Mae West: Blackface Number

It is well known that MAE WEST, in her younger days in vaude, performed in blackface, which was then a popular novelty. Al Jolson and many other Caucasian singers performed in blackface as well as light-skinned blacks such as Bert Williams, who enchanted Mae. Unsurprising, she studied her idol and mastered her own rendition of one of his numbers. Let’s learn more. 
• • This article was written in 1933 by George Lait, assigned by Central Press and The Evening Independent (Ohio) — — NEW YORK, Dec. 12. — — From my earliest childhood, it was my mother's approbation and applause I sought — — not the applause of an audience. She would sit out front and watch my performance, then come backstage and make suggestions — — never criticisms — — merely suggestions that my entrance might be improved this way or my exit bettered that way, that my inflection might be altered a little here and my intonation more comical.
• • When she was about 10 years old, little Mae West first introduced her own inimitable style of "coon-shouting," the slow cantankerous rendition, a recitation rather than a vocalization, of a song.
• • In Blackface • •

• • The Bert Williams number which she used in her act still is one of her favorites: "Why Don't You Get a Lady of Your Own? The swell coon laughing success” [NY: Jos. W. Stern, 1898].
• • She did this in blackface. Mae admits she was a "quick study." It took her only a few moments, even as a child, to grasp several pages of difficult dialogue.
• • So for several years Mae West, the "Bushwick Baby Blonde," remained in vaudeville, perfecting this turn. . . .
• • Source: The Evening Independent (Ohio); published on Tuesday, December 12, 1933.
• • On Sunday, 2 March 1913 in NYC • •
• • It was on Sunday, 2 March 1913 that Mae West began a one week booking at Hammerstein's Victoria in the theatre district on West 42nd Street and Seventh Avenue.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • The Swedes can't get the slant of America and England on Mae West in "She Done Him Wrong." Censorship board had to view picture twice before making up its mind. Now, while picture is doing well, critics and patrons don't care so much either for the subject matter of the film, or for the wiggles of Mae.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: “People want dirt in plays, so I give ’em dirt. See?”
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • The New Yorker discussed the Mae West revival.
• • Claudia Roth Pierpont wrote: Marybeth Hamilton pinpoints West's startling transformation from frank man-hating to easy sexual mockery as occurring during rehearsals of "The Drag" (a homosexual comedy-drama which led to the outlawing of depictions of homosexuality on the New York stage) and its spinoff, "Pleasure Man."
• • Claudia Roth Pierpont wrote: West used the qualities men brought to playing women: detachment, control, laughter, impregnability. Most of her movies were set in the Gay Nineties; the period dress suggestively contained her full figure.  . . .
• • Source: The New Yorker;  published on Monday, 11 November 1996
• • 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 4,400 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started fifteen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 4,421st 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 • • song sheet in 1898 • •
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