Mae West: Honest Frivolity

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 8 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: The film is filled with honest frivolity • •

• • Barry Chapman wrote: By modern standards, most of Mae’s dialogue is pretty mild and innocuous. Belle would probably have been a lot funnier more of the time if the Hays Office hadn’t “protected” moviegoers. However, it’s still pretty amusing stuff, and viewed as a cavalcade, for the music, choreography, and glamour, not so much for the story, it is an entertaining and exuberant picture. 
• • Barry Chapman wrote: It is excellent musical comedy, filled with honest frivolity, atmosphere, and at least one unforgettable song.
• • Cast: Mae West (Ruby Carter), Roger Pryor (Tiger Kid), John Mack Brown (Brooks Claybourne), John Miljan (Ace Lamont), Katherine DeMille (Molly Brant), James Donaln (Kirby), Stuart Holmes (Dirk), Harry Woods (Slade), Edward Gargan (Stogie), Libby Taylor (Jasmine), et cetera.
• • This article has now been concluded with Part 8. Hope you enjoyed it.
• • Source: Toronto Film Society; reprinted on Sunday, 15 November 2020.
• • On Monday, 23 March 1964 • •
• • Rick Du Brow, a Hollywood columnist, discussed the episode "Mae West Meets Mister Ed" (broadcast on Sunday, 22 March 1964) on page 4 of Cumberland Evening Times, on Monday, 23 March 1964. The headline was "Mae West Could Be Star of Own Situation Comedy." Du Brow was favorably impressed. Papers in the U.K. and the USA reviewed the TV episode.
• • "Mae West Meets Mister Ed" is the twenty-first episode of the fourth season of "Mister Ed," and the ninety-ninth episode overall. Director was Arthur Lubin. Airdate was on Sunday, 22 March 1964.
• • Guest Stars: Mae West (Herself), Nick Stewart (Charles), Mae West (Herself), Jacques Shelton (1st Groom), Roger Torrey (2nd Groom).
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Emanuel Cohen announced in Film Daily that Mae was making a new motion picture for Major Pictures Corp. The title, said Cohen, was "Sapphire Sal — Night of Mystery." Starring Mae West and Grant Richards, and directed by Eddie Sutherland, the story was being written by Jo Swerhing.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "He seemed to have a lot of trouble. I think he was all right, but he just couldn't get the money he needed."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • A London newspaper reader recalled Diane Arbus and Mae West.
• • Dear Sir: While I was art editor of Show Magazine in New York during the 1960s, I commissioned the great Diane Arbus to photograph the (by then) forgotten Mae West (Books, 16 March) at home in Los Angeles.
• • The results revealed that Miss West had a fearsome fetish for symmetry — matching grubby white grand pianos bearing vast identical plaster statues of her naked self, duplicate papier-maiché urns of dusty mock camellias, place settings mirrored either side of the plates, etc. Mae also slept between two (real) apes [sic] called Toughie and Pretty-boy.
• • As Cecil Beaton once said about Josephine Baker, if that is not camp, I don't know what is!
• • Written by: Nicholas Haslam, 12 Holbein Place, London SW1
• • Source: Letter (page 29) in London's Spectator; published on Saturday, 23 March 1996
• • 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 4,696th 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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