Mae West: Went to Extremes

Depending on the person who wielded the pen, the fan magazine Picture Play could worship MAE WEST in fragrant ink or scold her. A year before publishing Dorothy Herzog’s skeptical sourness [May 1934], the zine printed a much more enthusiastic feature by Ben Maddox [April 1933] emphasizing Mae’s work ethic and down-to-earth side. This is Part 7 of 16 segments.
• • “Mae West: Don't Call Her Lady” • •  
• • Mae West: Her stage shows went to extremes • •
• • Ben Maddox wrote: She told me the police had given her a million-dollar publicity campaign free by their habit of disapproving of the extremes to which her florid shows went.  
• • Ben Maddox wrote: Every raid, closing, or censoring garnered headlines.

• • Ben Maddox wrote: I found her relaxing in her Paramount dressing room between scenes one noon hour.  
• • Ben Maddox wrote: Marlene Dietrich and Maurice Chevalier were coming in to hear her croon a new blues number, but she let them wait while she expounded her theories to me.
• • Ben Maddox wrote: Minus the platinum wig and theatrical gestures, Mae West is an interestingly frank woman.  
• • Mae West: Interesting and frank • • …  
• • This will be continued on the next post.
• • Source: Picture Play; published in the issue dated for April 1933.
• • On Saturday, 22 March 1930 in The N.Y. Times • •
• • On 22 March 1930, the headline in The N.Y. Times read like this: MAE WEST COUNSEL ASSAILES CAPT. COY; Police Officer Admits Relying More on Sergeant's Notes Than Own in Testimony. Says Two Made 'Synopsis' Too Dark in Theatre to Write Clearly, He Asserts — — Reveals He Acted 28 Years Ago.
• • Captain James J. Coy of Inspector Mulrooney's staff, who appeared Thursday in General Sessions, told Judge Amadeo Bertini and a jury why he had raided Mae West's play "Pleasure Man" in October 1928.
• • Broadcast on Sunday, 22 March 1964 • •
• • "Mae West Meets Mister Ed" is the twenty-first episode of the fourth season of "Mister Ed," and the ninety-ninth episode overall. Director was Arthur Lubin. Airdate was 22 March 1964.
• • Guest Stars: Mae West (Herself), Nick Stewart (Charles), Mae West (Herself), Jacques Shelton (1st Groom), Roger Torrey (2nd Groom).
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Here are two stars we would like to see teamed up — — Mae West and James Cagney. There's dynamite in that idea!
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said:  "Don't diet! Curves may be dangerous on the highways, ladies, but they never hurt a woman.”
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • A London newspaper discussed Diane Arbus and Mae West.
• • Sir: While I was art editor of Show Magazine in New York during the 1960s, I commissioned the great Diane Arbus to photograph the (by then) forgotten Mae West (Books, 16 March) at home in Los Angeles.
• • The results revealed that Miss West had a fearsome fetish for symmetry — matching grubby white grand pianos bearing vast identical plaster statues of her naked self, duplicate papier-maiché urns of dusty mock camellias, place settings mirrored either side of the plates, etc. 
• • Mae also slept between two (real) apes called Toughie and Pretty-boy.
• • As Cecil Beaton once said about Josephine Baker, if that is not camp, I don't know what is! ...
• • Written by: Nicholas Haslam, 12 Holbein Place, London SW1
• • Source: Letter to the Editor, The Spectator [U.K.]; published on Saturday, 23 March 1996
• • 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 4,955th 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 • • by her studio bungalow in 1934 • •
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Mae West: Obscene Play Trial

Did MAE WEST spend nearly as much time in a courtroom as she did on a sound stage? Sometimes it seems that way, doesn't it? Let's turn back the Westian clock.
• • Mae West Freed • •
• • Jury Disagrees; State Not to Ask Retrial of 22 in Obscene Play Case • •
• • New York, A.P. ― A disagreement having ended the first trial, the district attorney's office indicated today that it would not ask a retrial of Mae West and her co-defendants on charges of presenting an indecent play.
• • A Jury, which had watched policemen reenact scenes from the play "Pleasure Man," written by Miss West, deliberated 10 hours, then reported to Judge Amedeo A. Bertini on Thursday night that it could not agree.

• • Court attaches said the Jury deadlocked with seven for conviction, five for acquittal. Miss West and 22 others, including the managers and actors in the company, were continued under bail.
• • Charges against 34 • •
• • Asst. District Attorney James G. Wallace, criticized the failure to reach a verdict but indicated he would recommend to District Attorney Crain that the State drop the case.
• • In dismissing the jury, Judge Bertini said: “The difficulties of legal administration and moral regulation of the theatre-going public, and the fact that it will never again be presented, may make it undesirable to try this case again. It may be just as well to let it go and consider that we have done our duty. “
• • The play was closed at its opening, Oct. 1, two nights after.
• • Source: Associated Press; published on Friday, 4 April 1930.
• • Note: The play had its Broadway debut on Monday, 1 October 1928. When the curtain fell, the entire cast was arrested. The play "Courting Mae West" dramatizes these true events.
• • On Thursday, 16 June 1932 • •
• • Mae West arrives on The Chief • •
• • It was on Thursday, 16 June 1932 when Mae West arrived in Pasadena, California on The Chief. She was unimpressed by the motion picture landscape she surveyed from the train station. "I'm a big girl from a big town," Mae told the Los Angeles reporters, "coming to a little town."
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • It is no trick at all to publicize a Will Rogers picture or one of Mae West's.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "So this is the place where a leaf falls up in some canyon and they tell you it's winter."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • An article about summer stock in Rhode Island mentioned Mae West.
• • Paul E. Kandarian, Globe Correspondent, writes: Rhode Island is a place noted for its watery location (hence its nickname, "The Ocean State"), and proliferation of theater offerings. Combing both, Theatre By The Sea in Matunuck, a classic old barn-style theater near the ocean that when summer stock was the rage had the likes of Mae West, Marlon Brando, Art Carney, and other notables treading its boards, has opened for a season hosting four Tony Award-winning shows. ...
• • Source: Article: "Legendary RI summer theater opens for season" written by Paul E. Kandarian, Globe Correspondent, Globe Staff, Boston Globe; posted on Wednesday, 15 June 2011
• • 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 4,700 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started fifteen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 4,757th 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 • • in 1930 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest

Mae West: Marquee Name

Alec Moss was interviewed for a charming piece about how MAE WEST's star was rising at Paramount. This is a short excerpt of the article that was published in The Pittsburgh Press in 1934.
• • Mae West's star rises at Paramount Pictures.• •
• • What about Mae West? You might say that Mae West is The Paramount Star. • •
• • For certainly, Mae West's name on a marquee means more to Paramount at this time than any of its other notables.
• • But aren't Mae West's pictures sexy and inimical to the morals of the community? "Absolutely not," almost shouted Mr. Alec Moss.
• • He added, "Mae West kids the very daylights out of sex. She has her audience laughing at it. She holds it up to ridicule. And, as everyone knows, the best weapon against any person or thing is laughter." . . .
• • "Anyway the screen players' private lives are their own business, to my way of looking at it. Whatever they are in private life has nothing to do with the characters they portray on the screen and vice versa," Alec Moss explained.
• • "Take Mae West, for instance," Alec Moss added. "She is an ardent Catholic [sic], going to Mass regularly. Is there any scandal about her private life? On the silver screen Mae West is not portraying Mae West but merely a character ―  ― a character that, in itself, is essentially wholesome."
• • Source: The Pittsburgh Press; published on Monday, 4 June 1934.
• • On Friday, 5 October 1928 in Cornell Daily Sun • •
• • "Mae West Show Closed by Police; 57 Indicted" • •

• • New York, October 4 — The 56 members of the cast of "Pleasure Man" and Mae West its author, were indicted today by the Grand Jury ... under the penal code relating to indecent theatrical productions and will be arraigned in general sessions tomorrow.
• • The accused were taken to the West Side court after the indictments had been handed down but the hearing was adjourned at the request of District Attorney Banton.
• • Source: Article in Cornell Daily Sun, Issue 11, on Friday, 5 October 1928.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Mae West and her sister, Beverly,have opened a Chinese chow mein factory in Los Angeles.  Of course, Beverly will actually operate the factory, but Mae's money is invested. Mae has purchased ten pure white delivery cars, and sends fine Chinese dinners on order to private homes.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "Women like a man with a past — — but they prefer a man with a present.”
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • Macleans Magazine discussed diamonds and Mae West.
• • Can You Tell Which of Her Gems Are Real? • •
• • Mae West Had Words for It • •
• • Margo Fischer wrote: Everyone knows that a diamond is the hardest known substance and the men who are trying to reproduce them agree with “Diamond Lil” Mae West’s quip on the subject.
• • Margo Fischer wrote: Said Mae, “Diamonds are the hardest substance in the world. The hardest to get and the hardest to keep.” ...
• • Source: Macleans Magazine; published on Tuesday, 1 November 1949
• • 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 4,575th 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 • • Mae West in court in 1928 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest

Mae West: Sex Triumphant

Reporters who met MAE WEST during the 1920s and early 1930s — — before stardom cloaked her utterly — — have a refreshingly different take than those who met her as a bonafide movie queen.
• • New York Herald Tribune reporter Stanley Walker came up to see Mae West often in New York.
• • A section in Stanley Walker’s 1935 memoir discussed Mae West. This is Part 17 of 19 segments.
• • “Sex Comes to America” • •
• • The closing of "Sex" • •
• • Stanley Walker wrote: Mae had closed "Sex" voluntarily; the opus had drawn 300,000 paid admissions.
• • Stanley Walker wrote: The next sensation was "Diamond Lil" in 1928 [sic].
• • Stanley Walker wrote: Like most of the other Mae West masterpieces, it was about a bad woman who got what she wanted, with sex triumphant and unrepentant. The philosophy underlying the stories is that "any dame that can't outsmart a man ought to have her head examined."

• • Stanley Walker wrote: All was very well, but she got into trouble when she put on "Pleasure Man," a play which dealt with homosexuality.
• • Stanley Walker wrote: It was too much for Mayor Walker and a raid was ordered. The trial of Miss West and her accomplices in General Sessions was amusing, but the jury failed to agree, and the District Attorney gave up.
• • Mae West was the despair of the censors • • …
• • This long chapter by Stanley Walker will be continued on the next post.
• • Source: Chapter “Sex Comes to America” from "Mrs. Astor's Horse" written by Stanley Walker [NY: Frederick A. Stokes, 28 October 1935, 320 pages].
• • On Tuesday, 3 April 1934 • •
• • "Mayor Refuses to See Mae West's Film" • •
• • Oxford, England, April 3 — — Miss L. S. Tawney, Oxford's spinster mayor, refused today an invitation to see Mae West's motion picture, "I'm No Angel," holding that it was objectionable.  "It would not be consistent with the dignity of my office of mayor to see it," she said.
• • Source: Item in Urbana Daily Courier (Urbana, Illinois); published on Tuesday, 3 April 1934. 
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • The crowds at the Brooklyn Fox reflected not only their fascination with La West but also how she says it and the way she does it.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "A man has one hundred dollars and you leave him with two dollars. That's subtraction."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • Boise Weekly mentioned Mae West.
• • “From the Dregs to ‘The Drag’ by Mae West” • •
• • Minerva Jayne wrote: I discovered Mae West when I was about 12 years old. I was already a bullied, sheltered, lonely child growing up in rural Emmett. I stuck out like a sore thumb and too many people, both young and old, took it upon themselves to remind me of my differentness on the daily.
• • Minerva Jayne wrote: With few close friends, I found myself running to the shelter and safety of classic Hollywood films by watching AMC. AMC ran a Mae West double feature, showing She Done Him Wrong and My Little Chickadee. The moment I saw Mae West with her hourglass figure, glowing platinum hair, upward-gazing eyes, and-all-too knowing smile, I felt an instant kinship. This sparked a lifelong love of all things Mae West.  …
• • Source: Boise Weekly; published on Wednesday, 26 February 2020
• • 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 4,445th 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 • • a paperback version of "Pleasure Man" • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest

Mae West: Female Mouth

While you’re sleeping, college professors in Hungary are thinking about MAE WEST. Here’s a long, striking research paper you might have missed. This is Part 39.
• • "Mae West. The Dirty Snow White" • •
• • Written by:  Zsófia Anna Tóth
• • a woman’s highest duty • •
• • Zsófia Anna Tóth wrote: Sarah Ellis’ famously quoted words (which are also reflected in Vicinus’ title) also highlight the importance of silence if somebody aspires to the title of a proper lady, since a woman’s “highest duty is so often to suffer, and be still” (73). Even if a woman could not entirely embrace it, at least, she had to project “the house-wifely calm of Penelope” while being “lamblike and silent” (Vicinus 133).
• • Zsófia Anna Tóth wrote: The open or closed female mouth is again of central importance within our culture since it has further connotations regarding female sexuality and reproduction. The sole reason behind all cultural restrictions on the opening of the female mouth leads to the ‘regulation’ of female genitals. An ideal woman can control her mouth (against laughing) and her genitals (against promiscuity): does not eat (or hardly anything), does not speak (stays silent), and most of all, does not produce humor; all this in service of securing her expected purity.
• • not closing her mouth nor other body parts • •  . . .
• • This was Part 39 of a lengthy article. Part 38 will follow tomorrow. 
• • Source: Americana — — E-Journal of American Studies in Hungary; Vol. XI, No. 1, Spring 2015.
• • On Saturday, 29 March 1930 in New York • •

• • As reported by The N.Y. Times on Saturday, 29 March 1930, the "Pleasure Man" trial presided over by Justice Amedeo Bertini was not without its own impromptu entertainment value. Called to the stand by Nathan Burkan, cast member Chuck Connors II sang the controversial "She's the Queen of the Beaches" for Judge Amedeo Bertini and the jurors.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Congressional hearings being conducted in February and March 1936 by the U.S. Senate were peppered with the name of Mae West, whose new motion picture "Klondike Annie" caused a lot of concern on Capitol Hill.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "Very few people know my secret ambition to be a lion-tamer. It began when as a child my father took me to my first circus at Coney Island.”
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • Hollywood Reporter mentioned Mae West.
• • Ray Arnett, Choreographer and Stage Director, Dies at 97 • •
• • Choreographer Ray Arnett performed stage shows with actress Mae West earlier in his career and served as the stage director and producer for Liberace's many sold-out performances beginning in the 1950s. He is known for introducing Liberace to former partner Scott Thorson.  . . .
• • Source: Obit in Hollywood Reporter; published on Thursday, 26 March 2015 
• • 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 13th anniversary • •  

• • Thank you for reading, sending questions, and posting comments during these past thirteen years. Not long ago, we entertained 3,497 visitors. And we reached a milestone recently when we completed 3,800 blog posts. Wow!  

• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started thirteen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 3928th 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 • • at her trial in 1930 • •
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