Mae West: Hollywood Hibernation

Malcolm H. Oettinger profiled MAE WEST for Screenland. Since this interview has rarely been seen, let us enjoy it together. This is part 9 of 13.
• • “Going West” • •   
• • Mae West: Hollywood is a nice place to hibernate • •
• • Malcolm H. Oettinger wrote: Mae West told me, “We go through the action the way it'll be after I get all the lines filled in.”  

• • Malcolm H. Oettinger wrote: Mae West told me, “My secretary makes a note of everything, and before you know it, an act's set.”  
• • Malcolm H. Oettinger wrote: Mae West told me, “Then we do two more and we have the show ready."
• • Malcolm H. Oettinger wrote: Mae thinks Hollywood is a nice place to hibernate, but she decries the absence of night life in the film belt.
• • Mae West: Golden swan bed • • ...
• • This will be continued on the next post.
• • Source: Screenland; published in the issue dated for June 1933.
• • On Saturday, 5 May 1934 • •
• • "Mae West Arrives" was the headline on page 11 in Queensland's Morning Bulletin on Saturday, 5 May 1934. A host of compliments ran, like a elegant train, behind her.
• • Morning Bulletin wrote: Mae West makes you greedy. When you see "She Done Him Wrong," you want more and more of Mae. She is like the most thrilling serial story in the world.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Mae West is long back in the days of her buxom prime.   
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "If we can send a man to the moon, why don’t we send all of 'em?"
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • The United Press mentioned Mae West.
• • Mae West Impatient as 'Marriages' List Grows • •

• • Hollywood, April 24 (By United Press) — — Mae West, curvesome lady of the screen, today called for a showdown to settle the somewhat confusing question of her spinsterhood. "I've got a sense of humor," she said. "Nobody can say I haven't. But this thing is going too far."
• • Patience Is Worn Thin • •
• • Mae's patience became a little worn when she was interrupted while saying "no" to reports of her marriage to one Frank Wallace and asked to explain, if she could, a report that a Mae West married one R. A. Bud Burmester in Fort Worth, Texas, in 1924.
• • "It's a lousy publicity gag, that's what it is," said Miss West, "and I'm not getting anything out of it. If this thing goes any further, I'll call for a real showdown." ...
• • Note: In April 1911, Mae West wed Frank Wallace. Realizing he had a chance to get alimony, her former husband went public with his story after she became famous. The actress denied this for several years.
• • Source: United Press; published on Wednesday, 24 April 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 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 4,987th 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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• • Be sure to bookmark or follow The Mae West Blog
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • onstage in 1930 • •
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Mae West: Loses Cooch

After the huge acclaim “Diamond Lil” enjoyed on Broadway, a box office bonanza and critical darling both, it would seem that the future would forever look bright for MAE WEST.
• • Certainly, a false and distorted ideal of one career success after another was described in her memoir. 
• • But if you flip through Variety during 1930, especially a number of several dismal entries for Mae West during May, bitter truths emerge.
• • Let’s have a look at what Mae was up against just one month after the nerve-wracking “Pleasure Man” trial — — another battle that she fought her way through.
• • “Mae West Blue: Loses Cooch” • •
• • Variety wrote: Operation for removal of her cooch dance on Mae West’s act, after the opening at Fox’s Audubon, was Mae West’s first date on a Fox percentage route.

• • Variety wrote:The West turn at the uptown Fox Theatre was reported to have reached a new level in blue stuff. Management decided to cut out all the dirt, but later, from accounts, discovered that if cutting the dirt, nothing would be left. Decision was to let it go as was — —all but the cooch.
• • Variety wrote: Prior to going with Fox, Mae West was submitted to R-K-O and Loew’s — — and rejected by both.
• • Note: Built in 1912, Fox’s Audubon, 3950 Broadway, NYC, had 2,368 seats.
• • Source: Variety; published on Wednesday, 7 May 1930.
• • On Monday, 21 May 1973 in Variety • •
• • A brief item appeared in Variety on Monday, 21 May 1973.  Mae West mentioned she was writing a new book "Sex Drive," that would include real names and be largely autobiographical.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: “If you can’t go straight, you have to go around.”
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • Time Magazine reviewed a film starring Mae West.
• • Cinema: The New Pictures • •
• • Time Magazine wrote: “Goin' to Town” (Paramount). “She Done Him Wrong,” the first picture in which Mae West was starred, was her funniest.
• • Time Magazine wrote: “I'm No Angel” made the most money, $3,000,000. The cleanest was “Belle of the Nineties,” at the height of last summer's Legion of Decency Campaign.
• • Time Magazine wrote: “Goin' to Town” is the only one which deals with the contemporary scene [sic] but, aside from this detail, it is distinguished mainly by the strictness with which it adheres to the basic Mae West formula which, as the constant element in all four of her productions, can now ...
• • Source: Time Magazine; published on Monday, 20 May 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 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 4,400 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started fifteen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 4,479th 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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• • Be sure to bookmark or follow The Mae West Blog
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • news in May 1930 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest

Mae West: Alberta Stage Play

MAE WEST starred in the motion picture "Go West Young Man," a title with no comma. You can see this film for free on Monday, 10 August 2015 (see below). And whaddya know? A Canadian dramatist borrowed this title recently for a new stage play.
• • "Craig Russell" was the stage name of Russell Craig Eadie [10 January 1948 — 30 October 1990), a Canadian female impersonator. Craig Russell started a fan club for Mae West while in his teens. He even went to California in 1967 and lived with Mae West, then age 74. After several months in Los Angeles, he returned home.  
• • "Go West, Young Man" by Darrin Hagen • •
• • Edmonton Journal wrote: Several Edmonton writers are among the winners of the 2015 Alberta Playwriting Competition, awarded by the Alberta Playwrights’ Network and Theatre Alberta.  . . . Edmonton playwright, actor and director Darrin Hagen was awarded an honourable mention in the grand prize category for his play "Go West, Young Man," about a true-life encounter between 15-year-old drag artist-to-be Craig Russell and 80-year-old [sic] Hollywood glamour queen Mae West, later his most famous impersonation.
• • Source: Excerpt from an article in Edmonton Journal; published on Thursday,23 July 2015.
• • On Friday, 28 July 1922 • •
• • For the out-of-town try-outs of her new show "The Ginger Box Revue" in Connecticut on July 28 and July 29th, 1922, Mae West had polished her parody of O'Neill's tragic hero.
• • Backed by a dozen chorines (the Stoker Girls) and a black orchestra, Mae sang, “Eugene O’Neill, You’ve Put a Curse on Broadway” and bellowed “Yank-style” lines including, “She don me doit! Lemme up! I’ll show her who’s an ape.”
• • On Tuesday, 28 July 1931 in NYC • •
• • An agreement between Mae West and Howard Merling (signed by both of them) acknowledged his help with background research for her novel and stage play "Babe Gordon." Additionally, there was a receipt, written by Howard Merling, noting he received the sum of $500 dollars from Mae West on Tuesday, 28 July 1931.
• • 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 with a live performance of "The Mae West Revue" onstage.
• • On Wednesday, 28 July 1954 • •
• • "Odds Are Sex-to-1" • •
• • Variety was awestruck by "this magnificent herd of males" and such a refreshing new concept. The article "Odds Are Sex-to-1 Mae West Makes Her Point in Las Vegas" was printed on page 3 in Variety on Wednesday, 28 July 1954.
• • Save the Dates: 3 Mondays in August 2015 • •

• • Onstage Outlaws — — Mae West and Texas Guinan during the Lawless Prohibition Era • •
• • 3 events commemorate the Brooklyn bombshell’s August birthday in the room where she faced a judge who sent her to jail • •
• • New York's Annual Mae West Tribute: to celebrate the birthday of Brooklyn bombshell Mae West, on August 3rd and on August 10th, her films will be shown at 6:00pm. The first one, "Sextette" [1978] will be screened on August 3rd. Then "Go West Young Man" [1936] will be screened on August 10th. The August 17th multi-media presentation will feature light refreshments (courtesy of East Village Cheese) and a raffle. You could win rare films starring Texas Guinan. Or maybe a rare reprint by The New Yorker’s caricaturist Alfred Freuh or by a famous N. Y. Times illustrator.
• • Refreshment sponsor: East Village Cheese
• • Details — — Mae West Tribute: Triple Treat in 2015 
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Actors and actresses who appeared at Central City Opera House include Walter Huston, Ruth Gordon, Sam Jaffe, Mae West, Helen Hayes, Myrna Loy and Michael Redgrave.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said:  "The wages of sin are sables."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • The Los Angeles Daily News mentioned Mae West.
• • Karen E. Weber wrote: A tribute to fine art on four wheels is the Mullin Automotive Museum.  Honoring the art deco period of French automotive design, the Mullin’s stylish vehicles feature long hoods, gleaming chrome and fenders as voluptuously curved as Mae West.  . . .
• • Source: Article in The Los Angeles Daily News; published on Monday, 7 April 2014
• • The Mae West Blog celebrates its 11th anniversary • •    
• • Thank you for reading, sending questions, and posting comments during these past eleven years. The other day we entertained 3,497 visitors. And we reached a milestone recently when we completed 3,200 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • • 
• • The Mae West Blog was started ten years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 3232nd 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 • • at the "Pleasure Man" trial in 1930 • •
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Mae West: Stage Censorship

The "Pleasure Man" trial put MAE WEST back in the headlines. Apparently, even the campus editors were following the case.  Columbia University students in New York City wrote this. The potential juror was, of course, "Higher Education." And, by the way, no audience members saw "Pleasure Man" six times because it was padlocked before it got that far into the run.  Now let's enjoy this Ivy Leaguer's spoof.
• • "Attorneys Pick Off Hr Ed as Juror in 'Pleasure Man' Case" • •
• • Mae West Overjoyed as Essellbee Upholds Sanctity of Home and Convention • •
• • The Off-Hour columnist wrote:   "Do you have any objection," said the prosecuting attorney, "to males impersonating females on the stage?"
• • "No! In fact I rather like it."
• • "Have you ever seen it done?"
• • "Yes."
• • "When and where?"
• • "Must I go into that?"
• • "How long ago?"
• • "After three years, a — — — !"
• • "What do you think of Miss West as a stage figure?"
• • "Adequate . . . .what I mean!"
• • "Have you seen 'Pleasure Man'?"
• • "Six times."
• • "Was the play risque?"
• • "A trifle deshabille in spots, but nothing wrong."
• • "Do you believe in censorship of the stage?"
• • "No. Art for Art's sake and if you don't like it, go home and take a cold shower!"
• • Perhaps you have seen Sarah Bernhardt, or Ada Rehan, or Mrs. Patrick Campbell . . . but you have not lived . . . ah . . . until you have seen Mae. Her's is the most irregular season on Broadway, what with occasional prison-terms interspersed.  But we like it, don't we, Mae?
• • Source: Humor on page 2 of Columbia Daily Spectator; published on Thursday, 20 March 1930. 
• • On Friday, 20 March 1914 • •
• • An item in the Columbus Journal newspaper dated for Friday, 20 March 1914 ran like this: "Love laughs at locksmiths" and Cupid takes long chances, even in vaudeville. But Guido Deiro, the accordion player now at Keith's, put him through very hard paces yesterday. Deiro braved the wrath of those who might oppose him and secretly skipped off to Cincinnati, Ohio on Thursday morning in order to see his fiancee, Mae West, who is playing at the Keith house in that city. He left at 1:05 AM and got back at 3:10 PM, just in the nick of time to go on for his last act.... He played his accordion as he had never played it before, for he had the inspiration.
• • On Thursday, 20 March 1930 • •

• • The Thursday issue of The New York Times (on 20 March 1930) continued their coverage of the infamous "Pleasure Man" trial presided over by Judge Amedeo Bertini. The District Attorney's office was now headed by former State Supreme Court Justice Thomas T.C. Crain. And his prosecutor was hot-headed James Wallace who swore he would "prove that it would take the most confirmed pervert to write such a play." The star of the proceedings went first on the witness stand: NYC Police Captain James J. Coy, who led the charge of the night brigade as it descended on two different occasions on Mae's gay play at the Biltmore.
• • Though Nathan Burkan, her legal counsel, kept Mae off the stand, she told a reporter that, if anyone needs a dirty play, they should go straight to James Wallace.
• • On Friday, 20 March 1936 • •
• • "Smoke, Fire, and Mae West" read a headline in the Examiner on Friday, 20 March 1936. The editors explained: Mae West gave permission to an American firm to make dolls in her likeness. The day operations began, the factory caught fire. Now what do you make of that?
• • On Sunday, 20 March 1955 • •
• • "The Mae West Revue" was booked on Sunday, 20 March 1955 at The Italian Village. Both Mae West and Mr. America Richard DuBois signed autograph books when the show was seen at that venue.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Hollywood columnist Herb Howe wrote:  The Governor of Kentucky has made Mae West a colonel. That should calm those who worry about defense. In case of war, with Mae as Colone!, you'd never have to conscript us boys.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said:  "My play 'Sex' was a work of art."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • The  N.Y. Times mentioned Mae West.
• • "One Juror Lacking in Mae West Trial” read a headline. 
• • Source: New York Times; published on Wednesday, 19 March 1930
• • The Mae West Blog celebrates its 10th anniversary • •    
• • Thank you for reading, sending questions, and posting comments during this past decade. The other day we entertained 1,430 visitors. We reached a milestone recently when we completed 3,100 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • • 
• • The Mae West Blog was started ten years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 3139th 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 • • with attorney Nathan Burkan in 1930 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest
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