Mae West: Top Billed

In 1967, 73-year-old MAE WEST told Helen Lawrenson (during an interview for Esquire) that “if you didn’t know how old I am, a person’d think I’m twenty-six.”  
• • Eleven years later, in 1978, Mae would play a coquettish bride in "Sextette." Was it a good film or a misfire? Journalist Steve Palace has his own perspective. This is Part 3 of 6 parts.
• • "Sextette" — Mae West’s Last Movie Saw Her Play the Vamp in Her 80s! • •
• • Mae West: Was top-billed • •
• • Steve Palace wrote: She made a rare return to movies for 1970 political satire "Myra Breckinridge." There she was top-billed, though Raquel Welch adorned posters as the sexy star. Not that it helped the production much — audiences and critics weren’t impressed.

• • Was "Sextette" a good idea? • •
• • Steve Palace wrote: "Sextette" was West’s last, ill-advised roll of the dice.
• • Steve Palace wrote: Director Ken Hughes (‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’) performed rewrites on the screenplay. West — whose hearing wasn’t what it was — needed an earpiece in order to accommodate his instructions, plus any last minute changes.
• • Mae West: Hughes fed her lines • • ...   
• • This feature will continue until the sixth segment.
• • Source: The Vintage News; published on Tuesday, 29 September 2020.
• • On Saturday, 13 January 1945 • •
• • "Catherine Was Great" featured Mae West onstage in her stunning Russian empress regalia. Mike Todd's lavish production was onstage from 2 August 1944 — 13 January 1945 on Broadway, which ran for 191 performances. The play was staged at the Shubert Theatre, then it moved to the Royale.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Mae West, author, producer, and star of the stage show "Diamond Lil" and famous on the screen. is ill with abdominal trouble.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "The act went over very big."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • An article on “Sextette” discussed Mae West.
• • "Go West, Old Mae" • •
• • Gilbert Adair wrote: If Mae West’s birthdate had not been authenticated as 1892 [sic], I would be tempted to claim her as the reincarnation of Oscar Wilde. Where else, save in photographs of Wilde, have I seen the same odalisque’s posture, the same sailor’s gait, the same corseting and rouge, the same court of adoring and adorable young men?
• • Gilbert Adair wrote: Mae West's resonant wisecracks resemble Oscar Wilde’s universal epigrams as a wad of chewing-gum may be said to resemble an iridescent soap bubble.  ...
• • Source: Film Comment; dated from the issue May — June 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 4,647th 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 • • magazine cover promoting her last film in 1978 • •
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