Tuesday, February 04, 2014

Mae West: Something Different

It was a Tuesday, 4 February 1975 when a long interview with MAE WEST appeared in several newspapers such as The Times Reporter (in Dover, Ohio). The screen star wanted to let her fans know she was still in the game and going strong.
• • This is a long Q and A so we'll quote a brief exchange and use the rest another time.
• • "Mae West: She's never wanted to be anything else" • •
• • Mae West, in her own words, is an American legend and institution, one of our living classics. Born in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn in 1893, she first appeared before an audience when she was 8 years old. Even then she delayed her song and dance debut until the spotlight came to where she was to make her entrance. She has demanded, and has received, the spotlight ever since.
• • In her self-created role as "Diamond Lil" she glittered her way to riches. One critic wrote: "Mae is to the New York stage what a match is to a scuttle of gunpowder — what a hot fire is to a shivering Wienerwurst.'' By 1935 she was earning the second highest salary in the United States: $480,000.  ...
• • (Q) — Has acting been easy for you?
• • (A) — Oh yea, I just do what feel.
• • (Q) — How about being directed?
• • (A) — I show the director what I'm gonna do.
• • (Q) — What about play writing?
• • (A) — Easy for me. Because of my early training in vaudeville and in stock companies, I used to learn all the parts: the villain, the heroine, the meany. When I began to write, I was so tired of formulas that I wanted something different. That's why my plays were so original. When Tennessee Williams received an award as our greatest playwright, he said, "I'm not the greatest playwright, Mae West is." He did use some of my ideas ...
• • Source: Article written for Newsday; rpt on page 17 in The Times Reporter; published on Tuesday, 4 February 1975.
• • On Friday, 4 February 1949 on WOR • •
• • NYC broadcast journalist John Wingate interviewed Mae West backstage before the opening of a revival of "Diamond Lil" on Broadway. Their 2-minute exchange is quite funny and was heard in the NYC area over the popular radio station WOR.
• • On Sunday, 4 February 1990 in Savannah, Georgia • •
• • TV watchers in Georgia enjoyed a re-run of "My Little Chickadee" starring Mae West and W.C. Fields on Sunday evening at 10:30 on 4 February 1990. The program guide noted that the stars had co-written this screenplay — — "this tale of a con man and a woman of questionable morals who become entangled..."
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • My favorite is "She Done Him Wrong" — because Mae West fills a long-felt movie need and is better than swell.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "There were 1,400 boys in this school. I don't know whether this is a compliment to me or not, but 1,200 of those boys stayed at their radios to hear me — —  and only 200 went to hear the vespers sung."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • The Press of Atlantic City mentioned the Irish Pub and Mae West.
• • Staff Writer Steven Lemongello commented: Where there was once a brick wall decorated with posters and drawings, there is now a folding glass partition — usually used to section off parts of the bar for private gatherings — painted to look like a wall decorated with posters and drawings, from Mae West to the film "Angels with Dirty Faces." . . .
• • Source: Article: "Irish pub reopens less than a week after SUV drove through front wall" written by Steven Lemongello for The Press of Atlantic City; published on Thursday, 30 January 2014
• • By the Numbers • • 
• • The Mae West Blog was started nine years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 2846th 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:http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xmlAdd to Google

• • Photo:
• • Mae West a 1975 cover

• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest
  Mae West

No comments:

Post a Comment