Mae West: Myra in Manhattan

"Myra Breckinridge" [1970] starring MAE WEST, and directed by Michael Sarne, was a curious 94 minute adaptation of Gore Vidal's novel.
• • When they co-starred together, Mae West was 77 years old and Raquel Welch was 29. Born on 5 September 1940, the former model is 71 years old now.
• • Raquel Welch grew up as Raquel Tejada in San Diego. The retrospective of her cinema career in Manhattan will begin today and will last for an entire five days. “I had read the novel by Gore Vidal and I thought it was very, very entertaining and kind of a little ahead of the times, you know, issues of sexual duality and everything,” Raquel Welch told a reporter. “So I was anxious to be considered for the role and I told Fox, ‘I don’t know what kind of girl you’re looking for, but I know what Myra represents, about America and Hollywood, and I’d love to do it.’ But the movie they made was not the movie I thought it was going to be.” Mae West would probably agree with that last statement.
• • The film bombed. Time Magazine declared it “about as funny as a child molester.” Looking back at her involvement, Raquel Welch referred to the project as “heartbreaking.”
• • Programmer Josh Strauss noted: One of the most notorious Hollywood attempts to shake things up in the wake of the Sixties was this adaptation of Gore Vidal’s rambunctious satirical novel. Raquel stars as Myra, a brilliant whirlwind who installs herself at an eccentric acting school run by her uncle (John Huston) and proceeds to seduce an all-American student and his girlfriend (Farrah Fawcett). Myra, of course, begins life as Myron (played by New York Observer critic Rex Reed), who, after a Fellini-esque operation, continues to appear to Myra as the film goes on. Adding to the eye-popping proceedings are musical numbers starring 76-year-old Mae West as a sexpot casting agent flanked by dancers, and the fascinating interpolation of old film clips from classic 20th Century Fox productions.
• • Programmer Josh Strauss explained: For five days Film Society is delighted to bring back to the big screen a showcase of rarely screened mainstream classics all on the best projection formats available with the lady herself here to talk about them.
• • Mr. Strauss's most puzzling piece of puffery is his praise of Miss Welch's exquisite (ahem) organic beauty. If extensive plastic surgery and oversized silicone breast implants are "organic," then beware of that "organic" popcorn being sold at the concession stand at the Walter Reade Theatre this weekend.
• • WHAT: "Myra Breckinridge" [1970] shown as part of this retrospective series: "Cinematic Goddess: American Sex Symbol, The Films of Raquel Welch"
• • WHAT ELSE: Raquel Welch in person for a Q&A preceding the February 10 screening, moderated by author, fashion commentator, and window-dresser Simon Doonan, who wrote "Wacky Chicks."
• • WHEN: Screens on Friday, 10 February 2012 at 6:15 PM and again on Monday, 13 February at 4:00 PM. Raquel Welch will participate in a Q&A following the screening on the 10th.
• • WHERE: Walter Reade Theatre, 165 West 65th Street, NYC; T (212) 875-5600.
• • PHOTO: Raquel Welch as she looks today at 71 years old. This September she will be 72.
• • On Friday, 10 February 1933 in The New York Times • •
• • An article on "She Done Him Wrong" was published in The New York Times on 10 February 1933.
• • Signed with the byline A. D. S., the Times reviewer described Mae's character Lady Lou as a woman "whose heart is bigger than her sense of decorum."
• • On Monday, 10 February 1936 in Hollywood • •
• • Joseph Breen wrote to Paramount Pictures about Mae West and "Klondike Annie" several times before he agreed on Monday, 10 February 1936 to the film's release.
• • On Tuesday, 10 February 2009 • •
• • A book about Mae West "She Always Knew How: Mae West, A Personal Biography" by Charlotte Chandler was published in its hardcover edition (336 pages) by Simon & Schuster on 10 February 2009.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "Censorship made me."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • An article in Out discussed "Myra Breckinridge" and Mae West.
• • Out noted: Actress Raquel Welch calls her 1970 film version of "Myra Breckinridge," in which she played a transgender woman, a "stinker" and hopes someone remakes it as the "funny and erudite" movie it should be, in an interview with Out.
• • Jeremy Kinser writes: The iconic star will be the subject of a retrospective of her films at Lincoln Center in New York February 10 — 14 and says her costar Mae West, with whom she reportedly feuded while making the film adaptation of Gore Vidal's best selling novel, was unhappy on the set. Welch recalls a visit to West's home prior to filming. While West was often surrounded by a bevy of musclemen, none were present when Welch stopped by. "But a lot of white furniture," Welch says." A lot of 25-watt pink bulbs around. You could barely see! She was something…" ...
• • Source: Article: "Raquel Welch on Myra Breckinridge, Mae West, and Janis Joplin" written by Jeremy Kinser for Out; posted on 9 February 2012
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started seven years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 2205th 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 Raquel Welch in 1970 • •
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Mae West: 13 Inches

On 13 September 1953, this image of MAE WEST appeared in The Los Angeles Times.
• • On 13 September 1969 • •
• • Michael Sarne was writing a lot to Mae West during the autumn of 1969 as he developed the cinema version of "Myra Breckinridge." In a letter dated 13 September 1969, he asked Mae to hurry up and get her comments on the revised screenplay to him as soon as possible. He promised he was giving more thought to other ways to involve her character Leticia Van Allen in the central plot. Mae West, of course, got top billing.
• • Lasky's Lucky 13 • •
• • More than anything, vaudevillian Mae West wanted to be "in the legit" — — on The Gay White Way — — and Jesse Lasky gave her an opportunity.
• • In 1911, Jesse Lasky opened the "Folies-Bergere," a plush theatre restaurant on West 46th Street and he cast a pretty 18-year-old Mae to appear in the cabaret with a comedy duo, Cook and Lorenz. The extravaganza was produced by Ned Wayburn, Mae's dancing teacher and was called "A La Broadway."
• • Born in San Francisco, California in the month of September — — on 13 September 1880 — — Jesse Lasky went on to be the founder of the Jesse Lasky Feature Play Company, which later merged with Adolph Zukor's Famous Players to form the Famous Players-Lasky Corporation, one of the major studios of the silent era.
• • Quite versatile, Jesse Lasky started out as a reporter and then made failed plans to join the Alaska Gold Rush. Also a talented musician, Lasky then tried his hand at being a bandleader in Hawaii. Upon his return to the United States, he and his sister Blanche teamed up to play the coronet in vaudeville; this led to his becoming a vaudeville promoter.
• • In 1913 he and his brother-in-law Samuel Goldfish (who later became Sam Goldwyn) formed the first studio with Goldfish functioning as president and Lasky as the vice-president. In 1914, their first film, The Squaw Man, became a great hit and an industry milestone in that it was the first epic western; its success also helped make Hollywood a center for filmmaking. Eventually his Famous Players-Lasky company merged and merged again until it became Paramount, another major studio in American cinema history.
• • Perhaps thirteen was his special number. Born on the 13th of September, Jesse Lasky died on 13 January 1958 at age 77.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said this to an Australian reporter: "I like my sexes stable."
• • Mae West wrote this: “The wages of sin are sables and a film contract.”
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • Mae West was mentioned in connection with a new show on Al Jolson, with whom she performed.
• • Cynthia Citron writes: Al Jolson defends himself by rattling off some of the many other performers who worked in blackface, such as Jack Benny, Eddie Cantor, Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, George Jessel, Buster Keaton, and even the young Shirley Temple. He might also have mentioned Mae West, Gene Kelly, Will Rogers, the Marx Brothers, George Burns, among many others. ...
• • Source: Article: "Jolson sings again!" written by Cynthia Citron for Examiner.com; posted on 12 September 2011
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started seven years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 2052nd 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 • • 1953 • •
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Mae West: Genevieve & Glasgow

MAE WEST starred in (but could not save) the movie "Myra Breckenridge" [1970]. Before signing on to direct, did the shaggy haired Brit Michael Sarne read Gore Vidal's satiric novel? Perhaps he had many a chance to ponder this sentence: “All men have a lot to learn… I’ve taken it upon myself to teach you.” — Myra Breckenridge.
• • Michael Sarne's debut film had been the quirky "Joanna" (1968) with 20-year-old newcomer Genevieve Waite in the title role. He roped the pretty fashion model into a modest appearance as a dental patient in "Myra" two years hence. Her very short-lived cinema career ended with her third motion picture "Move" [filmed in 1970] — — released on her 23rd birthday on 19 February 1971.
• • Born in Cape Town, South Africa in the month of February — — on 19 February 1948 — — Geneviève Waïte went on to be the bride of the American singer-songwriter John Phillips [31 January 1972 — 1985]. The couple split after having two children with amusing names, one of whom is Bijou Phillips, born in 1980.
• • An Evening with Mae West in Glasgow • •
• • Trained in role-play, veteran actress Pene Herman-Smith creates this fascinating and complex character in the one-woman show Mae West, written by Ayshe Raif, directed by Leslie Finlay. Once the most famous sex symbol on the planet, Mae West is now alone in her hotel room — — having turned down Sunset Boulevard and watched it win Oscar glory for its star — — Mae is lost. What next? Even at 60, Mae sees “No point in a good body going to waste!" Come along to Oran Mor for a great night out and you'll also be helping support the RNLI. [Òran Mór — — meaning the 'great melody of life' or 'big song' — — is a cultural centre and meeting place in the heart of Glasgow's West End.] Pene Herman-Smith is a professional actress with her own theatre company.
• • WHAT: "An Evening with Mae West"
• • WHERE: Òran Mór — Top of Byres Road in Glasgow G12 8QX Scotland
• • WHEN: February 22nd and 23rd, 2011
• • Tell them you heard about it on the Mae West Blog.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West: Regrets Only

Did MAE WEST regret starring in "Myra Breckinridge''? This motion picture was screened on the final night of the yearly Cinema Q Film Festival — — on Sunday, 27 June 2010 — — in Denver, Colorado.
• • Lou Lumenick, The New York Post's chief film critic, made some amusing remarks about 20th Century Fox's unloved, half-forgotten child of the 1970s. See if you agree.
• • Happy 40th birthday, 'Myra Breckinridge' — — by Lou Lumenick • •
• • Michael Sarne's "Myra Breckinridge'' arrived in theaters on June 24, 1970 — — 40 years ago today — — to a critical hailstorm that has not yet let up. Cults have sprung up around many other bad movies, but "Myra'' remains in a special, almost entirely unloved class by itself — — the last entry on the film's Facebook page is from nearly three months ago.
• • A rep from Fox Home Video recently told me there were no plans to include this legendary flop among the dozens of the films being reissued on DVD and upgraded to Blu-ray to mark the 75th anniversary of 20th Century Fox this year. (Russ Meyer and Roger Ebert's far less entertaining "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls'' — — which also originally carried an X rating — — did make the cut, improbably sharing a set with the religious epic "Inn of the Sixth Happiness.'')
• • Fox did put "Myra'' out on DVD in a fine special edition six years ago that includes hilarious dueling commentary tracks by Raquel Welch (who shared the title role — — a male film critic who has a sex change operation — — with real-life film critic Rex Reed) and director Sarne. There was also a half-hour "AMC Backstory'' episode on the film's scandalous history and colorful cast, which also included top-billed Mae West, John Huston, Farrah Fawcett (who died on June 25th last year), Tom Selleck, John Carradine, and Grady Sutton.
• • The film originally carried an X rating for the notorious scene where our heroine rapes a fellow drama student played by Roger Herren. Running through this scene, and much of the movie, are clips from old movies. Loretta Young threatened to sue and Fox removed footage of her and other stars who were still alive from a somewhat toned-down R-rated version of the film, which is the one on DVD.
• • "Myra Breckinridge'' has the rare distinction of being disowned by its stars, its director — — and Gore Vidal, on whose novel the movie was based (though he has repeatedly claimed he's never seen it). Hollywood did not film Vidal's forgotten sequel, "Myron,'' where the critic is trapped in a Maria Montez movie. . . .
— — Excerpt: — —
• • Article: Happy 40th birthday, 'Myra Breckinridge'
• • By Lou Lumenick, The New York Post's chief film critic
• • Published on: 24 June 2010
• • Published in: The New York Post
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West: Son of a Surgeon

In 1970 MAE WEST faced many difficulties while filming "Myra Breckinridge" under director Michael Sarne. The studio also grew impatient with his mishandling of the production, his problems with the cast, his peculiar delay tactics, and (most of all) his being way over budget; they eventually pulled the plug. But the doomed screen version of Gore Vidal's bestseller was on life support, it seems, even before it opened.
• • The narrative begins as Myron Breckinridge [Rex Reed] is waiting for his sex-change operation while a stoned surgeon stumbles into the operating room — — veteran character actor John Carradine — — and advises him not to have the procedure. Myron persists. The audience within the film cheers as the moviehouse audience begins to be lost in wonderment and regret.
• • You might as well have cautioned Sarne not to film this screenplay, which was such an abortion that Vidal disowned it. According to Stanley Musgrove, Edith Head hinted at her monumental Myra misery when she told him, "God, I'm glad I drink!"
• • Native New Yorker John Carradine was born in the month of February — — on 5 February 1906 — — as Richmond Reed Carradine. He was the son of an artist-reporter and a surgeon.
• • Raised in Poughkeepsie, New York, he attended art school and tried his hand at sculpture and portraiture. After making his stage debut in 1925, the six-foot-one beanpole moved on to cinema. Typecast in his later years as a durable low-budget horror lead, it's hard to imagine him playing to the balcony in great Shakespearean dramas, as he once did. Makes you wonder how his agent got the grizzled 64-year-old pinned to the part.
• • On 27 November 1988, John Carradine died in Milan, Italy.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West: In New Haven

There's never been another movie like MAE WEST's "Myra Breckinridge."
• • But, writes Susan Dunne, that kind of legacy is what camp classics are made of.
• • Susan Dunne adds: Rex Reed, the film critic, stars as Myron Breckinridge, who wants a sex change. He gets one courtesy of a whacked-out doctor, and becomes Myra (Raquel Welch). Myra heads to Hollywood, to go into the biz, to claim an inheritance from her uncle (John Huston), and to teach university classes. Her uncle's friend is a horny seventy-something talent scout, played by Mae West. ("I can't wait till I get back to bed. If that don't work, I'll try to sleep.")
• • Others in the cast are Andy Devine, Farrah Fawcett, and Jim Backus.
• • Michael Sarne's film was based on a novel by Gore Vidal, who washed his hands of the entire thing. It's full of cringe-inducing dialogue and generally smarmy atmosphere. In short, a perfect movie to watch while you're having a few drinks.
• • The 1970 film is 94 minutes and is rated R. It will be shown Sunday [18 May 2008] at 11 a.m. at Criterion Cinemas in New Haven.
• • Criterion Cinemas: 86 Temple St. (at George St.), New Haven, CT 06510. Showtimes: (203) 498-2500.
— — Source: — —
• • Camp Classic "Myra Breckinridge" Good For Laughs
• • Written by: Susan Dunne
• • Published in: Courant.com — — www.courant.com
• • Published on: 15 May 2008
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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• • Photo: • • Mae West • • 1970 • •
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Mae West: Leticia's Back

MAE WEST returns to the East Village — — March 7th-9th, 2008 — — and even though "Myra Breckinridge" is not her most deliciously whipped screen-puff, every local critic covered the announcement that the Brooklyn bombshell is back.
• • Nicolas Rapold, the "h" missing Arts & Letters columnist for The New York Sun, said it best. Rapold explained: Joining Ms. Welch, who might have known better after appearing in Southern's "The Magic Christian," was 1930s vaudeville-born sexpot performer-gag writer Mae West. Here, age 76, she's looking for man-flesh as a casting agent with admirable, unstinting innuendo. . . .
• • But all this leaves the best for last, as Mae West might say, though she'd make it sound dirty, added Rapold. As queen of the casting couch Leticia Van Allen, West leers at rows of aspirant young bucks (including a green Tom Selleck) and savors lines she might have liked to deliver onscreen decades earlier. Costumed specially by Edith Head and encased in makeup or some species of preservative that renders her face a peaked waxen death mask, West presides over her own musical numbers, including a funk ditty. In her way, she's one of the more inspiring bits of taboo-taunting here (— — and it wasn't even her last bow: See 1978's "Sextette" opposite Timothy Dalton). Still, as a critic once wrote of Preminger's "Skidoo," this all inevitably sounds more interesting than it plays.
• • "Myra Breckinridge" — — Through 9 March 2008 [32 Second Avenue, between 1st and 2nd Streets (anthologyfilmarchives.org); 212-505-5181].
• • Source:
• • "Vidal's Not-So-Tender Gender Bender"
• • Byline: Nicolas Rapold
• • The New York Sun
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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• • Photo: • • Mae West • • 1970 • •
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Mae West: Tom Selleck

Risk-takers in Hollywood include MAE WEST and, apparently, Tom Selleck, who was featured opposite the actress in 1970.
• • Chicago Tribune reporter Louis R. Carlozo interviewed the Detroit native recently, since the 62-year-old senior citizen [born in January 1945] is busy flogging some DVDs that he stars in. Carlozo's column is called "On the Small Screen."
• • "On The Small Screen" spoke with Selleck about his latest project, which has him wearing multiple creative hats, and how it fits into an entertainment career built around taking risks.
• • • • Q. Let's go back to the very start. One of the most bizarre films you ever appeared in was 1970's "Myra Breckinridge," which included Mae West, Raquel Welch, Farah [sic] Fawcett, Jim "Mr. Magoo" Backus, and film critic Rex Reed. What on earth was that like?
• • • • A. That was in the day when I didn't take risks, I took jobs. I was under contract with Fox; I think that was the second job I ever had. I think I was Stud No. 6, and at one point, Mae West walks in and says to one of the studs, "I don't care that you're 6 feet and 7 inches, let's talk about the 7 inches." I was not the recipient of that laugh. I don't know who was taking what substances, but it was a great experience. Raquel Welch was writing her own stuff, and Mae West was writing her own stuff, the director [Michael Sarne, who would photograph cakes for eight hours while the cast waited] was on Pluto ... and all I did was sit around for two weeks and fantasize about Farah [sic] Fawcett. ...
— excerpt —
• • Source: Chicago Tribune
• • Byline: Louis R. Carlozo, Chicago Tribune staff reporter
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West: "Hard to Handle"

When MAE WEST was getting fitted for her costumes for the ill-fated "Myra Breckinridge"
[release date 24 June 1970], one creation by Edith Head cleverly reprised Mae's Statue of Liberty moment in the 1934 movie "Belle of the Nineties."
• • During March 1970, Edith Head [1897-1981] was working on Mae's wardrobe.
• • This is Edith Head's sketch for Mae's character Leticia Van Allen.
• • Author Gore Vidal, who disowned the screen version of his novel, had named his character "Letitia" - - but Mae West insisted that her role should be advertised as "Leticia," citing "the obvious reasons."

• • In this production, Mae West performed the songs "Hard to Handle" and "You Gotta Taste All the Fruit." During the shoot, the actress would come to work surrounded by young, muscular males. She would tell the studio security, "They're with me!"
• • Director Michael Sarne did not use a lot of the material Mae West had written for her scenes, she later complained to newspaper reporters.
• • This box office disappointment was the feature debut of actor Tom Selleck.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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• • Illustration: • • Mae West's costume by Edith Head • • 1970 • •
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