Mae West: Licensing Is Free

For years, lawyers who controlled the rights to the plays of MAE WEST frustrated producers by denying access or dangling permission and then causing delays.
• • ”The agency that represented Mae West is now defunct ...” • •

• • According to Hedgepig Ensemble Theatre,”The agency that represented Mae West is now defunct and the play 'The Drag' is public domain.“ And this would mean all the other plays by Mae West are, too. Interesting... if accurate.
• • In their effort to Expand the Canon, Hedgepig Ensemble Theatre will offer a list  of nine plays by women  and encourages other theatre companies to follow suit.
• • Four of these plays will be staged in a digital reading series this fall, including Bold Stroke for a Husband by Hannah Cowley and House of Desires by Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz.
• • In addition to the works by Cowley and de la Cruz, the plays selected for 2020 are: A Bold Stroke for a Wife by Susanna Centilivre, Her Soul by Amelia P. Roselli, Rachel by Angelina W. Grimke, Restless Night in Late Spring by Fumiko Enchi, Spunk by Zora Neale Hurston, The Drag by Mae West, and Wedding Band by Alice Childress.
• • “From hundreds of plays by women, we chose 9 that span history, geography, and subject matter—and are by writers from diverse backgrounds,” said Mary Candler, artistic director of Hedgepig. “Each play takes on relevant conversations to this moment and can easily, and meaningfully, slot into 2021 seasons.”
• • Expand the Canon is a call to action for theatres to stage classical plays by women and to include more diversity in their repertoire. The project aims to ensure that what’s considered a “classic” includes a diverse set of women’s voices from history.
• • The Do This Play: Expand the Canon virtual reading series kicks off September 22.  ...
• • The Drag by Mae West (1927) • •
• • If you thought LGBTQ+ culture was invented in the 1960s, think again… Witty, tragic, and vibrant, The Drag is an exquisite portrait of the existing LGBTQ+ community of the 1920s. Mae West crafts an eloquent history lesson mixed with joyful celebration. The Drag shows the perils of “conversion therapy” and the criminalization of homosexuality, while simultaneously presenting in delightful clarity the  same joys, losses, warmth, and transgressive counter-culture that our LGBTQ+ family feels to this day.  
• • Mae West was one of the most multi-disciplinary and controversial artists of the 20th century, known for her comic chops, fearless sensuality, and toeing the lines of censorship. An icon of the sexual revolution, she proclaimed “I was the first liberated woman, you know. No guy was going to get the best of me.”  When she was arrested for the “indecency” of her plays, she took a limo [sic] to jail. [Editor: nobody fact-checks. Amazing.] 
• • Licensing: According to Hedgepig,”The agency that represented Mae West is now defunct and the play is public domain. “
• • Download the script here: https://www.hedgepigensemble.org/expand-the-canon
• • Happy Birthday, Rona Barrett • •
• • Rona Barrett, a gossip columnist and friend of Mae West's, was born on Thursday, 8 October 1936.  Hope it's a beautiful day for you, Miss Rona.
• • On Tuesday, 8 October 1935 • •
• • "Plot to Disfigure Mae West Foiled" was an article syndicated to several papers. These threats must have been so frightening. Jeez.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Mae West is her own plot.  
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "Oh, those law suits cost a lot."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • A campus newspaper in NYC mentioned Mae West.
• • Will Rogers wrote to the Torch of Fullertown Junior College last Spring: "I have no message for you. ... The trouble with youth nowadays is that everybody wants to advise them, and we don't know what to do ourselves. ... If I know any Latin words I'd quote 'em to you. The Latins all died out because they couldn't learn their own language. My message to you is don't miss the next Mae West picture." ...
• • Source: Columbia Daily Spectator; published on Tuesday, 8 October 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 16th 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 4,500 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started fifteen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 4,578th 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 • • after being arrested (with the cast) at the precinct • •
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Mae West: Glasgow Pleasured

MAE WEST would have loved to see her play "The Pleasure Man" performed in Glasgow during the month of February in 2000. Theatre critic Ian Shuttleworth gives us his critique. Let's enjoy it together.
• • "The Pleasure Man" by Mae West • •
• • Ian Shuttleworth wrote:  . . . Several years ago, Jean Rhys's short story was staged by Neil Bartlett's erstwhile company Gloria, whose musical director Nicolas Bloomfield appears on the main stage here, doubling as a drag queen and — — quelle surprise — — a musical director in Mae West's "The Pleasure Man." It is generally overlooked that West arrived in Hollywood on the strengths of her writing as much as of her performance, and the remarkable construction of this vaudeville-backstage drama is testament to those strengths. The first act, in particular, is an astounding kaleidoscope, as acts arrive on the bare stage to set up for that week's run at the theatre, and snatches of song, dance, dialogue and innuendo fly out between the raising and lowering of backcloths and lighting bars.
• • Ian Shuttleworth explained:  On its second Broadway performance in 1928, "The Pleasure Man" was raided and its entire cast arrested for obscenity. This, too, is understandable, with its drag queens (and kings), single entendres (yes, "gay" was in use in that sense as long as 70 years ago) and grisly offstage denouement; I would love to have been a fly on the wall when the family next to me arrived home after the show, to hear the mother explaining to her eight-year-old daughter exactly what was meant by the oblique but plentiful references to a fatal operation performed upon lothario "Rod" Terrill so that he could never again "treat a woman that way."
• • Ian Shuttleworth noted:  Stewart Laing makes deft use of his cast of a dozen professional actors and as many RSAMD acting students in minor roles, and utilises a labyrinth of wooden frames to suggest the doorways and mirrors of the interconnecting dressing rooms of the second act. He cannot disguise that the moral ending is rather laboured, and that West is rightly more interested in her snapshots of backstage activity than in a shapely resolution; what he does brilliantly is capture the cut-price magic of the vaudeville world.
• • "The Pleasure Man" at Citizens Theatre, Glasgow [Opened 2-4 February, 2000]
• • Source:  Stage Review by Ian Shuttleworth for Financial Times; posted in February 2000.
• • On Tuesday, 4 February 1930 in NYC • •
• • New York City's "picture newspaper" The Daily Mirror reported that Mae West "collapsed in her dressing room at the Shubert Riviera Theatre" [sic]. Nevertheless, her attorney Nathan Burkan dismissed the idea that his client's uncustomary breakdown was due to her upcoming court appearance. The author of "Pleasure Man," insisted Burkan, "is not in the least worried about the outcome of her impending trial."
• • Scheduled to begin on Tuesday, 4 February 1930 in Manhattan, the "Pleasure Man" trial was not brought before Judge Bertini until 16 March 1930. Mae looked plenty worried in several photos taken when the trial was in session.
• • The "Pleasure Man" trial is intriguingly dramatized in Act 2 of the stage play "Courting Mae West." The audience gets to see how Mae first behaves very cagily around her friend Texas Guinan, and later on they hear the terrible truths unfolding when Mae's sister Beverly enters as Nathan Burkan exits.
• • Source: The Daily Mirror (NYC); published on Monday, 3 February 1930.
• • On Friday, 4 February 1949 on WOR • •
• • NYC broadcast journalist John Wingate interviewed Mae West backstage before the opening of a revival of "Diamond Lil" on Broadway. Their 2-minute exchange is quite funny and was heard in the NYC area over the popular radio station WOR.
• • On Wednesday, 4 February 1998 in Sammy • •
• • The raunchy comic book, Sammy, released their Mae West issue in early 1998. The panels were drawn by Raoul Cauvin and Jean-Pol. The cover has a maritime theme. An odd looking fellow in a beige raincoat appears to be mesmerized by Mae West, who is clad in a chic sailor outfit with her midriff exposed. Sammy's issue was published as a board book on Wednesday, 4 February 1998 by Dupuis.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • In an interview, D.W. Griffth named Mae West as one of the ten most interesting persons in America.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said:  "It's no good trying to be serious. I tried it 18 months ago by playing Catherine of Russia, but when I held out my hand to be kissed the audience was not happy until I raised my eyebrows in that way they like. So gradually the whole thing became a burlesque."
• • Quote, Unquote • •

• • A California paper mentioned Mae West.
• • Stanford Theatre on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday — — "Diamond Lil" Mae West  in "She Done Him Wrong" — — A Saga of the Bowery! Don't Miss It!
• • Source: Item in The Stanford Daily; published on Friday, 3 February 1933
• • 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 3,300 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • • 
• • The Mae West Blog was started ten years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 3370th 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
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • in 1932 • •
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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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