Mae West: Suggestive Walk

Despite all you think you know about MAE WEST, there’s always something new. Did you know  how Mae kept her height a secret, for instance? 
• • This intimate interview with Mae West was first seen in 2009. This is Part 11 of 29 parts.
• • From the Archive: A Candid (and Entertaining) Interview with Mae West • •  
• • Mae West, Mistress of Illusion • •   
• • Charlotte Chandler wrote:  Always the mistress of illusion, Mae wore long dresses or flared bottom pants designed to cover her stilt-like shoes.
• • Mae West hid her stilt-like shoes • •
• • Charlotte Chandler wrote:  Mae's shoes had the highest heels I’d ever seen, and the heels seemed higher than the shoes were long, her feet being quite small.
• • Charlotte Chandler wrote:  Edith Head [Mae’s Hollywood tailor] had speculated that it was the height of those heels that had produced Mae’s famous suggestive walk. “In those shoes it was the only way she could walk! They were so heavy it was actually difficult for her to rise from a chair,” Head said.
• • Mae West's lacy peignoirs • •   . . .
• • This long and fascinating interview will be continued tomorrow.
• • Source: AnOther Magazine; published  Autumn—Winter 2009 issue; rpt on Wednesday, 27 May 2020.
• • On Sunday, 27 July 1997 • •
• • "Censorship Made Me" • •
• • N.Y. Times Book Reviewer Martha McPhee wrote: When most people, including me, think of Mae West, they think of Flower Belle Lee from ''My Little Chickadee.'' They remember a pneumatic blonde, part siren, part caricature, strutting slowly across the screen, all hips and bosom, her infamous one-liners sliding out of the corner of her mouth.
• • N.Y. Times Book Reviewer Martha McPhee added: Yet the film, made in 1940 when the actress was close to 50, came relatively late in Mae West's career, and she hated it. She hated sharing equal billing and equal screen footage with W. C. Fields, whom she found to be an obnoxious drunk.
• • N.Y. Times Book Reviewer Martha McPhee continued: Moreover, for audiences of the time, as Emily Wortis Leider tells us in ''Becoming Mae West,'' her insightful and engaging new biography of the star, Flower Belle Lee was an old number, a rehash of the character that West had spent nearly 40 years perfecting.  
• • The N.Y. Times; published on Sunday, 27 July 1997.
• • July 2004: Mae West Blog launches • •
• • The Mae West Blog celebrates its Sweet 16th anniversary • •

• • What are we up to, writing about the Brooklyn-born bombshell for 16 sweet years now?
• • We've been the main Mae source for documentaries, solo shows, and biographies— — offering a trove of info, quotes, along with Westian arcana, thanks to 4,500+ posts.
• • We’re still here to keep Mae mavens up to date, correct errors, celebrate each revival of a play she wrote, post the latest Westian stage and book reviews. And answer our fan mail!
• • The ghost light’s still on. Come up and see Mae every day.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Frank Wallace has court action in Los Angeles to bring about a division of community property under California law against his former spouse Mae West. 
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said:  "Sex depends on certain positions. But kissing is good in any position."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • An Australia daily mentioned Mae West. 
• • "Mae West  Achieves Fame With Her Books" • •
• • Sunday Times wrote: "Mae West is as great a favorite with a section of the world's reading public as she is with motion picture audiences, it was revealed recently on the arrival in Hollywood of the president of the company acting as her publishers.”  ...
• • Source: The Sunday Times (Perth, Australia); published on Sunday, 22 July 1934
• • 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 16th 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 4,500 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started fifteen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 4,526th 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 • • Mae West's shoes (1930s) • •
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