Mae West: Sex Backers Vexed

In March 1927 MAE WEST did not take the stand but many witnesses did.
• • The N.Y. Times reported: Harry Cohen, a clothier at 260 Fifth Avenue, testifying yesterday for the prosecution in General Sessions at the trial of the three producers and twenty-three members of the cast of the play "Sex" produced (until recently) at Daly's Sixty-third Street Theatre, testified he advanced the first $2,500 for the production of the play in Waterbury, Connecticut.
• • Jim Timony convinced Harry Cohen to invest an additional $1,500 in the Broadway production. The garment manufacturer grew suspicious. On the stand he insisted that the "Sex" backers (i.e., Mae West and Timony) wanted a police raid. The N.Y. Times printed this headline the day after Cohen aired his grievances in court: "Witness Testifies Mae West Rewrote Play and Insisted on the Spicy Scenes Because City Liked Them. Clothier Also Asserts He Put In $4,000 and Started Suit When He Was Counted Out of the Profits."
• • The play "Courting Mae West: Sex, Censorship & Secrets" dramatizes the trials of 1927 and 1930 in New York City that threatened to topple Mae's towering ambitions. This serious-minded comedy was last featured before a sold-out audience in January 2012 in Melbourne, Australia as part of their MidSumma Festival.
• • Photo: Mae West and Barry O'Neill in March 1927 in Jefferson Market Court looking very concerned. Don't you adore that woolen tri-corn on her head though? If she was going to be accused in a tribunal and pointed at, she would be the Napoleon of crime!
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
• • The legal battles fought by Mae West and Jim Timony are dramatized in the play "Courting Mae West: Sex, Censorship, and Secrets," set during the Prohibition Era. Watch a scene on YouTube.
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Source:http://courtingmaewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Courting Mae West
Mae West
• • Photo: Mae West • • in court, 1927 • •
NYC
Mae West.

Courting Mae Down Under in 2012

There was a full house on 28 January 2012 when actress Marie-Therese Byrne took the role of MAE WEST in "Courting Mae West," a serious-minded comedy written by LindaAnn Loschiavo. A one-time only presentation Down Under, the play had a rehearsed reading under the direction of Cameron Menzies during the Midsumma Festival, now in its 24th year.
• • In character as the pre-Hollywood Mae West, Ms. Byrne looks every inch the star as she shows her determination to climb the ladder of success wrong by wrong.
• • Artistic Director of Fly-on-the Wall Robert Chuter said the entire affair went very well.
• • Australia's trendy L.O.T.L. Magazine said: "Those in the mood for some titillating theatre should consider 'Courting Mae West,' part of Midsumma's Playing in the Raw season."
• • Special thanks to Robert Chuter for selecting "Courting Mae West" for Midsumma Playing-In-The-Raw's series.
• • WHEN: Saturday, 28 January 2012 — — from 2.00pm — 4:30pm
• • WHERE: Midsumma Playing-In-The-Raw at The Chapel [Melbourne, Australia]
• • Tell them you heard about Midsumma on The Courting Mae West Blog.
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
• • The legal battles fought by Mae West and Jim Timony are dramatized in the play "Courting Mae West: Sex, Censorship, and Secrets," set during the Prohibition Era. Watch a scene on YouTube.
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Source:http://courtingmaewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Courting Mae West
Mae West
• • Photo: Mae West • • Marie-Therese Byrne on 28 January 2012 • •
NYC
Mae West.

Mae West: MidSumma in Melbourne

This Saturday — — today on 28 January 2012 — — Marie-Therese Byrne will take the role of MAE WEST in "Courting Mae West," a serious-minded comedy written by LindaAnn Loschiavo. A one-time only presentation Down Under, the play will have a rehearsed reading under the direction of Cameron Menzies during the Midsumma Festival, now in its 24th year.
• • Australia's trendy L.O.T.L. Magazine said: "Those in the mood for some titillating theatre should consider 'Courting Mae West,' part of Midsumma's Playing in the Raw season."
• • She broke the law — — but the law didn't break her! • •
• • Based on true events during the Prohibition Era — — from December 1926 until December 1932 — — the play follows a pre-Hollywood Mae West, age 33, as she socializes in the drag cabaret where she had cast "The Drag" (in Act I, Scene 1), a daring production she plans to bring to Broadway. Unfortunately, she gets arrested and jailed instead (Act 1, Scene 3). Censorship, courtroom battles, bankruptcy, and other crises will dog her footsteps, forcing the Brooklyn bombshell to climb the ladder of success wrong by wrong. Finally, a Paramount Pictures star at 39 years old, Mae gets to bring her box-office blockbuster "Diamond Lil" to the silver screen on her own terms by the end of 1932.
• • Veteran actress Marie-Therese Byrne will portray the 33-year-old Broadway star — — and outspoken Jefferson Jail inmate. Her bio notes that Bryne's vast experience stretches across decades and includes theatre, opera, film, and television. A consummate performer with a powerful presence, she has thrilled audiences in productions as versatile as Five Minute Call, The Secret Garden, Dimboola, Seven Little Australians, The Sound of Music and Summer of the Saw. Her stunning voice has seen her work with the Victorian State Opera on Joan of Arc, Aida and Carmen along with The Merry Widow and Di Fledermaus. On screen she appeared in the Aussie films The Castle, and Evil Angels along with appearances on Blue Heelers, Neighbours, Sons and Daughters, Phoenix, Prisoner, Australia's Most Wanted and Flying Doctors.
• • The various men, judges, attorneys, news dealers, directors, and drag queens in Mae West's life will be brought to life by the actors Paolo LoLicata, Marc Opitz, and Joshua Hackett.
• • WHAT: "Courting Mae West: Sex, Censorship & Secrets" by US playwright and Mae West authority LindaAnn Loschiavo
• • WHEN: Saturday, 28 January 2012 — — from 2.00pm — 4:30pm
• • WHERE: Midsumma Playing-In-The-Raw at The Chapel [Melbourne, Australia]
• • VENUE: Chapel Off Chapel, in the City of Stonnington, has earned, both nationally and internationally, an excellent reputation as a progressive arts and entertainment venue.
• • Restrictions: R18
• • Special thanks to Robert Chuter for selecting "Courting Mae West" for Midsumma Playing-In-The-Raw's series.
• • Tell them you heard about it on The Courting Mae West Blog.
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
• • The legal battles fought by Mae West and Jim Timony are dramatized in the play "Courting Mae West: Sex, Censorship, and Secrets," set during the Prohibition Era. Watch a scene on YouTube.
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Source:http://courtingmaewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Courting Mae West
Mae West
• • Photo: Mae West • • Mae West in 1926 • •
NYC
Mae West.

Mae West: MidSumma, Melbourne

At the end of January, Marie-Therese Byrne will take the role of MAE WEST in "Courting Mae West," a serious-minded comedy written by LindaAnn Loschiavo. At a one-time only presentation in Australia, the play will have a concert reading during Midsumma Playing-In-The-Raw. Many thanks to Robert Chuter!!
• • Based on true events during the Prohibition Era — — from December 1926 until December 1932 — — the play follows a pre-Hollywood Mae West, age 33, as she socializes in the drag cabaret where she had cast "The Drag" (in Act I, Scene 1), a daring production she plans to bring to Broadway. Unfortunately, she gets arrested and jailed instead (Act 1, Scene 3). Censorship, courtroom battles, bankruptcy, and other crises will dog her footsteps, forcing the Brooklyn bombshell to climb the ladder of success wrong by wrong. Finally, a Paramount Pictures star at 39 years old, Mae gets to bring her box-office blockbuster "Diamond Lil" to the silver screen on her own terms by the end of 1932.
• • Actress Marie-Therese Byrne will portray the 33-year-old Broadway star — — and Jefferson Jail inmate. Her bio notes that Bryne's vast experience stretches across decades and includes theatre, opera, film, and television. A consummate performer with a powerful presence, she has thrilled audiences in productions as versatile as Five Minute Call, The Secret Garden, Dimboola, Seven Little Australians, The Sound of Music and Summer of the Saw. Her stunning voice has seen her work with the Victorian State Opera on Joan of Arc, Aida and Carmen along with The Merry Widow and Di Fledermaus. On screen she appeared in the Aussie films The Castle, and Evil Angels along with appearances on Blue Heelers, Neighbours, Sons and Daughters, Phoenix, Prisoner, Australia's Most Wanted and Flying Doctors.
• • WHAT: "Courting Mae West: Sex, Censorship & Secrets"
• • Directed by Cameron Menzies
• • Starring Marie-Therese Byrne
• • WHEN: Saturday, 28 January 2012 at 2.00pm
• • WHERE: Midsumma Playing-In-The-Raw at The Chapel [Melbourne, Australia]
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
• • The legal battles fought by Mae West and Jim Timony are dramatized in the play "Courting Mae West: Sex, Censorship, and Secrets," set during the Prohibition Era. Watch a scene on YouTube.
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Source:http://courtingmaewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Courting Mae West
Mae West
• • Photo: Mae West • • Mae West & Barry O'Neill on trial, 1927 • •
NYC
Mae West.

Mae West Down Under in 2012

"COURTING MAE WEST: Sex, Censorship, and Secrets" will be presented on Saturday 28 January 2012 in Melbourne, Australia as part of the city's 24th Midsumma Festival. Based on true events during the Prohibition Era, LindaAnn Loschiavo's serious-minded comedy will be seen at this centrally located theatre: Chapel Off Chapel, 12 Little Chapel St, Prahran Melbourne, Australia.
• • The 24th Midsumma festival will run from Sunday 15 January to Sunday 5 February, 2012.
• • Robert Chuter, Artistic Director, FLY-ON-THE-WALL THEATRE, will oversee this production with an Australian cast. Making a name for themselves since 1985 as one of the most prolific and hardworking theatre companies in the country, Fly-On-The-Wall has gathered a loyal following and established themselves as one of the premiere “cult” producing houses. Unafraid of controversial content but always with a sharp eye for beauty, the company has been responsible for some of Melbourne’s most legendary productions and grown through various transformations over the years: From its early stages as Ghostshirts through to the grandeur of the outdoor productions at Ripponlea Estate as Performing Arts Productions (earning them the title of “The Merchant/ Ivory of Melbourne theatre”), to its current incarnation.
• • PHOTO: LindaAnn Loschiavo poses with Mae West, actress Yvonne Sayers, at the Algonquin Theater in NYC in July 2008
• • PHOTO CREDIT: Conrad Bradford
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
• • Annual Mae West Tribute 2011 • •
• • "Mae West in Bohemia — — Gin, Sin, Censorship, and Eugene O'Neill"
• • Mae West's birthday is August 17th. Join a vivacious group of Mae mavens on Sunday afternoon, 14 August 2011. The title of this year's illustrated historical theme walk is "Mae West in Bohemia — — Gin, Sin, Censorship, and Eugene O'Neill." Rare vintage illustrations will show you how the buildings and blocks looked as these two theatre people saw them. At the final stop on West Third Street, you will see how caricaturist Al Hirschfeld sketched O'Neill and his stage plays from the 1920s on.
• • Sites will include the Village speakeasies where Eugene O'Neill [1888 — 1953] drank himself into oblivion and met the characters he would put in his plays, and where Mae socialized and bent elbows with Texas Guinan, Walter Winchell, Jack Dempsey, and Barney Gallant; significant theatres; the courthouse where Eugene and Mae battled against censorship; and off-beat addresses that made an impact on the career of these playwrights. Get ready to walk on the wild side.
• • Raffle prizes! Each Mae West walking tour ends with a raffle of Mae-themed prizes.
• • When: Sunday, 14 August 2011 — — rain or shine
• • Where: This Illustrated Walking Tour begins promptly at 3:00 PM at 62 West Ninth Street, where a gay cabaret once stood that inspired Mae West to write "The Drag" (and hire their drag queens for the cast). This tour focuses on 18 sites around Washington Square and ends at the Eugene O'Neill and Al Hirschfeld exhibition. Time: 90 — 120 minutes.
• • Cost: $10 per person
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
• • The legal battles fought by Mae West and Jim Timony are dramatized in the play "Courting Mae West: Sex, Censorship, and Secrets," set during the Prohibition Era. Watch a scene on YouTube.
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Source:http://courtingmaewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Courting Mae West
Mae West
• • Photo: Mae West • • "Courting Mae West" in 2008 • •
NYC
Mae West.

Mae West: Gin, Sin, and O'Neill

Act I, Scene 1 of the stage play "Courting Mae West" begins in Bohemia, inside the gay cabaret that inspired MAE WEST to write her play "The Drag." During the 1920s, Paul & Joe's was an Italian restaurant that catered to people involved at Jefferson Market Court by day — — and then turned into a colorful pansy party after dark. Clues to the cross-dressing scene were planted in The New York Times, for instance, where revelers, notable drag queens, and scene-makers could notice that a "diamond-encrusted pansy brooch" had been "lost" at 62 West Ninth. Hmmm, a missing pansy brooch! Hint hint.
• • On 14 August 2011, to celebrate Mae's birthday, a walking tour will start at Paul & Joe's former location [a restaurant now called The Lion].
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
• • Annual Mae West Tribute 2011 • •
• • "Mae West in Bohemia — — Gin, Sin, Censorship, and Eugene O'Neill"
• • Mae West's birthday is August 17th. An upcoming Mae West event that is open to the public will be held on Sunday afternoon, 14 August 2011. The title of this illustrated historical theme walk is "Mae West in Bohemia — — Gin, Sin, Censorship, and Eugene O'Neill." Rare vintage illustrations will show you how the buildings and blocks looked as these two theatre people saw them.
• • Sites will include the Village speakeasies where Eugene O'Neill [1888 — 1953] drank himself into oblivion and met the characters he would put in his plays, and where Mae socialized and bent elbows with Texas Guinan, Walter Winchell, Jack Dempsey, and Barney Gallant; significant theatres; the courthouse where Eugene and Mae battled against censorship; and off-beat addresses that made an impact on the career of these playwrights. Get ready to walk on the wild side.
• • Raffle prizes! Each Mae West walking tour ends with a raffle of Mae-themed prizes. Sponsors may inquire about suitable product placements for August 14th.
• • When: Sunday, 14 August 2011 — — rain or shine
• • Where: This Illustrated Walking Tour begins promptly at 3:00 PM at 62 West Ninth Street, where a gay cabaret once stood that inspired Mae West to write "The Drag" (and hire their drag queens for the cast). This tour focuses on 18 sites around Washington Square and ends at the Eugene O'Neill and Al Hirschfeld exhibition. Time: 90 — 120 minutes.
• • Cost: $10 per person
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
• • The legal battles fought by Mae West and Jim Timony are dramatized in the play "Courting Mae West: Sex, Censorship, and Secrets," set during the Prohibition Era. Watch a scene on YouTube.
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Source:http://courtingmaewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Courting Mae West
Mae West
• • Photo: Mae West • • Paul & Joe's in 1926 • •
NYC
Mae West.

Mae West's Drag Raging

Written in 1926, MAE WEST's controversial play "The Drag" will be onstage this weekend and next. If you're not in the Midwest, you can still enjoy a video of this production [link below].
• • Announcing that a "Boundary-pushing play on drag and homosexuality opens," scribe Ellen Harris (reporting from Iowa) gives us a preferential peek into the backstage prepping.
• • Ellen Harris writes: The cast members of Dreamwell Theatre’s The Drag sweated and sang their way through rehearsal in the cramped quarters at the First Baptist Church on June 10, utilizing the borrowed attic to the best of their combined abilities.
• • “It’s a garret for theater,” said first-time director Chuck Dufano about the less-than-ideal practice space.
• • Since the beginning of May, Dufano and his cast and crew have rehearsed The Drag, a 20-century play written by silver-screen star Mae West. This presentation, a Dreamwell Theatre production, will be performed at the Universalist Unitarian Society, 10 S. Gilbert St., at 7:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and June 26-27, 2009.
• • “The play as a whole is very serious,” Dufano said. “But with [the 1920s-era songs] and drag bits in between, it interjects a lightness. It’s a great commentary, really.”
• • The performing arts — particularly theater — are known for its support and acceptance of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community. Unsurprisingly, Mae West felt comfortable using her sex-symbol status to educate the public on matters of a delicate, discreet nature. Her first big play, titled Sex, led to her prosecution in 1927 by New York City officials on charges of questionable morality. Her subsequent eight-day incarceration helped propel West into fame. Her next piece, The Drag (written that same year), never had a Broadway première — the Society for the Suppression of Vice (a Prohibition-era institution dedicated to supervising the morality of the public) promised to banish the play.
• • The Drag, a severely dated presentation on homosexuality and drag culture, follows a few days in the life of Rolly Kingsbury, a wealthy, unhappily married man whose secret life of queers and queens takes a giant toll on his personal and professional lives.
• • Seasoned actor (and UI alum) T.J. Besler plays the tormented and confused Kingsbury, using small mannerisms — such as the touch of a hand upon a shoulder — to illustrate his longing for something other than his wilting flower of a wife, performed by Wartburg College graduate Becca Robinson.
• • Besler, whose résumé is full of various dramas and musicals, cited the diverse cast of The Drag as part of its community appeal.
• • “There are homosexual cast members, there are heterosexual cast members,” he said. “I think it’s great.”
• • Though originally written as three acts of straight dialogue, Dufano and music director Elisabeth Ross decided that some 1920s-era music would lighten the darker nature of the play. Almost every character gets a melodic spotlight, belting famous tunes such as “The Man I Love” and “Making Whoopie.” Ross, a UI graduate teaching elementary music in the area, assisted the actors in preparing to burst into song, as actors are wont to do in musical theater.
• • “There are a lot of really awesome voices here,” Ross said. “I think they make [the song interludes] work.”
• • Dreamwell is observing June’s Gay Pride Month, producing The Drag in conjunction with Pride Fest activities. Various Iowa City establishments, such as Studio 13, 13 S. Linn St., will host gay-community events, such as tonight’s cabaret and Saturday’s drag show. The celebrations in the city are testament to the community’s support of all of its denizens.
• • Robinson, The Drag’s female lead and a member of Dreamwell Theatre’s board, applauds the social and political efforts of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender organizations.
• • “This struggle has been going on [forever],” she said. “In this current time, when we see some advances are really starting to be made, it’s a reminder of how long they’ve taken to get there, how far they’ve come, and how much further they’re going to go.”
• • The essence of that era is evident in the language of The Drag. Terms such as “degenerates” and “moral lepers” are used when describing “victims of moral depravity” — namely, the gay men whose lifestyles are described in a physician’s book, one of the key set properties in the production. There is a scene in which a judge argues for homosexuals to be institutionalized, jailed, or sent to an asylum to deal with their “curse.”
• • Robinson is quick to explain the controversial moment.
• • “I feel like the dated bits are balanced by the fact that there are very ‘out’ homosexual characters who aren’t ashamed of what they are and who are having a really wonderful time,” she said.
• • However far society has come, some arguments that the play presents seem strikingly familiar. Debates about feminine versus masculine behavior and nature versus nurture as it relates to sexual development — these discussions are as recent as Miss California Carrie Prejean’s decrowning and the legalization of same-sex marriage in Iowa.
• • As Iowa has progressed, so has the theater. Though a constant haven for those who feel outcast by societal norms, even the performing arts have held antiquated views on sexual identity — West’s characterizations in The Drag are a prime example. The play may unpleasantly surprise audiences with its terminology, but the innuendo of the delightful drag queens (so honored by the title) draws more than enough laughs from the crowd.
• • “I think the show has something for everyone,” Besler said. “No matter what point of view you’re coming from.”
• • "The Drag" is onstage here: Universalist Unitarian Society — — 10 S. Gilbert Street, Iowa City, Iowa 52240.
• • NOTE: A slide show along with a video that shares song numbers from Mae West's play "The Drag" can be seen online currently — — http://www.dailyiowan.com/2009/06/18/Arts/11739.html
— — Source: — —
• • Article: "Boundary-pushing play on drag and homosexuality opens"
• • Byline: Ellen Harris | Staffwriter
• • Published in: The Daily Iowan — — www.dailyiowan.com
• • Published on: 18 June 2009
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
• • The serious-minded comedy "Courting Mae West" by Greenwich Village playwright LindaAnn Loschiavo, set during 1926 — 1932, explores Mae West's legal woes surrounding "The Drag" and "Sex." Scenes in Act I dramatize Mae's interactions with her drag queen cast, the police raid on 9 February 1927, and the tense aftermath at Jefferson Market Police Court.
• • Using fictional elements, the text is anchored by true events and has several characters who are based on real people: actress Mae West; Beverly West; Jim Timony; Texas Guinan; a news seller on Sixth Avenue and West 9th Street; and Sara Starr, based on the Greenwich Village flapper Starr Faithfull, whose death inspired John O'Hara's novel "Butterfield 8" and a dozen other books.
• • "Courting Mae West: Sex, Censorship, and Secrets" has attracted the attention of a theatre owner and Is now seeking a co-producer for a for-profit off-Broadway production.
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Source:http://courtingmaewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Courting Mae West
Mae West
• • Photo: Mae West • • 1927 newspaper • •
NYC
Mae West.