Time Magazine reviewed new films by MAE WEST.
• • Following the mean-spiritedness of Variety, Time wrote this: Most obvious ingredients in the West formula are her extraordinary shape, clothes, and means of locomotion.
• • Time wrote: A cattle-town belle who inherits a fortune in Buenos Aires, she makes herself a social success in Southampton, L. I. by giving a ball at which she sings a duet from Saint-Saëns' "Samson and Delilah," climaxes her career by marrying a British earl (Paul Cavanagh).
• • Source: Time Magazine; published on Monday, 20 May 1935.
• • Trained as a lawyer and backed by a degree from Cambridge, William Atkinson had a serious gambling addiction. After amassing great debts in 1924, he adopted a stage name and pursued an acting career.
• • Here is a mini bio on Mae’s co-star who died in the month of March.
• • William Grigs Atkinson [8 December 1888 – 15 March 1964], known professionally as Paul Cavanagh, was an English film and stage actor.
• • He appeared in more than 100 films between 1928 and 1959.
• • Film summary: A sassy female cattle rancher, Cleo Borden (Mae West), decides to sashay her way into the moneyed class. Though Borden sets her sights on a suave English aristocrat named Edward Carrington (Paul Cavanagh), she also wants to romance Ivan Valadov (Ivan Lebedeff).
• • Problem: Cleo is already hitched to Fletcher Colton (Monroe Owsley) but doesn’t let such a trivial matter get in her way.
• • William Grigs Atkinson (a.k.a. Paul Cavanagh) was born in Felling, Durham.
• • He attended the Royal Grammar School, Newcastle upon Tyne, and Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where he was an undergraduate student. Cavanagh studied law in England, earning a master of arts degree at Cambridge.
• • After serving in World War I, he traveled to Canada, where he practised law, including revising the statutes of Alberta. But he eventually went back to England to practise law. Cavanagh went onto the stage after a stroke of bad luck (playing roulette at Monte Carlo) in 1924 caused him to lose his savings, and later he went into films.
• • After appearing in a handful of British silent films he moved to the United States. Cavanagh's first film contract and motion picture came in 1929 with Paramount Pictures.
• • Cavanagh died in London from a heart attack in the month of March ― on Sunday, 15 March 1964, aged 75.
• • On Wednesday, 4 March 1936 • •
• • Newspaper titan William Randolph Hearst had it in for Mae West. For years he barred his editors from giving her motion pictures any positive coverage. Naturally, the reasons that caused Hearst's animosity for the Paramount Pictures star were widely debated.
• • Not to be out-witted, the clever publicists at Paramount managed to promote "Klondike Annie" in Hearst's publications in other ways, for instance, by inserting advertisements urging readers to call the theater for details on a special showing.
• • The flapdoodle over "Klondike Annie" was discussed in Variety's issue dated for 4 March 1936. Coverage appeared in Hollywood Citizen News on Wednesday, 4 March 1936 also.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Ernst Lubitsch, en route to Europe, stopped over for a few hours between the Santa Fe Chief and the Twentieth Century. Interviewed at the Blackstone Hotel, he denied, in emphatic terms that he had "pushed Mae West around," as Jim Timony, her manager, charged.
• • "I'm not strong enough to push Mae West around," said the German producer.
• • "And this statement that she had been in show business long before I started is probably the truth,” said Ernst Lubitsch [1892―1947]. “I started when I was very young but I'm only 44 now."
• • Note: Mae West born in 1893, one year later than Lubitsch.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "Sex is like a small business. You gotta protect it, watch over it. It's a matter of timing."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • Motion Picture Herald mentioned Mae West.
• • More Furore • •
• • Motion Picture Herald wrote: Furore greeting release of Mae West's Paramount picture, "Klondike Annie," swelled to resounding proportions this week, echoed back and forth across the nation, as the film appeared in more cities and towns and was prevented from appearing in others on divers grounds. While the Hearst newspapers continued colorful denunciation, exhibitors rearranged program schedules to accommodate anticipated capacity attendance.
• • Motion Picture Herald wrote: Public figures expressed themselves freely, for and against the star and picture, and the Legion of Decency issued a statement urging renewed vigilance on the part of all persons interested in the maintenance of wholesome pictures. …
• • Source: Motion Picture Herald; published on Saturday, 14 March 1936
• • 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 4,900 blog posts. Wow!
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started seventeen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 4,943rd 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 1935 • •
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