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 31 of a lengthy piece.
• • Laughing off the “Fatness” ― Mae West’s Body Image and Female Spectators in the Early 1930s • •
• • Mae West: Fan magazines tried to blur age and erase “maturity” • •
• • Mio Hatokai wrote: Indeed, she had already had a long, successful career on Broadway, and contrary to what is suggested in this article, she was thirty-nine years old at the time.
• • Mio Hatokai wrote: The last two sentences are especially peculiar.
• • Mio Hatokai wrote: Here, the writer seeks to convince the readers that West weighs less than they think, trying to make them “believe” that she is an attractive “young” woman even with a “generously built” figure.
• • Mae West’s excessive body and maturity meant an unruliness • • ...
• • Mio Hatokai’s lengthy article will continue on the next post.
• • Source: Academic anthology on film stars released by Waseda University, 2015.
• • Wednesday, 1 December 1976 in Hollywood • •
• • Mae West starred in "Sextette" [1978], and the cinematography was done by James Crabe.
• • Shooting began in December — — on 1 December 1976 — — and was wrapped up during March 1977. James Crabe captured his leading lady in medium shots. There would be no close-ups in "Sextette" of Mae West.
• • James Crabe missed this little goof and so did the film editor. The boom microphone is visible when Mae West and Dom DeLuise are leaving the hotel gymnasium. Did you spot this?
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Mitchell Morris noted that prior to the Depression and the Hays Code, which set a strict censorship code the film industry, things were a bit looser, to say the least. “Think about the Hays Code,’’ Morris said. “Once that was installed in Hollywood in 1933, the careers of movie stars like Mae West were ruined. She modeled much of her style on close friends who were female impersonators.”
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "I'm a one-man woman. One man at a time."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • The New Yorker featured an article on Mae West.
• • “The Strong Woman: Mae West” • •
• • Claudia Roth Pierpont wrote: By 1936, Mae West was the highest-paid woman in America. …
• • Source: The New Yorker; published on Sunday, 3 November 1996
• • 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 4,877th 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 • • cover artist James Lunnon, Movies, June 1933 issue • •
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