MAE WEST had an idea for a play with “a balloon idea.”
• • Excerpt from “Goodness Had Nothing to Do with It” by Mae West • •
• • Soon after New Year's, 1946, Jim Timony went to New York on business. J. J. Shubert called me and said that Jim had been in to see him about producing a play with me.
• • "What play?" I asked J. J. "Jim didn't talk about any play to me before he left."
• • "’Ring Twice Tonight’: It has a balloon idea running through it.”
• • J. J. said, "The balloon idea is the only thing I like in the play. I don't like the way the play is written, and I don't know of anyone I would want to put in the starring role the way it is. I told Jim if you would take the play, Mae, and adapt it for yourself, I would produce it. Interested?"
• • "Maybe. I have a story idea of my own that the balloon idea would fit into."
• • "So tell me."
• • "My story is basically a spy story and I can incorporate the balloon into it."
• • "So go ahead, Mae."
• • We got the rights from the original authors and I went to work, ballooning. It was not a heavy cloak-and-dagger drama. It was light comedy — hilarious, I hoped, from start to finish.
• • With the arrival of J. J. Shubert from New York, production matters were smoothed out, and we started rehearsals in Hollywood.
• • The play was now called “Come On Up.” We opened the show in the Long Beach, California, auditorium in May, and went on tour, doing fine business. The Chicago Herald-American headlined it as "Mae West is a hit in Come on Up’: Mae West brought her new play, "Come On Up," to Chicago last night before a packed, cheering audience at the Selwyn Theatre.
• • In "Come On Up," Miss West has simply taken her famous line of years ago — "Come up 'n see me sometime" — and built around it a comedy that involves G-Men, an Argentine diplomat, a United States Senator, two sailors and a flock of other assorted males ... it is all for laughs and Mae hands them out at the rate of 10 a minute.
• • It isn't what she says, it is how she says it. Miss West's art is her own particular art. There is no one quite like her and what she does, she does impeccably. …
• • Source: The Autobiography of MAE WEST: Goodness Had Nothing to Do with It [NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1959].
• • On Sunday, 16 August 1964 • •
• • An article "Return Engagement" appeared in The New York Times on Sunday, 16 August 1964. Plans were then in the works for Mae to be featured on the TV sit-com "Mister Ed" for a second episode. Mae was to have played a saloon keeper. This TV project fizzled out, it seems.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Dayton Lummis remained a regional actor until his Broadway bow in 1943 opposite Mae West in "Catherine Was Great," where he was cast in the role of Chechkofski.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "No slapping, grabbing, or pinching for me — — when I see a man slapping or pinching a woman I'm disgusted. So unnecessary."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • An article about Shakespeare mentioned Mae West.
• • "If Shakespeare Lived Today — Would He Make Films and Feature Mae West?" • •
• • The Australian Women's Weekly wrote: Imagine Shakespeare with horn-rimmed glasses, smoking a cigar, wearing plus fours, sitting back in a canvas chair with a megaphone in one hand, directing the film production of his latest play, "As You Like It," featuring Mae West. ...
• • Source: The Australian Women's Weekly (page 3); published on Saturday, 28 July 1934
• • 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 5,060th 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 1946 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest
No comments:
Post a Comment