Was the heavily air-brushed memoir that MAE WEST published in 1959 “scandalous”? Vanity Fair seems to think so. See if you agree. This is Part 3 of 14 segments.
• • “When I’m Bad, I’m Better” — — Mae West’s Sensational Life in Her Own Words • •
• • PBS’s Mae West: Dirty Blonde delves into the life of a savvy sexpot—but even it is not half as scandalous as West’s 1959 autobiography.
• • Mae West: The Spotlight • •
• • Hadley Hall Meares wrote: A precociously fearless performer, West demanded her due from the time she was a curly-headed child vaudevillian. Scheduled for her first big show at the Royal Theater in Brooklyn, the seven year old’s mother dressed her in a pink and green satin dress with a white lace picture hat. Before she went on to sing “Movin’ Day,” West insisted to the stage manager that she have a spotlight. He said she would—but once on stage, there was none to be found.
• • Hadley Hall Meares wrote: “I stepped out on the stage, looked up angrily at the spotlight man in the balcony, stamping my foot,” she writes in her autobiography.
• • Mae West: I demanded my light • • ..
• • This 14-part article will be continued tomorrow.
• • Source: Vanity Fair; published on Tuesday, 16 June 2020.
• • On Friday, 26 August 1921 • •
• • Clearly with Mae's approval and cooperation, Hussey penned the skit "The Trial of Shimmy Mae." Hussey himself played the judge as Mae demonstrated the shimmy in his topsy-turvy courtroom.
• • Variety tartly commented on 26 August 1921: "In a tent it would have been a riot."
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • After the Hollywood newcomer's death, Mark Hellinger noted: “I found Dorothy Dell pretty, very pert and had a sweet smile. Everything Dorothy said and did was offered in a Mae West sort of way — — a very young Mae West-ish sort of way. And Mae didn’t reach the screen until long after that Follies had closed.”
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: “A man in the house is worth 2 in the street.”
• • Mae West said: "A girl in the convertible is worth 5 in the phonebook."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • A newspaper in Perth, Australia mentioned Mae West.
• • "Mae West-ian'' Styles • •
• • Mae will wear the famous "dust ruffles" of that period • •
• • The famous "dust ruffles" of that period have been used in many of Travis Banton's designs. In that age, when the sight of a feminine ankle caused a terrific uproar, women coquettishly managed to have several layers of lacey ruffles supporting the hems of their dresses, and were always careful to lift these just a little bit higher than was necessary to keep them from dragging in the dust.
• • In this coming summer's fashions, such a revival is bound to be accepted enthusiastically, Banton predicts. Women have already shown a willingness to admit the petticoat, and modern girls will be delighted with a set of these ruffles as a "petticoat camouflage" — — just like Mae West’s character Ruby Carter in the film. …
• • Source: The Sunday Times (Perth); published on Sunday, 26 August 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 4,548th 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 • • showing her bare hips in 1921 • •
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