Mae West: Buxom or Indecent?

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 16 of a lengthy piece.
• • Laughing off the “Fatness” ― Mae West’s Body Image and Female Spectators in the Early 1930s • •
• • Mae West: “I’ve just seen Mae’s buxom curves…” • •
• • Mio Hatokai wrote: Anita Cahoon from California wrote in April 1933 issue of Photoplay: “Am I laughing and am I cheering! I’ve just seen Mae West in her talking picture “She Done Him Wrong.”  [...] While I was gazing upon Mae’s buxom curves, some woman sitting in  back of me said to her neighbor, “Why that’s positively indecent!” I turned around and gave her the meanest look I could muster. My grand-daddy said that scenes like those in Mae’s pictures were absolutely true to life. And I guess he should know.”

• • Mio Hatokai wrote: This letter is interesting in that it not only tells us the possible patterns of the audience’s response but also captures the excitement this woman felt when she saw “Mae’s buxom curves” in the theater.
• • Mae West: Movie-goers paid attention to her body • • ...    
• • Mio Hatokai’s lengthy article will continue on the next post.
• • Source: Academic anthology on film stars released by Waseda University, 2015.
• • On Tuesday, 9 November 1920 • •
• • Mae filed for divorce from Guido Deiro on the grounds of adultery on 14 July 1920. The divorce was granted by the Supreme Court of the State of New York on Tuesday, 9 November 1920. Guido almost immediately re-married for the third time.
• • Mae later said, "Marriage is a great institution. But I'm not ready for an institution."
• • On Wednesday, 9 November 1927 • •
• • Variety discussed "The Wicked Age" in their issue dated for Wednesday, 9 November 1927. Variety wrote: "Miss West is well fortified with masculine support. None is less than six feet and a couple are above the 6' 3" mark. No one will believe that Babe is exactly a lily of the valley. She knows too many fly comebacks. ..."
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Paramount News: Still worrying about gangsters, kidnappers and such, Mae West isn't taking any chances. She wouldn't even let us on the set.
• • Barbara Barry continued: Anyhow, Mae has practically finger-printed everybody on the set, and, if the popcorn man goes for a drink of water, he has to be finger-printed all over, the print checked with the original, and then, if it's a tie, he can come in, and no questions asked!  
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "I hear Marilyn and Jane are tryin' to build themselves up with their sex appeal. Well, they haven*t got what it takes. They're artificial. They haven't arrived yet."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • An article published in November 1954 interviewed Mae West.
• • "At 62, Mae West Now Brings Women Flocking to Learn from the Girl with IT" • •
• • The NY correspondent wrote: The buxom platinum blonde with free-swinging hips and sultry come hither voice has returned to New York after a smash-hit run in the vastly opulent nightclubs and cabarets of Las Vegas and Reno.  
• • The NY correspondent wrote: Mae West's current show in a New York theatre is not making as much money as she earned 20 years ago, when she was the highest paid woman in America and probably the world, but her show is doing pretty well all  the same. ...
• • Source: The Sun-Herald (Sydney, NSW); published on Sunday, 7 November 1954
• • 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 seventeen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 4,861st 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 • • in 1933 (beautifully colorized) • •
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