Friday, April 28, 2017

Mae West: Supreme Irony

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 75.
• • Mae West: "I'm here to make talkies" or Censor Will vs. Diamond Lil • •
• • The supreme irony: the skit had been used before! • •    
• • Paul Phaneuf wrote: The supreme irony is that the skit was penned by radio writer Arch Obler and had been used on the show before, with no outcry. Yet it was Mae West who now took most of the flak. Years later Edgar Bergen said, "The net result was that our rating went up to the highest we ever had. Our only mistake was that we were 25 years ahead of our time."
• • To further compound the irony, Emanuel Cohen had adhered to the recommendations from the Hays office regarding "Every Day's a Holiday" without putting up a fight. He had sent Breen a letter stating, "I think you will find we have complied with all of your changes suggested . . . If there are any other changes you desire, I assure you we will be only to happy to comply."
• • Paramount Was Not Waiting for a Cool-Off Period • •  . . .
• • This was Part 75.  Part 76 will appear  on Monday.
• • Source:  Article by Paul Phaneuf in Films of the Golden Age Magazine;  issue dated 5  November 2011. Used with permission.
• • On Wednesday, 28 April 1926 • •
• • On Wednesday, 28 April 1926, Variety (usually hostile to Mae West and nasty) took an early stand against the play "Sex," which had just opened on Broadway.
• • Variety wrote: “Mae West … has broken the fetters and does as she pleases here. After three hours of this play’s nasty, infantile, amateurish, and vicious dialog, after watching its various actors do their stuff badly, one really has a feeling of gratefulness for any repression that may have toned down her vaudeville songs in the past. If this show could do one week of good business, it would depart with a handsome profit, it’s that cheaply put on.”
• • Phooey on you, Variety. Unstoppable "Sex" not only sold out its premiere but it also offered 385 performances with general admission tickets sold for $3.50. According to Mae West, orchestra seats were $10.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Alexander Schupack, who has been personal photographer for Mae West, returns to the coast next month under a three-month contract to do additional work for Paramount. He recently came back from Hollywood after making more than 100 new stills of Miss West.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said:  "Keep cool and collect." 
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • The Film Daily mentioned Mae West.
• • "The motion picture is a social power and, as such, a responsibility," said Mrs. Thomas G. Winter. "Reports furnished by club women in Hollywood are published in 200 newspapers and posted in libraries and schools. The greater mass of people have better judgement than
that young so-called intelligentsia who have influenced some pictures."
• • Speaking of divergences of opinion, Mrs. Winter said that she liked "Reunion in Vienna" but that her husband preferred Mae West.  ...
• • Source: Item in The Film Daily; published on Thursday, 12 April 1934
• • 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 3692nd
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 • "Sex" in 1926

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