Wednesday, July 27, 2022

Mae West: A Bold Step

MAE WEST was a soft touch for a hard luck story. Mae rarely discussed her generosity in an interview, however, which makes this seldom seen piece in Screenland worth reading. This is Part 8 of 18 segments.
• • Mae West’s Secret Self • •
• • Mae West: Was approached by a former inmate • •
• • Aileen St. John Brenon wrote: Here's a girl who tells her own story. She had just served a term in jail for taking things that did not belong to her.
• • Aileen St. John Brenon wrote: "The few dollars they gave me when I was freed from the Workhouse didn't last very long," she said. "Broke again, I decided upon a bold step,” explained the jailhouse thief.

• • Aileen St. John Brenon wrote: "Mae West was playing at the Paramount. I had read about her, and I felt she would help a girl in want.”
• • Aileen St. John Brenon wrote: "I waited at the stage entrance for her one night. When she got out of her car, I approached her. She looked like a real person.”
• • Mae West: Invited her to get warm in her dressing room • • …
• • This will be continued on the next post.
• • Source: Screenland; issue dated for October 1933.   
• • On Tuesday, 27 July 1954 in Vegas • •
• • On Tuesday, 27 July 1954 Mae West opened at the Congo Room. This exotic night spot, inside the Sahara Hotel in Las Vegas, offered patrons a full supper as they watched a live performance. If you were in the audience when "The Mae West Revue" was onstage in 1954, you might have selected Broiled Fresh Colorado Brook Trout, Maitre d'Hotel, for $5.25.
• • The Sahara knew that guests wanted to bring home special keepsakes, so they commissioned souvenir keys. The front side of the key was imprinted "Hotel Sahara Las Vegas, Nevada" while the reverse message was "Come up and see me sometime, Mae West."
• • July 2004: Mae West Blog launches • •
• • What are we up to, writing about the Brooklyn-born bombshell for eighteen years now?
• • We’re here to keep Mae mavens up to date, correct errors, celebrate each revival of a play she wrote, post the latest Westian stage and book reviews. And answer our fan mail!
• • The light’s still on. Come up and see Mae every day.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Mae West — — now she is a trouper of the old order.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "Clara Bow was through at Paramount. I could have had her old dressing room if I wanted it."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • The New York Times mentioned Mae West.
• • A book review of a Mae West bio was published in July 1997.
• • "Censorship Made Me" • •
• • Martha McPhee wrote: When most people, including me, think of Mae West, they think of Flower Belle Lee from ''My Little Chickadee.'' They remember a pneumatic blonde, part siren, part caricature, strutting slowly across the screen, all hips and bosom, her infamous one-liners sliding out of the corner of her mouth. Yet the film, made in 1940 when the actress was close to 50, came relatively late in West's career, and she hated it. She hated sharing equal billing and equal screen footage with W. C. Fields, whom she found to be an obnoxious drunk.
• • Martha McPhee wrote: Moreover, for audiences of the time, as Emily Wortis Leider tells us in ''Becoming Mae West,'' her insightful and engaging new biography of the star, Flower Belle was an old number, a rehash of the character that Mae West had spent nearly 40 years perfecting.  ...
• • Source: The N.Y. Times; published on Sunday, 27 July 1997

• • 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 18th anniversary • • 
• • Thank you for reading, sending questions, and posting comments during these past eighteen years. Not long ago, we entertained 3,497 visitors. And we reached a milestone recently when we completed 5,000 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started eighteen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 5,046th 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/
________
Source: https://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml  
• • Be sure to bookmark or follow The Mae West Blog
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • in 1932
• •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest

No comments:

Post a Comment