Mae West: Errant Memory

MAE WEST enjoyed copious coverage in Time Magazine ― some of it positive such as her 1978 interview with Gerald Clarke. This is Part 12 of 15 segments.
• • "Show Business: At 84 Mae West Is Still Mae West" • •
• • Mae West: Her errant memory • •
• • Gerald Clarke wrote: Asked what she is working on now, she turns blankly to Paul Novak, who tells her that she is working on a film version of her 1927 play, “The Drag.”

• • Gerald Clarke wrote: Her errant memory caused a few problems during the shooting of Sextette, and when Mae couldn't remember her lines, the schedule began to slip.
• • Gerald Clarke wrote: Director Ken Hughes (Cromwell) finally found the solution, and a small radio receiver was placed over her left ear, where it was conveniently hidden by her enormous wig.
• • Gerald Clarke wrote: Hughes would broadcast the lines to her, and she would repeat them word for word.
• • Mae West: Spiteful gossips spread false stories • • …   
• • This will be continued on the next post.
• • Source: Time Magazine; issue dated for Monday, 22 May 1978.
• • On Sunday, 6 September 1942 • •
• • A photo of Mae West, costumed as Diamond Lil, appeared in the American Weekly supplement of the Los Angeles Examiner (on page 7) on Sunday, 6 September 1942.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Edith Head said, "Mae West is in her 80s now, but she stands for costume fittings for hours and never complains. Some of our young actresses on the way up should take lessons from her!"
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: “Today the women just walk around on a stage lookin’ dirty. Where’s the humor? Where’s the laugh in back of it?”
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • A Texas daily mentioned Mae West.
• • A reviewer from the San Antonio Light wrote:  Mae West, chic, dainty, a Parisienne from the heels of her tiny slippers to the crown of her golden head, has truly as she claims "a style all her own." Fresh from the hands of Parisian modistes, merry Mae sings her songs and delivers her impromptu dialogue with a pleasing individuality that marks her for an even higher place in the professional field than she occupies now.  . . .
• • Source: The San Antonio Light; published on Sunday, 6 September 1914
• • 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 18th anniversary • • 
• • Thank you for reading, sending questions, and posting comments during these past eighteen years. Not long ago, we entertained 3,497 visitors. And we reached a milestone recently when we completed 5,000 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started eighteen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 5,075th 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 1941 mural • •
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Mae West: Cambridge’s Cavanagh

Time Magazine reviewed new films by MAE WEST.
• • Following the mean-spiritedness of Variety, Time wrote this: Most obvious ingredients in the West formula are her extraordinary shape, clothes, and means of locomotion.

• • Time wrote: In “Goin' to Town” she is fatter about the middle than hitherto. Her clothes are less extravagant and consequently less becoming. Her gait remains unchanged. Almost equally important ingredients are the West wisecracks in which she gets the better of the man playing opposite her. …
• • Time wrote: A cattle-town belle who inherits a fortune in Buenos Aires, she makes herself a social success in Southampton, L. I. by giving a ball at which she sings a duet from Saint-Saëns' "Samson and Delilah," climaxes her career by marrying a British earl (Paul Cavanagh).
• • Source: Time Magazine; published on Monday, 20 May 1935.
• • Trained as a lawyer and backed by a degree from Cambridge, William Atkinson had a serious gambling addiction. After amassing great debts in 1924, he adopted a stage name and pursued an acting career.
• • Here is a mini bio on Mae’s co-star who died in the month of March.
• • William Grigs Atkinson [8 December 1888 – 15 March 1964], known professionally as Paul Cavanagh, was an English film and stage actor.
• • He appeared in more than 100 films between 1928 and 1959.

• • In 1935, he played the romantic lead in “Goin’ to Town,” a Mae West starrer. Her character was Cleo Borden. His character was Edward Carrington.
• • Film summary: A sassy female cattle rancher, Cleo Borden (Mae West), decides to sashay her way into the moneyed class. Though Borden sets her sights on a suave English aristocrat named Edward Carrington (Paul Cavanagh), she also wants to romance Ivan Valadov (Ivan Lebedeff). 
• • Problem: Cleo is already hitched to Fletcher Colton (Monroe Owsley) but doesn’t let such a trivial matter get in her way.
• • William Grigs Atkinson (a.k.a. Paul Cavanagh) was born in Felling, Durham.
• • He attended the Royal Grammar School, Newcastle upon Tyne, and Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where he was an undergraduate student. Cavanagh studied law in England, earning a master of arts degree at Cambridge.
• • After serving in World War I, he traveled to Canada, where he practised law, including revising the statutes of Alberta. But he eventually went back to England to practise law. Cavanagh went onto the stage after a stroke of bad luck (playing roulette at Monte Carlo) in 1924 caused him to lose his savings, and later he went into films.
• • After appearing in a handful of British silent films he moved to the United States. Cavanagh's first film contract and motion picture came in 1929 with Paramount Pictures.
• • Cavanagh died in London from a heart attack in the month of March ― on Sunday, 15 March 1964, aged 75.
• • On Wednesday, 4 March 1936 • •
• • Newspaper titan William Randolph Hearst had it in for Mae West. For years he barred his editors from giving her motion pictures any positive coverage. Naturally, the reasons that caused Hearst's animosity for the Paramount Pictures star were widely debated.
• • Not to be out-witted, the clever publicists at Paramount managed to promote "Klondike Annie" in Hearst's publications in other ways, for instance, by inserting advertisements urging readers to call the theater for details on a special showing.
• • The flapdoodle over "Klondike Annie" was discussed in Variety's issue dated for 4 March 1936. Coverage appeared in Hollywood Citizen News on Wednesday, 4 March 1936 also.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Ernst Lubitsch, en route to Europe, stopped over for a few hours between the Santa Fe Chief and the Twentieth Century. Interviewed at the Blackstone Hotel, he denied, in emphatic terms that he had "pushed Mae West around," as Jim Timony, her manager, charged.  
• • "I'm not strong enough to push Mae West around," said the German producer.
• • "And this statement that she had been in show business long before I started is probably the truth,” said Ernst Lubitsch [1892―1947]. “I started when I was very young but I'm only 44 now."
• • Note: Mae West born in 1893, one year later than Lubitsch.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "Sex is like a small business. You gotta protect it, watch over it. It's a matter of timing."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • Motion Picture Herald mentioned Mae West.
• • More Furore • •
• • Motion Picture Herald wrote: Furore greeting release of Mae West's Paramount picture, "Klondike Annie," swelled to resounding proportions this week, echoed back and forth across the nation, as the film appeared in more cities and towns and was prevented from appearing in others on divers grounds. While the Hearst newspapers continued colorful denunciation, exhibitors rearranged program schedules to accommodate anticipated capacity attendance.
• • Motion Picture Herald wrote: Public figures expressed themselves freely, for and against the star and picture, and the Legion of Decency issued a statement urging renewed vigilance on the part of all persons interested in the maintenance of wholesome pictures. …
• • Source: Motion Picture Herald; published on Saturday, 14 March  1936
• • 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 4,943rd 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 1935 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest

Mae West: A Neat Trick

On Wednesday, 24 May 2018, MAE WEST was in the news. This is Part 2.
• • Mae West and The Beatles — — She Was NOT lonely and did not want to join their lonely heart club band. • • 
• • Written by Liz Smith and Denis Ferrara • •
• • Yes, Mae refused. • •
• • Of course, she refused — what? She was not concerned about aging nor attracting men.
• • Why, she was as beautiful and desirable as ever! (This in itself was a neat trick, as by the time forty-year-old Mae arrived in Hollywood, she was not particularly either. But she was a genius at innuendo, and putting across her astonishing personality.)
• • She believed her own self-created mythology and lived long and prosperously, never acknowledging age, changing times or tastes, or other sex-symbols. It worked for her.
• • Eventually, Mae said yes. (The Beatles wrote her a letter — I would love to read how they finessed her ego!) She joined figures such as Marlon Brando … Bob Dylan … Fred Astaire … Tony Curtis … Shirley Temple … Aubrey Beardsley … Oscar Wilde … Carl Jung … Huntz Hall … Lenny Bruce … Albert Einstein … Lewis Carroll … Tyrone Power … Sonny Liston … H.G. Wells … Dr. Livingston … Laurel and Hardy and about 40 others, living and dead.
• • Sex-bomb • •   . . .
• • This is Part 2 of four segments. To be continued tomorrow.
• • Source: Article written by Liz Smith and Denis Ferrara; published on Wednesday, 24 May 2017.
• • On Monday, 22 May 1978 • •

• • In May 1978, Time Magazine printed these felicitous remarks by resident movie critic Gerald Clarke: And her new movie, “Sextette,” is so bad it's good.  . . .  Sixty years ago Mae West looked in the mirror and ordered the clock stopped. So far as she is concerned, it has never dared to start again ....
• • [Source: "Show Business: At 84 Mae West Is Still Mae West" by Gerald Clarke, Time Magazine, issue dated for the week of 22 May 1978].
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Mae West's first two films grossed over seven million dollars at the height of the Great Depression.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: “OK. Let’s get to work.”
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • An academic site mentioned Mae West.
• • May 19 — 22, 1994 • •
• • Professor Andrea Ivanov-Craig, Ph.D., who wrote about Mae West in her doctoral dissertation, presented a paper — — "Funny Seduction: Mae West, Cultural Literacy, and the Rhetoric of Sex" — — during a conference organized by Rhetoric Society of America (1994 Biennial Convention) in Norfolk, VA, from May 19 — 22, 1994.  …
• • Source: Item by Azusa Pacific University’s site (Azusa, CA); published on (unknown)
• • 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 3964th 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 1971 • •
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