Mae West: Excited Males

MAE WEST’s plump, curvaceous body was a vital element in her comedy. Academics have emphasized that “excessive body is one of the qualities of female unruliness, suggesting that she is unwilling or unable to control her physical appetites.” Japanese film historian Mio Hatokai discusses how Hollywood publicists and fan zines responded to this “fatness” in 1933. This is Part 1 of a lengthy piece.
• • Laughing off the “Fatness” ― Mae West’s Body Image and Female Spectators in the Early 1930s • •
• • Mio Hatokai wrote: Of all the Mae West films, the most memorable moment for me comes in the opening sequence of “I’m No Angel” (directed by Wesley Ruggles,1933).  
• • Mio Hatokai wrote: Before going behind the [sideshow] curtain, Mae West’s character Tira utters “Suckers!” at the excited male audience.

• • Mio Hatokai wrote: Seeing Tira / Mae West regarding the crowd of men before her and delivering this line, it always strikes me as an epiphanic moment because, for one thing, Tira, as a character, seems perfectly aware of how to manipulate men, and for another, Mae West, as an actress-woman, is acting with such a strong confidence in the allure and power of her body.
• • Mae West: Declaration of victory • •  …  
• • Mio Hatokai’s lengthy article will continue on the next post.
• • Source: Academic anthology on film stars released by Waseda University, 2015.
• • On Saturday, 19 October 1935 • •
• • Joe Breen and John Hammel exchanged yet another letter about Mae West's latest controversial project "Klondike Annie" on Saturday, 19 October 1935.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Mae West never played a mother, a woman truly pining for a man [sic], or a real person. Her characters had conscience but little sentimentality. And little fear.  
• • Note: Mae West was pining for Paul Cavanagh's character in "Goin' to Town" (1935), remember?
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "When you make the right demands, the studios are delighted."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • An article by a professor discussed Mae West.
• • “Public indecency and the making of Mae West” • •
• • Will Visconti wrote: During Mae West’s time as a theatre actress, there was also a fondness for what are commonly termed ‘blood and thunder’ melodramas of the late 19th century; many elements of the genre are certainly present in the plays that she wrote. Mae, however, subverted many of the trends of mainstream melodrama by making the central characters of her work the very ones who were usually punished and singled out for opprobrium, when they were represented at all.
• • Will Visconti wrote: In “Sex,” Margy LaMont emerges victorious (with several men falling in love with her, amidst cases of mistaken identity and upsetting discoveries about characters along the way). ...
• • Source: Talking Humanities; posted on Thursday, 7 December 2017
• • 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 4,846th 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 • • onscreen in 1933 • •
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