Mae West: Brazen Burglary

It was on a Wednesday, 39 years ago, when newspapers had written about MAE WEST. On Wednesday, 30 September 1981, Associated Press sent their coverage from Los Angeles, California over the wire and many prominent newspapers carried it.
• • Los Angeles [A.P.] — — A vacant home owned by the late sex goddess Mae West has been systematically looted over the last three months, with brazen thieves carrying off memorabilia of the fabled screen star.
• • Neighbors said Monday the rambling single-story home has been abandoned since July 1, when the star's elderly sister, Beverly West, suffered a stroke.
• • 'People have been coming and going out of the house every day for the last two weeks,' said Charlotte Gottenbos, who lives across the street.
• • 'Cars come and park and people stay in there for half a day.  People have even pulled up in pickup trucks, opened the gate and pulled into the property,' she said. Old letters, newspaper stories, photos of Mae West, theater trunks, crumbling dresses and wigs were scattered around the house and yard.  
• • A family friend  of Mae West told the Los Angeles Times that there had been much Mae West memorabilia in the house, but little of it was in good condition or of much value.  'If someone had gone in there 10 or 15 years ago and preserved the material, it would have been a priceless collection,' said the friend, who asked that his name not be disclosed. 'But what was left there — — hats, dresses, family photographs and a bunch of junk — — was probably not worth much.'
• • The friend said a bank handling Mae West's estate was responsible for the house. He said the estate is currently tied up in a legal battle between friends and family of the star, who died last November at 87.  
• • On Sunday, 30 September 1934 • •

• • Andre Sennwald wrote an article "Lines for a Mae West Scrapbook." It was published in The New York Times on Sunday, 30 September 1934.
• • Note: Andre Sennwald [4 August 1907 — 12 January 1936], motion-picture critic of The New York Times, was killed shortly after 1 o'clock this morning when an explosion of undetermined origin believed at first to be caused by gas wrecked his terrace apartment on the top floor of the seventeen-story apartment building at 670 West End Avenue. Mr. Sennwald, who was 28 years old, became motion-picture critic of The N.Y. Times in October 1934.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • One of Mae West's least favorite motion pictures was "The Heat's On" [1943].
• • Fitzroy Davis received screenwriting credit for this mish-mash, a film so disjointed and disappointing that The New York Times review led off with this sally: "The heat is definitely off!"
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said:  “I'm just as busy when I'm not making a new motion picture.”
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • A TV commentator discussed Mae West.
• • Mae West Made this "Insane" Film in her 80's • •
• • PBS wrote: The film "Sextette," which Mae West made when she was in her 80's, was actually a "radical power move," according to comedian Natasha Lyonne.
• • PBS wrote: It demonstrated Mae West's supreme confidence as a woman trying to defy the taboo against sexual older women. At the same time, it showed that the persona Mae West created in the 1930s was so original that it could endure into the 1970s and beyond. ..
• • Source: PBS; published on Tuesday, 16 June 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 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 4,572nd 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 in 1934 • •
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