Mae West: Sex Triumphant

Reporters who met MAE WEST during the 1920s and early 1930s — — before stardom cloaked her utterly — — have a refreshingly different take than those who met her as a bonafide movie queen.
• • New York Herald Tribune reporter Stanley Walker came up to see Mae West often in New York.
• • A section in Stanley Walker’s 1935 memoir discussed Mae West. This is Part 17 of 19 segments.
• • “Sex Comes to America” • •
• • The closing of "Sex" • •
• • Stanley Walker wrote: Mae had closed "Sex" voluntarily; the opus had drawn 300,000 paid admissions.
• • Stanley Walker wrote: The next sensation was "Diamond Lil" in 1928 [sic].
• • Stanley Walker wrote: Like most of the other Mae West masterpieces, it was about a bad woman who got what she wanted, with sex triumphant and unrepentant. The philosophy underlying the stories is that "any dame that can't outsmart a man ought to have her head examined."

• • Stanley Walker wrote: All was very well, but she got into trouble when she put on "Pleasure Man," a play which dealt with homosexuality.
• • Stanley Walker wrote: It was too much for Mayor Walker and a raid was ordered. The trial of Miss West and her accomplices in General Sessions was amusing, but the jury failed to agree, and the District Attorney gave up.
• • Mae West was the despair of the censors • • …
• • This long chapter by Stanley Walker will be continued on the next post.
• • Source: Chapter “Sex Comes to America” from "Mrs. Astor's Horse" written by Stanley Walker [NY: Frederick A. Stokes, 28 October 1935, 320 pages].
• • On Tuesday, 3 April 1934 • •
• • "Mayor Refuses to See Mae West's Film" • •
• • Oxford, England, April 3 — — Miss L. S. Tawney, Oxford's spinster mayor, refused today an invitation to see Mae West's motion picture, "I'm No Angel," holding that it was objectionable.  "It would not be consistent with the dignity of my office of mayor to see it," she said.
• • Source: Item in Urbana Daily Courier (Urbana, Illinois); published on Tuesday, 3 April 1934. 
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • The crowds at the Brooklyn Fox reflected not only their fascination with La West but also how she says it and the way she does it.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "A man has one hundred dollars and you leave him with two dollars. That's subtraction."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • Boise Weekly mentioned Mae West.
• • “From the Dregs to ‘The Drag’ by Mae West” • •
• • Minerva Jayne wrote: I discovered Mae West when I was about 12 years old. I was already a bullied, sheltered, lonely child growing up in rural Emmett. I stuck out like a sore thumb and too many people, both young and old, took it upon themselves to remind me of my differentness on the daily.
• • Minerva Jayne wrote: With few close friends, I found myself running to the shelter and safety of classic Hollywood films by watching AMC. AMC ran a Mae West double feature, showing She Done Him Wrong and My Little Chickadee. The moment I saw Mae West with her hourglass figure, glowing platinum hair, upward-gazing eyes, and-all-too knowing smile, I felt an instant kinship. This sparked a lifelong love of all things Mae West.  …
• • Source: Boise Weekly; published on Wednesday, 26 February 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 4,400 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started fifteen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 4,445th 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 • • a paperback version of "Pleasure Man" • •
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