Mae West: Twice as Many

Malcolm H. Oettinger profiled MAE WEST for Screenland. Since this interview has rarely been seen, let us enjoy it together. This is part 2 of 13.
• • “Going West” • •   
• • Mae West: Pumping up the attendance • •
• • Malcolm H. Oettinger wrote: She knows her public, which threatens to be universal, and she knows precisely how to feed it what it wants.
• • Malcolm H. Oettinger wrote: In New York she drew twice as many people to see her as Ed Wynn drew to see him, both appearing the same week at different theatres, in conjunction with a picture.  
• • Malcolm H. Oettinger wrote: In Brooklyn she drew exactly twice as many people as the radio star.  
• • Mae West: Smashed attendance records • • …   
• • This will be continued on the next post.
• • Source: Screenland; published in the issue dated for June 1933.
• • On Monday, 26 April 1926 on Broadway • •

• • Written by "Jane Mast" and starring Mae West as Margy LaMont, "Sex" opened in April — — on Monday, 26 April 1926. The Broadway debut occurred a few blocks north of Columbus Circle at Daly’s 63rd Street Theatre, the only playhouse available at the time.
• • "Mae West played a Canadian woman," noted Playbill, "with no time for those Mounties."
• • The N.Y. Daily News sent a reviewer who wrote: "Most of the 'Sex' appeal falls to the talents of Mae West, a vaudeville actress who somewhat resembles Texas Guinan."
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • In one of the funniest scenes of all her films, Mae West as Peaches O’Day is being romanced by crooked police chief Lloyd Nolan. But to stave him off she throws a temper tantrum saying the wine he serves her is from "1895! This horrible, horrible vinegar! Don't you know I'm delicate!"
• • Mae West has able support from veterans Lloyd Nolan, Edmund Lowe, and Charles Winninger, among others. She also insisted on getting Louie Armstrong and his band to play a number.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "I do things right because I follow what my astrologer says."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • An article in The Orlando Sentinel mentioned Mae West.
• • "In Days Before Dolly, There Was Mae West" • •

• • ''I met her, Mae West, not Catherine the Great, very briefly'' • •
• • Allen Rose of The Sentinel Staff wrote: Mae West was a bit like Cher, too. Outspoken. Only more so. Sultry voice. Her image was that of a lady who liked men. A lot. As in by the dozen.
• • Allen Rose wrote: Her trademark line: "Come up and see me sometime, big boy." …
• • Source: Orlando Sentinel; published on Wednesday, 20 April 1988
• • 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 4,980th 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 • • onscreen in 1933 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest

Mae West: Generous Gestures

MAE WEST made an impression on John Robert Powers, who introduced her to Lyons Wickland, a fashion model who co-starred as Jimmy Stanton in “Sex.”
• • “Up From Smiling Ads” • •    
• • Mae West: Repaid her debt to Lyons in her own fashion • •
• • Evelyn Williams wrote: "Mae West got him his chance in the movies. Now it's up to Lyons to make good. She's repaid her debt in her own fashion."  

• • Evelyn Williams wrote: “I should say that if Mae West is as generous in repaying all her debts there will be a statue erected to her some day for it is a well-known human failing to forget those who did us favors when we no longer require their aid.”
• • Note: John Robert Powers [14 September 1892 – 21 July 1977] was an American actor and the founder of a New York City-based modeling agency.
• • Lepold Lyons Wickland [20 August 1894 ― 4 December 1980] • •
• • Note: Despite his handsome physique and patrician looks, Lyons Wickland’s Hollywood career burnt out fast. From 1924 ― 1938, he appeared in only one short and 7 feature length motion pictures, mostly in uncredited parts.
• • In the mid-1930s, Lyons Wickland was cast as Lamarque in the period drama “Les Misérables” [20th Century Fox, 1935], a large cast production that featured Rochelle Hudson as Cosette.
• • Mae mavens will remember sweet-face Rochelle Hudson as the stricken, pregnant, and suicidal Sally in “She Done Him Wrong,” who is consoled by Lady Lou with the sassy line, “When women go wrong, men go right after them.”
• • This interview has now been concluded. Did you enjoy it? Tell us.   
• • Source: Picture Play; published in the issue dated for January 1934.
• • On Sunday, 6 January 1935 • •
• • On Sunday, 6 January 1935, one day after her father had died, an interview with Mae West ran in the Sunday Dispatch. The title was "I'm an angel, really — Mae West tells for the first time just what she is really like."
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Maybe some theater managers who did not do so well with "The Song of Songs" will  explain to her that Mae West is the girl who always packs the theater with her pictures.  
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "Give a man a free hand and he'll try to put it all over you."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • Fan letters sometimes criticized Mae West.
• • “What the Fans Think” • •
• • Even Kids Go Mae West! • •
• • A Los Angeles fan thinks Mae West's films are so disgustingly vulgar that she sees red when children of ten say "Come up and see me sometime." …
• • Source: Picture Play Magazine; published in the issue dated for February 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 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 4,904th 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 • • Walk of Fame gazebo with Mae West • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest

Mae West: Wanted to Help

MAE WEST made an impression on John Robert Powers, who introduced her to Lyons Wickland, a fashion model who co-starred as Jimmy Stanton in “Sex.”
• • “Up From Smiling Ads” • •    
• • Mae West: One trait is truly admirable, he said • •
• • Evelyn Williams wrote: "But there's one thing about Mae West that is truly admirable."
• • Evelyn Williams wrote: John Robert Powers, who certainly knows his Broadway history, relished telling me this story.  
• • Evelyn Williams wrote: "She doesn't say anything unless she means it. When she told Lyons that she would remember him, she was sincere. I will bet there wasn't a more surprised man in the world than Lyons Wickland when he got a message from Mae West. She wanted to help him, wanted to do something for him.”

• • Evelyn Williams wrote: "Well," finished talent agent John Robert Powers, "Mae West got Lyons Wickland a part in her motion picture [sic] at a mighty fancy salary.”
• • Mae West: Repaid a debt to Lyons in her own fashion • • …  
• • This interview will conclude tomorrow with Part 5.   
• • Source: Picture Play; published in the issue dated for January 1934.
• • On Saturday, 6 January 2001 • •

• • The screen classics starring Mae West "I'm No Angel" and "She Done Him Wrong" became the movie package acquired by Turner Classic Movies. "I'm No Angel" made its premiere on that station on Saturday, 6 January 2001.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • The fact that Mae West wouldn't consent to Jack LaRue's appearing in "I'm No Angel," may develop into a feud. Everybody is watching, for LaRue hasn't hesitated to tell about this with injured emphasis.  
• • It seems Mae's objection was that she had Jack LaRue in her stage company once, and didn’t  entertain a 100 per cent opinion of him as an actor.  
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "In an Ed Wynn show, I did a shimmy. But never, never did I do the shimmy shewabble!''
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • Cheat Sheet featured an article on Mae West.
• • Why Did Mae West Turn Down a Role in a Movie with Elvis Presley? • •
• • Laura Dorwart wrote: Mae West patently refused to take on the role of Maggie because she didn’t want to be seen as a maternal figure.
• • Laura Dorwart wrote: “In the original screenplay, Maggie was to be Elvis’s mother,” Sonny wrote. “That was all Mae West needed to hear. ‘I ain’t never played mothers in my life, and I’m certainly not going to now,’ she reportedly said.”
• • Laura Dorwart wrote: Ultimately, the role Mae West turned down was taken on by Barbara Stanwyck instead.  …
• • Source: Showbiz Cheat Sheet ; published on Sunday, 24 January 2021
• • 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 4,903rd 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 • • a print ad in 1933 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest

Mae West: Her 1926 Debt

MAE WEST made an impression on John Robert Powers, who introduced her to Lyons Wickland, a fashion model who co-starred as Jimmy Stanton in “Sex.”
• • “Up From Smiling Ads” • •    
• • Mae West: Lyons noticed Mae was outsmarting Broadway producers • •
• • Evelyn Williams wrote: “Mae West admitted to him how things were financially. And Lyons admired her more than ever because of the way she was outsmarting the smart boys on Broadway.”

• • Evelyn Williams wrote: "When she got the loan from Lyons, Mae said, 'I'll never forget this. If I ever get famous, I'll remember you.' And John Powers paused here.”
• • Evelyn Williams wrote: Of course, Lyons Wickland thought she was a grand person to say that, but he never took it seriously.  So when Mae West was famous and when she came back to New York, Lyons didn't even call her up, according to John Powers.  
• • Evelyn Williams wrote: Lyons felt that now that Mae West was a star and he was not, it would hardly be fair to force her to remember him.
• • Mae West: One trait is truly admirable • • …  
• • This interview will continue on the next post.   
• • Source: Picture Play; published in the issue dated for January 1934.
• • John Patrick West [March 1866 — 5 January 1935] • •
• • Despite having an ambivalent relationship with her father, Mae West took after him and also worked for him when he peddled fruit in Brooklyn and when he helmed a "detective agency" in New Jersey and New York City. Before opening his own operation, West had walked the beat in Coney Island and elsewhere in Brooklyn.
• • Born on Manhattan's Lower East Side in March 1866, John Patrick West [called "Jack"] grew up feisty, impatient, and strong. As a child he boasted that he'd rather fight than eat. He got his Irish up rather quickly, remembered Mae. He was easily angered and "always ready to do physical violence when the urge was on him." In 1969, Mae revealed in an interview that she thought her father was cruel — — but realized "all his fighting was done doing other people's fighting for them."
• • Jack West was 7 years old in 1873 when his family moved from Avenue C (near the docks) in Manhattan to the borough of Brooklyn, settling first in Red Hook, and then in Greenpoint.
• • On 19 January 1889, in Greenpoint, Battling Jack West and Tillie Delker took their wedding vows before a local minister with Jack's sister Julia West acting as maid of honor.
• • On Saturday, 5 January 1935, "Battling Jack" heard the final countdown; he passed away in Oakland, California of a stroke.
• • On this date we remember John Patrick West with love and respect.
• • On Wednesday, 5 January 1938 • •
• • "Paramount: Mae West Most Likely All Washed Up" was the downbeat headline in Variety Magazine on Wednesday, 5 January 1938. After the NBC broadcast brouhaha, Paramount began monitoring audience feedback to the coming attractions that were onscreen at the New York City Paramount Theatre.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Mae West's quips, backed by the full-figured image, somehow manage to survive our throwaway culture. She was, after all, the progenitor of so many memorable lines. "Is that a gun in your pocket, or are you just glad to see me?'' Mae West famously teased.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: “It takes two to get one in trouble.”
• • Mae West said: "When women go wrong, men go right after them.''
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • Cheat Sheet featured an article on Mae West.
• • Why Did Mae West Turn Down a Role in a Movie with Elvis Presley? • •
• • Laura Dorwart wrote: In “Roustabout,” Elvis Presley played Charlie Rogers, a down-on-his-luck musician who began working as a “carnie” at a struggling traveling carnival to make ends meet.
• • Laura Dorwart wrote: In his 2007 memoir, “Elvis: Still Taking Care of Business,” Elvis’ bodyguard claimed that Mae West patently refused to take on the role of Maggie because she didn’t want to be seen as a maternal figure. …
• • Source: Showbiz Cheat Sheet; published on Sunday, 24 January 2021
• • 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 4,902nd 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 • • "Sex" in 1926 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest

Mae West: Now Toronto

A cartoon once depicted MAE WEST yanking G.B. Shaw's beard. If only the two controversial writers could chat during Shaw Fest, which is presenting “Sex” in Canada. Now Toronto put Glenn Sumi in the aisle seat. This is Part 1 of 5 segments.
• • Shaw Festival review: Sex feels relevant, even after nearly 100 years • •
• • Mae West's controversial play is messy, but its themes of hypocrisy, class and female empowerment remain urgent in Peter Hinton-Davis's stunning production.
• • Glenn Sumi wrote: Sex sells. Buxom burlesque performer Mae West understood that throughout her long career, so it’s no surprise she gave the title to her 1926 play, which, despite scathing reviews, ran for a year and a half on Broadway to packed houses.

• • Glenn Sumi wrote: The Shaw Festival’s revival – incredibly, it’s the Canadian premiere – puts the play in fascinating context.
• • Less controversial in 2019 — — but still relevant • •  . . .
• • Glenn Sumi’s review will continue on the next post.
• • Source: Now Toronto; published on Wednesday, 4 September 2019.
• • On Saturday, 30 September 1911 • •
• • On Friday, 22 September 1911, 18-year-old Mae West was in the spotlight. On that date, "A La Broadway" had opened at the Folies-Bergere Theatre, New York, NY. This short-lived revue (produced in an expensive venue) closed on Saturday night, 30 September 1911.
• • Variety noted on September 30th: "Folies Bergere Experiment Reaching an End."
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Salary checks of individuals made public by the Treasury among about 18,000 persons who received $15,000 or more during 1934 follows: Mae West, actress, Paramount, $339,166.65.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "Don't believe all you read in the papers. I am not broke. I am only down to my last few millions.”
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • A Missouri daily mentioned Mae West.
• • New York in the "Gay 90s" Is Stem of New Mae West Hit • • 
• • “Every Day’s a Holiday” is from an original story by Miss West herself. It was directed by Edward Sutherland and produced by Emanuel Cohen.
• • New York In its most glittering and romantic mood-the mood of the Gay Nineties and the Naughty Turn-of-the-Century, the period that saw "Diamond Jim" Brady, "Jubilee Jim Fiske and other bon vivants at their gayest, is the playground of curious Mae West In her new film comedy, "Every Day's a Holiday," showing today and Friday at the opening Sunday at the Dickinson Theatre.
• • Set at the turn of the century, Miss West’s latest screen adventure is the story of a girl named Peaches O’Day with a penchant for selling the Brooklyn Bridge to unsuspecting millionaires and tourists, an idiosyncrasy which gets her into difficulty.  . . .
• • Source: Chillicothe Constitution Tribune; published on Saturday, 12 February 1938
• • 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 15th anniversary • •  

• • Thank you for reading, sending questions, and posting comments during these past fifteen years. Not long ago, we entertained 3,497 visitors. And we reached a milestone recently when we completed 4,300 blog posts. Wow!  

• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started fifteen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 4312th 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   
Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • in 1926 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest
NYC  Mae West