Mae West: May 1997

On 1 May 1997 Interview Magazine saluted MAE WEST. This May-timed issue focused on a new biography that had made a splash – – penned by the California poet Emily Wortis Leider.
• • Here's how Interview Magazine [published in NYC, Mae's hometown] led off the article:
• • Actress Mae West was popular in the 1920s as a vaudeville performer and was well-known for her sexuality. She created a theater show, 'Sex,' that made the most of her sexiness and it appealed to the public because of its raunchiness. She tried to take credit for introducing sex to the public.
• • Mae West made sex synonymous with her name, and in the process, provided the censors with a new target.
• • In her new book, Emily Wortis Leider examines West's transformation from Brooklyn baby to American icon. Here's a sneak peek, plus a few words from another taboo-terrorizer, . . .
• • Source: Interview Magazine | Publication Date: May 1, 1997
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West: Riviera Reversal

Think of it. Invited luminaries included MAE WEST, Gary Cooper, and Douglas Fairbanks.
• • Fifty thousand posters were printed.
• • A date was chosen for the opening: 1 September 1939.
• • On the eve of May's annual celebration of cinema at the Cannes Film Festival, Nigel Andrews reflects on what he calls "the worst-timed birth in modern cultural history." Writing for London's Financial Times, Nigel Andrews notes that a humble little fishing port on the Cote d’Azur had aspired to become a twin of Tinseltown by hosting an international film festival.
• • He writes: "Fifty thousand posters were printed. The invited luminaries included Mae West, Gary Cooper, and Douglas Fairbanks. The Hunchback of Notre Dame, starring Charles Laughton – – what better symbol of Franco-Anglo-American entente? – – would open the event. Then Hitler invaded Poland. On that first day. The festival was cancelled. . . ."
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West: Alice Cooper

Various publications have jumped on the memoir of a former co-star of MAE WEST, namely Alice Cooper [born Vince Furnier nearly 60 years ago]. The title is Alice Cooper, Golf Monster; the byline reads 'by Alice Cooper with Keith and Kent Zimmerman" [Crown Publishers].
• • The rock musician's addictive nature, fortunately, did not get him hooked on drugs. He became an alcoholic instead. Battling the booze, despite stints in rehab, led him to a discovery: substitute a harmful habit with a harmless hobby: golf. The book details his mania with the links.
• • To stave off boredom in the reader, however, the usual bold-faced names buzz around the text not unlike mosquitoes on an 18-hole green. Before he embraced a healthier lifestyle, the rocker used to hang out with John Lennon and Harry Nilsson, drinking himself under the freeway and waking up in the morning vomiting blood. Because of golf, he now rubs elbows with presidents, Hollywood icons, and John Daly.
• • The show-off side of the 146-lb Cooper spews out the names of his eclectic group of celebrity chums. He has socialized with the likes of Groucho Marx, Salvador Dali, and Fred Astaire, supposedly. He claims he was great buddies with late British comic actor Peter Sellers. And he spurned the amorous advances of a fresh Raquel Welch and a well-seasoned Mae West.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West: May Display

MAE is on display in May. From the iconic Uncle Sam “I Want You” military recruitment aid to the sultry photo of Mae West in a come-hither pose, poster art was a colorful communication tool and reflection of American life, notes journalist Johanna Crosby, leading off her column in Massachusetts's Cape Cod Times today.
• • Posters were “probably the most important visual advertising before the electronic age,” says Edmund Sullivan, curator of “Poster Arts’ Golden Age,” on display at the Centerville Historical Museum [on the Cape].
• • Culled from the private collection of Alfred Hoch of Acton, the colorful exhibit features 36 posters dating from the 1890s to the early 1950s - - the “golden age” of poster advertising.
• • During the turn of the century, social and artistic factors and advances in printing techniques led to an explosion of poster art that hasn’t been duplicated since, Sullivan says. High-speed presses and stable inks allowed manufacturers to run off hundreds of copies and distribute them.
• • This appealing form of public art captured the collective fancy of the nation, covering the era of silent movies and the art nouveau and art deco periods. The exhibit is a representative sampling of movie posters, WWII recruiting posters, and advertisements for war bonds, charities, circuses, and cruise ships. . . .
• • Come up north to see Mae's movie posters on display.
• • Beginning today, this exhibition continues through 8 September 2007.
• • “Poster Arts’ Golden Age” is on display at the Centerville Historical Museum, 513 Main St. [Centerville, Mass.] on the Cape. Information: 508-775-0331
• • Source: Cape Cod Times - - 4 May 2007
• • Byline: Johanna Crosby
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West: May 1982

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/
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Mae West: Joy in Joplin

MAE WEST fans in Joplin, Missouri will get a nice freebie on 15 May 2007. The Classic Cinema offering of "Hollywood at the Joplin Public Library" stars Mae West and W.C. Fields in their hilarious pairing - - "My Little Chickadee" [released on 15 March 1940] - - a comedy set in the Old West.
• • Movietime is 6 o'clock in the evening and this Mae West film is free.
• • In Missouri, the Joplin Public Library is on Main Street between 3rd & 4th Streets.
• • Here's the plot of "My Little Chickadee" - - Suspected of illicit relations with the Masked Bandit, Flower Belle Lee [Mae West] is run out of Little Bend. On the train she meets con man Cuthbert J. Twillie [W.C. Fields] and pretends to marry him for "respectability." Arriving in Greasewood City with his unkissed bride, Cuthbert J. Twillie is named sheriff by the town boss Jeff Badger, who has an ulterior motive. Both stars display their comic capital onscreen.
• • As the film ends, Cuthbert J. Twillie says to Flower Belle, "Why don't you come up and see me sometime?" It is, of course, a sly reference to Mae West's famous line in "She Done Him Wrong" [1933].
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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• • Illustration: • • Mae West • • 1940 • •
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Mae West: In Spades

Those in Ontario, Canada ought to know that instructions for planting a "Mae West Garden" will be offered on Thursday 3 May 2007. Horticultural expert Trish Symons will explain that you can create this floral extravaganza by first imagining the types of flowers that can be associated with the legendary actress. Words such as big, bold, and beautiful will be translated into the floral realm.
• • Horticulturist Trish Symons is a judge, speaker, and garden designer who won first place at Canada Blooms for her design "Night Life in the City" last year.
• • Event takes place this week at the Caledon Centre for Recreation & Wellness [Canada].
• • Phone 905-857-1460.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West: Grace La Rue

Before April ends, it's time to squeeze in Mae West's dear old friend Grace La Rue.
• • Born on 23 April 1880 in Kansas City, MO, Grace La Rue was a major musical comedy star during the first two decades of the 20th century. In "The Honeymoon Express" the winsome actress introduced the song "You Made Me Love You (I Didn't Want to Do It)" to an enraptured British audience at the London Palace on 4 August 1913.
• • During the Broadway run of that musical, however, cast member Al Jolson recorded that song for Columbia Records. During the number onstage one evening, Jolson went down on one knee and cried: “Gimme, gimme, what I cry for.” This created a sensation. When the audience wouldn’t let him sing anything else, he gave them one chorus after another — — even dismissing the cast altogether while Gaby Deslys was still on stage. The exasperated French diva quit the Winter Garden show, and Grace La Rue replaced her.
• • In 1919, Grace wed actor Hale Hamilton, and they toured together in vaudeviille.
• • Retired and residing in California, Grace LaRue — — age 48 — — made a brief appearance as Frances in She Done Him Wrong [1933] as a personal favor to Mae West.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West: Duke Ellington

On the birthday of Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington - - born 29 April 1899 in Washington, D.C. - - it's interesting to recall how hard MAE WEST had to fight with Paramount Pictures to get the musician into her film "Belle of the Nineties."
• • Always the champion of the African-American talents she met, Mae insisted that the studio hire him to play and also appear in the movie. The studio didn't want to hire Ellington, at first, because they said the famed Cotton Club headliner would be "too expensive." When Paramount finally gave in to Mae, they agreed to let Ellington and his orchestra play - - however, they insisting on having all white musicians on the set.
• • Mae West marched into the head office at Paramount and said, "White men can't play black music in my picture!" And it was done. Ellington and his band were used and shown onscreen, thanks to Mae (who refused to budge on this).
• • Hollywood's censors did have the final say, though; they refused to let Mae appear next to the musicians in the same scene.
• • "Belle of the Nineties" was in production from 19 March 1934 until June 1934.
• • During the 1920s, Mae West met Duke Ellington at Owney Madden's speakeasy. An autographed photo of Mae given to the "Duke" was among his most cherished possessions.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West: Shirley Temple

During the 1930s, MAE WEST and Shirley Temple were featured together in lavish spreads for Look Magazine and other publications. Occasionally, the curly-headed child star was photographed in an 1890s gown, hand on hip, deliberately imitating Mae's trademark gesture.
• • Shirley Jane Temple was born in Santa Monica, California during April - - 23 April 1928 - - and celebrated her 79th birthday this month.
• • In 1931, her parents propelled her into dance classes in Hollywood when the moppet was only three years old.
• • Extremely talented and enormously popular, Shirley Temple made about 40 films during the Depression, out-performing the box office offerings for many adult actors.
• • In 1967, British artist Jann Haworth put together this collage featuring Mae West, Shirley Temple, and W.C Fields. The "mixed media" piece [50 inches high and 31 inches wide] was created using fabric, wood, and plastic. An English gallery noted that it was available for sale.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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• • Photo: • • Mae West collage • • 1967 • •
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Mae West: "Sex" Returns!

MAE WEST returns to the West Coast when the Aurora Theatre Company offers "Sex" as part of their new season.
• • A world premiere along with two West Coast premieres highlight the typically ambitious five-play season announced today by Artistic Director Tom Ross.
• • Local actress Delia MacDougall (a Bay Area favorite) takes on the gutsy Margie LaMont role, which Mae West wrote for herself, in a revival of the 1926 comedy that landed its star in jail. Tom Ross himself will be directing "Sex," with music direction by Billy Philadelphia, in November 2007.
• • Aurora Theatre Company • 2081 Addison St. • Berkeley, CA 94704
• • Online: www.auroratheatre.org
• • Tickets: 510-843-4822
• • Tell them the Mae West blog told you to come up and see Aurora!
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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• • Photo: • • Mae West • • Mae & the cast perform the Trinidad scene • • 1926 • •
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Mae West: By the Sea

MAE WEST arrived and asked, "Who owns this dump?"
• • Alas, the building is dark and for sale but, oh, those glory days half-a-century ago. During the early 1950s, Rhode Island's Theatre-by-the-Sea was seeing stars for nearly a decade.
• • Run by two theatre-loving New York attorneys - - Harold Schiff and Donald Wolin - - these Santa-Claus-producers had bucks and their rustic playhouse in Matunuck was a hobby, which they indulged until 1957.
• • The summer of 1951, the first season for the NYC-based producers, the line-up included John Garfield, Rathbone, Constance Bennett, John Barrymore, Veronica Lake, and Eve Arden. Seating was increased from 300 to 500.
• • Shortly after, Mae West arrived in South County in three limos: one for her and two for her luggage. Mae West, reportedly, did such terrific business. Discovering that all her performances were sold out, she agreed to do two extra shows.
• • And also during the 1950s, when a young, but successful Marlon Brando appeared in Arms and the Man in 1953, he turned down the $5,000 a week that Tallulah Bankhead had been receiving and instead worked for the minimum union wage [then $65]. During that season, top ticket prices were about $3.50.
• • The 1950s at this Matunuck theater were the years of the Big Ones. The big names in their playbills included Judy Holliday, Groucho Marx, Basil Rathbone, Eva Gabor, Jayne Mansfield, Jackie Gleason, and others who performed on that stage as part of their straw-hat tours.
• • A former publicist said that many actors were miserable, surly, and demanded the star treatment. Mae West did not. He said she was "the nicest actress I ever met."
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West: Soul Search

In April 1928, MAE WEST was busy - - and not just onstage.
• • Gangster Owney Madden, not especially famous for his spiritual side, often found his way to West 45th Street during 1928 to communicate with the unquiet dead. Before performances of "Diamond Lil" at the Royale Theatre [242 West 45th], the actress Mae West was fond of holding séances in their smoking room to channel Rudolph "The Sheik" Valentino and tenor Enrico Caruso.
• • Participants included speakeasy owners Texas and Tommy Guinan.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West: Floral

Many have heard of MAE WEST - - but what the heck is a "Mae West Garden"?
• • From Caledon [Ontario] comes this announcement that there will be a May 3rd, 2007 meeting of the Bolton and District Horticultural Society at the Caledon Centre for Recreation & Wellness [in Bolton]. Topic: "Planting a Mae West Garden." Yes!
• • Canadians and others: contact: 905-857-1460. And then do let us know what it is.
• • Source: http://www.caledoncitizen.com/
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West; Ken Hughes

In a recent interview with TV's Biography Channel, Rex Reed admitted that MAE WEST was the only reason to watch the flop that he co-starred in: "Myra Breckinridge." Not considered one of Mae's best films, this step-child is often ranked as low (or lower) than "Sextette."
• • Ken Hughes, who was the director of "Sextette," based on Mae West's play ["Sextet"], died in April and is being remembered.
• • Kenneth Graham Hughes was born in Liverpool, England on 19 January 1922.
• • The Hollywood director developed Alzheimer's disease and died on 28 April 2001 in Los Angeles.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West: Come Up & See

"Mae took herself very seriously!"
• • Journalist Rex Reed and other men who worked with MAE WEST offer insight into the Mae mystique in this video. It's online at The Biography Channel. See link [below].
• • http://www.thebiographychannel.co.uk/biography_video_highlights/421/Mae_West.htm
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West: Edmund Lowe

Edmund Lowe, who died on 21 April 1971, co-starred with MAE WEST in the film "Every Day's a Holiday."
• • The California native was born in San Jose [3 March 1890] and got into the entertainment industry early on. In their December 1919 issue, Motion Picture World did an article on the handsome six-footer: "New Leading Man for Norma Talmadge."
• • Fans might remember seeing him as the engineer in Mike Todd's "Around the World in Eighty Days" or in his final film "Heller in Pink Tights" [1960].
• • In Hollywood, Edmund Lowe has a star on the Walk of Fame [for Motion Pictures] at 6363 Hollywood Boulevard and another star [for TV] nearby at 6601 Hollywood Boulevard.
• • At age 81, the actor died of a lung ailment in Woodland Hills, California.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West: George Carlin

Comedian George Carlin, sneaking up up his 70th birthday, is performing this weekend the Warner Theatre in Washington, DC. In an interview, the funnyman revealed that when he was 5 years old, his mother used to bring him to her marketing office to stand before the ladies at lunchtime and entertain them with his Mae West imitation.
• • Carlin told Washington Post Staff Writer Ellen McCarthy:
"I noticed two things. . . . I noticed that I got the attention of the adults and I got their approval for doing these things," he recalls. "It was just very attractive, in the literal sense of that word."
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West: Sparkle Plenty

MAE WEST was born in August but she associated herself with April's birthstone: the diamond. Her mother seems to have been fascinated by the same stone; Matilda West bought her daughter her first diamond. Of course, in her most successful stage play "Diamond Lil," the actress sparkled plenty.
• • Diamonds, a wonder of nature, have a sparkling fire that has held humans spell-bound for centuries, inspiring myths of romance, intrigue, power, greed, and magic.
• • Ancient Hindus, finding diamonds washed out of the ground after thunderstorms, believed the gems were created by bolts of lightning.
• • In America, the diamond is marketed as a symbol of enduring love. Typically, they appear on engagement rings.
• • There are many kinds of diamonds: transparent, translucent or opaque; ranging from colorless to sooty black, with many colors in between. For the most part transparent, diamonds [colorless or tinted] are used as jewelry. They are also used for industrial purposes.
• • The color of a diamond depends on the kind of impurities embedded inside it. Yellow diamonds, for example, betray minute quantities of nitrogen, while boron imparts a bluish hue.
• • Diamonds are the rich cousins of graphite; both are crystalline forms of pure carbon.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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• • Photo: • • Mae West • • "Diamond Lil" • • 1928
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Mae West: Diamond Jim

MAE WEST was fascinated by certain notables – – and the actress-loving gift dispenser Diamond Jim Brady was one of them.
• • James Buchanan Brady, also known as Diamond Jim Brady [12 August 1856 – 13 April 1917], was an American businessman, a financier, and a philanthropist.
• • Known for his penchant for jewels, especially diamonds, he collected precious gems and favored his idol Lillian Russell with doo-dads such as a bicycle encrusted with mother-of-pearl inlaid and other imaginative tributes.
• • For another actress, Diamond Jim commissioned a hand-carved gilded swan bed [shown here].
• • After Brady died on 13 April 1917, Mae West managed to buy the swan bed from his estate. It was used onstage as part of the bedroom suite of "Diamond Lil" and Mae also finessed the vintage prop into the filmed version "She Done Him Wrong" [1933].
• • Where lies the gilded swan bed today? Who knows?
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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