Mae West: Teenagers Today

When Helen Lawrenson came up to see MAE WEST, Esquire's first female journalist was closing in on her sixtieth birthday and the Brooklyn bombshell was 73. A color photo by Diane Arbus flashed across the double-page-spread, hunched under half the title as if warding off a punch in the nose.
• • Enjoy her seldom seen interview. This is Part 27 of 46 parts.
• • "Mirror, Mirror, on the Ceiling: How'm I Doin’?" • •
• • Not bad, Mae, for a woman of seventy-three • •
• • Mae West: Teenagers like me. I understand them • •
• • Helen Lawrenson wrote: Mae West explained that last sentence. The boy had made a trip to California and stopped in to see her at her beach house in Santa Monica. “These teen-agers today are all right,” she said. “There are just more of ’em. In fact, they’re terrific. They’re so clever and they want things faster and more furious and you’ve got to give it to ’em. I understand ’em, and they all like me, you know.”

• • Helen Lawrenson wrote: Mae West dumped a bunch of other letters in my lap and left the room again. I wanted to see the rest of the apartment but she didn’t suggest it and I was diffident about asking.  
• • Mae West: Asked about mirrors on her ceiling • • . . .    
• • Helen Lawrenson's interview will be continued on the next post.
• • Source: Esquire; published on Saturday, 1 July 1967.
• • On Tuesday, 17 November 1936 • •
• • An article on favorite dishes of movie stars in the 1930s mentioned Mae West. The Sydney Morning Herald commented: Mae West always has a salad, which has been named after her.  [Note: It was a tuna salad and it was served at The Brown Derby.]
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • She threw her first Hollywood party for 200 guests, and not a heart was broken, a cocktail poured, a cigarette lighted or a home wrecked. She's Mae West.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: “Pour him  outta here!”
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • The Chicago Tribune wrote about Mae West.
• • Glen Elsasser wrote: Mae West died at age 87 in 1980, after a career unique in the annals of show business. But her surreal charm as queen of the double entendre endures. Time has been kind and spun her life story and oeuvre into an icon — — the subject of a non-stop flow of books, articles, scholarly studies and mentions in journals of popular culture. ...
• • Source: "Mae West's Powerful Image Lives On" by Glen Elsasser for Chicago Tribune; published on Saturday, 21 November 1997
• • 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 4,600 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started fifteen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 4,605th 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 • • mail from Tina, a 7-year-old fan, in 1970 • •
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