Courting Mae West

The play "COURTING MAE WEST: Sex, Censorship & Secrets" is based on true events during the 1920s when actress MAE WEST was arrested and jailed in New York City for trying to stage two gay plays on Broadway. Maybe she broke the law - - but the LAW couldn't break HER!

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Friday, December 26, 2008

Mae West: 1929

In the winter of 1929, MAE WEST was interviewed by Edgar Waite of the San Francisco Examiner. Here is a portion of their conversation.
• • Edgar Waite: Is it your purpose to reflect life as it is lived — — or are you trying to elevate the stage?
• • Mae West: Don't kid me. I've had one dominating purpose in writing such plays as "Diamond Lil," "The Drag," "Sex," "The Wicked Age," and "Pleasure Man."
• • Edgar: Moral uplift?
• • Mae: Box-office uplift.
• • Edgar: What luck?
• • Mae: Assorted. Last Monday at the Curran, we took in $300 more than Ethel Barrymore on her opening night last summer. On the other hand, if the district attorney of New York hadn't closed "Sex" because the curbstone bidding for tickets took too many cops off their regular beats, I'd have owned my own theatre by now.
• • Edgar: Do you consider your plays quite moral?
• • Mae: I consider them a theatrical representation of those phases of life which interest the public more than anything else, and have since the days of Sappho, Aspasia, and Delilah.
• • Edgar: And when was that?
• • Mae: Forever.
. . .
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
• • The Curran Theatre
— — where Mae West performed her play in 1929 — — is located at 445 Geary Street, San Francisco, CA 94102.
• • "Courting Mae West" — — is a full-length play based on true events in the life of Mae West during the Prohibition Era.
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• • Photo: Mae West
• • 1928 illustration • •

Mae West.

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