Thursday, May 13, 2010

Mae West: Bye-Bye, Brooklynite

They were both born in Brooklyn, New York, and both frequented hot Harlem nightspots such as The Cotton Club — — but MAE WEST and Lena Horne faced different limitations in Hollywood.
• • Lena Mary Calhoun Horne [30 June 1917 — 9 May 2010] • •
• • According to an NPR article: In early Hollywood, there was Hattie McDaniel on one end and Lena Horne on the other, and not a lot of room for either of them in between. If you didn't want to play a maid or a butler, there were not a lot of options. Even though Horne was the first African American to sign a long-term contract with a major studio, she was pigeon-holed in a way Judy Garland, Mae West, and other female performers were not. Horne's white counterparts sang, danced, AND acted. Were they typecast? Perhaps... certainly, in Mae West's case. But even West took her turn at dramatic roles and writing; we got to see that she was more than a pretty face. Lena Horne was denied roles with any artistic range whatsoever. . . .
— — Excerpt: — —
• • Article: "With Clipped Wings, Lena Horne Still Soared"
• • By: Jimi Izrael
• • Published by: NPR — — www.npr.org
• • Published on: 10 May 2010

• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West.

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