Mae West: Negatives Are Gone

MAE WEST is back onscreen. This assessment of her Blu-ray line-up is by Stephen Bjork. This is Part 6 of his lengthy review.
• • "I'm No Angel" (Blu-ray Review) • •
• • Mae West: All the negatives are gone • •
• • Stephen Bjork wrote: All of the negatives for West’s films are long gone, so it would have been some combination of dupe negatives and/or fine grain prints.
• • "My Little Chickadee" • •

• • Stephen Bjork wrote: While the picture quality perhaps falls just a tiny bit short of the high bar set by My Little Chickadee, it comes impressively close.
• • Stephen Bjork wrote: Everything looks immaculate without even a hint of damage, but with all of the fine detail and grain intact.
• • Stephen Bjork wrote:  While it may be slightly less detailed than Chickadee, that’s as much due to the cinematography as anything else—Tover uses diffusion filters more frequently here than Joseph Valentine did on that film.
• • Mae West: Fine grain prints. Her motion pictures received a “lovely transfer” • • …
• • Stephen Bjork’s article will continue on the next post.
• • Source: The Digital Bits; published on Friday, 30 July  2021.  
• • On Sunday, 31 August 1969 • •
• •  "Sex is an emotion in motion," Mae West told The Los Angeles Times on Sunday, 31 August 1969. That's a pretty provocative way to end a hot month, eh?  
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • My favorite is "She Done Him Wrong" — because Mae West fills a long-felt movie need and her acting is better than swell.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "It is hard to see why people who wear next to nothing on public beaches object to nudity on the screen. But I'm for clean pictures and clean everything!"
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • An Esquire reporter interviewed Mae West.
• • Helen Lawrenson wrote: My appointment was for two o’clock and I arrived early, but the receptionist at the desk said she wouldn’t dare call Miss West before the exact time, so I waited in the lobby, an ornate baronial hall with Moorish touches, furnished with tapestries, velvet chairs and sofas, gold-painted tables and lamps with statues for bases.
• • Helen Lawrenson wrote: On the dot of two, the receptionist called to announce me and I heard her say, “Yes, Miss West, she’s alone. Yes, Miss West, I’m sure.” (In agreeing to the interview, Mae had specified that I was to come without a photographer.)  …
• • Source: Esquire Magazine; published on Saturday, 1 July 1967
• • 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 4,800 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started fifteen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 4,811th 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/
________
Source: https://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml  
• • Be sure to bookmark or follow The Mae West Blog
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • lobby card in 1940 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest

Mae West: Quotable Films

MAE WEST is back onscreen. This assessment of her Blu-ray line-up is by Stephen Bjork. This is Part 5 of his lengthy review.
• • "I'm No Angel" (Blu-ray Review) • •
• • Mae West: A most quotable film • •
• • Stephen Bjork wrote: This one probably sums up the Mae West persona more than any other:

• • Stephen Bjork, quoting film dialogue: “You were wonderful tonight.”
• • Stephen Bjork, quoting film dialogue: “Yeah, I'm always wonderful at night.”
• • Stephen Bjork, quoting film dialogue: “Tonight, you were especially good.”
• • Stephen Bjork, quoting film dialogue: “Well, when I'm good, I'm very good. But, when I'm bad... I’m better.”
• • Stephen Bjork wrote: I’m No Angel was shot on 35 mm film by cinematographer Leo Tover and framed at 1.37:1.
• • Stephen Bjork wrote: Unlike the Kino Lorber Studio Classics Blu-ray release of My Little Chickadee, which included detailed restoration notes in a title card at the end of the film, there’s no information available regarding the restoration process, or what elements were used.
• • Mae West: All the negatives are gone • • …
• • Stephen Bjork’s article will continue on the next post.
• • Source: The Digital Bits; published on Friday, 30 July  2021.  
• • On Monday, 30 August 1948 • •
• • "Mae West Sued For Plagiarism" • •
• • Los Angeles.— U.P.I. — Mae West told a courtroom bulging with spectators that no woman could be expected to remember the order of 300 lovers. The "come up and see me sometime" star of stage and screen testified in defense of a $100,000 plagiarism suit charging she stole most of her play "Catherine was Great" from writers Edwin K. O'Brien and Michael Kane. Under cross-examination by Attorney Henry T. Moore, Miss West said she couldn't remember the sequence of Catherine the Great's lovers. When Moore became insistent, the sultry actress exploded: "I can't remember the order of them — — no woman could."
• • Miss West, dressed in slinky black satin (even to her gloves), said her play paid little attention to the actual number of Catherine's love affairs. "I did the best I could in a couple of hours of entertainment," she said.  ...
• • Source:  U.P.I. rpt in Statesville Daily Record; published on Monday, 30 August 1948.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Joyce Haber referred to Mae West as "the Last of the Living Legends" in The Los Angeles Times Calendar on Sunday, 30 August 1970.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "The script didn't grab me, so I rewrote my lines. You see, I already knew all the words. This was the first time I could use them. Still, I don't use any four letter words — — I don't need 'em!" 
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • An Esquire reporter interviewed Mae West.
• • Helen Lawrenson wrote: In her heyday she was the highest-paid actress in Hollywood, getting $300,000 a picture, plus an extra $100,000 for writing the script, no piffling sum during the Depression years.
• • Helen Lawrenson wrote: (In 1935, published Federal income tax reports credited her with earning $480,833, which made her the highest-salaried individual in the country, next to William Randolph Hearst, who topped her with $500,000.)
• • Helen Lawrenson wrote: “I haven’t done too bad, honey,” she says, with a silken smile.  …
• • Source: Esquire Magazine; published on Saturday, 1 July 1967
• • 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 4,800 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started fifteen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 4,810th 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/
________
Source: https://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml  
• • Be sure to bookmark or follow The Mae West Blog
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • with Cary Grant onscreen in 1933 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest

Mae West: Tira as Huntress

MAE WEST is back onscreen. This assessment of her Blu-ray line-up is by Stephen Bjork. This is Part 4 of his lengthy review.
• • "I'm No Angel" (Blu-ray Review) • •
• • Mae West: Tira as a huntress • •
• • Stephen Bjork wrote: Yet she’s no mercenary, but rather someone who simply uses men as a means to an end; when she realizes that one particular man can offer her something beside money and jewels, she pursues a different kind of fulfillment with equal certitude.
• • Stephen Bjork wrote: Significantly, there’s never even a hint of a patriarchal conception of marriage in "I’m No Angel" — Tira is not a woman to be conquered by a strong man.

• • Mae West: Hunter as well as conqueror • •
• • Stephen Bjork wrote: But rather she’s both hunter and conqueror of the dapper Jack.
• • Stephen Bjork wrote: She marries on her own terms, not those that society imposes on her.
• • Stephen Bjork wrote: "I’m No Angel" is also one of West’s most quotable films, with famous lines such as “Beulah, peel me a grape.”
• • Mae West: A most quotable film • • …
• • Stephen Bjork’s article will continue on the next post.
• • Source: The Digital Bits; published on Friday, 30 July  2021.  
• • On Monday, 27 August 1934 • •
• • Film Daily wrote: About $15,000 in presents was passed around by Mae West to those who helped in the retakes of her new Paramount picture, "Belle of the Nineties."
• • Source: Article: "Mae West Plays Santa Claus'' written by the West Coast Bureau of The Film Daily, Hollywood, for Film Daily; published on 27 August 1934.
• • The L.A. Times printed a similar item on Monday, 27 August 1934.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • In 1940, Ben Oakland wrote "Willie of the Valley" with Milton Drake [1916 — 2006] for the film "My Little Chickadee" and this had a double distinction of being the only number in the movie — — and it was sung by Mae West herself.  
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "I'm not making a comeback. I never went away!"
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • A newspaper mentioned Mae West.
• • The Bunyip mentioned Mae West.
• • "Mae West's Business Approach" • •
• • Denis Duperly, a film correspondent, wrote: You know, the unfunniest people to interview are comedians — they take themselves so seriously! But I remember asking Mae West the secret of making sex a success without being offensive.
• • Denis Duperly wrote: And she said, “Well, I'm not really a hotsy-totsy dame — I'm a serious business woman. A lot of women make dough by exposing their torso. But I make more by doing nothing of the sort. I just keep 'em guessing.”
• • Featured in 'The Gleaner,'  a BBC programme . . .
• • Source: The Bunyip; published on Friday, 11 May 1951
• • 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 4,800 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started fifteen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 4,809th 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/
________
Source: https://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml  
• • Be sure to bookmark or follow The Mae West Blog
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • with Cary Grant onscreen in 1933 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest

Mae West: Safer in a Cage

MAE WEST is back onscreen. This assessment of her Blu-ray line-up is by Stephen Bjork. This is Part 3 of his lengthy review.
• • "I'm No Angel" (Blu-ray Review) • •
• • Mae West: Safer in a cage • •
• • Stephen Bjork, quoting film dialogue: “Tira can handle them cats like nobody else. She's safer in that cage than she is in bed.”

• • Stephen Bjork, quoting film dialogue: “I don't doubt that.”
• • Stephen Bjork wrote: Tira is one of Mae West’s best characters, a woman who knows what she wants and isn’t afraid to do whatever is necessary to get it.
• • Stephen Bjork wrote: She isn’t ashamed of herself, and instead of being the one who has to play defense against a society which is unwilling to accept an empowered woman, she’s the aggressor in taking action against someone who she feels has done her wrong.
• • Mae West: Tira as a huntress • • . . .
• • Stephen Bjork’s article will continue on the next post.
• • Source: The Digital Bits; published on Friday, 30 July  2021.  
• • On Thursday, 26 August 1954 • •
• • According to vintage newspaper ads, the roving "Mae West Revue" opened their performance schedule in Reno, Nevada starting on Thursday, 26 August 1954.  
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • According to the Mayors of some seaport cities now in convention in New York, Mae West is TOPS!  Asked by Paul Moss, Commissioner of Licenses, who their favorite screen star was, they unanimously selected Mae so Boris Morros, in appreciation, is having the Mayors as guests of the N. Y. Paramount today. Miss West is now in her fifth week at this house with her newest motion picture, "Goin' to Town.”   
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "My pictures don't shock me, but I have been genuinely shocked by stories and some scenes I have seen in pictures."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • An Esquire reporter interviewed Mae West.
• • Helen Lawrenson wrote: Mae West lives in the same apartment she has had since she first went to Hollywood in 1932. It is called The Ravenswood Apartments.
• • Helen Lawrenson wrote: Mae West tends to get deliberately vague about her financial affairs, but she has always had a reputation as a hard-nosed businesswoman, and estimates of her total take can range from four to six million. …
• • Source: Esquire Magazine; published on Saturday, 1 July 1967
• • 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 4,800 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started fifteen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 4,808th 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/
________
Source: https://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml  
• • Be sure to bookmark or follow The Mae West Blog
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • as a lion tamer in 1933 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest

Mae West: Risque Nature

MAE WEST is back onscreen. This assessment of her Blu-ray line-up is by Stephen Bjork. This is Part 2 of his lengthy review.
• • "I'm No Angel" (Blu-ray Review) • •
• • Mae West: Risque Nature • •
• • Stephen Bjork wrote: While the film was directed by Wesley Ruggles, it’s definitely Mae West’s show, all the way.

• • Stephen Bjork wrote: "I’m No Angel" is sometimes referred to as a pre-Code film, which isn’t quite accurate.
• • Stephen Bjork wrote: It was produced after the Production Code was adopted by the MPAA in 1930, but before Joseph Breen was appointed the head of the Production Code Administration in 1934.
• • Stephen Bjork wrote: During that brief period, the Code wasn’t rigorously enforced.
• • Stephen Bjork wrote: And as a result, content slipped through which never would have passed muster with the notoriously draconian Breen.
• • Mae West: Safer in a cage • • . . .
• • Stephen Bjork’s article will continue on the next post.
• • Source: The Digital Bits; published on Friday, 30 July  2021.  
• • On Sunday, 25 August 1912 in Brooklyn • •
• • Mae West was seen on the stage of the New Brighton Theatre in Brooklyn's Coney Island area on 25 August 1912. The New Brighton always booked top tier vaudeville acts.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • You should have seen Mae West practicing rope-twirling in the wide-open spaces of the Paramount lot!
• • "It's a good idea," murmured the hair-patting, hip-swinging blonde. "I've never had much trouble roping in my men, but this ought to make it even easier!"
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "It's got sex and comedy. It's my personality. I put in all the things the public expects of me. Yet it's different. None of my stories is the same. I never use anything I've done before for the basic plot. If you've seen one of my pictures, you haven't seen them all. I always forget everything I've ever done and so I start from scratch."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • A famous gossip column mentioned Mae West.
• • Louella Parsons wrote: Snapshots of Hollywood collected at random: Mae West, dripping with orchids, in a ringside seat with her boy friend, Jim Timony; B. P. Schulberg and Sylvia Sidney on the other side of the ring; Roger Pryor and Ann Sothern, Adela Rogers and the new boy friend, Enzo Fiermonte, Raoul Walsh, Adolph Zukor and dozens of other film celebrities, watching these bouts;  ...
• • Source: Gossip Column by Louella Parsons rpt by The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; published on Saturday, 25 August 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 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 4,800 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started fifteen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 4,807th 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/
________
Source: https://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml  
• • Be sure to bookmark or follow The Mae West Blog
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • in 1933 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest

Mae West: Twist of Fate

MAE WEST is back onscreen. This assessment of her Blu-ray line-up is by Stephen Bjork. This is Part 1 of his lengthy review.
• • "I'm No Angel" (Blu-ray Review) • •
• • Stephen Bjork wrote: “I’m No Angel” was the second film to feature Mae West as its lead actor, and the first where she received primary screenwriting credit.

• • Stephen Bjork wrote: That’s fitting, because her character dominates the proceedings as thoroughly as possible.
• • Stephen Bjork wrote: Tira (Mae West) is a dancer and a lion tamer at a circus sideshow who keeps herself in style by using her innumerable wiles to get men to shower her with gifts.
• • Cary Grant makes a second appearance • •
• • Stephen Bjork wrote: When a twist of fate takes her to New York City, she ends up involved with the wealthy Jack Clayton (Cary Grant).
• • Stephen Bjork wrote: But when he’s persuaded that she’s not the kind of woman that he should be with, she sues him for breach of promise and handles the court case herself.
• • Stephen Bjork wrote: Given the legal issues that West had faced due to the risque nature of her earlier stage productions, there’s doubtless an element of wish fulfillment for her in the story, especially in the confident way that Tira handles all of the witnesses against her.
• • Mae West: Risque Nature • • …
• • Stephen Bjork’s article will continue on the next post.
• • Source: The Digital Bits; published on Friday, 30 July  2021.  
• • On Monday, 24 August 1931 • •
• • When Mae West brought her play "The Constant Sinner" to Atlantic City for a try-out in August 1931, the crowds lined up for tickets, noted The New York Times: "With two rows of standees and chairs in the aisles for extra celebrants, last Monday night saw Mae West run through her latest daisy chain, "The Constant Sinner," at the Apollo Theatre in Atlantic City. . ." [NY Times on 30 August 1931].
• • The play opened out of town in New Jersey's resort town at the Apollo Theatre on Monday, 24 August 1931.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • In 1932, Mae West's jewel robbery was on the front page.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said:  "Hiring someone to write your autobiography is like hiring someone to take a bath for you."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • Screenland Magazine mentioned Mae West.
• • When Mae West visited the Motion Picture Hall of Fame at the Fair there was quite a flutter in the audience. An observer reported that he heard at least ten women say, "Isn't she tiny! I expected to see a big woman."
• • Screenland's columnist added: You see, Toots, the camera always makes one look larger than in real life.  ...
• • Note: Mae West was not even five feet tall and wore platform shoes under gowns to disguise her small stature.
• • Source: Screenland; published in the issue for September 1933
• • 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 4,800 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started fifteen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 4,806th 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/
________
Source: https://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml  
• • Be sure to bookmark or follow The Mae West Blog
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • in 1933 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest