Mae West: Nearly Naked

MAE WEST is back onscreen. This assessment of her Blu-ray line-up is by Stephen Schaefer. This is Part 12 of 12 segments.
• • Mighty, Mighty Mae • •
• • Celebrate Mae West! • •  
• • Mae West: Banished from the screen • •
• • Stephen Schaefer wrote: Still there were gripes, unbelievably over an innocuous Mae West line, ‘When I’m caught between 2 evils, I generally like to take the one I never tried.’
• • Mae West: Surrounded by nearly naked bodybuilders • •

• • Stephen Schaefer wrote: Virtually banned from the screen, West continued to be Mae West – playing Las Vegas surrounded by nearly naked bodybuilders, reviving ‘Diamond Lil’ in summer stock or the West End, dueting ‘Baby It’s Cold Outside’ with Rock Hudson on the live television Oscar broadcast and starring (of course!) in movies like ‘Myra Breckinridge.’  
• • Stephen Schaefer wrote: This woman who broke age barriers by beginning her Hollywood career when she was nearly 40, died at 87 in 1980.
• • Stephen's article has now ended with this post, number 12. Let us know if you agree with this critic or disagree.
• • Source: Boston Herald; published on Tuesday, 11 May 2021.
• • On Wednesday, 23 August 1922 • •
• • On Wednesday, 23 August 1922, the New York Clipper noted: "Mae West, who was with 'The Ginger Box,' which opened and closed rather suddenly, has returned to vaudeville, and opened at Proctor's Fifth Avenue on Monday."
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Mae West is all for moral rearmament and is ready to join the Oxford Group. It would be a good thing for W.C. Fields, she told Dr. Frank Buchman, leader of the Moral Rearmament Movement, today. Miss West and Dr. Buchman had quite a tete-a-tete in her Hollywood apartment. "It's a wonderful work," she said of the movement.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "There's a rumor going around that I broke my ankle stumbling over a pile of men."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • A book review mentioned Mae West.
• • "Lunching at the Stage Deli" (NYC) • •
• • Meryle Secrest wrote: The 1950s were a great period for Al Hirschfeld, a decade of one thrilling production after another, a postwar release of vitality that brought with it the pulsing beat of “The Pajama Game” and the sad-eyed mastery of Bert Lahr in “Waiting for Godot.”  Many talents — — Mae West, Fred Allen, Mike Todd, and Milton Berle among them — — caught Hirschfeld’s eye as they lunched at the Stage Deli.  . . .
• • Source: Washington Post; published on Wednesday, 5 August 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 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 4,800 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started fifteen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 4,805th 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 1970 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest

Mae West: Now Revered

MAE WEST is back onscreen. This assessment of her Blu-ray line-up is by Stephen Schaefer. This is Part 11 of 12 segments.
• • Mighty, Mighty Mae • •
• • Celebrate Mae West! • •  
• • Mae West: She and Paramount parted ways • •
• • Stephen Schaefer wrote: It wasn’t enough to save Mae West from the dreaded listing of being Box-Office Poison (the list famously included Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich, Fred Astaire and Katherine Hepburn – all of whom would make spectacular comebacks) and her Paramount contract ended.

• • Stephen Schaefer wrote: In fact it was Marlene Dietrich’s comeback in ‘Destry Rides Again’ that prompted Universal Pictures to entice West to co-star with W.C. Fields in the 1940 ‘My Little Chickadee.’ 
• • Stephen Schaefer wrote: Despite the fact that Fields had a serious drinking problem, that the 2 hated each other and argued continuously about the script, ‘Chickadee’ was the biggest hit of Fields’ career and is now revered as a modern classic.  
• • Mae West: Banished from the screen • • ...  
• • To be concluded on the next post, Part 12.
• • Source: Boston Herald; published on Tuesday, 11 May 2021.
• • On Thursday, 20 August 1970 • •
• • Hollywood types received an invitation to "Sights and Sounds of Mae West" and the event was scheduled for Thursday, 20 August 1970.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • You could hardly call Mae West's desire to buy a ranch an extravagance or an indication of a desire to live high. The ranch is to be for her family members to live in.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "I can't see myself horsing around with hockey players in a business way. It would make me feel unappealing. Any time I show my authority over the male sex, it's got to be 100 percent emotional."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • The Queens Ledger mentioned Mae West.
• • "Mae West's Secret Italian Husband" • •
• • Tiziano Dossena wrote: There are not many times when you have the occasion to be exposed to such interesting and well researched presentations as "Mae West's Secret Italian Husband" (Thursday, 16 August 2012, 6:30 pm, at the Italian American Museum). LindaAnn LoSchiavo, the speaker and the genius behind it all, is a well-known dramatist, journalist, and long-time columnist for L'IDEA Magazine, a Brooklyn based quarterly. With her stage play "Courting Mae West" just recently seen in Australia, a challenging and refreshing essay in "Anti-Italianism: Essays on a Prejudice" (NY: Macmillan, 2011), and her new book . . . .
• • Source: The Queens Ledger; published on Thursday, 26 July 2012
• • 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 4,800 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started fifteen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 4,804th 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 1940 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest

Mae West: Gossip Destroys

MAE WEST is back onscreen. This assessment of her Blu-ray line-up is by Stephen Schaefer. This is Part 10 of 12 segments.
• • Mighty, Mighty Mae • •
• • Celebrate Mae West! • •  
• • Mae West: She was the woman in charge • •
• • Stephen Schaefer wrote: That, not nudity, profanity or sleazy sex, was enough for her enemies to want to see her crushed.   

• • Stephen Schaefer wrote: Mae West’s 1936 screwball comedy ‘Go West Young Man’ offered a pointed lesson in how gossip can destroy a reputation, a personal issue to West at this point.  
• • Stephen Schaefer wrote: The 1937 ‘Every Day’s a Holiday’ has Mae West as con artist Peaches O'Day who is ordered by her cop boyfriend to get out of town for her own good.  
• • Stephen Schaefer wrote: But Peaches O'Day returns under the guise of a brunette, Frenchwoman Mademoiselle Fifi! Somehow West finds Louie Armstrong on trumpet to sing her anti-crime song ‘Laugh, Sing and Vote!’
• • Mae West: She and Paramount parted ways • • ...
• • To be continued on the next post.
• • Source: Boston Herald; published on Tuesday, 11 May 2021.
• • On Sunday, 19 August 1934 • •
• • Motion Picture Daily published this picture preview on Sunday, 19 August 1934.
• • Hollywood, 19 August 1934 — With shock-proof punches but with haymakers nevertheless, Mae West uncorks a flashy, melodramatic entertainment of the Nineties, trippingly gay and gaudy for the most part but lingering in spots.
• • As with all the Mae West films, her showmanship personality dominates the scene.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • This sense of control — — the professional discipline behind her nonchalant stage facade — — was what made Mae West an overnight success in Hollywood at age 39.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: “Never make the same mistake twice — — unless it pays.”
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • An article on the newest DVDs mentioned Mae West.
• • "New on DVD: ‘Universal Rarities: Films of the 1930s’" • •
• • Dave Kehr explained: Mae West was Paramount’s biggest star in the early 1930s, and the objections of church and civic groups to her exuberantly risqué humor was a major reason the Production Code was fortified in 1934.
• • Dave Kehr wrote: Her screenplay for “Belle of the Nineties” suffered major interference at the hands of the industry censors, though even with her character forcibly watered-down (she’s a blues-belting nightclub entertainer who heads for New Orleans when St. Louis gets too hot for her), her delivery turns even the most innocuous line into an invitation to unspeakable delights.
• • Dave Kehr added: It’s Mae West’s film all the way, although the director, Leo McCarey (“The Awful Truth”), allows his fine hand to show in a few scenes that allow Mae West to drop her mask and utter some world-weary asides, humanizing her in a way that her other films do not. ...
• • Source: The N.Y. Times; published on Friday, 17 August 2012
• • 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 4,800 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started fifteen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 4,803nd 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/
________
Source: https://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml  
• • Be sure to bookmark or follow The Mae West Blog
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • in 1936 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest

Mae West: Hearst's Mistress

MAE WEST is back onscreen. This assessment of her Blu-ray line-up is by Stephen Schaefer. This is Part 9 of 12 segments.
• • Mighty, Mighty Mae • •
• • Celebrate Mae West! • •  
• • Mae West: Did she joke about Hearst and his mistress? • •
• • Stephen Schaefer wrote: You can’t get more personal than that as a response to her hypocritical critics.

• • Stephen Schaefer wrote: The story goes that Mae West had reportedly made a joke about Marion Davies, the movie star mistress of media mogul William Randolph Hearst (yes, he inspired ‘Citizen Kane’). Hearst had no sense of humor when it came to joking about Marion Davies ― ― and ordered that all Hearst newspapers go to war on West and Paramount Pictures.  
• • Stephen Schaefer wrote: Today, it’s difficult to figure out why Mae West aroused such indignation ― ― except perhaps that her persona was always the woman in charge. Mae was a woman who wouldn’t be dominated by men.  
• • Mae West: She was the woman in charge • • ...
• • To be continued on the next post.
• • Source: Boston Herald; published on Tuesday, 11 May 2021.
• • On Wednesday, 18 August 1954 • •
• • In her Hollywood column, syndicated on Wednesday, 18 August 1954, Louella Parsons wrote: "Mae West, who knocked them for a loop in Las Vegas, is at Malibu taking a vacation before she opens in Reno."
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Mae West's plans for a vacation trip have been blasted by a Paramount Pictures notice that she must be ready to start on her next picture about the middle of July. Meanwhile, Mae must help get the screenplay in shape.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "Whenever I see people putting it on, I know they're phonies. They aren't the real goods and they've got something to cover up."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • An article on Tinseltown's latest trends mentioned Mae West.
• • Mae West said she is disgusted with some of Hollywood's taking ways. "Diamond Lil" says she can't spring anything original but what it's copied all over town. She thought she had a cinch on that Mae West wiggle ... but now all the youngsters over at Hollywood High are beginning to wiggle.
• • She tried another trick . . . that of painting her nails with a platinum polish. She wore it once . . . next day everybody but Mae had platinum nails.
• • So Mae gives up.  ...
• • Source: Modern Screen; dated for June 1933
• • 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 4,800 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started fifteen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 4,802nd 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 • • print ad in 1933 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest

Mae West: 128th Birthday Babe

Happy Birthday to MAE WEST, Brooklyn Bombshell, Empress of Sex, Queen of Comedy, a notable quotable comedienne who maintained a long career on stage and on screen and also sizzled on the nightclub circuit.
• • Delivered by a local mid-wife, this feisty newborn drew her first lusty breaths in Bushwick on Thursday, 17 August 1893 (under the proud leonine sign of Leo) in her parents' bedroom. Little Mary Jane West always said: "I was born on a cool night in a hot month so I knew I could expect anything."
• • She trumped the income of every film actress of her generation because Mae was paid as a screenwriter as well as a box office draw.

• • Each day at least one publication in the world mentions her name. [We can verify our claim, too, because we've tracked this a-Mae-zing trend daily for the past 17 years now!]
• • Often imitated but never duplicated, the one and only Mae West endures in our hearts and memories.
• • Darling Mae, to your loyal followers, you don't look a day over twenty-sex!
• • Image: Mae West, Paramount Pictures publicity portrait.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Even at the fourscore mark, she remains a remarkable figure of a woman. The well-padded frame, which inspired the Mae West life jacket in World War II, seems little changed.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Mae West had been 40 when she made the first of 12 films and was an important influence on the early career of Cary Grant, teaching him much about the craft of comedy in the course of appearing with him in “She Done Him Wrong” and “I'm No Angel.”
• • The death of this sex goddess from Hollywood's Golden Age was front-page news in November 1980 when she was 87.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "Come up sometime and see me. I'm home every evening."
• • Mae West said: "I give 'em what they want to see."
• • Mae West said: "You have to outfight everyone else to succeed."
• • Mae West said: "I'll never believe the worst about anyone without complete proof."
• • Mae West said: "I've always liked athletes because they don't smoke, don't drink, and understand the importance of keeping their bodies in top working order — — and a hard man is good to find."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • "Mae West Turns Sixty" • •
• • The Horsham Times wrote: Mae West turned 60 recently. To reporters who went along to wish her many happy returns, Miss West made it plain that birthdays are one thing a lady just doesn't discuss.
• • Fluttering her inch-long eyelashes demurely, she said: "You can see for yourself, a girl's just as old as she feels."
• • Source: The Horsham Times;  published on Friday, 12 September 1952
• • 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 4,800 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started fifteen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 4,801st 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/
________
Source: https://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml  
• • Be sure to bookmark or follow The Mae West Blog
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • in 1934 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest

Mae West: Best Lines Cut

MAE WEST is back onscreen. This assessment of her Blu-ray line-up is by Stephen Schaefer. This is Part 8 of 12 segments.
• • Mighty, Mighty Mae • •
• • Celebrate Mae West! • •  
• • Mae West: Wrote naughty dialogue on purpose • •

• • Stephen Schaefer wrote: In 1935 Mae West was the highest paid woman in the country but her film career was threatened by the now-enforced Production Code which heavily censored her scripts, beginning with ‘Goin’ to Town,’ a Western comedy where Mae’s Cleo Borden strikes it rich and finds herself among the swells.  
• • Stephen Schaefer wrote: As her best lines continued to be cut, West countered by putting outlandishly naughty lines in knowing they would be the first to go. The censorship battle became an all-out war with ‘Klondike Annie’ (1936) where through curious circumstances West adopts the identity of her suddenly deceased friend, Sister Annie Alden, and preaches to the immoral citizens of the Alaskan Gold Rush as an evangelist.  
• • Mae West: Did she joke about Hearst and his mistress? • • ...
• • To be continued on the next post.
• • Source: Boston Herald; published on Tuesday, 11 May 2021.
• • On Sunday, 16 August 1964 • •
• • An article "Return Engagement" appeared in The New York Times on Sunday, 16 August 1964. Plans were then in the works for Mae to be featured on the TV sit-com "Mister Ed" for a second episode. In her follow-up appearance, Mae was to have played a saloon keeper. This TV project fizzled out, it seems.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Meanwhile, the main supporting actors were shockingly illustrious: John Huston, in one of many late-career roles with which he willingly dissected the bluster and swagger of American masculinity (also including Chinatown and this year’s finally released The Other Side of the Wind), would growl from under a 20-gallon cowboy hat as her uncle, Buck Loner, owner of the Hollywood acting school where Myra Breckinridge ends up teaching and wreaking havoc; and none other than Mae West came out of retirement for her first screen appearance since 1943 as Leticia Van Allen, a man-hungry talent agent.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "People can get any sort of impression about me they want to have. And I'm still not doing so bad!"
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • An article on Pre-Code cinema mentioned Mae West.
• • Jackson Upperco wrote: Night After Night, though not technically a Mae West picture, instantly becomes one the moment she steps into the film. West, along with character actress Alison Skipworth, steal the pleasant but dull film away from leads George Raft and Contance Cummings, who despite their charms, simply do not have presences strong enough to compete.
• • Jackson Upperco wrote: The skinny: unless you’re a Skipworth fan, there’s only one real reason to watch this film — Mae West. . . .
• • Jackson Upperco is still posting on his vibrant blog. Check it out.
• • Source: That's Entertainment blog; posted on Friday, 6 December 2013
• • 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 4,800 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started fifteen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 4,800th 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/
________
Source: https://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml  
• • Be sure to bookmark or follow The Mae West Blog
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • in 1935 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest