Mae West: Not for Good

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 6 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: Sashays down the gangplank • •

• • Barry Chapman wrote: For instance, when the steamboat docks at New Orleans, Mae sashays down the gangplank arm in arm with a playboy millionaire (John Mack Brown).  The men surge forward eagerly and she is asked “Are you in town for good?”  Mae replies, “I expect to be here, but not for good.”  She also informs the boys in the bar, “It’s better to be looked over than overlooked.”
• • Barry Chapman wrote: The film’s plot — — the usual underworld melodrama — — exists mainly to provide Mae with a series of elaborate production numbers.  
• • Barry Chapman wrote: The opening number is the most spectacular in all her films.  
• • Mae West: Garbed in Travis Banton's designs • • ...
• • To be continued.
• • Source: Toronto Film Society; reprinted on Sunday, 15 November 2020.
• • On Saturday, 19 March 1927 • •
• • Mae West signed the "Sex" checks. Three promissory notes dated for Saturday, 19 March 1927 from the Moral Producing Corporation, $1000 each to Harold Spielberg, signed on the verso in original ink "Mae West" together with a check drawn on the Bowery and East River National Bank, dated 2 March 1927, signed by Mae West as President of the Moral Producing Corporation.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Mae West signed a new contract with Paramount which calls for two pictures a year from her for the next four years. The actress has the option of writing her own stories, selecting her own cast and working for a percentage of the grosses on the eight pictures, under the terms of her new deal.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said:  "Love the men, ladies — — but not too much."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • An article about Andy Warhol mentioned Mae West.
• • Eveline Danubrata wrote: Andy Warhol started collecting pictures of movie stars such as Shirley Temple and Mae West when he was eight years old, Eric Shiner said. He would write letters to the Hollywood movie studios and ask for photographs, then kept dozens of them in a photo album. . . .
• • Source: Article: "Andy Warhol, the Pope of Pop, is making a pilgrimage to Asia on the 25th anniversary of his death" written by Eveline Danubrata in Singapore for Reuters; posted on Friday, 16 March 2012
• • 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 4,694th 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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