Mae West

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The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition

Mae West

The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition | 2008 | The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Copyright 2008 Columbia University Press. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

Mae West 1893-1980, American stage and movie comedienne, b. Brooklyn, N.Y., as Mary Jane West. The unparalleled mistress of double entendre, West began in burlesque and continued in vaudeville, stage, and films, making a career of self-admiration and treating sex with broad humor. As a result, she was constantly battling against the Production Code (see motion pictures ). Many of her one-liners, such as "Come up and see me sometime," have become classics. Her plays include Sex (1926) and Diamond Lil (1928). Among her films are She Done Him Wrong (1933) and My Little Chickadee (1940).

Bibliography: See her autobiography, Goodness Had Nothing to Do with It, (1959) and The Wit and Wisdom of Mae West (1967); biographies by E. W. Leider (1997) and S. Louvish (2006).

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West, Mae

World Encyclopedia | 2005 | © World Encyclopedia 2005, originally published by Oxford University Press 2005. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

West, Mae (1893–1980) US stage and film actress. She began her career in burlesque. Her first film was Night After Night (1932). Her overt sexuality and use of double entendre in She Done Him Wrong and I'm No Angel (1933) led to increased censorship in the movie industry. Other films include Go West, Young Man (1936) and My Little Chickadee (1940).

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Free newspaper and magazine articles

Free Article Becoming Mae West.
Magazine article from: Video Age International; 6/1/1998
Free Article Belle of the nineties. (movie star Mae West)
Magazine article from: Interview; 5/1/1997
Free Article She done us right; comedic movie star Mae West was addressing such then-provocative material as intercourse, homosexuality, drag queens and prostitution in the 1920s.(REEL WORLD)
Magazine article from: USA Today (Magazine); 5/1/2006

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Becoming Mae West.
Magazine article from: Video Age International; 6/1/1998; ; 700+ words ; ...history Emily Wortis Leider's Becoming Mae West (Farrar Straus Giroux, 431 pp.) would have been better titled Being Mae West. For the heroine of this somewhat...exist in a determined present tense. Mae West is. Even during her early career in... Read more
Belle of the nineties. (movie star Mae West)
Magazine article from: Interview; 5/1/1997; ; 700+ words ; Mae West made sex synonymous with her name, and in...taboo-terrorizer, The Lady Bunny Legendary beauty Mae West was actually a little too plump to work the...face (hey, maybe I should start sporting a Mae West look!). Of course the female ideal in the... Read more
She done us right; comedic movie star Mae West was addressing such then-provocative material as intercourse, homosexuality, drag queens and prostitution in the 1920s.(REEL WORLD)
Magazine article from: USA Today (Magazine); 5/1/2006; ; 700+ words ; ...would have made of the incomparable Mae West, the film legend whose comically sexy...code of 1934. Just who or what was Mae West? She most resembled a female impersonator...Oscar Wilde. Armed with this repartee, West transformed a small, pleasantly plump... Read more
Mae West as 1911.(Speak out: your forum to pontificate, ponder and probe)(Letter to the Editor)
Magazine article from: American Handgunner; 7/1/2004; ; 141 words ; ...my instant reaction to the decorated Caspian-retro 1911 was Mae West. It was a quick transport back to antimacassars, short pants...of all ages. So move to the Huntington dream text and it is Mae all over again. Is that a gun in your pocket, or are you just... Read more
Where's mae west when we need her? camille paglia on why we must restore the "H" factor-the humor and the humanness. (Culture Opinion Page).(Interview)
Magazine article from: Interview; 7/1/2003; ; 700+ words ; ...CP: [laughs] You're right! It was like a freak show. IS: And there was no humor. It needed a Mae West figure, for a start. What made someone like Mae West so memorable, and what made you fight for the strip clubs or me for Robert Mapplethorpe's daring... Read more
Guilty Pleasures: Feminist Camp from Mae West to Madonna.
Magazine article from: Artforum International; 6/22/1996; ; 587 words ; ...Melrose Place. To be fair, Robertson's aim is true. She doesn't cast the pleasure women might take in romantic musicals, Mae West, the figure of the gold digger, Joan Crawford, or Madonna as an act of political subversion akin to tossing a Molotov cocktail... Read more
Man of repute: Mae West lost her reputation and never missed it, but that doesn't cut it in the business world. That's why PR guru and crisis-management master Jeff Caponigro and his firm specialize in helping their clients build-and protect--their reputations.(Personality Profile)(Interview)
Magazine article from: Detroiter; 10/1/2002; ; 700+ words ; When he wrote the book, The Crisis Counselor, a Step-by-Step Guide to Managing a Business Crisis, public relations guru Jeff Caponigro cemented his reputation as the master of crisis counseling. But he also does a lot of things people don't know about, and one of them just earned him some Read more
Colon hydrotherapy: will it benefit you? Princess Diana was an outspoken fan of colon hydrotherapy, which uses sterile water to flush debris from the colon. The legendary Mae West also believed in the benefits of colon cleansing, which she claimed greatly contributed to her unusual vitality and lasting beauty even into her senior years.
Magazine article from: Vibrant Life; 1/1/2007; ; 700+ words ; The health payoff of colon hydrotherapy, according to proponents, is a strengthening of muscles in the digestive tract, restored pH balance, better assimilation of nutrients, a feeling of heightened energy, a stimulated immune system, an overall boost in health and vitality, and improved Read more
Moira Mae Nameika.(DEATHS)
Newspaper article from: Telegram & Gazette (Worcester, MA); 5/21/2009; 159 words ; WEST BROOKFIELD Moira Mae Nameika, born May 8, 2009, died...and Alison (Stoner) Nameika, of West Brookfield. She leaves her grandparents...be made in the memory of Moira Mae Nameika to the UMASS Memorial...Pillsbury Funeral Home, Old West Brookfield Rd., Brookfield is... Read more
Mae J. (Wray) Skillen.(DEATHS)
Newspaper article from: Telegram & Gazette (Worcester, MA); 6/10/2009; 249 words ; VERNON, CT/WORCESTER Mae J. (Wray) Skillen, 86, formerly...wife of the late Royal Shaw of West Boylston. She is predeceased...moving to Connecticut in 1982. Mae is a graduate of the former Commerce...their kindness and love shown to Mae in the last five years. A graveside...flowers, donations may be ... Read more
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