Customer Reviews (7)

Fantastic Collector's Item!
This book is spectacular. Tim did a great job and I treasure it.I think the one bad review of this that I read was by some "damon" guy, who must have multiple personalities or be off medication. Everybody knows who Tim is! :) Just ignore the fool, and consider yourself lucky if you have this great book!

There simply isn't a better collection of Mae West imagery available
The voluptuous Mae West - so famed for her ultra-hourglass figure that a World War II life jacket was nicknamed after her - was, IMHO, the first great sex symbol of cinema after sound came in and closed the curtain on the era of the silent movie.She built an image through her career on stage and screen - the lusty woman who unapologetically loves sex - that got her in trouble with bluenoses all her life and keeps her a truly iconic figure to this day.

People looking for "dirt" on West will have to look somewhere else, as Tim Malachosky, West's private secretary for some ten years, wrote this book as a tribute to his employer and friend.The text is affectionate and entertaining, though, as other reviewers have also noted, no startling revelations are contained herein.The heart and soul of the book, however, is the photograph collection - which is truly dazzling, from the stunning front cover (depicting West in a reprise of her famous "Diamond Lil" role in 1946) to the back cover.Many of these pictures have never before been published, and they display Ms. West, in color and black-and-white, from beginning to end of her life and career.The limited-edition format (only 2,000 copies, with each copy numbered and signed by the author and his collaborator) presents the imagery in a hugely oversize format (something like 12" x 15"), printed on high-quality paper, and truly does justice to the photographs, many of which are reproduced in full-page format.

There will probably never be another printing of this book, so if you can afford the price, buy it today.

Goodness had EVERYTHING to do with it...
This book is simply a wonderful and personal tribute to the fabulous Miss Mae West - it is packed with the most sin-sational photographs you are ever likely to see, and is a glorious over-sized coffee table extravaganza... it is simply a delight to own and leaf through. Tim should not only be praised for his book, but for his commitment to Miss West and her memory. His exhibits at the Hollywood History Musuem need to be seen to be believed, and having met Tim and others who knew him during his work with Miss West I would recommend this book to ANYONE with an interest in this special star. As she herself said 'It is better to be looked over than overlooked' and I for one am so glad Tim has taken the time to look over his own photographs and memories to share them with us all. Well done Tim - hope to see you again sometime soon!

Lavish Labor of Love
Do not be swayed by reviewers with personal agendas or call yourself a true Mae West fan if you don't own this book!A treat for both the eye and heart, it's generously crammed with high-quality pictures of the late, great West throughout her career and in all her glamorous glory.Look closely:many of the photos were personally inscribed to the author.It's not intended as a research project or biography but as an oversized coffee-table homage to one of the most "fascinatin'" women who ever lived.If you love West, then do yourself a favor, get up off your nickels, and snag yourself a copy.As West herself once said, "He who hesitates is last".

A labour of love....
Whilst the text is slight this is easily forgiven for the amazing impact of the presentation and scale of this must-have book for every Mae West fan. I love this book and return to it often. It is huge, beautifully produced and full of the most marvellous photographs of Miss West, many in full colour. Tim clearly adored her and this shines through in the text. Having met him I know his love was and still is very real and his efforts on Miss West's behalf have continued long after her passing. I have also met a number of those who knew Tim in his days when he served Miss West and they have all paid tribute to his unstinting love and devotion. Well done, Tim, and thanks for everything, including this lovely tribute book. Thanks too for your kindness and generosity to me on my various trips to LA.

... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

The movie's better
"Diamond Lil" was a scandalous Broadway hit for Mae West in 1928. Today it is chiefly known in the even more successful (and now classic) film based on it, "She Done Him Wrong" (1933), Cary Grant's first appearance. The play has never been published, either in its original or revised version. But there's the film -- and this novelization. In expanding the story to book length, West and her ghost writer(s) added some period detail (there was a REAL Diamond Lil) and a great deal of padding. A mere curiosity. She Done Him Wrong ... Read more

Product Description
adult fiction. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

What a moral
The Constant Sinner has the famous line, "She would not have known what a moral was if it could be made to dance naked in front of her."Negligently shrugging off any concerns over such aspersions, Mae West's "unmoral" character Babe Gordon breaks the 1930s' conventions that maintained rigid color lines. A fascinating story that shows a street fighter trample over all kinds of barriers.

A brilliant, sexy, and fascinating novel!!
The Constant Sinner is a dramatic novel about a young beautiful woman, Babe Gordon, and her intriguing storm through New York's underworld and society set.From the wanton streets of Harlem, to the prizefighting arena, to the lascivious speakeasies and night resorts, Babe's intense passion for men and wealth lead her on an unscrupulous and uninhibited journey.Set in the pre-libertarian 1930's U.S., the story takes its most notorious turn when Babe begins a love affair with a Black racketeer, Money Johnson.Gripping, racy, poetic, articulate, this book is exceptionally well written.The Constant Sinner is one of those rare novels, so perfect and original in its content and style, that its presence assumes a classic or cult-like acclaim.However, it's Mae West the entertainer whose celebrity has become that of legend.So, let the truth be known...West is nothing short of genius... an outstanding writer, artist, historian, and cultural critic. ... Read more

Product Description

Product Description
Actress, playwright, screenwriter, and iconic sex symbol Mae West (1893-1980) created a scandal and a sensation on Broadway with her play Sex in 1926. Convicted of obscenity, she was sentenced to ten days in prison. She went to jail a convict but emerged a star. Later, in Hollywood, she was the number one box-office attraction during the 1930s and saved Paramount Studios from bankruptcy. Her films included some notorious one-liners - which she wrote herself - that have become part of Hollywood lore. But behind the clever quips was Mae's deep desire, decades before the word "feminism" was in the news, to see women treated equally with men. She saw through the double standard of the time that permitted men to do things that women would be ruined for doing. Her cause was sexual equality, and she was shrewd enough to know that it was perhaps the ultimate battleground. In She Always Knew How, Charlotte Chandler draws on a series of extensive interviews that she conducted with Mae West just months before the star's death. Chandler also spoke with actors and directors who knew and worked with Mae, the man with whom she lived for the last twenty-seven years of her life, and her close assistant. Their insights enrich this fascinating book. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

What Vaudeville was like
Mae West shares a raucous story of promiscuity and back (and front) stabbing on the Vaudeville circuit in the 1920s. A lot of laughs and insights about what her world was like. ... Read more

Product Description
Revised 2nd Edition, June 2010

In 1968, noted film and theatre critic Clive Hirschhorn was a young feature writer for the London Sunday Express. In Hollywood on assignment, he heard that the legendary Mae West "loved British accents" and was able to get an interview with the 75-year-old film star. His observations on the "official" Mae and the actual woman behind the public persona provide new insights into this complex, much caricatured, and compelling cultural icon. This book offers a funny, touching, and revealing account of the life of the woman who made it possible to say "sex" in public. Her scripted quips are legendary, and she was able to zing them in real life. When Hirschhorn asked her how she managed to look so uncannily young--at 75 her skin was flawless and her face unlined--she replied:

"No secret. I go to bed early. I meditate. I eat all the correct foods, I don't smoke or drink, and I believe with a passion in myself. You can only beat nature when you show the bitch who's boss!"

Leonard Maltin in his Foreword says, "Mae West was an absolute--and resolute--original. There has never been anyone else quite like her. Her reputation has survived the decades. Young people might not know of her, but she is still widely quoted and referred to in articles and books. How many other show business personalities who flourished in the 1920s and '30s can say the same in the first decade of the 21st century?" ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

This author wrote previous Hollywood books?YIKES!
So many mistakes, so many misquotes...so I suggest you read Damon Devine's review for my EXACT feelings about this horrendous book.He couldn't have said it better!
I was actually sitting with pen and paper while reading this 'book' to capture evey mistake and I got writer's cramp. It alarms me to think someone years from now might refer to this book while researching her life.
Buy the book if you would like to have every book about Miss West, like I do, but only for that reason.

He Went Up and Saw Mae West!
Having authored seven previousbooks on Hollywood Film History and noted film biographies, Clive Hirschhorn's"Mae WestAnInterview &Biography" with a foreward by Leonard Maltin, held great promise. This slim volume containsa hilarious interview, as well as a capsule reviewofWest's amazinglylong career, stretching from her first amateur concert appearance in 1900to her last film appearance in 1978.Hirschhorn attempts a whirlwind Mae West history lesson in ninety five pages of text, but unfortunately trips and stumbles with incorrect facts along the way.Considering the considerable knowledge base Hirschhorn has amassed over the four decades of his entertainment writing career, such oversights can be considered either unforgivable, or perhaps he hasconfused quotesand information fromfilms hereviewed in the past. To be fair to Hirschhorn,the facts and minutiaof Mae West's long career and cinematic achievements may not be topmost on the minds ofeditors of today's presses. Unfortunately the mistakes and misinformationthat have slipped into the fabric of this overviewmar this work as a reliable source.

Ardent Mae West fans hoping to discover a new angle or insightswill be disappointed with this book, as Hirschhorn brings nothing new to the table. Relying heavily onprevious biographies,much of the materialpresented here is yet another reworking of previously well known information.Perhaps, if the author had focused his examination of West's career toa younger, hipaudience in a modern context comparing Mae West's and Madonna's career similarities,this bookcould have been a much more interesting and relevant read. Mae West did not invent SEX, and to her credit never claimed she had,butsure liked to brag that she brought it to Broadway in 1926.Young readers couldeasily draw the conclusion that Madonna isNOT the only powerful woman to have ever walked on this earth.For thatreason alone,any new examination of Mae West's life and timesis both important and welcome.

The saving grace of this book is an outrageously funnyretelling of the author's encounter with Mae West at her Ravenswood Apartment lair in Los Angeles in 1968. What is left out is just as telling as what is revealed.This reviewer had the opportunity to be in West's former homeof 47 years several times, and is familiar with the physical layout.By today's standard the suite has amodest two bedroom layout with a tiny dining roomand adjacent open kitchen, separated by French Doors from the living room.These doorswere usually closed when reporters and fans were in attendance, possibly to mask how modest in size thediningarea was.Hirschhorn arrives at West's appointment and is an unwittingwitness to a three ring circus. West is in her bedroom huddled with her lawyer.In the living room are two fans who do not speak to each other or Hirschhorn while they are awaiting their idol.

Although unnamed,Craig Russell wasmost likely the male secretary whogreetedHirschhornat the door,and proceeds to provide comic relief by putting on aMae West recording "Way Out West" on the record player in the living room. Hirschhorn recalls, "seconds later he was miming to the disc - complete with all his employer's distinctive gestures.I don't think he was even aware he was doing it, it came so naturally to him." In short order the lawyer leaves, the fans are given autographed photos and sent on their way. The male secretary disappearsand Hirschhorn is invited into West's inner sanctum, her bedroom, and what results is pure, unadultered Mae West!I will leave the fun and hilarity of this campy encounter for the reader to discover for themselves.However, be forewarned,the retelling of the incident of thisinterview is thehighlight of the book.

The author delves into whether West made a huge mistake by not seriously considering the role of Norma Desmond in the film Sunset Blvd.This searing examination of the underbelly of tinsletowncould have been a major cinematic coup for West, but the role of an aging former starwas so NOT what Westsaw herself as.In fact, during the filming of her last film, Sextette, she demanded the lyrics of "Hooray For Hollywood"be changed to remove the reference of "a honky tonk town" as she didn't harbor ill feelings about the place she had made home.

As history has shown, Gloria Swanson who did go on to play the role of Norma Desmond, did experience a short lived resurrection in her career after the film was released, but it was really more of a swan song for her.Westwas savvy enoughto see the writing on the wall, and sagely decided not to play againstcharacter type,preferring to maintain her image asa brazen hussy who always came out on top.PotentialOscar nomination or not, Westwent on tomastermind her own comeback shaking things up at the Academy Awards showin 1958, singing a duet with Rock Hudson, in character!Mae Westprevailed anddid it HER way!

Mae West, the original and undisputed Queen of the Cougars, was wise enough never to have recorded the Rogers and Hart classic, "The Lady Is A Tramp," but make no mistake, while"Diamond Lil" may never makeit onto a U.S.postage stamp,that perhapsis her badge of honor! Clive Hirschhorn's bookbrings Mae West back into focus, however softly,and you'd better believe Maewouldhave loved that! Whilenot essential reading,this biography is enjoyable enough for those wantinga quick and easyfirst time peek at the career ofMae West. A revised second edition of this book would be most welcome but as it stands, a solidthree stars!

Painfully inaccurate in so many ways...
This book is not an insightful extended interview, like I thought it would be. The author's interview (at the beginning of the book) with Mae West is actually quite brief. For whatever odd reason, he chose to complete the rest of the book by merely going over West's life, via using the usual Mae West books we all have and have already read, as reference.

But was he SOBER when he read them?

Because there are a startling 34 massive errors in this little book, many of them totally unforgivable.No one has EVER been off two whole years in regards to Mae West's death and she was not buried here in California! Mae West did not attempt an OPERATIC version of Diamond Lil in the 1960's (can you imagine that?!), nor was the 1958 Academy Awards performance with Mae West& Rock Hudson broadcast in color.

Most photo captions are completely wrong (Myra Breckenridge 1966?) and some don't even belong to the photo above them. What is positively cringe-worthy, are the quotes from Mae West's films...that were never said!Did he ever SEE a Mae West movie? "No gold-digging for me. I take diamonds. We may be off the gold standard some day" was not said in She Done Him Wrong, or ANY OTHER Mae West film!

His own observations, outside of his alleged "research", are totally outlandish at times.To say that Mae West made a huge mistake in not playing Norma Desmond in Sunset Blvd is preposterous. Mae West was a comedian! Could you picture her playinga bitter has-been?GET REAL! She was about 56 at the time, with a still-hot body, line-free skin and was still touring with Diamond Lil in 1950. Mae West triumphed at the end of every one of her films (she wrote them!). The very idea of her playing a jilted older lady, a has-been (which the author calls Mae West twice in this book) who eventually goes insane? He even claims she "could have" won an Oscar for it!

Mae West was never a "has-been." That is one of the many fascinating things about her. She was a part of Americana. I never DIDN'T know who Mae West was! She was like Mickey Mouse and George Washington in that regard. Even the years she didn't work and wasn't in the spot-light, she was still an icon and continued to fascinate. This author dares to say she arrived in Hollywood a Broadway has-been, which is absurd. West came here with very little interest in films. She loved New York and was very well known there. Her first day here in L.A. she said things like "So this is the place where a leaf falls up in some canyon and they tell you it's winter?" and "I'm a big girl, from a big town, comin' to make good in a little town."Mae West was never at anyone's mercy, nor did she seek their approval. Later in the book Hirschhorn refers to West was a "cantankerous has-been." Is that what comes to mind when you think of Mae West?I'll bet not.

Sadly, the author also rehashes the grossly exaggerated Sextette stories we have all heard endlessly. No offense to anyone, but most of the on-set Sextette stories are "recollections" of hammy old queens, whose memories are greatly embellished (always in their own favor, of course). And I DO include Tony Curtis and that miserable Rex Reed in that category.

I could go into detail about how unlikely it is that Mae's sexy walk was only the result of her need to ease "discomfort" of her incredibly high platform shoes (just because a shoe is platformed, does not make it painful, just so you know) was man-less by 1951 (not true) and that the Ravenswood was in "West Hollywood" (it's not)--but there's so much misinformation in this book...I won't. It would be too exhausting.

If you're an insatiable Mae West collector (like myself) and want to have everything new that comes out, go ahead and get this thing, just to say you have "all of the Mae West books." But if you're looking for facts or something new, you will be very disappointed.

THIS IS NOT THE MAE WEST BIOGRAPHY THAT YOU HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR
When I read that Clive Hirschorn had written a biography of Mae West, I had high hopes. I have several of his other books and he always does a great job. This book begins with a very, very brief forward written by Leonard Maltin. We then come to the story of Clive Hirschorn's meeting and interview with Mae West. There are no revelations here. The biography contains no new information and it really couldn't tell you very much having less than 200 pages. The photographs are good but one from her film "Everyday's A Holiday" is captioned "Belle Of The Nineties". This is not the lost continent of Atlantis, it is Twentieth Century show business and there is no excuse for these errors which seem to crop up in every Mae West book. Also, some of her famous lines are inaccuarately quoted. Again, watch the films if you want to get it right. This book is well intentioned but not essential in any way. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Eye Popping!
This book won the 1967 Pulitzer Prize. It is easy to understand why. Nothing less than a compendium of all of the major explorations of the American West, the author leaves you with a sense of wonder as he covers 120 extensive journeys. Detailing the time period from Lewis and Clark (1803 - 1806) to the final work of John Wesley Powell (1890), William Goetzmann covers all major exploration influences from the fur trapping days, to the Army's extensive topographical studies and Border examinations, to the exacting surveys conducted by the Department of the Interior.

I never realized how many expeditions were conducted or the complex, scientific nature of them. No matter who headed these efforts, the personnel always included topographers, geologists, astronomers, ethnologists, physicists, landscape artists and painters, paleontologists, engineers, surveyors, etc. These were not casual undertakings but included some of the best scientific minds of the time. Nor were these expeditions taken in the latter part of the 19th century when things were relatively safe. For the most part, the majority of these surveys were between 1840 - 1870, when the Army's war with the American Indian was in full swing.

Nothing was missed and many of these undertakings met with severe personal tragedy, loss of life and privation. Yet no part of the American West was too obscure for critical evaluation and we see the purpose of these efforts evolve from simple observations to extensive mappings not just of the country under examination but also the inhabitants, mineral deposits and geologic structures to include their environmental and agricultural evaluation for water, aridity, likelihood of irrigation, vegetation and potential uses. From mountain tops to canyon bottoms we see the launching of brand new fields of science such as paleontology, anthropology and hydrology. We see egos and the politics that egos spawn, especially within the intense competition between the Army, who began these efforts, and the Department of the Interior, who finished them.

This is a remarkably complete rendering of the exploration of the American West. If there is a constructive criticism, it is that the author bit off too much. 120 ventures in a net 600 page book leaves relatively little time to do much more than the author did for many of these undertakings, list the survey's participants and outline their specific objectives. But make no mistake, this is a masterful work. Drawing on a wealth of primary sources, William Goetzmann offers a remarkable overview of the opening of the American West, as well as a fascinating study of the nature of exploration and its consequences for civilization.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Listing Correction
I just want to correct this listing.

The book listed here published by Eynon Publishing is a TRUE FIRST EDITION issued in 1935.Reportedly, only 50 books were issued.The author is Captain Robert G. Carter not Charles M. Robinson III.

Amazon has been notified of this error but have not corrected it yet.

Texas in the 1870's
The writing style is archaic and the author spends too much time on self aggrandizement but over all it is a good look at the pacification of the Comanches.I wish there were maps included.I would like to visit some of the places mentioned in the book.

Important Classic, Difficult to Read Due to Poor Writing
Almost as important as the text are the Preface, Foreword and Introduction (rare to have all three.)Robinson's Preface puts Carter's book into context and prepares the reader for an interesting, but daunting read.Robinson is absolutely correct in his discussion of the importance of this book as it should be read by anyone interested in the Indian Wars of the West.

This book was written by a real participant of those wars, and as such, is hardly a revisionist, politically correct rendition of how the Army and settlers wronged the Indians.It must be remembered, although Carter was ignorant of this fact, that the Comanches had been forced out of the mountains of Colorado by the Utes in the middle of the 18th century, and in turn expelled or exterminated the existing tribes in the plains of Texas.Now the Americans were coming and displacing the Comanches in one of the inexorable changes that history brings.

MacKenzie was on a par with Andrew Jackson as being one of the two most successful Indian fighters in US history.He graduated 1st in his West Point class of 1862 and rose during the Civil War to Major General at the age of twenty-five.His Indian campaigns were fought against a number of tribes from Mexico to South Dakota, and although he sometimes made mistakes, he did not make them twice.He became mentally ill, possibly in part from being maimed at Petersburg or suffering a later head injury, was retired from the Army in 1884 and died in obscurity in 1889 at the age of forty-nine.For his remarkable successes and military innovations, MacKenzie has been roundly ignored by contemporary academic historians.As always, the history we learn is not what actually happened, but what is written concerning what happened.That is why the serious student must read this book.

As Robinson notes, the prose is overblown and sometimes factually incorrect -- a typical problem in eyewitness accounts.Fortunately, the exaggerations are relatively easy to ascertain from the author's obvious efforts to add color (when none is needed.)It should be emphasized that this is a reprint of the 1935 edition, which was itself a collection of stories written by the author as early as 1886.He passed away in 1936 at the age of 91, the last survivor of the 4th Cavalry who had served under MacKenzie.

If one wishes to become acquainted with MacKenzie and understand Army life in the 1870s fighting Indians in the West, I can think of no better book.It clearly corrects the great harm Hollywood had done to this era, and will introduce the reader to a life he will be hard pressed to find anywhere else.Therefore I gave it a 5 rating, in spite of its obvious flaws.

Robert Carter's book is of American History
This book represents the viewpoints of a "policing" time for the United States of the North.Without some form of correctiveness, lawlessness and savageness would have ruled the day and Texas would not be a part of the nation today.
It is exciting, horrifying, glorifying, and it is sad at times.
This book must be pulled from the graveyard of literature for open forums to discuss the past.Without actual accounts of yesterday protrayed today, everyone will be able to re-write history to match their own personal or social, economical, and political viewpoints instead.An American treasure is being lost to the dusts of time...James L. Brown ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Excellent Biography of an American Icon

This book is primarily a thoughtful examination on the myth, and work of Mae West whose public persona won her a place in American folklore, and outraged the morality police of her times.(I recall back in the early 40's when I, a mere lad, was refused admittance to one of her movies because it was unfit for tender eyes).Hamilton, a professor of history at the University of London, has done a remarkable job of attempting to get at the real Mae West. Mae, herself,authored two autobiographies, one in 1959, the other in 1975; and a host of journalists and hangers-on were more than willing to recount what they knew of her life.But the critical point of her life, between 1920 and 1927 when she metamorphosed from a burlesque performer and probably, a prostitute, into a writer, producer, and actress of some stature--remains unknown.

As to the untampered biographical data that do exist, Mae West was born in 1893, baptized as Mary Jane.Her father, John West was of Irish extraction, and although details of his occupation, etc. are largely a creation of his daughter's fertile invention.The author writes that he was undoubtedly "a onetime craftsman on the margin of Brooklyn's underworld."Hermother, Matilda (Tillie) Doelger was an emigrant from Wurtemberg, Germany.She pushed her daughter into the theatrical life.Mae made her professional debut at the age of 7, in a theatrical company that specialized in blood and thunder melodrama.Mae's venue was never very high.She continued to be associated with cheap theater that catered to prurience, flaunted sex, crime and scandal.She became, in the author's word,a "tough girl", the bane of reformers such as Jane Addams.

Mae was married before her eighteenth birthday to a fellow performer, but after flagrant adulteries, walked out on her marriage as if it never existed.(She was not legally divorced until 1943).Mae quickly found a niche in burlesque, and may have been a stripper; probably a prostitute.In any case, she dropped out of sight around 1920, and did not surface until 1926-1927 when she burst upon the notice of New York theater by two productions that she wrote, and with the help of private funding, produced.The first was a story of a Canadian prostitute that was provocatively titled, Sex.Despite howls from the "better sort", this play became one of the major hits of the 1926 Broadway season.

Sex was followed in 1927 by her own written "homosexual comedy-drama" titled The Drag, and in 1928, with Pleasure Man (closed down by the NY police) and finally, Diamond Lil, better known in its cinema version, She Done Him Wrong.

Now here is were the biography breaks down.Mae West had no better than a grade-schooleducation.She was a bottom feeder in the vaudeville/burlesque venue, disappearing from the radar between 1920 and 1926.The author never gives us a clue, or tries to explain what she was doing during those years and how suddenly,she became a no mean playwright and theatrical producer.And it is here that we jump into Mae West as the symbol of rampant sexuality which horrifiedor titillated the American public in the late 1920's and early 1930's, and transformed her into an icon of the liberals and a target of the conservatives.

A large part of this book focuses on Mae West's often tedious fight against the forces of "virtue".These included local watch and ward groups,the Hearst newspapers, and municipal laws governing lewd performances.Mae spent much time in court, and served time at Welfare Island.Over a few years,Mae's Broadway and off-Broadway productions no longer attracted customers, as whatever she could do for an encore had to be raunchier than what went on before.So Mae changed venues again, and looked to Hollywood.Although her plays were on the list of properties judged unsuitable for film adaptation by the film companies' self-regulatory body, the MPPDA, or Hays Office, in 1932,Paramount offered her a two-month contract to act in a gangster melodrama.She did wonders with a small role; the first one she played in front of a camera.Rewriting many of her colorless lines, she introduced the one-liner innuendoes that became her trademark:e.g.,in response to "Goodness, what beautiful diamonds", she would reply,"Goodness had nothing to do with it dearie."

Paramount decided, partly on the basis of West's performance, which drew many plaudits from critics, fans, and most importantly, theater owners, to film Diamond Lil.The Hays Office had come down hard on gangster films, which generated much of Hollywood's profits 1930-31, so the studios turned to another crowd-pleaser, sex. Now the Hays Office had to mount another campaign.After much huffing and puffing,Paramount was allowed to start filming.But the name of the picture was changed; the memories of Diamond Lil still too green.Much of the dialogue had to be changed, but here again,Mae demonstrated how she could evade the direct prohibition of certain lines by substituting nuanced others that retained the original intent.For example, Lil's line to her leading man,"You can be had"was changed to the iconic, "Come up and see me sometime"

She Done Him Wrong (nee Diamond Lil) proved to be a blockbuster.It's return engagements surpassed the all-time record set by Birth of a Nation.It's success created much embarrassment for the Hays Office, and set forward demands for federal censorship.Hays tightened the screws, and Mae's next movie, I'm No Angel was bereft of Mae's creative influence on the text. Indeed, the script was filled with material that would make the movie acceptable to the bluest of the blue noses.But Mae still was able to convey a sense of earthy desires and still delivered one-liners that were suggestive at best, e.g., "Well, when I'm good I'm very good, but when I'm bad I'm better."

By late 1933, Mae's popularity was at its peak.She began working on her third starring picture, rumored to be written around New Orleans's old red light district.It's title, It ain't No Sin in this reputed context was a provocation.The Legion of Decency had its origin around this time; many other church groups joined in pledging its members to eschew salacious and criminal films.In a sense, these protest groups reprised similar organizations that in the 1910's and 1920'ssought to keep "dirty" plays off Broadway and sanitize other urban amusements. It Ain't No Sin gave they protest groups strong meat, as the preliminary screen play now showed Mae in close physical contact with her leading men.One-liners were evidently not enough for audiences who now demanded rawer meat.Joseph Breen, head of the west coast arm of the Hays Office refused to countenance release of the film as written. Paramount caved in, and did a major rewrite, and changed the name to Belle of the Nineties.This finished film was stripped of all elements that give Mae West her broad and varied appeal.It was confused, colorless, and although the script had been recast to reflect "mainstream" values, it was overwhelmingly unpopular with mainstream audiences.

The four films that followed Belle of the Ninetiescompleted the job of sanitizing Mae.She was reduced to a caricature of herself.She tried to inject some of her old ways into the scripts, but was ruthlessly suppressed by the studio, which now marched in lock-step with the Hays Office. Essentially, Mae West as Mae West was in exile.Paramount, which lost money on the 1938 film, Every Day's a Holiday ended its association with her.She made only two more pictures in the next five years. My Little Chickadee (1939) in which she reluctantly co-starred with W.C. Fields, was not a great success at the time, but has become a minor cult movie, principally because of Field's, not Mae's performance.

Mae attempted recover with the 1944 theater production ofCatharine Was Great, a play, she wrote.Critics expected the old, comic Mae but she played her role as a "solemn historical document".She finally had to introduce some of her trade-mark shticks and one-liners to satisfy the customers who had expected the old Mae.

In the 1960's and 70's thependulum swung from avid censorship of anything sexual in movies to anything goes.With her performance in the 1970 film,Myra Breckenridge, she established herself as the "Queen of Camp"Although most often associated with the homosexual milieu, camp is defined by Hamilton as "a process of cultural recycling, as artifacts reclaimed from popular culture's back annals were invested with iconoclastic new meanings".Aficionados of camp prized the outmoded "relics of popular culture that had become obsolete."This placed Mae in a position to be a iconic camp object.

The homosexual component of camp also adhered to Mae.Throughout the 1950's and 1960's, she performed in clubs that depended on the marginal patronage of gay men.Her review included an entourage of weight lifters wearing only skimpy loincloths.The near-naked musclemen brought Mae's camp appeal to the foreground.She was now decidedly "hip".But her revival came at a bad time for the "mainstream" audiences. Now that four-letter words and graphic descriptions were commonplace on stage and screen, Mae's nuanced innuendoes were decidedly tame.And her septuagenarian body, however corseted, made her a laughingstock among younger audiences.One critic said, not unkindly, that Mae was the best of the current female impersonators.

Mae West died in late 1980.In the years since her death, she has been enshrined, albeit amorphously, in American pop culture.Her quips and one-liners are still repeated.As an actress, however, she has been all but forgotten. She remains an enigma.Hamilton concludes that Mae tried to divorce herself from her gritty, working-class "tough girl" past.Yet,out of this past, She created a persona that "entranced and bewildered millions of spectators, all mesmerized by that delectable secret that West seemed to be savoring, but never revealed."
Well documented, extensive bibliography

When I'm bad...
In this well-researched book Marybeth Hamilton offers a picture of an brave and individual performer/writer and her work. It was surprising to discover that Mae West was all but washed up by the 1940's, her legend seems so dominating in popular culture. I also learnt more than I could ever have imagined about burlesque theatre and life in early 20th Century America.

All in all, The Queen of Camp an interesting history of the fascinatin' Ms West and the world she inhabited. ... Read more

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6 THE DOMINANT KILLER Colin Wilson10 BETH Eugene Finkei16 GIRLS WITH THEIR PANTS ON Todd Mallanson20 THE MAE WEST INTERVIEW Gordon McGill23 CLUB CALENDAR 197536 ROMAN HOLIDAY Peter Stafford39 FIONA RICHMOND IN CALIFORNIA Fiona Richmond43 SASHA Fred Enke53 POLLOCK THE PORN Richard Green55 RETURN OF THE CLASSIC John Blunsden59 TIME ON YOUR HANDS Wendy Gable62 POLLY Amnon Bar-Tur69 THE FEARS OF THE OBSESSED Karl Steiner73 MODUS OPERANDI Edited by David Jones78 KAREN Christer Foldquist83 FOR NO EXTRA CHARGE J.T. Izard91 RAE Amnon Bar-Tur ... Read more

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High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Nebula is a Federal Cloud Computing pilot under development at NASA Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley, California. The project began in Fall 2007 and operates under the direction of NASA Ames' CIO Chris C. Kemp.[1][2][3] The Ames Internet Exchange which hosts the Nebula Cloud, was formerly MAE-West, one of the original nodes of the Internet, and is a major peering location for Tier 1 ISPs, as well as being the home of the "E" root name servers. Nebula also connects to CENIC and Internet2, at 10GigE connections. Nebula is a hybrid cloud that uses open data APIs for interoperability with commercial cloud providers, such as Amazon EC2 and Google App Engine. ... Read more

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This digital document, covering the life and work of Mae West, is an entry from Contemporary Authors, a reference volume published by Thompson Gale. The length of the entry is 1732 words. The page length listed above is based on a typical 300-word page. Although the exact content of each entry from this volume can vary, typical entries include the following information:

• Place and date of birth and death (if deceased)
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• A description of the author's work
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