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 3 of a lengthy piece.
• • Laughing off the “Fatness” ― Mae West’s Body Image and Female Spectators in the Early 1930s • •
• • Mae West: Sensing a meal ticket, Paramount spiced up 1933 ads • •
• • Mio Hatokai wrote: As Thomas Doherty writes: Cued by the persona of their meal ticket, Paramount began “spicing up the ads as much as the traffic will bear with hot punch lines and still hotter art.”
• • Mio Hatokai wrote: Exhibitors advertised this 1933 picture [“She Done Him Wrong”] as “adults only,” a surefire lure for males above and below the legal age.
• • Mio Hatokai wrote: “A man’s picture, it will restore grandpa’s boyhood and age the sophomores,” smirked the New York Mirror, in an accurate demographic reading.
• • Note: This daring lobby card from 1933, focused on Mae's sexy costume, which was designed to showcase her curves. This sort of body-conscious advertising would never appear after "The Code" began its strict enforcement.
• • Mae West: A Major Exception • • …
• • Mio Hatokai’s lengthy article will continue on the next post.
• • Source: Academic anthology on film stars released by Waseda University, 2015.
• • On Tuesday, 21 October 1947 • •
• • It was on Tuesday, 21 October 1947 that Mae West first set foot in a playhouse in Manchester, England to present her Bowery melodrama "Diamond Lil."
• • On Thursday, 21 October 1993 • •
• • John Cohen's article on Mae West, "And West Is West," appeared in The New York Sun on Thursday, 21 October 1993.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Mae West never acknowledged age nor other sex symbols — — as Raquel Welch learned on the set of West's penultimate film, 1970's "Myra Breckenridge."
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "I haven't had time to change."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • An article in La Figa mentioned Mae West.
• • Lisa Derrick wrote: I am all for women making money and creating their own jobs, which sometimes means really breaking out of the norm. Mae West, Madam C.J. Walker, Coco Chanel, Elizabeth Vigée-LeBrun, Jane Austin, Louisa May Alcott, Marie Laveau, Tori Spelling’s relentless round of lifestyle shows — — the list of women who have found ways to survive, support themselves and their families, and build fortunes is endless and inspiring.
• • Lisa Derrick wrote: But there is something really repulsive and poorly conceived about “Wines by Wives.” Where to begin? ...
• • Source: "The Utter Stupidity of Wines by Wives" by Lisa Derrick of Firedoglake; published on Thursday, 10 October 2013
• • 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 4,848th 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 • • Paramount's risque lobby card in 1933 • •
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