Mae West: Bold Boudoir

During fan magazine interviews, MAE WEST was often coy, guarded, or made a game of her responses. But during this rare sit-down with Hilary Lynn, the subject of sex on screen steered Mae into being more sincere. Since this Westian gem has been overlooked for 85 years, we dusted it off for you Mae-mavens. This is Part 2 of 13 segments.
• • Has Mae West a Dual Personality? • •
• • Mae West advises you to go after your man boldly, but Hollywood's smoothest gents claim she doesn't practice what she preaches. • •
• • Mae West: Take sex with a laugh • •
• • Hilary Lynn’s interview with Mae West: "I take sex with a laugh. I don't let it get me. Get me?"
• • Hilary Lynn wrote: I was beginning to catch on.

• • Hilary Lynn wrote: In a turquoise satin negligee, very simple but very Patou, Mae was lounging in her boudoir — a perfect atmosphere for our conversation. It was a gold and white boudoir — even to the telephone.
• • Note: Jean Patou [1887 ― 1936] was a French fashion designer who created "Joy," the most expensive perfume in the world, a scent favored by Mae West.
• • Hilary Lynn wrote: White magnolias and gardenias in gold and white vases. A tantalizing scent like heavy tropical flowers touched with moonlight. Soft white rugs on the floor. The sparkle of crystal candelabra. Mirrors lining the walls.
• • Hilary Lynn wrote: Even a mirror above the white, satin-covered bed on which Mae West was relaxing, as disturbingly radiant as Cleo and Delilah all rolled into one.
• • Hilary Lynn wrote: For the first time I had a close-up of Mae's eyes.
• • Mae West: How sex should be presented on the screen • • …  
• • Modern Screen’s lengthy article will be continued on the next post.
• • Source: Modern Screen; issue dated for April 1936.
• • On Monday, 1 October 1928 • •
• • Mae West's gay play "Pleasure Man" had a $200,000 box office advance when it premiered at the Biltmore on Monday, 1 October 1928. The police raided the show, however, and shut it down the same night.
• • The play “Courting Mae West” dramatizes the police raids of Mae West’s Broadway plays.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Mae West's first two films grossed over seven million dollars at the height of the Great Depression. But in an unfortunate back-lash, do-gooders all over the country rose in their wrath. The Legion of Decency was formed and forced the Hays Office (Hollywood's self-censoring body) to tighten up its rules.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "Jimmy Cagney is the only one in Hollywood that's got anything like my style. Animal personality. Gives them the rough stuff right out like I do."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • A reviewer in Time Magazine covered a play by Mae West.
• • "The Constant Sinner" • •
• • Time's critic wrote: Three seasons ago Mae West's lusty singing of "Frankie and Johnnie" and the nostalgic flavor of bar and brothel scenes made "Diamond Lil" a Broadway hit. In "The Constant Sinner," which Mae West wrote from her own novel, the bars and brothels are Harlem, 1931, and Mae West does not sing. But "The Constant Sinner" is no tame play, nor is it a dull play.  ...
• • Source: Review in Time Magazine; published on Monday, 28 September 1931
• • 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 4,834th 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 • • at home in 1935 • •
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