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Ready, set, Mae.
Let's watch Mae West in her second picture, She Done Him Wrong (1933). She pulled Paramount out of hock with a Bowery swagger and dialogue as bright as her diamonds.
*Notes in a thread*
#SassMouthDamesWatchParty
https://ok.ru/video/932336437762
Let's watch Mae West in her second picture, She Done Him Wrong (1933). She pulled Paramount out of hock with a Bowery swagger and dialogue as bright as her diamonds.
*Notes in a thread*
#SassMouthDamesWatchParty
https://ok.ru/video/932336437762
Mae West began her career in vaudeville in 1917 when she was only 14. By 1926, she wrote the play Sex which became a big hit. Mae noted that Sex had been sold out for 41 weeks before John Summer, the ‘pope’ of the Society for Suppression of Vice claimed it was obscene.
The court found Mae guilty of corrupting morals of the youth, with a $500 and sentence of 10 days in jail. Mae was outraged by conditions on Welfare Island, where women were treated like beasts.
Early on, Mae decided that she was going to love herself more than anyone else. After two brief marriages didn’t last, she put off formal divorce from the second, because it would safeguard against doing anything stupid during a hot romance.
Mae's best advice though is WRITE YOUR OWN STUFF. She became a star on Broadway and in Hollywood by writing her own material.
When her play Diamond Lil opened in 1928, it broke house records. Reviews said the crowds looked like a favourite bootlegger returned to town. Mae considered Lil her alter-ego. The play was a smasher.
Mae recalled that she could get away with saying just about anything on Broadway so long as she gave it an ironic delivery. She also noted that it wasn’t what she said, it was how she said it.
Mae watched theatre receipts take a nose-dive after the Wall Street crash. She figured the pictures made money and could increase the size of her audience. The way she put it, she went to Hollywood with her carfare home. She could always leave if it didn’t suit her.
William LeBaron from Paramount invited her to Hollywood.
Mae was cast for Night after Night (1932) for $40,000. She waited 12 weeks for a script and when it arrived, she thought her role was bland. Mae wanted to write her own dialogue—if they didn’t like it, she would refund $$
Mae was cast for Night after Night (1932) for $40,000. She waited 12 weeks for a script and when it arrived, she thought her role was bland. Mae wanted to write her own dialogue—if they didn’t like it, she would refund $$
Mae was 40 when she made her film debut (40 and fine AF). Her maturity may have appeased the censors somewhat--can you imagine Will Hays taking the same dialogue from Jean Harlow?
Frances Dee said that when Mae joined Paramount, the stars kept their dressing room doors open and listened for Mae. Everyone loved to watch her walk to the set—that was the power that Mae West had.
Night After Night (1932) was George Raft’s first starring role. As he put it, Mae stole everything but the cameras. I can't think of a better screen debut. Mae is on fire. She wore her own diamonds--the studio fakes would have given her a rash (and would look bad on screen).
One day after her first film she was robbed in her car. The thief stole $1000 in cash and $12,000 in jewellery. An investigation found it was an inside job set up by her chauffeur. The police recovered all of her diamonds and half the cash. The robber went to prison.
She told Photoplay about her inspiration for Diamond Lil
Will Hayes had put Diamond Lil on the banned list in 1930. Harry Warner caught wind of Lil on the Paramount schedule, and dropped a dime to the men in the Production Code office faster than a reply guy on Twitter when a woman talks street harassment.
The Hays Office was so worried about Diamond Lil, they put James Wingate in charge of the Studio Relations Committee. Hays thought Wingate would be impervious to Hollywood glamour because he lectured in a teachers college (hilarious!).
Wingate gave orders. He didn’t believe in compromise, and he didn’t care about art or box office receipts. Lowell Sherman, the director, had a reputation for bawdy sex comedies, not staid period pieces.
Mae’s scenes with Rochelle Hudson are my favourite in the picture. When she summarises Sally’s story, Lady Lou says ‘Some man done her wrong’. That could be the subtitle of 90% of woman’s pictures.
Mae is so tender and a true upright dame.
Mae is so tender and a true upright dame.
Paramount LIED to Hays and Wingate repeatedly, and denied they were adapting Diamond Lil. They certainly were scripting, casting, and shooting it through weeks of telling scolds what they wanted to hear.
Mae told LeBaron that she could get the picture done in three weeks. Paramount had little to lose since they were in receivership, having declared bankruptcy.
Wingate & Hays were largely ignored, but they had impact on the story. They wanted the sex trade angle played down. They wanted the studio to remove Cary Grant’s Salvation Army uniform. ‘A Man Who Takes His Time’ had to be edited. And they couldn't Diamond Lil in promotions.
Mae West requested makeup artist Dorothy Ponedel. Dottie: ‘I pulled out portraits and pictures by famous artists to see what I could steal from their paintings. Like the white in the eye, the plucked eyebrow, the gaunt look, the full lower lip, and many other little attractions’.
Dottie Ponedel also put a white dot at the corner of Mae West’s mouth on either side to make her mouth seem larger. She went to Mae’s penthouse each morning after she made up the other stars. Mae would have her cook prepare a big breakfast for Dottie.
Fans revised Mae’s famous line and dare I say improved it? Landing on a longer word like ‘sometime’ rather than ‘me’ just sounds better. Mae didn’t mind.
Paramount promised Mae their star designer, Travis Banton, but he was away in Europe. Edith Head took over. Mae felt that Edith understood her body and what she wanted. They quibbled over low necklines. Edith said they weren't of the period. Mae said there would be no sex w/out.
Edith was captivated by Mae from their first meeting. Mae wore a clingy white dress cut down to the navel—at 10.00 in the morning. Mae told Edith ‘I want my clothes loose enough to prove I’m a lady, but tight enough to show ‘em I’m a woman’.
Mae preferred satin and velvet, touchable fabric. She welcomed Edith embellishments with feathers, sequins, and rhinestones. Edith went to an ostrich farm in Pasadena to select feathers for Mae’s costumes. ‘Mae West taught me what a woman can do with a format’—Edith Head
Edith’s flock of birds gown with a picture hat is the most beautiful in the picture. Mae’s skin glows like marble. Mae asked for an eye-catching gown for a scene where she didn’t have a lot of dialogue to keep audience riveted on her. The birds were outlined with brilliants.
Mae’s gowns were so tight that there was no room for a corset or bra. Gowns were made with boning to keep shape. Mae’s gowns were so tight that she was unable to sit down. When she needed to sit for a scene, Edith made two versions of the same gown, one just a little bit bigger.
When reporters asked if she thought her costumes were indecent, Mae replied that her costumes covered up her body. And there was no rule about how tight a dress should be. She said the same to the Hays Code creeps
Mae wrote in her memoir that she discovered Cary and cast him in his screen debut. She embroidered the story. Pre-Code fans know Cary was a leading man for Marlene Dietrich and Sylvia Sidney among others.
Who is the bigger louse?
Chick or Dan?
Horrible.
Chick or Dan?
Horrible.
When Mae doesn’t wear a ring on her index fingers it’s such a hot look I want to steal it. If she had worn a ring on each finger, it would have looked too much. This is the kind of attention to detail she was known for.
Everyone drools for Cary, but *hello* Gilbert Roland is a swoon merchant--and he brings her diamonds.
Rafaela Ottiano (Russian Rita) never understood the rules: as sass mouth dame and her diamonds shall not be parted.
A knife fight!
This picture has everything.
A knife fight!
This picture has everything.
Edith Head noted that she never made a Mae West dress for anyone but Mae. The look wouldn’t work for anyone else. Edith observed that most people wanted to look like Garbo, Dietrich, or Crawford.
Paramount studio had filed for bankruptcy before Mae’s arrival. They were on the verge of selling their theatres to MGM’s Loew concession at a bargain price. But then Mae West sauntered and saved the day. In less than three months, She Done Him Wrong made two million.
Two of Mae’s pictures were in the top ten box office for 1933: She Done Him Wrong (at number 4) and I’m No Angel (number 2). Adolph Zukor gives Mae the credit for saving the studio in his memoir.
Mae West brought a goldmine to the studio. They paid her the ultimate compliment with artistic freedom. She chose her next story, wrote it, and had approval for the cast, crew, and wardrobe. She was a mogul.
After She Done Him Wrong opened, one review congratulated Paramount for sneaking Diamond Lil past the chipmunk cheeks of Will Hays (burn!).
Mae does more with a shoulder roll than four pages of dialogue
Mae always gets her man 
Thanks so much for hanging out.
See you next week for Barbara Stanwyck in The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946).
See you next week for Barbara Stanwyck in The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946).
