Mae West: Cannot Relax

“I first went to interview MAE WEST after the collapse of ‘Myra Breckinridge’ [1970]. Like almost everyone else, I was in awe of the woman,” wrote Jacoba Atlas. Let’s read her fascinating first-hand account from 1974. This is Part 18 of 19 segments.
• • Image from a Cracked Mirror • •
• • Mae West cannot relax into her current self • •
• • Jacoba Atlas wrote: She also coined the phrase “tall, dark and handsome” to then pretty-boy ingenue Cary Grant. In almost a dozen films, Mae West has written every line of her own dialogue (and everyone else’s with the exception of W.C. Fields in “My Little Chickadee”) and virtually directed those films as well — — without screen credit, of course.
• • Jacoba Atlas wrote: She also saved a floundering Paramount Pictures from total bankruptcy, in much the same way that sound saved Warner Bros, from the same fate.
• • Jacoba Atlas wrote: But she does not, or cannot, relax into her current self. Her skin is smooth and soft, attractive at any age and, yes, astonishing at 82; but her constant invitation to visiting journalists to touch it for themselves smacks of a pitiful need for outside reassurance.
• • Mae West seemed mummified, somehow rendered sad • • …
• • This long profile by Jacoba Atlas will be concluded on the next post, the 19th segment.  
• • Source: Los Angeles Free Press, Volume 11, issue 517; published on Friday, 14 June 1974.
• • On Saturday, 15 May 1948 • •

• • Mae West and Jim Timony boarded the Queen Mary on Saturday, 15 May 1948 at Southampton, England for a return voyage to New York City, arriving in their home port on 19 May 1948.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Mae West's plans for a vacation trip have been blasted by a Paramount notice that she must be ready to start on her next picture about the middle of July.  Meanwhile, she must help get the screenplay in shape.  
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "Tired of all those jokes about my figure and my 'man' talk? No. If people expect me to be the same off-stage — — why I call that flattery."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • An article on a camp classic mentioned Mae West.
• • "Camp Classic Good for Laughs" • •
• • Susan Dunne wrote: There's never been another movie like "Myra Breckinridge," and many people think that's a good thing. But that kind of legacy is what camp classics are made of. Rex Reed, the film critic, stars as Myron Breckinridge, who wants a sex change. He gets one courtesy of a whacked-out doctor, and becomes Myra (Raquel Welch). Myra heads to Hollywood, to go into the biz, to claim an inheritance from her uncle (John Huston), and to teach university classes. Her uncle's friend is a horny seventy-something talent scout, played by Mae West.  ...
• • Source: The Hartford Courant; published on Thursday, 15 May 2008
• • 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 4,475th 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 • • aboard a ship in 1947 • •
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