Mae West: Hollywood Newbie

Yesterday we read a fan letter about MAE WEST written from the viewpoint of Laura Brey, who had also been a child during the 1890s, and who appreciated how Mae schooled movie-goers in the fallacy of false modesty.
• • In February 1933, Variety had a different viewpoint on Tinseltown's newest movie queen. It is important to see how the press viewed Mae West in the early 1930s as she was becoming a screen star. This is Part 1 of 4 segments.

• • Variety columnist Bige wrote: Only one previous picture part—a small one in ‘Night After Night’—and now Mae West is starring! It looks as though Paramount brought Miss West along too fast. In New York she rates the billing but elsewhere, where they may not know Mae from Joan of Arc, the name over the title of this picture probably won’t attract much attention the first time.  Besides, there’s not a box office moniker in the rest of the cast.
• • Variety columnist Bige wrote: “She Done Him Wrong” (1933) -- Only alternative to a strong drawing cast nowadays if a picture wants business, is strong entertainment.  This one has neither.
• • Mae West: Flicker set inside a Bowery free-and-easy • • . . .
• • Part 2 will follow tomorrow.
• • Source: Variety; published on Tuesday, 14 February  1933.
• • On Wednesday, 2 February 1927 • •
• • Pole-vaulted out of the ghetto of the clubby entertainment section, Mae West suddenly became notoriously noteworthy in national news headlines on Wednesday, 2 February 1927 in The New York Times (and elsewhere).
• • On Tuesday, February 1st at 5:00 AM, the Brooklyn bombshell was arrested along with her sister and the director Edward Elsner in Bridgeport, Connecticut.
• • According to The New York Times: Edwin [sic] Elsner of New York, stage director of "The Drag," which opened here last night, and Miss Beverly West of New York, sister of Mae West, author of the play, were arrested at 5:30 o'clock this morning in Miss West's room at the Arcade Hotel and will be arraigned in the City Court on Wednesday on technical charges of breach of the peace.
• • The arrest at the Arcade Hotel is dramatized in the play "Courting Mae West." Beverly's drunken antics and Mae's strategies are featured in Act I, Scene 2 in this serious-minded comedy based on true events.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Mae West could trouble the Hays Office just by saying “it looks like rain today” in her own inimitable way.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "She who hesitates is a damned fool."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • An article in Variety mentioned Mae West.
• • Paramount Theatre ... Crowds riot and break house doors and records at Los Angeles Paramount in effort to see Mae West on the stage with Benny Goodman and Band and on the screen in "Every Day's a Holiday." ...
• • Source: Variety; published on Wednesday, 2 February 1938
• • 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 4,661st 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 • • 1932 ad for "Night After Night" • •
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