting. …
• • Source: The Hollywood Reporter, "Today's Film News"; published on Tuesday, 3 January 1933
• • 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 4,381st 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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• • Be sure to bookmark or follow The Mae West Blog
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • 1970s BoHo platforms: "Buffalo sandals" worn by Mae West • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest

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