Mae West: Churchmen Fulminated

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 39 of 46 parts.
• • "Mirror, Mirror, on the Ceiling: How'm I Doin’?" • •
• • Not bad, Mae, for a woman of seventy-three • •
• • Mae West: No one was quite like her • •
• • Helen Lawrenson wrote: She pulled Paramount out of the red [sic] in those Depression days.
• • Mae West was a box-office bonanza • •
• • Helen Lawrenson wrote: There was no one quite like her, and her popularity was such a box-office bonanza that exhibitors couldn’t have cared less that churchmen fulminated against her, the NBC radio network banned her for twelve years (because in a radio skit she said to Edgar Bergen’s wooden dummy, “Why don’t you come up and see me sometime and play in my woodpile?”).
• • Helen Lawrenson wrote: And William Randolph Hearst (always a great huff-and-puff moralist in public) demanded in an editorial, “Is it not time Congress did something about Mae West?”
• • Mae West: She moved men to laughter • • . . .
• • Helen Lawrenson's interview will be continued on the next post.
• • Source: Esquire; published on Saturday, 1 July 1967.
• • On Tuesday, 3 December 1935 • •
• • On Tuesday, 3 December 1935, The Cornell Daily Sun ran an interesting article — "The Champ Meets a Notable."
• • Heavyweight Champ Jim Braddock • •

• • Illustrating the text was a photo of Mae West standing between two men: heavyweight champ Jim Braddock and his buddy Joe Zigg. It seems that Mae West gave these handsome fellows a tour of Hollywood film studios.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Mae West once played a woman of dubious morals who sold the famed New York bridge to gullible young men who were attracted to her.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: “I carry only purse money. Not that I'm unable to look after my own money, or would spend it recklessly.   It's just bad business to pack a big roll around Hollywood. I found that out when I lost $3,400 in cash and $18,000 worth of diamonds to bandits.”
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • An article was dedicated to Mae West.
• • “Mae West, Hollywood's Sex Symbol, Dies” • •
• • The mistress of sexual innuendo and repartee was born Aug 17, 1893 in Brooklyn. Her father was a boxer. Her mother was a sometime model.
• • Miss West was on the stage at the age of five, apparently aided and encouraged by singing and dancing lessons provided by her family.
• • As Mae West's roles in stock melodramas became more frequent, her formal schooling became more irregular and before long classes were behind her and the vaudeville stage was her life.  ...
• • Source: Washington Post; published on Sunday, 23 November 1980
• • 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 4,618th 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 • • with the heavyweight champ on 3 December 1935 • •
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