Friday, February 15, 2013

Mae West: MaeWest Company

MAE WEST, and one of her popular statements, percolated and bubbled inside someone's mind in the capital city of Spain.
• • A communications agency based in Madrid (at 40 Palacio de Gaviria) is calling itself MaeWest Company (http://maewestcompany.com/). Their mission statement echoes a well-known witticism of Mae's. She used to say (in English, of course) "You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough." (By the way, the singer Drake is claiming he initiated the motto "You only live once." Drake is trying to sue corporations for using this without crediting him. Bizarre beyond words, Drake.)
• • The MaeWest Company's website translated Mae's saying into Spanish: "Solo se vive una vez pero si lo haces bien, una vez puede ser suficiente." But better not mention this boutique agency to Drake lest he sue them. Last year Drake stepped into lawsuit-land when he rumbled with Chris Brown in a benighted Tribeca disco melee that included flying bottles and airborne stemware and ice cubes.
• • On Tuesday, 15 February 1927 in Manhattan • •
• • In New York City on 15 February 1927 there had been a hearing against "Sex" in the Magistrate's Court, closely followed by The New York Times and other newspapers.
• • It was on that Tuesday in mid-February that Mae West's obscenity trial officially began.
• • Police inspector James Bolan was called as a witness for the prosecution in West Side Special Sessions Court. "He produced a sheaf of yellow paper, adjusted his eyeglasses and read in a solemn tone that suggested a church service," went one newspaper account of the courtroom's activities published on 16 February 1927. "The inspector's lean, grave face ministered to the effect."
• • At the beginning of her trial, Mae West was still shuttling back and forth from Jefferson Market Court on Sixth Avenue in the daytime to Daly's 63rd Street Theatre in the evening to perform onstage in "Sex" — — eight times a week — — as usual. But there was nothing "usual" about this.
• • "Playing the publicity angle for all it was worth, the producers and the cast of 'Sex' applied for, and were granted, a jury trial instead of a trial before three judges in Special Session," wrote Emily Wortis Leider in Becoming Mae West. "In early March (1927) the grand jury returned an indictment against the management and part of the cast. Mae West and the other indicted cast members entered their plea: Not guilty."
• • "Courting Mae West" is a stage play that dramatizes these events. Interested?
• • On Saturday, 15 February 1936 in Motion Picture Herald • •
• • An article "Klondike Annie" was printed in Motion Picture Herald on page 44 in the issue dated for Saturday, 15 February 1936.
• • On Sunday, 15 February 2009 • •
• • Book reviewer Tricia Springstubb wrote: The sofa is gilt, covered in eggshell satin, and the extended hand is baby soft, dripping with diamonds. But look out. Those diamonds are "old-cut" and sharp enough to scratch your palm. According to Mae West, that's the best kind, and what better authority than Diamond Lil herself?
• • Book reviewer Tricia Springstubb continued: "She Always Knew How," a biography from Charlotte Chandler, reads like an extended conversation with this witty, provocative, surprisingly sweet woman, and it's hard to imagine better entertainment than the musings of a "girl who climbed the ladder of success, wrong by wrong." . . .
• • Source: Review: "Sexy, sassy and smart, Mae West ruled the screen and her own career" written by Tricia Springstubb for The Cleveland Plain Dealer; published on Sunday, 15 February 2009.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "Let Shakespeare do it his way, and I'll do it mine. We'll see who comes out better."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • An article on romantic films mentioned Mae West.
• • "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" written by Jimi Izrael, NPR, Tuesday, 15 February 2011
• • By the Numbers • • 
• • The Mae West Blog was started eight years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 2578th 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 Courting Mae West 
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