Average customer rating:
- Double Entendre Had Everything To Do With It
- A fascinating read
- Self-Aggrandizing, but Unapologetic and Thoroughly Entertaining.
- What a Woman! What a Star! What an Ego!
- A classic by now
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Goodness Had Nothing to Do With It
Mae West
Manufacturer: Manor Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 0685652890 |
Customer Reviews:
Double Entendre Had Everything To Do With It.......2007-05-20
Mae West considered writing her autobiography as early as 1957 and several publishing houses had already approached her. A flood in the mid-thirties destroyed documents of her early vaudeville appearances stored in the basement of her Hollywood apartment building, The Ravenswood, and other papers stored at her ranch house were eaten by rats.
Since arriving in Hollywood, her film career had been well-documented, but West had only a faint recollection of what happened and where. She asked Larry lee, who assisted her with the novelization of "Diamond Lil" to research her early stage career. Lee suggested they try writing a few chapters to see how things went. Eventually Stephen Longstreet, an author who ghosted other star biographies came on board to help West pull together her book, and was given credit for his "editorial assistance." West apparently supervised everything and pointed out, "Nobody can write about me except me," a remarkable feat considering she barely completed the third grade.
The driving force in West's decision to pen her memoirs was that someone else might try to write an unauthorized account of her life and there wasn't much she could do about it since much of her life had been spent in the public domain. Initially West protested that she had so much more to do with her life, but friends pointed out she could write a sequel in the future. Some of the the early working titles West had in mind for her memoirs were "Queen of Sex," and "Come Up and See Me Sometime."
Although West's autobiography went through several printings in hardback and soft cover, critic's reaction to her account of her life was mixed. Theatre Arts stated "the heart of gold is outweighed by the purse of gold and the gloating over box-office grosses," while the New York Times reviewer found West's tome "theatre wise, basically clean, sometimes corny, often entertaining yarn."
Perhaps Mae West's self penned novel, "Babe Gordon," published in 1930 and later rechristened, "The Constant Sinner," was closer to the actual events of her life, that she dared not reveal in her later biography. The inside panel of the original cover proclaimed, "Constantly sinning and constant to her sin, Babe Gordon, the heroine of this vigorous story belongs to that rare type of woman who uses her beauty and sexual allure as a soldier uses his weapons - without mercy or scruple. She is irresistible to every type of man, from the bruisers of the prize ring to the sensitive sons of aristocracy. She is canny, worldly wise, quick thinking. All her art , her wisdom, her will is to love; and when her passion for one man cools, she kindles it in another.
In a classic example of life imitating art, Mae West was outraged when Confidential magazine featured an expose on her private life alleging her sexual proclivity for black men. Chalky Wright, "a bronze boxer" whom West had met was "invited up to see her sometime" and ended up living with her for a year. Confidential magazine claimed "West's favorite color combination, as only the men in her life know, is black and white."
As a result of Mae West's appearance in Myra Breckinridge in 1970, interest in her was at an all-time high, and MacFadden-Bartell published an updated edition of her biography in paperback.
West asked George Eiferman, a former 1948 Mr. America, and 1962 Mr. Universe title holder, to write an eight page appendix entitled "My Story," explaining the events that led to Chuck Krauser aka Paul Novak knocking out Mickey Hargitay. West sagely secured affidavits from the other bodybuilders in the act supporting her statement that she had never shown romantic interest in Hargitay. When asked why it would possibly matter years after the fact, West pointed out, "That's where you're not thinkin' clear. It's when he gets desperate that he'll try to peddle a story, '"I was the One Man Mae West Wanted but Couldn't Get."
West's prophesy was realized when Gordon Mitchell, one of the muscleman in her Vegas act was quoted in the July 2001 issue of Premier : "Mickey won't tell you this but I will. Mae was crazy about him! He was the first guy who ever rejected her." Other chapters in West's updated memoirs dealt with the filming of Myra Breckinridge and outlined plans for future projects.
For the serious student of Mae West lore, "Goodness Had Nothing To Do With It" is an excellant starting off point to discover why Mae West can be considered the most fascinating woman of the Twentieth Century.
A fascinating read.......2006-05-01
Mae West (1893-1980) was well known in her day as a leading sex symbol. But, she was more than a pretty face and a set of wild curves. Ms. West had a mind of her own, and a great deal of talent - she was an actress, a playwright and a screenwriter. Her on-screen personae featured a great deal of double entendre, and she considered discussing human sexuality to be a basic human right. In 1959, she published her autobiography, which was designed to tell her story, from her angle, and this is it!
Overall, I found this to be a fascinating read. Mae West was a fascinating woman, and led life the way she wanted to. Now, whenever any writes an autobiography, it is so that they can put their own spin on things, presenting themselves as they want to be presented. Well, that's the fun of an autobiography, and I must say that Goodness Had Nothing To Do With It is a lot of fun.
Plus, I must say that I loved her particular take on Broadway and Hollywood. So, if you are interested in that golden Ms. West (diamond would be closer to the truth), then this is the book for you. Also, if you are interested in early 20th century Broadway or early Hollywood, then this is also a book that you should read. I give it two thumbs up!
Self-Aggrandizing, but Unapologetic and Thoroughly Entertaining........2005-10-21
"Goodness Had Nothing to Do With It" takes its title from a line in Mae West's first film, 1932's "Night After Night". By 1959, when the first edition of this autobiography was published, Mae West had conquered stage, screen, and Las Vegas and not lost a bit of sassy style in her 66 years. "Goodness Had Nothing to Do With It" is an unabashedly self-aggrandizing tour of Mae West's professional life and loves, but it's nothing if not entertaining. The story begins with a self-possessed -if not self-obsessed- child from Brooklyn who made her stage debut at age 7 -barely, since she refused to go on stage until the spotlight was on her. Mae turned professional at age 8, debuted on Broadway at 18, caused a sensation soon thereafter with her wriggle, began to write her own plays in the 1920s, was jailed for "corrupting the morals of youth" soon after, followed with films in the 1930s, a return to the stage in the 1940s, and Las Vegas night clubs in the 1950s.
"Goodness Had Nothing to Do With It" focuses more on the conception of West's plays and movies than on other aspects of her life. This might be explained by West's passion for her career above all else, but she never did like to discuss her personal life. West believed that personal confessions amounted to overexposure and undermined her value as an entertainer. That may have been true when she was a huge star, but a candid autobiography could do her nothing but good in 1959. Mae West spent a lifetime creating and reinforcing a persona, though, so that's what she does here. She speaks fondly of the men in her life, but without many intimate details. Ironically, Mae West eschewed vulgarity, always preferring insinuation. But that sometimes left me wondering if she was a libertine or a tease. And surely her ego and inflexible nature frustrated a few of her lovers, whom West would have us believe all worshipped her unfailingly. I'm not sure how literally to take "Goodness Had Nothing to Do With It", but Mae West always did put on a great show, and this book is no exception. Her fans won't want to miss it.
What a Woman! What a Star! What an Ego!.......2003-08-23
Originally written in the 1950s and later updated in the early 1970s, GOODNESS HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH IT is the autobiography of the celebrated Mae West, one of the 20th century's greatest stars of stage and screen. It is an entertaining read, and in her writings West perfectly captures that unique tone and way with words that made her world famous.
But whether she intended it to be so or not, the most interesting thing about the autobiography is its revelation of the incredible ego that drove her. To hear her tell it, West was born with absolute self-awareness, knew what she wanted from the cradle, and was well on her way to getting it before she could walk. Be it saving the life of a drowning child, doing a lion-taming act, or living out the life of sex goddess to end all sex goddesses, Mae West did it first--and if not first, at least better. And if either of those are a matter of opinion, there is clearly only one opinion that counts with West: hers.
Sometimes she is factually inaccurate, as in her assesment of the box office success of MY LITTLE CHICKADEE (it was not a big hit at the time.) Sometimes she simply ignores an unpleasant fact or two, as when she declares that her film work ended because no one could offer her a good script (in truth, her screen career ended because public taste had changed and her films simply weren't living up to box office expectations any more.) But the truly astonishing thing about her various claims is how often they really are correct: yes, she really did save Paramount from bankruptcy; yes, she really was the highest-paid star in 1930s Hollywood; yes, her stage work was every bit as legendary as she says it was.
If West's autobiography often comes off as boastful, it has reason to be so; even so, the tone of unending self-praise does have a way of wearing a bit thin after a while, and now and then a little humility would not have been amiss. And if you're expecting a litany of lovers and bedroom details, you will no doubt be disappointed in the book. West gives few details and names no names.
Even so, it is a fascinating--or should I say fascinatin'--read. It was a indeed a brilliant career, a remarkable life, a memorable personality. If you're a fan, this is a must have.
--GFT (Amazon.com Reviewer)--
A classic by now.......2001-09-04
Though sugar coated and boastful, it covers a great deal with photos only she could/would provide. A must for any serious Mae West collector, especially if you can get it with it's original cover.
Book Description
Sex goddess, Hollywood star, transgressive playwright, author, blues singer, and vaudeville brat---Mae West remains the twentieth century’s greatest comedienne. She made an everlasting mark in trailblazing Broadway plays such as Sex and The Constant Sinner and in films such as She Done Him Wrong, Klondike Annie, and I’m No Angel.
Simon Louvish, biographer of W. C. Fields, the Marx Brothers, Laurel and Hardy, and Keystone’s Mack Sennett, brings Mae to vibrant life in this unparalleled new biography. He charts her amazing seven decades in show business, from early years in teenage summer stock to her last reincarnation as 1960s gay icon and grande dame of Hollywood survivors.
Mae West: It Ain’t No Sin is the first biography to make use of Mae’s recently uncovered personal papers, offering an unprecedented view into the endless creative drive and daring wit of this legendary star.
Customer Reviews:
The meaner you treat 'em, the sweeter they act.......2007-05-21
Academic, even pompous, full of text, armed with facts and scrupulous about avoiding conjecture, Louvish writes the kind of bio I can dig. The emphasis is on West the ARTIST. There's plenty of quoted material to just let West be herself. Occasionally, though, Louvish indulges some fanciful prose (eg, his description of West's Presidential bid) - very nice. (My only complaint is he missed the story with Sgt. Pepper.) Smart stuff, all in all.
Enjoyable read.......2007-04-02
This biography chronicles Mae West's life and achievements very well. While I disagree with another reviewer's comments about spelling errors ("gangster" and "Floradora" are correct spellings) I do agree that the author's writing style could have used some editing to avoid repetetive phrasing and over-use of "as we shall see". A fact checker might also have helped since the New York hotel mentioned as being on the site of Mae's old theatre is not called the "Marquess Marriott". It's the Marriott Marquis. I know because I worked there a few years after it opened. One would think a British author would be better versed in noble titles.
But back to Mae. This book shows just how hard Mae West worked at her craft in order to make everything she did seem effortless. She was a dedicated performer and this book does a better job than most in conveying that fact.
Stretching the limits of permissibility.......2007-01-02
Mae West provided civil libertarians with new limits for permissible discourse at a prudish moment in US history. Louvish presents the cases brought before the courts in which she stretched what was allowed to appear on stage and in print. I found this the most fascinating part of the book, making it a must for those who want to know more about US censorship and its nefarious effects on artistic creativity. The amazing thing is that Mae persisted in the face of harrowing restrictions that would have daunted anyone else. Louvish's chronicle of how she faced the censors, and thrived anyway, is a study in courage in the face of state controls. The research is thorough and revealing as he presents Mae West as a crusader against censorship of any kind. The fact that she continued her career despite major restrictions placed on her scripts attests to her fighting spirit. Behind this dolled up woman was a steeled professional.
Doesn't anyone have an editor or fact-checker anymore?.......2006-12-18
I have to admit, I had to give up on this book by chapter 2, there were so many misspellings and factual errors: "Floradora" girls, Evelyn "Nesbitt," "gangster" Diamond Jim Brady, "P.T. Barnum's star Anna Held."
I really blame the publisher more than the author. Does no one send these books through fact-checking or to an editor anymore, or are they just churned through Spell Check?
The Pen Is Mightier Than The Sword.......2006-11-24
Simon Louvish's biography of Mae West, "It Ain't No Sin" is a workmanlike examination of a remarkable show woman's career that spanned the entire gamut of 20 Century showbusiness from vaudeville, the Broadway stage, talkies, sound recordings, Las Vegas, and eventually television.
Placing the accomplishments of this extraordinary performing artist in chronological order and making sence of her impact at the time and beyond represents a yoman's task, which for the most past, Mr. Louvish is well prepared.
It is disappointing that the much ballyhooed entree to "her previously unaccessed papers" offers so little insight to the workings of her mind. However Mr. Louvish does point out that Mae West spent a lot of time pushing the pen well into the wee hours of the night polishing and perfecting her craft , giving her adoring public the impression that she was pushing against something mightier than the proverbial pen.
Mae West endured well past her initial Hollywood prime and continued to thrill new audiences well into the 1950's, Sixties and Seventies. Unfortunately, this aspect of her career and life are skipped over lightly. Mae West flowered during the Free Love Generation of the 1960's and became a cultural icon that outgrew her initial camp second coming.
Her contribution to Gay Liberation and the legions of fans gay, hetrosexual and try anything who befriended and encouraged her in the later stages of her career are sadly overlooked. Perhaps this is because Mr. Louvish did not have the time available to dig beyond the surface in regards to this remarkable period of her public and private persona.
I have had the remarkable good luck to become acquainted with many of Mae West's "gay mafia" and been privy to many of the remarkable adventures they shared with her. Through the stories her confidantes related during the last two decades of her life, one comes to understand the truly personable and lovely individual Mae West really was. It is my hope that my manuscript, "Saint Mae Our Lady Of Hips & Quips", researched over a ten year span, will eventually find a publisher, and give Mae West's adoring public another aspect of this truly unique individual, who was like a diamond in her ability to focus light on the facet of her life she wanted seen at any given time.
In the meantime, Mr. Louvish's tome is as good a read on Mae West currently available, and is well worth having in your personal library.
Book Description
Hollywood Blondes: Golden Girls of the Silver Screen examines the lives and careers of Tinseltown's most memorable blonde bombshells. Twenty-two classic actresses are profiled including Marilyn Monroe, Jean Harlow, Carole Landis, Betty Grable, Marie McDonald, Thelma Todd, Lana Turner, Jayne Mansfield, Barbara Payton, Veronica Lake, Grace Kelly, Alice Faye, Mae West, Carole Lombard, and Judy Holliday. Each chapter has a complete filmography. There are more than one hundred rare photographs featured throughout the book.
Customer Reviews:
Great news for the Marie McDonald fans.......2007-09-28
I was beyond thrilled when someone told me there was a chapter about Marie McDonald in this book. I have been a huge Marie fan ever since I saw her in Promises Promises but there is not a lot of information about her out there. Thank goodness for Hollywood Blondes! This has to be the most detailed and accurate look at Marie's turbulent life. I thought they picked some stunning photos of Marie too. I wasn't surprised when I learned the authors started MarieMcDonald.org
I also like the other chapters in Hollywood Blondes. It was a good mix of bombshells from the 30s, 40s, and 50s.
A True Winner.......2007-09-25
I didn't like this book - I LOVED IT!!!!!!!!!! If you think the stars today live crazy lives you should see the messes these classic stars got themselves into. I like to consider myself a classic film expert and I was very pleasantly surprised by how much I learned. There is a lot of information packed into this book. There are tons of quotes sprinkled throughout the book which made you feel like you were hearing the actresses tell their own story. Adding a detailed filmography at the end of every chapter was a great idea too. Also most books like this give you one or two pictures of each actress but this one is filled with dozens of great photos (some were a little dark). The best part for me was discovering actresses like Carole Landis and Barbara Payton who I didn't think much about before.
You can tell the authors have a lot of respect for these actresses because they are all written about in a mostly positive way. I hate books that treat the stars like they were saints but Hollywood Blondes doesn't do that. It gives you all the real dirt about their bad marriages, their drug problems, and their sad endings. Fanatics probably won't like seeing their idols exposed but you have to face the fact that celebrities are human beings. These blondes may have been gorgeous and talented but they were also very flawed women. After reading it you really feel sorry for them yet you still want to run out and rent their films.
I did find some factual errors but that is true with every book. There are definitely not as many errors as some of these other reviewers claim. The Jayne Mansfield and Jean Harlow chapters were actually two of my favorites. I am looking forward to Michelle Vogel and Liz Nocera's next book!
Michelle Vogel Hits Another Mark.......2007-08-16
This book is sensational. From the gorgeous cover to the well written text. Vogel andher co-author, I do not know but am now a fan of, have really been great in their work. This book went into why Hollywood Blondes lived such tortured lives. Sure there are things in here, that some reviewers can and will disagree with. But it's unfair and tasteless to claim facts are wrong and you (the reviewer) knows more about a star like Jean Harlowe than the writer. Maybe the writer got information from someone other than you. Maybe if you are such a Jean Harlowe nut, you should write a book yourself. I found this book to be more than 99% accurate, sometimes writers have their own way of doing things and finding research and you shouldn't assume they didn't do their homework. These authors most certainly DID do their homework and the book is written brilliantly! I enjoyed the Lana Turner chapter most of all. The way Vogel writes it, gives you the feeling of almost being in the room as an observer in many dramatic and shattering scenes played out in this blonde beauty's life. Great job, Ms. Michelle Vogel. Looking forward to your next book.
Young Kid Who Appreciates Old Films.......2007-06-26
My mom and I have been reading one chapter of this book each night. Now that I'm on vacation from school we watch a movie from the actress we read about the night before the following day. My mom has always talked about these actresses and I've enjoyed knowing more about their personal lives. It gives me a better understanding of their acting when I know who they were in real life.
All the famous ones are covered in "Hollywood Blondes" - My favorites are Marilyn Monroe, Judy Holliday, Betty Grable and Jean Harlow. The detailed filmographies have helped us track down which movies we want to see too. It's a real bonus to have the filmographies of each actress after their chapter.
Not all of the movies are available anymore but old movies are being found and restored all the time so hopefully some of the lost films will become available in the future. If you're a fan of the blonde actresses from many years ago, whatever your age, this is a really fun and enjoyable book to read :) :)
If you think famous people of today like Lindsay Lohan, Britney Spears and Nicole Ritchie have their problems, after reading this book, it seems that old Hollywood celebs had the same pressures, addictions and problems. Many of the women in this book were addicted to drugs and alcohol. They had so many marriages and men in their lives, I found it hard to keep up and there were even some murders! I also found it interesting that as beautiful as they all were, their self esteem was very low. Probably the reason why they used drugs and alcohol to feel better about themselves.
Well, that's it. I just really liked this book and wanted to let you all know about it. Thanks!!!!!
Hollywood Blondes Doesn't Deliver The Goods.......2007-06-11
Hollywood Blondes is the title of a new but highly superficial and unoriginal book on the flaxen actresses of the silver screen by Michelle Vogel and Liz Nocera. Weaving the reader in from silly hair color commercial catchphrases, to the history of how blonde hair was revered throughout the ages, (throughout the centuries women have use horse dung, horse urine, and saffron to lighten their hair) to the introduction, these two self-proclaimed "film historians" do themselves in and let the reader know what they are in for....which certainly is NOT knowledge of famous blonde actresses.
From telling the readers about the psychological effects that blondes are supposed to be lovelier, and that only a few percentage of the world's population are naturally blonde, one gets the idea that they are over-wording just to use up more space in the book.
I will limit myself discuss the Jean Harlow chapter and add a couple of notes here on other actresses I am familiar with, so others can write their reviews on other stars they know more about.
While Jean Harlow's hair did become damage from over-bleaching, it wasn't true that, "She had no other choice but to wear a platinum blonde wig in her last seven films." In fact, Harlow was not a platinum blonde since 1935. She opted for a platinum colored wig in 1935's China Seas, as she was letting her own hair grow in. The only two films that she wore wigs after that were in Riffraff----the movie that introduced Harlow to the world as a "brownette"in 1936, and in Wife vs. Secretary. Harlow wore her own natural hair color of honey blonde hair in her other films from 1935 on, including Saratoga, her last film in 1937.
Here are some mistakes about Jean Harlow that were written on this book.
--Jean Harlow was not born in St. Louis, Missouri. It was Kansas City Missouri. Betty Grable was the one born in St. Louis.
--Harlow's mother was never referred to as "Mama Jean"; she was known as "Mother Jean."
--Jean's grandfather, Skip Harlow, was not an architect; he was a real estate broker.
--Clara Bow did not make a film called The Love Parade with Harlow. It was The Saturday Night Kid, in which Jean had a minor part.
--Charles McGrew did want Jean to have their child at the time she was pregnant.
--Howard Hughes was never "infatuated" with Jean; he was never interested and neither was she. There was no romance between the two.
--Canine star Rin Tin Tin did not die "cradled in her (Jean''s) arms." That is just a myth added to the Harlow legend.
--MGM Mogul Louis B. Mayer was not "obsessed" with Harlow; he never offered her a mink coat to have sex with her. That is a tall tale fabricated by novelist, Irving Shulman, who wrote an unaccountable, undocumented, un-researched, and false account on her life.
--Paul Bern, Jean Harlow's second husband, did not buy Jean "a mansion on Easton Dr, in Benedict Canyon." after they got married. That house was already his.
--Jean was never suspected of "being the killer" in Paul Bern's death; that is a plot from one of Jean''s movies.
--Jean did not "witnessed" Dorothy Millete killing Paul Bern. Jean was at her mother's house where she had spent the night.
--It was not "one of the biggest mistakes" for Jean to turn down King Kong, as we know it Fay Wray did nothing but scream and scream in it since the star of the picture was and will ever be: Kong!
--The character of Lola Burns in Bombshell is not patented after Jean Harlow, as the writers claim, but after Clara Bow. However, this was Jean's favorite role.
--While John Barrymore was in Dinner at Eight where Harlow was featured, Greta Garbo and Joan Crawford were not. The authors were thinking of Grand Hotel, in which Jean never appeared.
--Jean did not buy" a big mansion." She purchased the lot and her mother build it. It was called the ``White Palace," not "the big white house."
--MGM never tried to "destroy all copies" of Harlow's novel Today is Tonight. Mother Jean sold MGM the book after Jean''s death. MGM bought it help out Mother Jean economically.
--Reckless was not "loosely based on Jean and Paul Bern's real story." It was a script patented after Broadway star Libby Holman, whose husband, Zachary Smith Reynolds, had killed himself the same year that Bern did.
--Jean and her mother did not move in "a modest bungalow on North Palm Drive." It was a beautiful, Spanish styled, two-storied large home in Beverly Hills.
--Jean did not "collapsed into his (Clark Gable''s) arms" on May 24. The time was May 29 and the actor was Walter Pidgeon.
--Gable did not call "William Powell who took Jean home." She was driven in a limo back to her house by herself.
--William Powell died in 1984 not "1980."
--Mary Dees was not Jean's "long-time stand-in." Dees was hired to complete Saratoga. She never met Jean Harlow.
--Mother Jean did not die in "the same room at Good Samaritan Hospital," and she did not die on June 7th either; Mother Jean died of a massive heart attack on June 11, 1958.
As for Marilyn Monroe, the authors inform us that, "Without a doubt, Marilyn Monroe's persona was a creation of men, for men." That's part of the Monroe legend but it isn't true. By taking on Harlow's favorite color of white dresses to Lana Turner's hair styles, and Betty Grable's make up, Monroe presented her own version of the dumb blonde in the 1950's.
The misquote attributed to director Billy Wilder, where Marilyn said she was the only blonde in the films, didn't happen in Some Like It Hot (1959). The incident to what the writers are recalling was from Something's Got To Give (1962), Monroe's last and uncompleted film, and the director was George Cukor. If people watch Some Like It Hot, they can see that Monroe was in an all-blonde-girls-band. Another misquote attributed to Colombia Pictures' mogul Harry Cohn; he never said "Get me another blonde!," when he heard that Monroe had died in 1962. Monroe made only one film at Columbia when she was a starlet in 1948. She was never a contract player at Columbia; they had their own bombshell in Kim Novak. Any Monroe fan knows that she attained stardom at 20th Century Fox Films with the release Niagara in 1953, and had been that studio's contract player from 1951 till 1962.
According to the authors, Jayne Mansfield was "the poor man's Marilyn Monroe." In all my years of researching the library's microchips newspapers on Mansfield I never read that she was referred to that way. Mansfield was a Broadway star, given a highly-paid contract by Fox. Mansfield was that studio's premiere blonde star of the late 1950's. The only two films Monroe made at Fox, after her departure, were Bus Stop in 1956, and her last, Something''s Got To Give. Jayne''s market value at 20th Century Fox was twenty million dollars in late 1950's and early 60's money, which is about one hundred million in today''s money.
In a grave error the authors state that Lana Turner's Cheryl Crane "...shot and killed her (Turner's) gangster boyfriend, Johnny Stompanato..." and then telling us that "Cheryl stabbed him with the knife" in the Lana Turner chapter. At this rate one wonders, who did this book's editing? I found most of the chapters that I read to be careless, rehashed stuff from similar and equally badly written books. The authors use unverified websites as reference, quote sensationalist books, and worse, misquote a lot and resort to tabloid-trash writing. I would advise any reader to skip this book at all costs, not even for the photographs, which are studio-standard photos that any fan is probably familiar with. The writers just didn't care or know about reporting fresh, insightful, and true accounts of these stars' lives.
Average customer rating:
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Filipinos in Los Angeles (CA) (Images of America)
Mae Respicio Koerner
Manufacturer: Arcadia Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0738547298
Release Date: 2007-04-16 |
Book Description
The year 2006 marked the centennial of Filipino migration to the United States, when 15 migrant workers called sakadas arrived in Hawaii to work on the islands' sugar plantations. Today the largest concentration of Filipinos outside of the Philippines exists in Southern California. In the 1920s, the first substantial wave of newcomers settled in downtown Los Angeles, eventually migrating to areas just northwest of downtown, a district now designated by the city as Historic Filipinotown. The majority of early Filipino settlers were males who found employment in service-oriented industries, including work as janitors, dishwashers, and houseboys. Filipino Americans now contribute to all aspects of life and culture and live in virtually every Los Angeles neighborhood and suburb, including Eagle Rock, Cerritos, Glendale, Carson, and West Covina.
Book Description
Mae West was, without question, one of the most famous and controversial figures of her era. She was a tough-talking, wise-cracking vaudeville performer who made her way onto the Broadway stage and then into the hearts of the American public with a highly visible Hollywood film career. Rarely, however, do people think of Mae West as a writer even though she wrote eight scripts for the stage and her own dialogue for many of her films.
In Three Plays By Mae West, Lillian Schlissel brings this underexplored part of West's career to the fore by offering for the first time in book form, three of the plays West wrote in the 1920s--Sex (1926), The Drag (1927) and Pleasure Man (1928). Schlissel's introduction offers insight to the life and early career of this legendary stage and screen actress.
In her first starring role on Broadway, West played Margy LaMont in Sex, which had 375 continuous performances but was closed by the police after more than a year, when shewas tried and convicted of corrupting the morals of youth. Set in a Montreal brothel, the play confronts the issue of women separated by class and attitudes of sexuality. West's character learns the painful lesson that women are not bound in sisterhood simply because they have both shared the betrayal of men.
In The Drag, which opened in Bridgeport, Connecticut, but not in New York, West argued that, like sexuality in a woman, homosexuality had no class identification. In this play West used the theatricality of the drag "queens" who had become her friends and "sisters."
Pleasure Man is once again set in the world of theatre, and is both a forerunner to "La Cage aux Folles" and a revenge fantasy in which a man is castrated after seducing and impregnating an innocent girl. Pleasure Man had two and a half performances in the city before it was closed by the police. While West won the legal right to have her play performed, its controversial nature marked the end of her boxoffice success.
Customer Reviews:
Unapologetically Undiluted Mae West.......2006-11-25
When Lillian Schissel edited "Three Plays by Mae West,' published in 1997, it marked the first time Sex, The Drag and The Pleasure Man had ever been printed. Long thought to be lost, the original manuscripts gathered dust at the Library of Congress. After prolonged legal wrangling with the Roger Richman Agency of Los Angeles, who at the time represented the Mae West receivership estate, a deal was finally struck to have the plays finally published.
Schissel argues that West provided one of the first role models for women suggesting they could be independent and achieve success following through on their own ambitions.
When a revival of Sex was mounted in Seattle in 1998, a review noted, "What dates this show more than all the quaint wink-and nod lewdness are a couple of incredibly racist lines that I'm glad they didn't cut. At one point, Margy LaMont tells a guy there's no way he could get himself a woman, at least not a white women. Later a character tells Margy that she could make good money whoring in Trinidad "'cause all the girls down there are half black."
Times have changed when this shocks us more than humping. Even a couple of archaic racial slurs are left in, the only real shock here is that a 1927 audience wouldn't have even blinked.
The strength of Schissel's work is the research she uncovered in the case for the prosecution against Mae West in legal documents relating to the staging of Sex and The Pleasure Man. The testimoney presented during the court proceedings is fascinating to read and sheds light on the rampant homophobia at the time.
Perhaps the most important aspect of Schlissel's sleuthing is that excerpts from West's obscenity trial and disturbingly the censor's accusations sound as troubling today as they did 80 years ago. The arguments used 80 years ago to ban Mae West's bon mots are not unlike those used today to bar gay and lesbian artists from public funding and public self-expression.
Highly recommended!
Customer Reviews:
A Satire that is a murder story.......2003-12-16
This book more than any of the others in Baxt's Hollywood series is satirical. It perfectly describes Miss Mae West as she was in the 30's - outrageous, campy and surprisingly generous. She was a very warm human being, and totally aware of what she was and what she wasn't. After all she created herself and marketed herself in a way that few actresses did in that day and age. In this book there are a series of murders of Mae West impersonators, and Detective Villon works with Mae to try to find the killer before the real Mae West became a victim. The crescendo builds up until it culminates in a bizarre Halloween party held at an infamous nightclub. More murders occur, but Mae manages to avoid it, and then gets ready to set up the denouement in the most curious place you'll ever find.
Average customer rating:
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Postcolonial Theory and the United States: Race, Ethnicity, and Literature
Lawrence Buell ,
Rhonda Cobham Sander ,
Juan Flores ,
Mae G. Henderson ,
Anne Fleischmann ,
Amy Kaplan ,
Maureen Konkle ,
Arnold Krupat ,
Jana Sequoya Magdaleno ,
Lisa Suhair Majaj , and
Kenneth Mostern
Manufacturer: University Press of Mississippi
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Binding: Paperback
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Cultures of United States Imperialism (New Americanists)
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Environmental Injustices, Political Struggles: Race, Class and the Environment
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Race and Resistance: Literature and Politics in Asian America
ASIN: 1578062527 |
Book Description
“Camp,” Mae West told Playboy, “is the kinda comedy where they imitate me.” But what was West doing, if not camp itself? Guilty Pleasures puts women back into the history of camp, a story long confined to gay male practice. Emphasizing the distinctive roles women have played as producers and consumers of camp, Pamela Robertson links her subject to feminist discussions of gender parody, performance, and spectatorship. Her book offers a heady tour of social and cultural criticism at its most interesting, and American culture at its most flamboyant.
Robertson grounds her theoretical discussion of female performance and spectatorship in detailed studies of figures such as Mae West, Joan Crawford, and Madonna. She locates these figures in turn within a tradition of feminist camp—a female form of aestheticism related to masquerade and rooted in burlesque, parallel to but different from gay male camp. Through analyses of films from Gold Diggers of 1933 to Johnny Guitar, as well as video and television, Robertson shows how the gold digger is to feminist camp what the dandy is to gay male camp—its original personification and defining voice. Set against a backdrop of social history, her analysis demonstrates that feminist camp flourishes during periods of antifeminist backlash in America, and that it reflects a working-class sensibility particularly attuned to changing attitudes toward women’s work and sexuality.
Appealing to a wide range of scholars spanning the fields of film and mass culture, feminism, gay/lesbian/queer studies, and cultural studies, Guilty Pleasures will also attract an audience of general readers interested in camp and popular culture.
Customer Reviews:
Not So Guilty Pleasure.......2006-11-25
A Feminist Examination Of Mae West, November 24, 2006
Pamela Robertson's "Guilty Pleasures: Feminist Camp From Mae To Madonna," published in 1996 is a university press publication that examines Mae West's contributions to the Feminist Movement and evaluates her role as a female icon of the twentieth century. This treatment of West is a typical academic text with some research of textual sources, but with little or no interviews and featuring theory that is hit or miss.
When Mae West was asked why she never wrote an article supporting the Feminist Movement she reportably drawled, "They never asked me."
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Mae West Is Dead: Recent Lesbian and Gay Fiction
Manufacturer: Faber & Faber
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0571148980 |
Book Description
Mae West is Dead represents the best of contemporary lesbian and gay fiction in Britain and the United States. This edition includes a new story by Adam Mars-Jones.
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