Mae West: “The Drag” as Payback

Shocking and controversial in its time, a play by MAE WEST continues to be revived for open-minded audiences. This recent production was on the boards in Cape Cod. This is Part 5 of 9 segments.
• • Theatre Review: Doing the Time Warp in Mae West’s Play “The Drag” • •
• • Howard Karren wrote: Her humor and her own show-business persona were deeply influenced by drag queens of the era.
• • Howard Karren wrote: The Drag can be seen as a form of payback.
• • Howard Karren wrote: She wrote it but didn’t cast herself in it. It was a gift to her queer friends.
• • Howard Karren wrote: In this Provincetown production, the play, at the ripe old age of 95, feels remarkably modern.
• • Howard Karren wrote: David Drake, as dramaturge, has streamlined West’s dialogue and eliminated distracting and dated elements of the plot.
• • “The Drag” by Mae West ― continued • • …  
• • Source: The Provincetown Independent; published on Wednesday, 25 May 2022.
• • On Sunday, 8 July 1928 in the Journal American • •

• • A reporter from the Journal American visited Mae West backstage after a performance of "Diamond Lil."
• • He wrote a lengthy account of Mae West's formula for writing a play: "hire a room in a hotel, lock yourself in and go to work for as many hours as you can stand the pace. Then you grab a little sleep, get up and resuscitate yourself with a few tons of cold water and start all over again. And so on until ...."
• • Source: The Journal American; published on Sunday, 8 July 1928.
• • 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 • •
• • Robert B. McKenzie, who had a fatal heart attack in Manunuck, Rhode Island on Friday, 8 July 1949, worked with Mae West twice in two motion pictures.  
• • The portly Irishman was seen in a bit part in "I'm No Angel" as "man at rooming house" and in "My Little Chickadee" where he was a townsman.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "The only thing I know about Milwaukee is that they make beer there. It's pretty good beer — but it never was good enough to make me get married and then forget about it."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • An Illinois newspaper mentioned Mae West.
• • "Off to the Theatre" • •
• • Beverly Bryant wrote: Mae West is back again in "Goin' to Town," which comes to the Princess Theatre Sunday for three days. Mae is at her voluptuous best. The plot concerns the story of a cow-town dance hall girl who wins a bunch of oil wells when her fiance dies. . . .
• • Beverly Bryant wrote: No longer swathed in the clothes or the social amenities of the "Gay Nineties," Mae West becomes an up-to-date girl with ultra-modern ideas in modern surroundings. The opening scenes of "Goin' to Town" are laid in the middle west where Mae West acquires a lot of money by the process of getting rid of her wealthy husband. Then she really starts going places.  . . .
• • Source: The Urbana Evening Courier; published on Saturday, 6 July 1935
• • 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 5,033rd 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 • • onstage in "Sex" in 1927 • •
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