Friday, February 12, 2021

Mae West: Cell Block Blues

MAE WEST said this about being on TV: “too many people seeing me for free.” But now that her motion pictures are on the small screen, Mae is being newly discovered. Let's hear from Scott Marks. This is Part 4 of 8.
• • The Best of Mae West • •
• • She Done Him Wrong: Mae West’s career died for your sins.
• • Mae West: Visit to prison • •
• • Scott Marks wrote: With a load of lumber like this to play off, is it any wonder that Grant’s next-door missionary turns out to be an undercover cop for West to fall for at picture’s fade? The cheapest cut of ham is Owen Moore as Lou’s locked-up ex, Chick Clark.

• • Scott Marks wrote: Hardcore romanticist Chick expresses his love for Lou by threatening to kill her if she so much as looks at another man. Judging by his muddleheaded performance, Owen Moore’s “method” is allowing the liquor to do the acting.
• • Note: Chick Clark's monologue, from his Chicago prison cell, opens Mae's play ["Diamond Lil," Act I, Scene 1]. Chick Clark  vows to escape, flee to New York, and find his lady love.
• • In 1928, Chick Clark was portrayed by Herbert Duffy on Broadway.
• • Scott Marks wrote: But Lou’s visit to prison, complete with a sashay through the cell block like it’s old home week, is a high-point second only to a hair-pulling match between Lou and Russian Rita (Rafaela Ottiano, reprising her role from Diamond Lil.)
• • Editor: In the 1928 play, Chick Clark, imprisoned in Chicago, kills the guards in order to escape after receiving Lil's dismissive “Dear John” letter. There is no jail scene in NYC between Lil and Chick. Moreover, he's portrayed much more sympathetically in the melodrama written for the stage.
• • Mae West: the poignancy of male lechery • • ...
• • Part 5 will follow tomorrow.
• • Source: San Diego Reader; published on Friday, 11 December 2020.
• • On Saturday, 12 February 1949 in Billboard • •
• • Saturday night with Mae West as Diamond Lil at the Coronet Theatre, wow. Billboard reviewer Bob Francis was in the crowd on her opening night (5 February 1949) and recorded his fascinations in a lengthy, generously detailed piece that was printed the following week on Saturday, 12 February 1949 in Billboard Magazine. Bob Francis had an exceptional perspective, since he had seen the original in 1928, too.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • The day before Mae West was expected back from the East, a large group of theater owners in Southern California called at Paramount studio and demanded the pleasure of meeting the train and giving Mae a rousing welcome.
• • ". . . We want to show our appreciation to Miss West for the marvelous picture she has given us to show in our theaters . . . it's the first one in a long time that has made our friends stand in line at our box-offices !"
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said:  "I've always got a new trick."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • An article in the Cape Gazette discussed Mae West.
• • The Delaware-based Arts & Entertainment Editor wrote: "Everyone has this idea of who Mae West was," says theatre director Dana Peragallo.  ...
• • Source: Cape Gazette [Lewes, DE]; posted on Friday, 11 February 2011

• • 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 4,669th 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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• • Be sure to bookmark or follow The Mae West Blog
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • Lil and Chick on Broadway in 1928
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