Mae West: Win & Show

They came up to see MAE WEST on her birthday, on Wednesday, 17 August 2016 in her hometown. The event was held at a building Mae was actually in, in 1927, when it was the Third Judicial Complex — — currently, the stately landmarked Jefferson Market Library on Sixth Avenue. (No one from Greenwich Village ever calls the thoroughfare anything else except Sixth Avenue.)
• • And two lucky winners went home with Mae.
• • Event organizer LindaAnn Loschiavo picked two raffle tickets; here are the results.
• • Chelsea resident GAIL SIEGEL is holding her prize, Diamond Lil, sketched by Irving Hoffman in 1928 when Mae was onstage with her Bowery drama at the Royale Theatre on Broadway.
• • Village resident CLARE SAVIOLA displays her new keepsake, a reprint of a rare lobby card from "Night After Night" (1932).
• • Congratulations to the lucky winners. Mae West will be in good company.

• • Thank you to Jefferson Market Library and to all of our wonderful attendees who certainly filled the room (and stayed 'til the end).
• • On Sunday, 19 August 1934 • •
• • Motion Picture Daily published this picture preview on Sunday, 19 August 1934.
• • Hollywood, 19 August 1934 — With shock-proof punches but with haymakers nevertheless, Mae West uncorks a flashy, melodramatic entertainment of the Nineties, trippingly gay and gaudy for the most part but lingering in spots.
• • As with all the Mae West films, her showmanship personality dominates the scene. Her story assembles herself as the American Beauty, a headline actress; Prizefighter Roger Pryor, Villainous Promoter John Miljan and his girl friend, Katherine de Mille, sets them in pleasure-loving New Orleans and lets music, gambling, stolen jewels and prizefight knockout drops work its dire drama, making it clear at the same time that no man outsmarts Mae and gets away with it.   ...
• • Source: Article: "Hollywood Preview: "Belle of the Nineties'' by Paramount written by Motion Picture Daily; printed on Sunday, 19 August 1934.
• • On Saturday, 19 August 1939 • •
• • It is rather difficult to see what Miss West or her advisers could detect in the famous Russian Empress which made her suitable for a Western impersonation. It is true that she was no angel and had a habit of inviting her male favorite for the time being "to come up and see her sometime." Any how, whatever the attraction or illusion may have been, Miss West seems to have abandoned the project.  ...
• • Source:  Article: "News of Mae West" rpt in The Advertiser (Adelaide); published on Saturday, 19 August 1939.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Miss West made her return to Broadway, after ten years, in her own play, "Catherine Was Great."
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said:  "Muscles, big or small men — — men, men, I love them all." 
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • An Australian paper mentioned Mae West.
• • "Mae West Becomes a Convert!" • •
• • Mae West is all for moral rearmament and is ready to join the Oxford Group. It would be a good thing for W. C. Fields, she told Dr. Frank Buchman, leader of the Moral Rearmament Movement, today.
• • Miss West and Dr. Buchman had quite a tete-a-tete in her apartment. "It's a wonderful work," she said of the movement.  ...
• • Source: Article rpt in The Mail (Adelaide); published on Saturday, 19 August 1939
• • The Mae West Blog celebrates its 12th anniversary • •
• • Thank you for reading, sending questions, and posting comments during these past twelve years. The other day we entertained 3,497 visitors. And we reached a milestone recently when we completed 3,500 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • • 
• • The Mae West Blog was started twelve years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 3512th 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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Mae West: Bunny Austin

Printed in Australia's paper Barrier Miner on Saturday, 30 Mar 1940, was an article linking the name MAE WEST to Frank Buchman. The story shot around the globe, faster than a bad movie review.
• • "Mae Weft Re-Arms --- Morally" • •
• • Mae West, voluptuous "come-up-and-see-me-sometime" fílm star, has become morally rearmed. She gives credit to the campaign of Doctor Buchman and tennis star, Bunny Austin, explained the editors of Barrier Miner.
• • Frank Buchman enjoyed his habit of collecting trophies, i.e., bold-faced named converts who were former atheists, socialists, Communists, labor union members, and so on. Frank Buchman loved to stage publicity photos with people like Mae. And one of the "moral rearmament "converts" Frank Buchman routinely showed off was  Bunny Austin, former Davis Cup tennis player.
• • Bunny Austin  [20 August 1906 — 20 August 2000] • •
• • Born in  South Norwood, London, Henry Wilfred "Bunny" Austin was a British tennis player from England. For 74 years, he was the last Briton to reach the final of the gentlemen's singles at Wimbledon, until Andy Murray did so in 2012.
• • It's not recorded that Bunny Austin and Mae West ever met. But if you decide to Google their names together, you will find much to surprise you. We'll leave it there for your consideration.
• • Ned Wayburn [30 March 1874 — 2 September 1942] • •
• • Born in Pennsylvania at the end of March — — on 30 March 1874 — — Ned Wayburn was a choreographer and a producer. His promotional campaigns pictured some of his most successful dance pupils — — and though Mae was not featured on those testimonials, Ned taught her to dance and cast her in several shows, adding heft to her resume and stage career.
• • On Wednesday, 30 March 1927 • •

• • By Wednesday, 30 March 1927, twelve male jurors had been selected for Mae West's "Sex" trial set for Jefferson Market Court on Sixth Avenue in Greenwich Village. Mae hired four attorneys to represent her. Her defense team was headed by Harold Spielberg, Herman "Beansie" Rosenthal's former associate. Trial coverage appeared in the N.Y. Herald Tribune, The N.Y. Times, Variety, and elsewhere.
• • The stage play "Courting Mae West" covers these two obscenity trials — — and Mae's actions before and after. This play is based on true events between 1926 — 1932.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Bob Dylan is covered by many others including Mae West, Jimi Hendrix, and John Corigliano.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "And when it comes in sex portrayals, I know my onions. My play is true to life. And how can anyone suppress truth?"
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • An Arkansas site mentioned Mae West.
• • Effigies of former President Jimmy Carter, Clark Gable and Mae West pose on a disused escalator at Josephine Tussaud Wax Museum in Hot Springs, Arkansas.  ...
• • Source: Item in Arkansas Online; posted on Thursday, 17 March 2016
• • 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 3,400 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • • 
• • The Mae West Blog was started ten years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 3409th 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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Mae West: New Yorker

New York native MAE WEST caught the attention of The New Yorker Magazine and we are above and beyond delighted.
• • Above and Beyond • •
• • “Mae West in Bohemia” • •

• • The New Yorker wrote: The red brick Venetian Gothic building towering over the Avenue of the Americas at West Tenth Street wasn’t always the cozy branch of the N.Y.P.L. that it is today. Until 1945, it was the Jefferson Market Courthouse, where, in 1927, the actress, singer, writer, and Brooklyn native Mae West was convicted on obscenity charges for “Sex,” the Broadway play she wrote, produced, directed, and starred in. The historian, author, and dramatist LindaAnn Loschiavo is giving an illustrated talk in the very building where the iconic bombshell was found guilty. The presentation, subtitled “Gin, Sin, Censorship, and Eugene O’Neill,” recalls Greenwich Village in its bohemian heyday, shining a light on West and the playwright O’Neill, whose controversial works caused him to come under fire in New York City in the same era.
• • (Jefferson Market Library, 425 Sixth Ave. 212-243-4334. Aug. 13 from 6:30 to 8.)
• • http://www.newyorker.com/goings-on-about-town/above-and-beyond/mae-west-bohemia
• • On Sunday, 13 August 1961 in Miami • •
• • "Come On Up" was having a revival in the summer of 1961.
• • After touring the Midwest, "Come On Up" was staged in August in Miami's Cocoanut Grove Playhouse (air-conditioned, we hope).  "When the final curtain rang down, not a single customer made a rush to the exit. Everybody sat glued to his seat and Mae West took repeated curtain calls, from about the most enthusiastic audience I have ever seen in this theatre," gushed a critic for the Miami Beach Sun. Ticket-holders commented on "the fabulous appearance of Mae West," who was putting her energy into "Come On Up" when she was 68 years old and in full command of the crowd.
• • Source: Article: "Mae West Oomph Creates New Interest in Theatre" appeared in the Miami Beach Sun; published on Sunday, 13 August 1961.
• • N.B.: Years later the comedy "Come On Up" would morph into a cinematic venture named "Sextette."
• • Save the Date: Wednesday, August 13th • •
• • Wednesday, 13 August 2014 will be the next Mae West Tribute in Manhattan and the event will start at 6:30 pm at 425 Sixth Avenue. The theme will be: "Mae West in Bohemia — — Gin, Sin, Censorship, and Eugene O'Neill."   
• • Details:  August 13th Tribute to Mae West
• • The New Yorker announced it to their readers in the "Above and Beyond" section:
http://www.newyorker.com/goings-on-about-town/above-and-beyond/mae-west-bohemia
• • The New York Times announced it in the "Spare Times" section last Friday — — 
 http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/08/arts/spare-times-for-aug-8-14.html
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • "Mae West Says Next Film Will Be Funny” —  Mae West said today she is going to play a cattle queen in her next picture. . . . . “The story was too censorable as they gave it to me,” she said, “so I rewrote it.  It’s going to be funny, but it will also be safe.”
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said:  "The crew at Jefferson Market were most courteous. They didn't want anything to happen to me before I got to Welfare Island, I guess. I was ushered into a waiting-room. There was a colored woman, with a gold badge, in charge."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • An article in a  newspaper discussed Mae West.
• • "Hailing Mae West, Pioneer of Feminism and Eroticism" • •
• • An article in a newspaper discussed Mae West's staying power.
• • Bob Thomas wrote: 100 years after her birth, Mae West remains a hot number.
• • Why the continuing interest in a star who died 13 years ago and whose heyday ended 50 years ago?   "Because Mae West, of all artists in the century, was the most innovative, original and provocative," theorized Roger Richman, who manages merchandising rights for her, W.C. Fields, Marilyn Monroe, the Marx brothers and 40 other dead but everlasting stars.
• • The sultry charmer remains as popular as ever through television reruns and videocassette sales of "My Little Chickadee," "She Done Him Wrong" and other classics, her hourglass figure on ties, T-shirts and other merchandise, and radio commercials imitating her sly, innuendo-laden voice . . .
• • Source: Syndicated feature written by Bob Thomas, Associated Press; rpt in
 The Buffalo News (Buffalo, NY); published on Sunday, 15 August 1993
• • The Mae West Blog celebrates its 10th anniversary • •    
• • Thank you for reading, sending questions, and posting comments during this past decade. 
• • By the Numbers • • 
• • The Mae West Blog was started ten years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 2979th 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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