Tuesday, April 04, 2017

Mae West: Fascinatin' Monster

A very long article about MAE WEST and her career in Tinseltown appeared five years ago.  It was written by Paul Phaneuf. Let's pick this up again and enjoy it together. This is Part 57.
• • Mae West: "I'm here to make talkies" or Censor Will vs. Diamond Lil • •
• • "Klondike Annie" also went through this cut as well: • •  
• • Paul Phaneuf wrote:    CUTS:  And the final scene between Mae and Victor McLaglen fades out as they are about to embrace. It was one thing to be held by "a fascinatin' monster" but another to kiss one.
• • An interesting point about "Klondike Annie" is that it provides us a glimpse into Mae's private side. In the film, Mae is driven by the need to "make up for my past," to be "paying up a debt," "squaring up a conscience." 
• • Her character says: "It's an uphill fight tryin' to be good," but "there's something about liftin' people up . . . I ain't hypocritin' either." Is this then a look at the other, lesser known Mae West, who, according to her 1959 autobiography "had often visited churches in various cities for quiet moments"?? At times accompanied by her manager James Timony, she also frequented the nearby Church of Christ the King in Hollywood.
• • Mae frequented the Church of Christ the King in Hollywood • •  . . .
• • This was Part 57.  Part 58 will appear  tomorrow.
• • Source:  Article by Paul Phaneuf in Films of the Golden Age Magazine;  issue dated 5  November 2011. Used with permission.
• • On Friday, 4 April 1930 • •
• • It was on Friday, 4 April 1930 that the infamous "Pleasure Man" obscenity trial had come to an end — — when the jury could not agree.  On that date, Mae exhaled.
• • On Sunday, 4 April 1976 • •
• • On Sunday, 4 April 1976 Mae was a guest on CBS-TV. This would be her final televised appearance on a show called "Back Lot, USA" with the elfin host Dick Cavett. During this prime time program, the screen queen discussed her colorful life and performed a long, elaborately staged medley of her jaunty 1930s hits. Mae was 72 years old at the time.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • A grand jury empaneled in spring heard from celebrity witnesses including Mae West, Maureen O'Hara, June Allyson, Walter Pidgeon, and Liberace.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said:   "I was always famous for what I wore, not for what I didn't wear." 
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • The Cornell Daily Sun mentioned Mae West.
• • "As highly staminate Flower Belle Lee, MAE WEST spread her gorgeous corolla (including a butterfly bow that coyly punctuates her posterior rhythms in Greasewood City, one of the West's wide open spaces," wrote the entertainment editor.   . . .
• • Source: The Cornell Daily Sun (page 14); published on Sunday, 4 April 1973
• • The Mae West Blog celebrates its 12th anniversary • •  
• • Thank you for reading, sending questions, and posting comments during these past eleven 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 ten years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 3674th
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 • in 1940

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