Photoplay (Jan-Jun 1935)

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DOROTHY BOYD ART STUDIO 67 Minna Ave. at First, San Francisco Paramount set to direct Mae West, I didn't know whether she was actually an actress, or, simply a woman with an amazing personality. She hadn't finished rehearsing the first scene until I knew the answer to that one. It was "actress"! There is none of the poseur in Mae West. She is so genuine in her work that she breathes life into characters that would be flamboyantly artificial in the hands of lesser players. For example: Jeanne Eagels was the only actress who succeeded in making Sadie Thompson a believable, sympathetic character. In her characterizations we know so well in pictures today, Mae West is the soul of rhythm. Neither her seductive walk, her knowing, alluring wink, nor her languorous drawl are studied poses. I have seen several clever girls attempt to imitate Mae, but they always fail to even touch the real thing. Their Westian poses are jerky and unconvincing. In other words, the lure is lost. I IKE our other few real actresses, Mae be *— lieves in what she is doing. She understands the necessity of rhythm and relaxation in acting. She reminds me of a "sleeping" leopard, completely relaxed, yet with all her senses fully alert for the big moment. To watch Mae play even an unimportant scene say, strolling nonchalantly across a set, stopping to light a cigarette for a man, is to watch the epitome of grace. But, to watch her really turn on the heat and "GIVE" — I'll leave the effect on your system to your own fertile imagination. I wonder how many people realize that Mae West satirizes sex? She has made our oldfashioned vampires, those mysterious, pallid, emaciated, smoky-eyed females appear as futile as they usually are in real life. Her robust, lusty humor would do much towards humanizing several traditional characters. Mae has always wanted to do a version of the Queen of S/ieba. As this glamorous biblical character is almost wholly a legendary woman, the West version, however humorous, is apt to be as truthful as any. — Catherine the Great — OBSERVE the billing! I submit Mae West as Catherine the Great. Am I mad? Not at all. Read your history. What sort of woman was the amazing Empress of all the Russias? Not the glorified person we have seen in pictures. Not by any stretch of the imagination. Instead, she was a female Don Juan or Casanova, as well as a remarkably strong, dominating and fascinating woman. She freely acknowledged taking her fun where she found it. She was really a woman of great executive ability, and every inch an empress despite the irregularity of her moral life. To the very end, she was a great gal, good-natured and bubbling over with robust humor. So much for the character that everyone will agree Mae West can play. I'll now go to the other extreme. Mae could play a Peg 0' My Heart. — Mae as Peg — Yes, I know this sounds ridiculous. What, La Belle West in curls and baby-faced in nocence? No, that's not the idea. I'm talking about the plot of the play, not the charactei as played by the unforgetable Laurette Taylor. If Mae were to play a Peg 0' My Heart she need only forego the curls. The Irish brogue and mannerisms suit her personality to a T An Irish-American shopgirl, say, who finds herself suddenly transplanted into stuffy English society because of an inheritance. Can't you picture Mae in these surroundings? This plot is the same amusing idea, in reverse, as " Ruggles of Red Gap," which I have just directed. Here we have Charles Laughton and Roland Young, typical Britishers, sud denly transplanted into American Western society as typified by Mary Boland and Charlie Ruggles. It hits the funny-bone. In " Peg," everyone frowns upon her American manners. The only one who sees her true value is the English barrister who is administer ing the estate. At the climax of the story, there is consternation in the stuffy household when it leaks out that someone has been attending clambakes with the "heavy." Mae West in the role, realizing that the daughter is the guilty one, would rush to the defense with a crack running something like this: "Wait a minute. If there is any fun like that going on around here, who do you think ' would be having it?" — Tragic Stella — Do you recall the grand performance the late Belle Bennett contributed to silent pictures ai Stella Dallas? If Samuel Goldwyn ever makes the picture again, and he probably will, " Stella" would be a sensational success with Mae in the role. Here is a woman with no culture, no background. A silly butterfly-minded woman who valiantly strives to have her fling out of life, j no matter what the cost. Yet she tears your heart out in her vain attempts to be a good mother to the child. Here is an everyday character much older than Peg, much less colorful than Catherint and the Queen of Sheba. I should like to see Mae West play the role, if only to demonstrate her latent versatility as an actress. — Go West — Suppose Mae were to go West? No pun in tended, as "West" is a geographical location in this instance. One of the finest roles in all fiction awaits her. A great woman, nurtured in the raw of the man-made Western pioneer world. A stern-fibered give-and-take girl who was much finer than most of her sheltered sisters. I GIVE you Mae West as Cherry Malotte in ' "The Spoilers." In the Rex Beach epic of the Alaskan gold rush days, Mae could go dramatic to the hilt. A touch of rollicking Westian humor here and there, but essentially tragic and bitter. Can you picture, as I can, Mae as the faro dealer taking the boys? Or, playing a losing game for the hero's love with that gay "you can be had" attitude?