Mae West: Selected

Reviewing their picks for "The Top 100+ Funniest Movies of All Time," the Reader's Digest selected a sexy MAE WEST motion picture as number six.
• • Correspondent Stefan Kanfer asked: What's your all-time favorite funny movie? Having trouble picking just one? So did we! So we narrowed the field down to the top 100+ side-splitters of all time. Please stay tuned for the upcoming results.
• • Number 1: THE GOLD RUSH (1925) By common agreement (including Charlie's), this is Chaplin's greatest silent film. Alternating between heads-on slapstick and poetic mime, the famous Little Tramp pans for nuggets in Alaska — — and winds up broke. In a classic scene, he and his customary foil, Big Jim (Mack Swain), get so hungry that Charlie cooks a boot for dinner, carving it like a steak, then delicately twirls the shoelaces around his fork pasta-style. Chaplin's comic techniques were to set the standard for the next 50 years.
• • Number 2: THE FRESHMAN (1925) The third of the great silent film trio (the other two were Chaplin and Keaton), Harold Lloyd did all his own stunts, many of them dangerous, with skill and humor. Here he's a frosh trying to ingratiate himself with fellow students.
• • Number 3: THE GENERAL (1927) Celebrated as the Great Stone Face because he so rarely cracked a smile, Buster Keaton is remembered as an adroit stunt man and knockabout comedian. But he was far more than that, as demonstrated by this extraordinary silent comedy of the Civil War. As a train engineer who recaptures some hijacked rolling stock, Keaton is audacious, poetic and explosively amusing. As the film's director, he scintillates.
• • Number 4: DUCK SOUP (1933) Perhaps the purest film farce ever made. Directed con brio by Leo McCarey, the film offers no love story or subplots, just Harpo, Chico and Groucho Marx at their manic peak. En route to a slam-bang finale they satirize war and the country's leading politicians. (Groucho: "It's too late to [prevent a war]. I just paid a month's rent on the battlefield.")
• • Number 5: DINNER AT EIGHT (1933) The "talkies" grew up with this adaptation of a Broadway hit by George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber. Under George Cukor's canny direction John and Lionel Barrymore, sex goddess Jean Harlow, and comedians Marie Dressler and Wallace Beery enliven the sophisticated dialogue, revolving around the lives of financial predators, actors on the rocks, hatcheck girls on the way up and millionaires on the way down, all set against the background of a glittering Manhattan dinner party.
• • Number 6: SHE DONE HIM WRONG (1933) Mae West became something of a joke in later life, but as her films prove, she was one of the best comedy writers in 1930s Hollywood. Here, she plays a Gay Nineties saloon singer in trouble with the law — — impersonated by Cary Grant in an early role. "When a woman goes wrong, the men go right after her." "Why don't you come up and see me sometime?" The great lines are here, and Mae wrote 'em all. Lowell Sherman directed unobtrusively.
• • Also included in the "Top Ten" were: SONS OF THE DESERT (1933) with Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy; THE THIN MAN (1934) co-starring William Powell and Myrna Loy as Dashiell Hammett's married sleuths, Nick and Nora Charles — — and their dog Asta; IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT (1934) featuring a cynical newspaperman (Clark Gable) and a pampered heiress (Claudette Colbert) who meet cute on an overcrowded bus headed from Miami to New York; MY MAN GODFREY (1936) a screwball farce starring Carole Lombard as a temperamental heiress who hires a down-at-the-heels bum (William Powell), ably directed by Gregory La Cava.
— — Source: — —
• • Article: The Top 100+ Funniest Movies of All Time
• • Byline: Stefan Kanfer
• • Published in: Reader's Digest — — www.rd.com
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • none • •
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Mae West.

Mae West: The Guardian

Mae West popped up in London's Guardian again, where the writers always show a warm appreciation for her talents.
• • Novelist and comedienne A.L. Kennedy was applauding "Hollywood's golden age."
• • The screwball casts were iconic, noted A.L. Kennedy.
• • Kennedy continued: Allow me to mention a few, in case they've slipped your mind. Female performers don't quite have the shelf life of their male counterparts.
• • Claudette Colbert — — intelligent, pixie-faced, legs that could stop traffic and an ability to exclaim in a charming and yet curiously mid-coital way. Carole Lombard — — fired with tenderness, a gleeful sexuality and hot, darting honesty. Rosalind Russell — — an actress with astonishing range, crackling, wiry energy and a perfectly enunciated delivery so rapid that, in more foolish times, she might have been burned as a witch. MAE WEST — — the smart and magnificent trouper. Barbara Stanwyck — — funny, gorgeous, feisty. . . .
• • Her article is called "Hollywood's screwball comedies were smart, sexy and subversive — — and they gave a generation of female stars the chance to shine." It's a fun read. Don't miss it.
• • Source: The Guardian [UK]
• • Byline: A.L. Kennedy
• • Published on: Saturday — — 1 March 2008
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • 1934 • •
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Mae West.

Mae West: Travis Banton

Waco, Texas natives figured in the life of MAE WEST. The first was Texas Guinan. The second was Travis Banton [18 August 1894 — 2 February 1958], the chief designer at Paramount Pictures. Banton is considered one of Tinseltown's key wardrobe wizards during the 1920s-1930s.
• • When he was young, Travis Banton's family moved to New York City, where he was schooled at Columbia University and at the Art Students League where he studied art and fashion design. An early apprenticeship with a blue-blooded dressmaker earned him fame. When Mary Pickford selected his gown for her wedding to Douglas Fairbanks, his reputation was established.
• • During the 1920s he created costumes for many leading actresses such as Bebe Daniels, Pola Negri, and Clara Bow. During the 1930s he forged the style of Mae West — — in I'm No Angel, 1933 and Belle of the Nineties, 1934. He also dressed Claudette Colbert, Marlene Dietrich, Kay Francis, Greta Garbo, and Carole Lombard. In 1927, he became Designer in Chief at Paramount and set the hallmark of elegant, sensuous clothes, often cut on the bias. For 12 years his assistant was Edith Head, teaching her everything she knew. Meanwhile, the practical Edith covered up for him, filling in when he disappeared.
• • In the film Belle of the Nineties [1934], Travis Banton went to town on Mae. The film opens with a vaudevillian styled production full of scantily-clad dancers. Set in the 1890s, the famous opening features Ruby Carter [Mae West] appearing in front of various backgrounds such as a rose, a butterfly, a spider, and finally as the Statue of Liberty.
• • During his illustrious film career, Travis Banton designed costumes for 200 or more productions. His last challenge was dressing Rosalind Russell for "Auntie Mame." He died at the age of 63 — — on 2 February 1958.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • 1934 • •
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Mae West.

Mae West: Head for Fashion

MAE WEST influenced Hollywood's wardrobe wiz Edith Head [born 28 October 1897 – – died 24 October 1981], whose impressive screen career earned her 34 Academy Awards nominations. "Mae taught me all I know about sex," quipped the gown guru, "clothes-wise." Head won an Oscar eight times – – all for helping MAE WEST and others don their gay apparel for memorable scenes in big-budget movies.
• • How many fans knew what Mae's costumes looked like in COLOR?
• • As costume designer at Paramount Pictures, Edith Head took on a side chore: the custodian of a score of costumes that had been sentimentally preserved because they contributed to movie history.
• • In November 1960, an article in The New York Times discussed the final appearance of these glamourous gowns. "I'm only managing to hold them together with emergency sewing now. This will be about their last time out," said Edith Head. The collection, referred to as a "million dollar" affair, included Mae West's emerald green, jewel-encrusted come-up-and-see-me-sometime gown from "She Done Him Wrong," Texas Guinan and Clara Bow outfits, and Ginger Rogers's mink dress from "Lady in the Dark." . . . [excerpt, N.Y. Times 29 November 1960]
• • Co-starring Cary Grant as a Salvation Army Officer, "She Done Him Wrong" was the only Mae West film that was considered for an Academy Award. Nominated for "Best Picture" in 1933, it lost out to the winner: "Cavalcade." [The trophy-winning motion picture dramatized a cavalcade of English life from New Year's Eve 1899 until 1933 seen through the eyes of well-to-do Londoners Jane and Robert Marryot.] For her portrayal of the wealthy Mrs. Marryot, actress Diana Wynyard received a "Best Actress" nomination but did not go home with the statuette.
• • The Oscar – – that should have gone to Mae West – – was awarded that year to Claudette Colbert, another headliner dressed from time to time by Edith Head. Colbert may have won over the Academy but she never captured the admiration of Ms. Head, who barely concealed her dislike.
• • In contrast, this designing woman had enormous affection for Mae West and other glamour girls such as Barbara Stanwyck and Grace Kelly.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West's friend • • designing woman Edith Head • •
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Mae West.

Mae West Needs You

So far, MAE WEST ranks sixth as The Reader's Digest polls their audience to help choose the most side-splitting screen gems. Reader's Digest Editor Stefan Kanfer, who wrote about this quest to select the top hundred funniest films, listed these as the top ten.
• • THE GOLD RUSH (1925) — — Charlie Chaplin's greatest silent film.
• • THE FRESHMAN (1925) — — The third of the great silent film trio (the other two were Chaplin and Keaton), Harold Lloyd did all his own stunts, many of them dangerous, with skill and humor.
• • THE GENERAL (1927) — — Buster Keaton in an extraordinary silent comedy set during the Civil War.
• • DUCK SOUP (1933) — — Perhaps the purest film farce ever made — — directed con brio by Leo McCarey — — starring Harpo, Chico, and Groucho Marx at their manic peak.
• • DINNER AT EIGHT (1933) — — The "talkies" grew up with this adaptation of a Broadway hit by George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber. Under George Cukor's canny direction John and Lionel Barrymore, sex goddess Jean Harlow, and comedians Marie Dressler and Wallace Beery enliven the narrative.
• • SHE DONE HIM WRONG (1933) — — Mae West became something of a joke in later life, but as her films prove, she was one of the best comedy writers in 1930s Hollywood. Here, she plays a Gay Nineties saloon singer in trouble with the law — — impersonated by Cary Grant in an early role. "When a woman goes wrong, the men go right after her." "Why don't you come up and see me sometime?" The great lines are here, and Mae wrote 'em all. Lowell Sherman directed unobtrusively.
• • SONS OF THE DESERT (1933) — — Arguably Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy's best film.
• • THE THIN MAN (1934) — — William Powell and Myrna Loy play Dashiell Hammett's sophisticated married sleuths, Nick and Nora Charles.
• • IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT (1934) — — Clark Gable is a cynical newspaperman who meets a pampered heiress (Claudette Colbert) in director Frank Capra's screwball comedy.
• • MY MAN GODFREY (1936) — — with Carole Lombard as the spoiled-rotten heiress and William Powell as the bum who becomes a butler and a guru in Gregory La Cava's rambunctious screwball farce.
• • As the publication is narrowing the field down to the top 100+ side-splitters of all time, write them and vote for Mae and more Mae.
• • Source: The Reader's Digest — — http://www.rd.com/ — —
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • 1933 ad • •
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Mae West.

Mae West: Dressed

The Scotsman printed an interesting article about the designer who dressed MAE WEST for the screen — — Edith Head.
• • Reporter Jackie McGlone wrote that "Edith Head believed modesty was unbecoming and that you could have anything you wanted in life, so long as you dressed for it. And, boy, did she know about dressing. The legendary designer saw all the Hollywood greats stripped down to their knickers (or even less), from Mae West and Audrey Hepburn to Robert Redford and Paul Newman."
• • Prolific Head had her finger in most movies, it would seem. During a 60-year career, Edith Head designed clothes for 1,131 films — — about 35 a year — — and dressed virtually every star who shimmered on screen in the golden age of film. She won more Oscars than the actresses she clothed.
• • According to Jackie McGlone:
. . . Always discreet about the size and shape of the stars' backsides, she knew about all the skeletons in their closets but she was never one to gossip, although she did reveal that full-figured Clara Bow was known as "a sausage," that Claudette Colbert was "mean-spirited," and that Barbara Stanwyck was "frumpy" until she took over her designs.
. . . Of course, Head knew what she was talking about — — she was, after all, the woman who knew the intimate secrets around Mae West's vast bosom, Gloria Swanson's wide waist and small feet (size two-and-a-half), and swan-necked Audrey Hepburn's broad shoulders. Which is presumably why she often boasted that she was a magician, who "accentuated the positive and camouflaged the rest". . . .
• • Read the rest for yourself: - http://living.scotsman.com/
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West dressed by Edith Head • • 1932 • •
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Mae West.