Mae West: Bette's Memories

MAE WEST resented when performers imitated her in a professional setting.
• • When Bette Midler took on the role of the Executive producer of Mae West: Dirty Blonde on PBS, she remembered the time she heard from Mae's lawfirm.
• • Now age 75, Bette Midler recalled: “I used to sing a Mae West song when I first started working solo. I actually did not know she was still alive; there was no internet… She sent me a cease-and-desist letter telling me to stop imitating her,” she recalls. “Of course, I did, and I still have the letter! But truly, there will never be anyone like her. Her diamonds and feathers, her strict adherence to the clothes of the 1890s…were all part of the package. How could you not love her? She believed in her creation, and she lived it every day of her life. Now, that’s commitment!”
• • Source: Bette Midler web site; undated.
• • On Saturday, 6 July 1935 • •    
• • "Off to the Theatre" • •
• • On July 6th, the Urbana Evening Courier (Illinois) wrote: Mae West is back again in "Goin' to Town," which comes to the Princess Theatre Sunday for three days.  Mae is at her voluptuous best. The plot concerns the story of a cow-town dance hall girl who wins a bunch of oil wells when her fiance dies. . . .
• • No longer swathed in the clothes or the social amenities of the "Gay Nineties," Mae West becomes an up-to-date girl with ultra-modern ideas in modern surroundings. The opening scenes of "Goin' to Town" are laid in the Middle West where Mae West acquires a lot of money by the process of getting rid of her wealthy husband. Then she really starts going places.
• • July 2004: Mae West Blog launches • •

• • What are we up to, writing about the Brooklyn-born bombshell for 17 years now?
• • We’re here to keep Mae mavens up to date, correct errors, celebrate each revival of a play she wrote, post the latest Westian stage and book reviews. And answer our fan mail!
• • The light’s still on. Come up and see Mae every day.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Bette Midler will star as Mae West in a new HBO Biopic. William Friedkin, Harvey Fierstein, Jerry Weintraub will be shepherding this feature based on the icon's 1959 memoir. (Announced in 2013, it's safe to say the script was on life-support and then died.)
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "She who laughs lasts."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • An article about Blu-Ray releases of 1930s films mentioned Mae West.
• • Rachel Bellwoar wrote: Today you hear actors and actresses talk about writing their own material because Hollywood wasn’t writing parts for them but that’s what Mae West was doing in the 1930s. She rewrote her dialogue in Night After Night. In terms of pay parity, West was the one with the larger salary. She made sure she was paid what she was worth.  ...
• • Night After Night, I’m No Angel, and She Done Him Wrong are available on Blu-Ray starting June 29th from Kino Lorber.
• • Source: Comicon; posted on Thursday, 24 June 2021
• • 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 17th anniversary • • 
• • Thank you for reading, sending questions, and posting comments during these past seventeen years. Not long ago, we entertained 3,497 visitors. And we reached a milestone recently when we completed 4,700 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started fifteen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 4,771st 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 • • learning to shoot in 1934 • •
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