Tuesday, September 20, 2016

Mae West: Bulging Bustline

In September 1933, MAE WEST sat down for a series of interviews with a West Coast syndicated columnist Willis Thornton.
• • "Go West Young Woman, Go West" • •
• • Editor's Note: This is the first of three installments on Mae West, the  buxom actress who is restoring curves to to feminine favor.
• • Written by Willis Thornton, NEA Services Writer • •
• • New York, Sept. 10 — — The billowy bosom Is back, the upholstered hip heaves again into view, and the bulging bustline Is about to bloom anew on the modish American woman — —and all because some thirty years ago a little Brooklyn girl gazed at the Venus of Melos [Venus De Milo] and murmured to herself "Gosh! Ain't that somethin'!"
• • The little Brooklyn girl grew up into an actress, and as Mae West she has devoted most of her life to unselfish  revelation (not to say exploitation) of those feminine curves which a whole generation of woman learned to conceal.
• • Take it from the best-informed couturiers, the hour-glass figure is back. The kind of figure that caused grandfather to twirl his mustachlos and murmur, "Ah! Fine figure of a woman, that!" Or even the kind that caused father to lean out of the buggy and mutter to himself. "Some shape!"
• • "Bed-Slat Figure" Is Out • •
• • The new Paris clothes tacitly admit that the flat-chested, tubular bed-slat figure is out. A little pinching at the waist now, and a little bulging above and below that line. A very frank admission that women are made up of curves instead of angles; a rounded swelling above the waist, an undulating ampleness below it.  
• • Away with depression, repression, suppression, at a single sweep.  . . .
• • This has been the first installment of Mae West's life story written by Willis Thornton. See Part B tomorrow.
• • "Go West Young Woman, Go West," a syndicated feature, appeared in various newspapers starting around  Sunday, 10 September 1933.  
• • On Saturday, 20 September 1902 • •
• • It was on Saturday, 20 September 1902 that the maternal grandfather of Mae West, coffee broker Jacob Delker, died in Brooklyn, New York. Little Mae was nine years old.
• • On Friday, 20 September 1940 • •
• • The New Zealand Movie Editors wrote: At the Grand Theatre — "My Little Chickadee" — Mae's back in a lusty farce of the frontier days in the bad old West! Every scene a sensation, every line a laugh! When Mae, the curvaceous cutie, captivates "Bibulous Bill" of the bulbous beak.
• • Source: Bay of Plenty Beacon (page 4), Vol. 3, Issue 215, on Friday, 20 September 1940.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Mae West filed for divorce from Guido Deiro on the grounds of adultery in 1920.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said:  "Biographies — — that's what I like best.  I like everything that is true, I mean.  Everything that happened, otherwise I'm not interested.  If I wanna read fiction, somepin' [sic] that isn't true, I can dream it myself if I want."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • Classic Movie Chat mentioned Mae West.
• • Joe Morella and Frank Segers wrote: Over at Warner Brothers although James Cagney and Dick Powell drew audiences the real money maker for the studio was comedian Joe E. Brown. Paramount had Mae West in the first part of the decade and Bing Crosby, Claudette Colbert and Gary Cooper in the late 30s.  ...
• • Source: Item in  Classic Movie Chat; posted on Thursday, 18 September 2014 
• • The Mae West Blog celebrates its 12th anniversary • •
• • Thank you for reading, sending questions, and posting comments during these past twelve years. The other day we entertained 3,497 visitors. And we reached a milestone recently when we completed 3,500 blog posts. Wow! 
 
• • By the Numbers • • 
• • The Mae West Blog was started twelve years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 3534th 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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• • Photo:
• • Mae West • in 1940
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