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MAE WEST's friend Roderick McDowall was born in London in the month of September — — on 17 September 1928.
• • In May 1968, at the West Hollywood home of George Cukor, there was a dinner party and Greta Garbo [18 September 1905 — 15 April 1990] and Mae West met for the first time. This small private gathering also included Gayelord Hauser, Frey Brown, and Roddy McDowall, who was 39-turning-40. Asked about it later, Roddy McDowall claims he felt rather awestruck in the presence of two screen icons, thus he barely uttered a word.
• • McDowall's film roles included Cornelius and Caesar in the "Planet of the Apes" series. He died of lung cancer in Los Angeles on 3 October 1998. He was 70.
• • Roddy as Rene Valentine • •
• • Perhaps you recall seeing the lanky Englishman when he played the female impersonator Rene Valentine in "Mae West" [1982], a made for tv bio-pic. McDowall also received credit for [gulp!] "Technical Details" — — which is astonishing since his choices in his scenes with the Brooklyn bombshell all seem false.
• • Moreover, his rift on the elegant Julian Eltinge misses the point; Roddy McDowall looks more like one of Cinderella's ugly step-sisters than the enigmatic Broadway star of "The Fascinating Widow."
• • Shouldn't someone have noticed that the bawdy over-the-top drag queen Mae most adored was the campy cut-up Bert Savoy — — and not the inscrutable Mr. Eltinge?
• • Anyway, one happy fella was Richard F. Shepard, whose New York Times review said: "Roddy McDowall is persuasive as a female impersonator who puts Miss West on the path to stardom by fixing her stage personality and appearance; he is almost scholarly and calm, the lifelong friend and confidant" [Richard F. Shepard, New York Times, 14 August 1984].
• • Directed by Lee Phillips, the 1982 bio-pic "Mae West" also featured Ann Jillian in the title role, a far too handsome James Brolin as Jim Timony, et al.
• • On 17 September 1933 • •
• • Portraits of Mae West were featured on this date in a special black & white supplement that was included in the Sunday issues of The Philadelphia Record. This section always secured pictures of the top Hollywood stars.
• • In mid-September 2005 • •
• • After New York City playwright LindaAnn Loschiavo hosted a seance for Mae West on 17 August 2005, presided over by an East Coast psychic attached to Lily Dale, TwoFour contacted her requesting her participation in their American broadcast. "Dead Famous: Ghostly Encounters," a British paranormal reality television series featuring skeptic Gail Porter and clairvoyant Chris Fleming, began scouting haunted locations linked to the Brooklyn bombshell based on Loschiavo's research. As Porter and Fleming tried to secure the consent for access to some of these places (such as the Royale Theatre where Mae and Texas Guinan held seances backstage), the producers set up the first shoot with Loschiavo on 2 October 2005 in the West Ninth Street drag cabaret that inspired Mae to write "The Drag" in 1926.
• • Explore this link to "Dead Famous: Mae West" [Part 1]. The footage features LindaAnn Loschiavo in a dashing silk hat by Eric Javits (whose grandmother made millinery for Mae), Chris Fleming and Gail Porter.
http://videonews.allinww.com/story.php?title=dead-famous-mae-west-part-15
• • Act I of "Courting Mae West" opens in this Greenwich Village drag cabaret, and dramatizes the legal troubles that will complicate the life and career of Mae West during the Prohibition Era.
• • "Courting Mae West" will be seen next in Australia on 28 January 2012. The very talented Robert Chuter will direct the cast.
• • Come up and see Mae down under, mate:
http://www.theatrealive.com.au/Whats_On/Courting_Mae_West
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said this: "I speak two languages — — English and body."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • A fascinating and well-researched article about the various East Coast hucksters who specialized in "selling" the Brooklyn Bridge to gullible tourists mentioned Mae West.
• • John Kominicki writes: Sales of the Brooklyn Bridge dropped dramatically in the 1920s, when Ellis Island officials started handing out cards warning immigrants that public infrastructure in America was not for sale. The con had passed fully into the culture by 1937, when Mae West starred as the flim-flamstress and would-be bridge seller Peaches O’Day in the comedy “Every Day’s a Holiday.” ...
• • Source: Article: "Sewer deal has a familiar smell to it" written by John Kominicki for Long Island Business News; posted on 15 September 2011
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started seven years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 2056th 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 • • by Al Pillay • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest
NYC
Mae West.
Mae West's friend Roderick McDowall was born in London on 17 September 1928 — — eighty years ago.
• • Perhaps you remember seeing the lanky Englishman when he played the female impersonator Rene Valentine in "Mae West" [1982], a made for tv bio-pic. McDowall also received credit for [gulp!] "Technical Details" — — which is astonishing since his choices in his scenes with the Brooklyn bombshell all seem false.
• • Moreover, his rift on the elegant Julian Eltinge misses the point; Roddy McDowall looks more like one of Cinderella's ugly step-sisters than the Broadway star of "The Fascinating Widow."
• • Shouldn't someone have noticed that the bawdy over-the-top drag queen Mae most adored was the campy cut-up Bert Savoy — — and not the inscrutable Mr. Eltinge?
• • Anyway, one happy fella was Richard F. Shepard, whose New York Times review said: "Roddy McDowall is persuasive as a female impersonator who puts Miss West on the path to stardom by fixing her stage personality and appearance; he is almost scholarly and calm, the lifelong friend and confidant" [Richard F. Shepard, NY Times, 14 August 1984].
• • Directed by Lee Phillips, the 1982 bio-pic also featured Ann Jillian as Mae West, James Brolin as Jim Timony, et al.
• • Decide for yourself how watchable Roddy McDowall is in this scene: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVZflfidfy4
• • The actor died of lung cancer in California on 3 October 1998.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
________
Source:http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • none • • NYC
Mae West.
Mae West's friend Roderick McDowall was born in London on 17 September 1928.
• • Perhaps you remember seeing the lanky Englishman when he played the female impersonator Rene Valentine in "Mae West" [1982], a made for tv bio-pic. McDowall also received credit for [gulp!] "Technical Details" — — which is astonishing since his choices in his scenes with the Brooklyn bombshell all seem false.
• • Moreover, his rift on the elegant Julian Eltinge misses the point; Roddy McDowall looks more like one of Cinderella's ugly step-sisters than the Broadway star of "The Fascinating Widow."
• • Shouldn't someone have noticed that the bawdy over-the-top drag queen Mae most adored was the campy cut-up Bert Savoy — — not the inscrutable Mr. Eltinge?
• • Anyway, one happy fella was Richard F. Shepard, whose New York Times review said: "Roddy McDowall is persuasive as a female impersonator who puts Miss West on the path to stardom by fixing her stage personality and appearance; he is almost scholarly and calm, the lifelong friend and confidant" [Richard F. Shepard, NY Times, 14 August 1984].
• • Directed by Lee Phillips, the 1982 bio-pic also featured Ann Jillian as Mae West, James Brolin as Jim Timony, et al.
• • Decide for yourself how watchable Roddy McDowall is in this scene: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVZflfidfy4
• • The actor died of lung cancer in California on 3 October 1998.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
________
Source:http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • none • •
NYC
Mae West.
It was on 2 May 1982 that the TV drama "MAE WEST" had its small screen premiere starring actress Ann Jillian in the title role. The two-hour program was re-broadcast on ABC television at 9:00 PM on 14 August 1984 (following the excitement of the U.S. Olympics).
• • Remembering the May 1982 production, New York Times critic Richard F. Shepard had these comments two years later. Shepard wrote: ''Mae West'' was originally seen in 1982, long enough ago in these fast- moving times to almost qualify the show as a revival rather than as another summer re-run. It is reasonable programming, a show about a torrid actress in matching weather. It is also a drama that is satisfactory television, not earth-shaking, but one that is particularly admirable because it gives us a chance to see Ann Jillian portray the immortal Miss West.
• • Miss Jillian is not only good to look at, she is also a formidable actress who catches the essence of Miss West: not only the swaying hips but also the precise intonations that could load a phrase with the sort of innuendo that drove censors to blue-pencil conclusions.
• • Actually, E. Arthur Keen's screenplay, directed by Lee Philips, is reminiscent of one of those Alice Faye — Don Ameche — Tyrone Power movies in which the stars age ever so slightly over 30 years. This is not an objection, because it doesn't really matter. When things go through a somewhat tedious and mawkish period, they are perked up by a song and a crisis.
• • Miss Jillian generally resembles Miss West in this undertaking, but she is too pretty and not quite as pasty-faced as the original came across in her films. No matter. We know she is the unflappable Miss West when she delivers those great lines that are the heart of the piece. As, when a judge finds her guilty of corrupting the morals of youth in her 1927 show, ''Sex,'' she retorts, ''That's what they got Socrates for, ain't it?'' Or when the checkroom attendant, in a Mae West film, exclaims,''Goodness, what beautiful diamonds!'' and Miss West rolls hips and eyes and says, ''Goodness had nothing to do with it.''
• • The settings range in costume and prop from early 1900's to late 1940's, from vaudeville to stage, from Broadway to Hollywood and back again. The continuing thread is her love affair with her manager [Jim Timony], played in a noble vein by James Brolin. It is very sad, but don't take it to heart. Roddy McDowall is persuasive as a female impersonator who puts Miss West on the path to stardom by fixing her stage personality and appearance; he is almost scholarly and calm, the lifelong friend and confidant. . . .
Source: The New York Times [14 August 1984]
Byline: Richard F. Shepard• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
______Source:http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xmlMae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • none • •NYC
Mae West.
MAE WEST's friend Roderick McDowall was born in London in the month of September — — on 17 September 1928.