Mae West: Fantastic Guises

The purity police dogged the heels of MAE WEST with a Javert-like intensity. Barry Chapman analyzes how the censors affected her film Belle of the Nineties. This is Part 7 of 8 parts.
• • N.B.: When Toronto Film Society presented Belle of the Nineties (1934) and My Gal Sal on Monday, January 8, 1990 as part of their Season 42, this article was first written.  
• • Censorship and Belle of the Nineties (1934) starring Mae West • •
• • Mae West: Garbed in Travis Banton's designs • •

• • Barry Chapman wrote: While Gene Austin croons “My American Beauty,” garbed in designer Travis Banton’s most exotic confections, Mae appears in a variety of fantastic guises: a gigantic rose, a spider, a bat and a butterfly (with fanciful wings like a Japanese kite). The climax of this extravaganza is Mae’s incarnation as the Statue of Liberty. Torch held proudly aloft, Mae brings the shouting music hall audience to its feet. Upon viewing this amazing sight, Vanity Fair‘s critic, George Jean Nathan, dubbed her “the Statue of Libido.”
• • Mae West: The film is filled with honest frivolity • •  ...
• • To be concluded tomorrow.
• • Source: Toronto Film Society; reprinted on Sunday, 15 November 2020.
• • On Saturday, 22 March 1930 in The N.Y. Times • •
• • It was Saturday, 22 March 1930, and the headline in The N.Y. Times read like this: "Mae West Counsel Assailes Capt. Coy; Police Officer Admits Relying More on Sergeant's Notes Than Own in Testimony. Says Two Made 'Synopsis' Too Dark in Theatre to Write Clearly, He Asserts — — Reveals He Acted 28 Years Ago."
• • Captain James J. Coy of Inspector Mulrooney's staff, who appeared Thursday in General Sessions, told Judge Amadeo Bertini and a jury why he had raided Mae West's play "Pleasure Man" in October 1928.
• • Why? Why indeed! Well, you can learn more about these obscenity trials from the stage play "Courting Mae West." The "Sex" trial is dramatized during Act 1 and the 1930 trial for "Pleasure Man" takes place during Act 2.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • L.M. Boyd wrote: It was Mae West who revitalized the old bird-in-the-hand line. Except what she said was: ''A man in the house is worth two in the street.''
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "Gentlemen, pet your women. They love it like a tabby cat. Occasionally suggest that they buy a new dress, even if they have enough to clothe an 1890 chorus."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • A Singapore newspaper mentioned Mae West.
• • Paramount presents Mae West in "I'm No Angel" with Cary Grant. Come up and see me sometime — — any time. Screening shortly . . . .
• • Source: The Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser; published on Saturday, 17 March 1934
• • 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 4,695th 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 • • in 1934 • •
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