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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
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • 2011 • •
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Mae West.
MAE WEST said it best.
• • A hard man is good to find.
• • Such a big issue — — over a little tissue.
• • Diamonds? Diamonds is my career!• • Beulah, peel me a grape!• • Goodness had nothing to do with it.• • I used to be Snow White, but I drifted.• • He who hesitates is a damned fool.• • It's the fairy princess, ya mug!• • When I'm bad, I'm better.• • I like restraint, if it doesn't go too far.• • I'm single because I was born that way.• • Anything worth doing is worth doing slowly.• • It's better to be looked over than overlooked.• • I didn't discover curves; I only uncovered them.• • When women go bad, men go right after them.• • It's not the men in my life. It's the life in my men.
• • An ounce of performance is worth pounds of promises.
• • Is that a gun in your pocket? Or are you glad to see me?
• • Give a man a free hand and he'll run it all over you.
• • A dame that knows the ropes isn't likely to get tied up.• • Cultivate your curves. They may be dangerous but they won't be avoided.
• • Don't marry a man to reform him — — that's what reform schools are for.
• • Don't let a man put anything over you except a umbrella.
• • Every man I meet wants to protect me. I can't figure out what from.
• • Mmmm! Tall, dark, and handsome!
• • He's the kind of man a woman would have to marry to get rid of.
• • His mother should have thrown him away and kept the stork.
• • I believe in censorship. I made a fortune out of it.
• • Marriage is a great institution. But I'm not ready for an institution.• • A woman in love can't be reasonable — — or she probably wouldn't be in love.• • All discarded lovers should be given a second chance, but with somebody else.
• • I generally avoid temptation unless I can't resist it.
• • I'll try anything once, twice if I like it, three times to make sure.
• • Between two evils, I always pick the one I never tried before.
• • I never worry about diets. The only carrots that interest me are the number you get in a diamond.
• • I only like two kinds of men — — domestic and foreign.
• • I see you're a man with ideals. I better be going while you've still got them.
• • I speak two languages — — body and English.
• • I'm no model lady. A model's just an imitation of the real thing.
• • Any time you've got nothing to do and lots of time to do it come on up.
• • Come up sometime and see me. I'll tell your fortune.
• • Come up sometime when I've nothing on but the radio.
• • My right leg is Thanksgiving. My left leg is Xmas. Come up and see me between the holidays.• • Mae also has terrific and original one-liners in the play Courting Mae West.• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • on the cover of Theatre Arts, 1950 • •
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Mae West.
The Clipper often announced that MAE WEST would be bringing a new act to vaudeville and where she would be opening.
• • A laugh-getter who appeared with Mae in "Myra Breckinridge" [released in the USA on 24 June 1970] also had ties to variety. Chicago native Kathleen Freeman made her vaudeville debut at age 2, becoming a part of her parents' act.
• • Born in the month of February — — on 17 February 1919 — — the heavy-set comedienne portrayed Bobby Dean Loner in the screen version of Gore Vidal's bestseller. Kathleen Freeman often chuckled about working with every "tough bitch" in the film industry. After this motion picture had been released, she often recalled the clash between the film's two leading ladies: "Mae West was not an actress; she was not a star; she was the most incredible phenomenon I ever encountered. Place that against the starlet Raquel Welch, who had an enormous ego, and boom — — there were fireworks. And I made darn sure that I wasn't caught up in the cross-fire."
• • The UCLA graduate's first goal had been to shine as a professional pianist but, after thoroughly enjoying her work with several stock productions, she changed gears. Kathleen Freeman once said: "I think comedy is more powerful than drama in the long run. Comedy is more difficult. It's very easy to make people cry."
• • Kathleen Freeman made her first motion picture appearance in 1948 at 29 years old. The reliable character actress was used as a comic foil by Jerry Lewis in several of his films. Her stocky figure, expressive face, energetic laugh, and supple voice-craft served her well, keeping her in demand and busy juggling parts on the silver screen, TV, and also on Broadway.
• • Kathleen Freeman, 82 years old, was cast in a Broadway production when she died in New York City on 23 August 2001 of lung cancer. Engaged on stage until the very end, the octogenarian had given her final Tony nomination performance for her role as the piano player in Broadway's musical hit "The Full Monty" on August 18th, and five days later she was gone.
• • John Garcia, Executive Director/ Producer of "The Column" Awards, created an award in her honor. This prize is given to individuals who overcome personal, physical, or other major problems in their lives and continue to work in theater, whether behind or in front of the curtain. Kathleen Freeman embodied the true spirit of the Broadway gypsy: "The show must go on." Applause!
• • Chicago's Cadillac Palace Theatre • •
• • Designed by the Rapp Brothers and initially named the New Palace Theatre in 1926 — — a baroque, lavishly appointed vaudeville venue until it became a place to show motion pictures — — for quite a number of years the auditorium attracted major stars such as Mae West, Jimmy Durante, Bob Hope, and Jack Benny.
• • Now known as the Cadillac Palace Theatre, and still looking splendid with its Italian marble polished and spiffy, this Randolph Street showpiece can be toured every Saturday.
• • For details on the 75-minute walking tour of the Cadillac and one other opulent Loop theater (the Oriental) designed by the same architects, phone 800-775-2000.
• • Tell them you read about it on the Mae West Blog and ask to see the old programs and stagebills featuring her in the archives.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • Buck Loner and Letitia Van Allen on the set, 1970 • •
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Mae West.
"Myra Breckinridge" starred MAE WEST, John Huston, Raquel Welch, Rex Reed, Farrah Fawcett, Jim Backus, and Tom Selleck.
• • Little loved in Hollywood, this flop is rarely written about so it was surprising to come across Richard Carradine's well-informed columns about cinema history in Century City, California. Referring to one scene in "Myra B," Richard Carradine writes: This very Hollywood centric (both in the actual geography and as subject) suddenly switches gears, and moves to Century City for Myra's big death scene. Why? . . . [Source: Shot in Century City: 'Myra Breckinridge' — — Avenue of the Stars has a cameo in this star-studded film, one of the worst ever made by a studio | By Richard Carradine | on 16 February 2011 | http://centurycity.patch.com]
• • Eddie Foy • •
• • Born as Edwin Fitzgerald on 9 March 1856 in Greenwich Village, New York City, Eddie Foy, Sr. became an actor, comedian, dancer, and vaudeville star.
• • As an amateur preparing herself to be an entertainer, Mae West did impressions of Eddie Foy, George M. Cohan, Bert Williams, and Eva Tanguay.
• • It was on 25 June 1926 that Mae West appeared with Eddie Foy — — as well as Houdini and other entertainers (such as George M. Cohan, Fanny Brice, the Marx Brothers, Ann Pennington, Hazel Dawn, Al Jolson, etc.) — — at the Polo Grounds on West 155th Street in Manhattan's Washington Heights area [zipcode 10032]. The fundraiser, organized for the benefit of the United Jewish Campaign, was staged by Mae's old dancing teacher Ned Wayburn.
• • Eddie Foy died in Kansas City, Missouri in the month of February — — on 16 February 1928 — — almost two years after he had appeared at the same Benefit with Mae West.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • in 1970 • •
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Mae West.
The Red Perspex Lips Clutch by the 51-year-old British handbag designer Lulu Guinness was inspired by Salvador Dali's iconic MAE WEST Lips sofa, an original built in 1937. Created in a dazzling red poppy perspex, it is lined with black grosgrain. The Brooklyn bombshell continues to be a style icon all over the world.
• • Films to Get You in the Mood • •
• • "I'm No Angel" — Not a romantic comedy by contemporary standards, notes Jimi Izrael of NPR.org. Mae West stars as Tira, the burlesque performer with a good heart who finds love despite herself. Cary Grant sets this film off as Jack Clayton, the respectable socialite who falls for the shake-dancing lion tamer. Jimi Izrael adds: West brings a sexy performance — completely clothed — that leaves little wonder to how she pulled Paramount Studios out of bankruptcy. HOT. [Source: "Films to Get You in the Mood" by Jimi Izrael, NPR, 15 February 2011]
• • Mae West's Leg • •
• • An American group of female vocalists from the state of Washington calls the band Mae West’s Leg. The group is made up of Tina North, Kat Bula, and Amanda Kalkwarf.
• • Kathleen Clifford • •
• • Born in Charlottesville, Virginia in the month of February — — on 16 February 1887 — — Kathleen Clifford was an American vaudeville and Broadway stage and film actress of the early twentieth century.
• • As with "Baby Mae," Kathleen Clifford's career acting was initially built on the vaudeville stages as a comedienne. Renowned for her impersonations of men, Kathleen Clifford was often humorously billed as "The Smartest Chap in Town."
• • In 1912, a large cast was hired for the Florenz Ziegfeld musical production "A Winsome Widow" [staged on Broadway from April — September 1912]. Kathleen Clifford was hired to play a male role: Willie Grow. Mae West won acclaim as La Petite Daffy in the same production.
• • Miss Clifford died on 28 December 1962 at age 75.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • clutch inspired by the Mae West Sofa • •
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Mae West.
One high-profile journalist wrote memorably about MAE WEST.
• • Born in Fort Wayne, Indiana in the month of February — — on 14 February 1882 — — George Jean Nathan [1882 — 1958] was an American drama critic and editor who once remarked that Mae looked more like "the Statue of Libido." This has been repeated so often that it has drowned out other statements he made. Here are some paragraphs from his book "Passing Judgments" [1935]:
• • . . . Mae West, this Mae West, was the only woman that the talking pictures, since their advent, had disclosed to their audiences! What the movie audiences had uniformly been privileged to see before, over a period of years, has been nothing but an endless succession of imported Lesbians, spindled-shanked, flat- chested flappers, forty-year-old Baby Dolls, beauty parlor imitations of women, and Sylvia-massaged string beans, in not one of whom there was enough real, genuine, honest-to-God female quality to interest even a vegetarian cannibal. In the midst of this dearth, the Mlle. West came like a rainfall, a veritable torrent, upon a dry desert. Here, unmistakably, whatever anyone might think of her art, was a woman, a female. No little dried-up cutie, no pretty little narrow-shouldered skeleton of a chicken, no parched and skinny pseudo-vamp, no trumped-up, artificial siren, but a good, large, full, round, old-time, 1890-model woman, with "woman" up and down and sidewise written plainly on her every feature — — and all other places.
• • Like some rare and strange freak, therefore, La Belle West descended upon the screen and audiences galloped to see the phenomenon. ...
• • Mae West appears in "The Kind One" • • 
• • Our intrepid Canadian Mae-Mountie Mr. R. Mark Desjardins writes from his luxurious perch in the Pacific Northwest: Thought I'd share this sympatico moment with you. I was at the Vancouver Public Library and spotted a book, "The Kind One" by Tom Epperson, on the "recommended shelf." The flap copy promised this would be a page-turner on the dark Hollywood of the 1930s. Imagine my delight when I checked out the book and read the following on page 114:
• • "So I'm living downtown near Pershing Square, and I'm taking a trolley car out to the beach, and there's this guy in a bowtie looking at me. I think he's trying to pick me up, and I'm ignoring him, then he says, Mae West has only got one thing that you don't have. An agent. And I says, are you an agent, and he says yeah. And I says how do you know that I don't have an agent, and he says if you had an agent you wouldn't be riding in some dumpy trolley car. And I says you're riding in a trolley car, who kinda lousy agent does that make you, and he says it makes me a very good agent, 'cause I just discovered the next Mae West." ...
• • Thus does Mae West's memory continue to live on in popular literature!
• • • "Queen of Hearts" image designed by: R. Mark Desjardins, Canada• • • Written by: R. Mark Desjardins, Canada
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • . . . From incomprehensible assignments, like dressing up as Mae West, to group-project headaches to a workload that robs time from family, almost every aspect of homework has been under scrutiny for decades. But an unprecedented outpouring of frustration in Wheaton's Community Unit School District 200 has opened a new window into the debate in local homes and schools. . . . [Source: "Worked up over homework" by Diano Rado, Tribune Reporter in The Chicago Tribune, 12 February 2011]
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • 1932 • •
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Mae West.
There is a new book out inspired by MAE WEST. 
• • WestWays is the fifth in Rita McBride's continuing "Ways" series of collaborative novels, this time with writer and climber Matthew Licht. We follow Mae West from her childhood in 19th-century Brooklyn through her adventures with W.C. Fields at the 1931 Oktoberfest to a Sapphic encounter with Leni Riefenstahl on a safari in the 1970s, picking up a fighter pilot, Salvador Dalí, and Billy Wilder for the ride. Published to coincide with the completion of McBride's 52-meter-high "Mae West" public commission at Munich's Effnerplatz, the artist's Mae West is actress, inflatable vest, sculpture, exhibition, and now finally a book.
• • This new publication [softcover, 94 pages] is part of the series of artists' projects edited by Christoph Keller. The title WestWays was released in January 2011.
• • Rita McBride is a prominent American artist based in Dusseldorf, whose sculptures and installation deal with fiction and public space and often provide a set for performances and lectures. She has edited a series of books for which she invited other artists and writers to write short stories involving constraints and a relationship to the art world. Each of the books corresponds to a sub literary genre (crime novels, SF, soft-eroticism…). Rita McBride created Westways, a new novel, in collaboration with writer Mathew Licht. Matthew Licht is a writer, artist, and filmmaker educated in New York City.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • Rita McBride poses with her Mae West prototype • •
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Mae West.
As soon as she was cast in "Sometime" in 1918, MAE WEST sought out Joe Frisco to coach her.
• • With her tough gal posture and a hand on her hip, Mae forged her own portrayal of the vampy man-eater Mayme Dean (who was originally written as a pathetic little sparrow). Mae West even spiced up "All I Want Is a Little Lovin'" with her own lyrics. According to Jill Watts: Rather than working with the busy choreographer of "Sometime," Mae West got some guidance from her Chicago pal Joe Frisco, a popular white jazz dancer who was an expert in black technique.
• • Born in Milan, Illinois on 4 November 1889, Joe Frisco was a vaudevillian whose first bookings featured him as a proficient jazz dancer. Frisco performed with some of the first jazz bands in Chicago and New York City, including Tom Brown's Band from Dixieland, the Original Dixieland Jass Band, and the Louisiana Five. In 1918, he took his first Broadway bows in the Ziegfeld Follies, but also toured in variety throughout the 1920s. His popular jazz dance act (occasionally called the “Jewish Charleston”) was a choreographed series of shuffles, camel walks, and turns. He usually performed to Darktown Strutters’ Ball. So well known for his jazz dance was he that writer F. Scott Fitzgerald made reference to him in "The Great Gatsby" when he compared a showgirl's dancing moves to Frisco's.
• • Later on, Joe Frisco incorporated his stutter into his act and became a popular comedian. one of his witty off-stage remarks, made in a stammering voice, was: “After they made that guy, th-th-they threw away the sh-sh-shovel!”
• • Mae admired his off-the-cuff humor and reworked this line, which became "His mother should have thrown him away and kept the stork."
• • Addicted to gambling, Joe Frisco's career declined and he was penniless when he died of cancer in Woodland Hills, California in the month of February — — on 12 February 1958.
• • Mae West, Literary Muse • •
• • Graham Greene's novel Brighton Rock, published in 1938 and made into a film nine years later, has now been remade under the direction of Rowan Joffe.
• • Writing in The Australian on 12 February 2011, film critic Ben Macintyre offered this background: In 1920s Brighton, gang violence was on the rise, as was the popularity of Britain's southern coastal resorts. Brighton Rock brilliantly captured the seediness of British seaside life between the wars, the teashops, the spiv culture and a peculiarly English sort of melancholy. The character of the crook Colleoni in the novel is probably based on Darby Sabini, the "king of the racecourse gangs" who ran Clerkenwell's Italian mob and retired to Brighton. The prototype for the barmaid Rose in Brighton Rock is thought to be Mae West. . . .
• • Mae West's Bio (Lost in Translation) • •
• • Michael, a blogger from Illinois, posted this about the Brooklyn bombshell: Mae West is the single of the heading poke today. Brooklyn innate beauty, Mae West, was initial innate as Mary Jane West upon Aug 17, 1893. She had regularly desired behaving flourishing up though flourishing up in the twenties was really confining. Not for Mae West. Mae West took value of the resounding twenties as well as the regressive position upon what women should do as well as be as well as how they should action — — she declared her initial fool around “Sex.” . . .
• • Initial innate, huh???
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • none • •
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Mae West.
One motion picture starring MAE WEST was directed by Henry Hathaway.
• • Born on 13 March 1898 as Henri Leonard de Fiennes in Sacramento, California, he was raised in a show biz family by an actor father and an actress mother (whose stage name was Jean Hathaway). Launching his apprenticeship in silent movies in 1925, Hathaway trained under Victor Fleming and Josef von Sternberg, then made the transition to sound with them.
• • Henry Hathaway made his directorial debut in 1932 with a Western film production, Heritage of the Desert, which gave Randolph Scott his first starring role in film that led to a lengthy career for Scott as a cowboy star. Hathaway was enamored of stories about the settling of the American West and went on to make a number of films on the subject.
• • In 1936, he directed Go West, Young Man, starring Mae West, based on Lawrence Riley's Broadway hit "Personal Appearance." His leading man was Randolph Scott again, however, not in cowboy costume.
• • His reputation for doing numerous genre films (Westerns) never won him a great deal of respect in Hollywood, nevertheless, he has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1638 Vine Street. Hathaway died from a heart attack in Hollywood in the month of February — — on 11 February 1985 — — and he was buried in Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California.
• • John Edwin West's Birthday • • 
• • Born in Brooklyn, NY on 11 February 1900, John Edwin West [1900 — 1964] remained close to his sister for his entire life. We celebrate John, who became a real estate agent to help finance Mae's court costs during the "Pleasure Man" trials when she could not find work, and followed her to California. Even after his death, John occasionally popped up at the Ravenswood in his beloved sister's bedroom offering companionship.
• • Friday, 11 February 2011 • •
• • Come up and see Mae West this evening in the Bay area.
• • Oddball Films will screen “Weirdsville 23: The Love Bug” on Friday, 11 February 2011 at 8:30 PM. According to curator Pete Gowdy, he will offer ticket-buyers a full course cinema buffet focused on Love, Sex, and VD. Attendees tonight will enjoy off-beat, rare, and highly entertaining 16mm shorts, movie trailers and commercials culled from the 50,000+ archive at Oddball Films. Highlights include: Skater Dater (1965), the cult skateboarding/coming of age film made by Noel Black and featuring music by Davie Allen and the Arrows; Dating Do’s and Don’ts (1949), camp classic on dating etiquette; Birds, Bees and Storks (1970), hilarious animation featuring Peter Sellers; The Innocent Party (1959), Beatnik-noir VD scare film!; Lovemaking (1970), coitus experimental classicus; VD: Attack Plan (1973), animated educational from Walt and the gang; Mae West Meets Mr. Ed (1964), Mae West and Cross-dressing horse, as well as sexy movie trailers, naughty commercials, and more.
• • Oddball Films: 275 Capp Street, San Francisco, CA; Tel 415-558-8117.
• • 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
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • with John and Beverly in court, 1930 • •
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Mae West.
Bert Leighton received credit for writing the version of "Frankie and Johnny" sung by MAE WEST in "She Done Him Wrong" [1932]. This folksong is much older but it seems that he and his brother contributed some original material most suitable for the Lady Lou character. 
• • Born in Beacher, Illinois on 28 December 1877, Bert Leighton was a composer and vaudeville song and dance man who collaborated with his brother Frank Leighton.
• • Supposedly, the 1912 version of "Frankie and Johnny" by the Leighton Brothers and Ren Shields identified "Nellie Bly" as the new girl to whom the roving Johnny has given his heart.
• • Bert Leighton died of cancer in San Francisco, California in the month of February — — on 10 February 1964.
• • Iconic Tonic After Myra B's Bitters • •
• • Farrah Fawcett, who had a bit part in "Myra Breckinridge" [1970], which starred Mae West as Leticia Van Allen, was photographed a few years later in red swimwear for a 1976 poster that helped make the "Charlie's Angels" actress an instant sensation. That one-piece bathing suit was just donated to the Smithsonian's popular culture history collection.
• • Op-Ed columnist Meghan Daum writes: And while Farrah Fawcett could probably have worn a grocery bag and still dominated the wall art of teenage boys' rooms everywhere, it's hard to imagine that a bestselling swimsuit poster these days would be such a no-frills affair.
• • Not that there's anything new about that. Sexiness just keeps getting sexier, or at least more revealing. Clara Bow, the first It Girl, in the 1920s, looks like a veritable librarian compared with her 1930s successor Mae West, who in turn seems positively matronly compared to the 1940s' Betty Grable, who might as well be invisible next to come-hither Marilyn Monroe and Brigitte Bardot ... [Source: L.A. Times, 10 February 2011, byline Meghan Daum].
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • 1932 • •
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Mae West.
At the end of 1919, MAE WEST was very busy — — and maybe a bit awestruck knowing that she was on the same stagebill with Sophie Tucker.
• • The 26-year-old "firefly of vaudeville" was featured at the 44th Street Theatre [near Broadway]. On the program was the top-billed act — — Sophie Tucker and Her Kings of Syncopation — — along with Ames & Winthrop, Mae West, Riggs & Witchie, and "8 other favorite acts."
• • Sophie Tucker • •
• • Sophie Tucker [13 January 1884 — 9 February 1966] was one of the most popular entertainers in America during the first third of the 20th century. Almost ten years older than Mae and not as controversial when she launched her career, Sophie Tucker had an ethnic appeal which upped her forward momentum and she was, in fact, a much bigger draw in vaudeville than the Brooklyn bombshell.
• • Mae West: Bombshell & Atom Bomb • • 
• • The latest Marilyn Monroe "controversy" is out now, thanks to Remo's new video and painting on YouTube entitled "Persistence of Marlyn Monroe's Memory — — A Tribute by Remo." Marilyn Monroe stars with strange bedfellows Salvador Dali, Mae West, Mick Jagger, Adolph Hitler, Mona Lisa, and the Atomic Bomb in the painting and also in the quasi documentary video. "Persistence of . . ." is an updated interpretation (created by 36-year-old Argentine metaphysical artist Remo) of the Salvador Dali surreal masterpiece "Persistence of Memory," painted by Dali in 1931.
• • Mae West Arrested on 9 February 1927 • •
• • It was on 9 February 1927 that Mae — — along with the cast of "Sex," and the cast of "The Captive," and the cast of "The Virgin Man" — — was cuffed and dragged in to Night Court.
• • Broadway ingenue Dorothy Hall [1906 — 1953] was the youngest actress to face the judge after the raid; Hall was 21 years old. Helen Menken was 26 and Mae was 33 at the time of this arrest.
• • One-Woman Skit on Mae West for 9 February 2011 • •
• • The Hilltoppers senior citizens group of Scott will hold their monthly meeting on 9 February 2011 at Covenant-Community Presbyterian Church, 1630 Greentree Road, Pittsburgh, PA. After lunch and a brief meeting, actress Karen Durham will present her one-woman skit on Mae West. RSVP: 412-341-8640.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • by Remo, 2011 • •
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Mae West.
MAE WEST has been causing a lot of excitement and public debate in West Germany, it seems. 
• • According to the Munich Times, in an article published last year, the citizens of Munich were then quite busy with an erection. Munich Times reported: This year at Effnerplatz a sex bomb will reach into the sky — — or at least something that had the same name as the sex bomb in the 1920's [sic]: Mae West. • • Munich Times gave these measurements: It is a 52 metre high [170.6 feet high] sculpture made of 32 carbon pipes. Yesterday the scaffolding construction began from which the 1.55 million Euro artwork will be assembled.
• • Munich Times described the operation: Firstly, from the scaffolding, the lower 15 metre steel pipes of the sculpture will be assembled. Afterwards follows the frame, on which the 37 metre high carbon construction will eventually arise. The last task is a simple one in comparison: the carbon pipes will be assembled on site, to form a lower and upper body, the lower parts will be anchored in a ring and then a crane carries the 60 ton corpus to form the upper body. The assembly of the crane takes about five times longer than the construction of the structure itself, estimates the local building board. Construction will start in mid-October.
• • The district of Bogenhausen in the meanwhile worries about a new tram line, which will begin to drive under the artwork at the start of autumn — — from Effnerplatz along Englschalkinger and . . .
— — Excerpt: — —
• • Article: Preparations for Mae West Begin
• • Byline: none
• • Published in: The Munich Times — — www.themunichtimes.com
• • Published on: Thursday, 23 September 2010
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
• • This image was an architect's rendering in daylight. You can see Mae West lit up at night in yesterday's post. • • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • artwork by Rita McBride, 2011 • •
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Mae West.
MAE WEST is now a permanent installation in Bavaria, her mother's homeland. 
• • Born in America in 1960, artist Rita McBride has been working in Germany for a number of years — — and struggling for the past eight years to get her controversial design of the screen queen installed. Finally, last month [on January 29th — 30th, 2011] a carbon version of Mae West was hoisted into place and will become a landmark. Mae's new home is the Effnerplatz in the east of Munich, a square which forms the center of a large traffic circle and is bisected by a tram line but does not seem to have much pedestrian traffic.
• • The artwork is 170.6 feet high and weighs 57 tons. In a press release, McBride (writing in German) described her piece as a monumental semi-transparent structure made of carbon fiber tubes, arranged in the form of a rotational hyperbolic paraboloid.
• • Rita McBride timed the installation to accompany a new book devoted to Mae called WESTways. More on that in an upcoming post.
• • Perhaps because Rita McBride communicates in German, the American press has not covered this a-MAE-zing creation. Bravo, Rita!!
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • artwork by Rita McBride, 2011 • •
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Mae West.
Starring MAE WEST, the motion picture "Klondike Annie" was released during the month of February — — on 21 February 1936. Castmate Lucile Gleason was also born this month.
• • Born in Pasadena, California on 6 February 1888, the Irish-American character actress often acted with her husband James Gleason. For instance, he wrote the script for "The Shannons of Broadway" [1929]. Originally created for the stage, this project co-starred James Gleason with his wife Lucille Webster. (In 1905, Lu wed James when she was 17.) The married couple are cast as Mickey and Emma Shannon, a vaudeville duo who are failures until a healthy real estate transaction revives their career. This musical comedy enjoyed success as a silent and a talkie.
• • Five-foot-six Lucile Gleason took the part of Big Tess in "Klondike Annie."
• • Interestingly, Lucile Gleason was the first treasurer of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG). She along with Alden Gay were the two women among the 21 founding members of SAG.
• • Lucile and James Gleason had one son, Russell. Born on his mom's birthday — — on 6 February 1908 — — in Portland, Oregon, Russell kept busy as a child actor. Most unfortunately, the 37-year-old fell from a hotel window in New York City and died the day after Christmas on 26 December 1945.
• • Seventeen months after her only child died, Lucile Gleason had a heart attack. She died in Brentwood, California on 18 May 1947. Lucile was 59 years old. Her grieving husband survived her.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • 1936 • •
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A busy bit parts player, known best for an on-going role in "Blondie," hooked up with a project starring the Brooklyn blonde MAE WEST in 1937.
• • Born on 6 September 1893 in St. Joseph, Missouri, Irving Bacon launched his cinema career in 1913 at the Keystone Studios, where his craggy features and athletic ability was most suitable for broad slapstick.
• • There were literally hundreds of casting directors who hired him to portray a flustered foreman, bartender, soda jerk, mailman, clerk, chauffeur, handyman, cabbie, etc. — — especially if the role called for amusing frustration or pop-eyed perplexity. During the 1930s — 1940s Irving Bacon found his calling as Mr. Crumb, the postman whose bundle of mail is pre-destined to collide with late-for-work Dagwood Bumstead in the "Blondie" series.
• • In "Every Day's a Holiday" (1937), the seasoned six-footer was seen as a quartet member.
• • TV situation comedies also made use of the versatile character actor.
• • Irving Bacon died in Hollywood, California in the month of February — — on 5 February 1965.
• • Rita McBride's Mae West • •
• • Coming soon will be details about her Mae West sculpture in Germany — — in the Effnerplatz in the east of Munich — — and her tag-along book called WESTways.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
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Mae West.
A busy character actress worked with MAE WEST in "She Done Him Wrong," but was often uncredited despite being cast in over 100 motion pictures.
• • Born in San Francisco in the month of February — — on 4 February 1876 — — the five-foot-four performer launched her silver screen career at the age of 40 with a Western, "The Darkening Trail" [1915], which starred William S. Hart, who also directed.
• • In "She Done Him Wrong," Aggie Herring was cast as Mrs. Flaherty. She was 57 when that motion picture premiered in 1933.
• • Six years later, her last cinema gig would be in "Everybody's Baby" [1939], a production that also featured Hattie McDaniel, who was seen in "I'm No Angel" [1933] as Mae West's maid.
• • Employed in the screen trade right until the end, Agnes Herring died on 28 October 1939 in Santa Monica, California at age 63.
• • Come Up Sometime and See Me • •
• • What is it that makes particular lines of dialogue so irresistible that they become enduring catchphrases? askes Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle Movie Critic. In his intriguing article "Best movie lines deserve an Oscar" [from 3 February 2011], he suggests this: It's time the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recognized the art and importance of individual lines of dialogue and considered an award for best line. . . .
• • Pondering the long-lasting appeal of one of Theda Bara's lines, Mick LaSalle adds: Perhaps it was an aspiration to sexual power, the same thing that launched Jean Harlow's line "Would you be shocked if I put on something more comfortable?" ("Hell's Angels") in 1930. Or Mae West's "Come up sometime and see me" (improved upon by the public as "Come up and see me sometime") from "She Done Him Wrong" (1933). ...
• • Read the rest of Mick LaSalle's movie column at http://www.sfgate.com
• • Memorable Meeting with Mae • •
• • Interviewed by a reporter recently, Elton John said that one of his most unforgettable moments was meeting Mae West. Other favorite memories included the time Neil Diamond introduced him at the Troubador, chatting with Groucho Marx, and meeting Bob Dylan. [The complete interview with Sir Elton appears in Rolling Stone Magazine.]
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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• • Photo: • • Mae West • • 1933 • •
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Mae West.
