Mae West: Unruly Woman

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 14 of a lengthy piece.
• • Laughing off the “Fatness” ― Mae West’s Body Image and Female Spectators in the Early 1930s • •
• • Mae West: Her “excessive femininity” struck others as “campy” • •

• • Mio Hatokai wrote: The author compares Mae West to the famous cross-dressing male vaudevillian, but unlike the Variety review, the tone is positive and even eulogistic.
• • Mio Hatokai wrote: Mae West’s excessive femininity, which gave her the title “the greatest female impersonator of all time,” is arguably what later made her a camp icon, a notion that was popularized by Susan Sontag’s Notes on Camp, where Sontag mentions “the film performances of Mae West ”as “Successful  Camp.”     
• • Mio Hatokai wrote: Thus Mae West indeed shows characteristics of an unruly woman.
• • Mio Hatokai wrote: But Mae West, of course, embodies more than negative attributes.  
• • Mio Hatokai wrote: As the author Kathleen Rowe suggests elsewhere, “the image she [Mae West]  did create was multivalent and powerful, consistent with the topos of female unruliness.”
• • Mae West: Her image was “multivalent and powerful” • • ...  
• • Mio Hatokai’s lengthy article will continue on the next post.
• • Source: Academic anthology on film stars released by Waseda University, 2015.
• • On Saturday, 5 November 1932 • •
• • On Saturday, 5 November 1932, a cable was wired to Colonel Joy.  It assured him that Zukor and Hertz promised that they will abandon "Diamond Lil" and will make an announcement to that effect tonight. [Hmmm. Well, we know how that turned out.]
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Hollywood Tour Guide: "And now we are passing the home of Mae West."
• • College Boy (as he jumps off the tour bus): "That's what you think!"
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "Back in the 18th century, when everybody had long white hair, great ladies used to receive callers in the bedroom. It was considered class."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • An Australia newspaper mentioned Mae West.
• • "Mae West Seeking Divorce" • •
• • Los Angeles, October 28 — — Mae West has announced that she is filing a suit for divorce against Frank Wallace, whom she married in 1911. Her action is a reply to Wallace's suit for separate maintenance. …
• • Source: The Barrier Miner (Broken Hill, NSW); published on Wednesday, 29 October 1941
• • 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 4,859th 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 1934 • •
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