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 12 of a lengthy piece.
• • Laughing off the “Fatness” ― Mae West’s Body Image and Female Spectators in the Early 1930s • •
• • Mae West: The pros and cons of “excessive body” • •
• • Mio Hatokai wrote: As the opening sequence of “I’m No Angel” (Paramount Pictures, 1933) that I have illustrated suggests, Mae West’s body is a vital element in her comedy.
• • Mio Hatokai wrote: It is Kathleen Rowe’s argument that excessive body is one of the qualities of female unruliness, suggesting that she is unwilling or unable to control her physical appetites.
• • Miss Piggy was modeled on Mae West • •
• • Mio Hatokai wrote: Kathleen Rowe uses Miss Piggy, a character from Jim Henson’s Muppets, as an example of the unruly woman, and Miss Piggy’s character is modeled on none other than Mae West.
• • Mio Hatokai wrote: The unruly woman creates a disruptive spectacle of herself through the tropes of unruliness, namely, her excessive body, speech, and laughter, and these characteristics that define unruliness are often coded with misogyny.
• • Mae West: Variety called her “one of the many freak persons” • • ...
• • Mio Hatokai’s lengthy article will continue on the next post.
• • Source: Academic anthology on film stars released by Waseda University, 2015.
• • On Friday, 3 November 1933 • •
• • On Friday, 3 November 1933, The Cornell Daily Sun mentioned Mae West.
• • "Mae West — — The world's most publicized woman" • •
• • Lent's Music Store (116 N. Aurora St., Ithaca, NY) was excited about Mae West.
• • Mae West's new Brunswick Phonograph Records — — "I'm No Angel," "I Found a New Way to Go to Town," "I Want You, I Need You," "They Call Me Sister Honky-Tonk" — — all sung by Mae West!
• • Source: The Cornell Daily Sun; published on Friday, 3 November 1933.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Every fight fan in the country has heard of the Hollywood American Legion stadium where the picture stars go every Friday night. The reserved seats are jammed to the ringside with gore-loving movie actors and actresses, producers, directors, writers, cameramen, agents, and occasionally a legalized voter.
• • Lupe Velez and Johnny Weissmuller lead one cheering section and Mae West another. On a bum night, Lupe Velez and Johnny Weissmuller can stage a better scrap than the pork-and-beaners.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: “I take an enema every single day of my life — — after I leave the bathroom, you can go in and fry an egg.”
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • Photoplay Magazine mentioned Mae West and her lorgnette.
• • Photoplay Magazine wrote: You don't have to imagine Mae West with a lorgnette — you can see her with one. Hollywood got its first glimpse of the haughty article at Emanuel Cohen's recent testimonial dinner — when Mae impressively eyed the assembled guests through it.
• • Photoplay Magazine wrote: Mae says she always has carried one — but maybe she was bashful before.
• • Photoplay Magazine wrote: Hollywood, slowly recovering, expects a monocle any day now on Mae West. …
• • Source: Photoplay; published in the issue dated for January 1935
• • 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 4,857th 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 • •
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