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 47 of a lengthy piece.
• • Laughing off the “Fatness” ― Mae West’s Body Image and Female Spectators in the Early 1930s • •
• • Mae West: Her body was “loaded with lure” • •
• • Mio Hatokai wrote: As touted by the fan magazines, the actress and the perfume are “loaded with lure.”
• • Mio Hatokai wrote: Adopted from the original Broadway play, Diamond Lil, the period setting of 1890s was also a solution suggested by the Studio Relations Committee (SRC), the West Coast representative of the Hays Office, to veil the story in nostalgia and comedy.
• • Note: Mae West's 1928 play was about prostitution, sex trafficking, and white slavery on the Bowery. The 1933 screen version white-washed almost all of these elements.
• • Mio Hatokai wrote: To avoid “sordid realism,” the filmmakers thickened the air of nostalgia by employing period music and introducing the Bowery setting through a lighthearted montage in the opening sequence.
• • Mae West: To avoid “sordid realism” • • ...
• • Mio Hatokai’s lengthy article will continue on the next post.
• • Source: Academic anthology on film stars released by Waseda University, 2015.
• • On Monday, 23 December 1929 in Los Angeles • •
• • An article about Mae was published in The L.A. Times on Monday, 23 December 1929.
• • On Sunday, 23 December 1984 • •
• • "West and Owney Had a Hot Romance" was a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at the bootlegger and Cotton Club owner Owney Madden, who was Mae's lover, written by film critic Kevin Thomas and printed in The Los Angeles Times on 23 December 1984.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Is Mae West a destructive influence on minds of today's movie-goers? Read the first part of the life story of the real Mae West starting in this issue of New Movie Magazine.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "My picture 'It Ain't No Sin' is belly laughs about the low-lifes."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • Cheat Sheet featured an article on Mae West.
• • Why Did Mae West Turn Down a Role in a Movie with Elvis Presley? • •
• • Laura Dorwart wrote: She rose to fame penning Broadway plays that enraged conservative critics and scandalized many audiences. Later, as an actor, director, producer, and investor, she created a number of roles for herself as a sex symbol, comedic con artist, and confident femme fatale. …
• • Source: Showbiz Cheat Sheet; published on Sunday, 24 January 2021
• • 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 4,893rd 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 costume in 1928 and 1933 • •
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