Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1933-11-30
WHO is THIS
MAE WEST?
BY TALBOT LAKE
I'm the st. Paul Pioneer Press)


In every period of history some wo-
man has stood out from the crowd. The
French had Joan of Arc. The Eng
lish had Queen Victoria. Today, here
in America, we have Mae West What
girl!
Youngsters no longer need envy
their dads who raved of Lillian Rus
sell, the Gibson Girl" who dictated
fashions and figures of her day. And
justifiably, for what did Lillian have
that Mae can't offer? Like the great
Lillian, our own Mae has become a
symbol. Fashions. figures, diets, man
ners and even morals have been in
fluenced by her personality.
Only a short time ago dignified
physicians, meeting in conference in
Milwaukee. went on record to approve
Mae Vests curves as healthy and
good for women. In complimenting
the plump, blond actress, DR.. w. R.
Holmes said: eff it is Mae West who
is responsible for this new and yet
age-old fashion, my hat is off to her.
The return to 'plumpness in women
is a boon to womanhood."
Physically Strong.
Mae West developed the figure,
which has set the fashion world at
her feet, when with an acrobatic act
in vaudeville. She used to lift a
500-pound weight and carry three 150-
pound male assistants. Later, she
danced in revues, and finally gained
fame with play of her own writing,
entitled Diamond Lii"
Modern styles in women's clothes
are dubbed either Mae Westish or
Diamond Lilish. and though the I'M
derworld drama, Diamond Lii"
started Mae on her way to fame and
fortune, it also gave her some heart
aches. Police raided the show. Sub
sequently she served brief sentence
in the workhouse for producing and
appearing in another play, also the
child of her own brain.
Father Was on Stage.
Who is this woman who has made
the slim, sleek style of Irene Castle
as out-of-date as a horse and buggy?
Well, for one thing, as her lingo indi-
Gates, she comes from Brooklyn, a
section of New York city that has
long been the butt of comedians
iests. She was born net later than
1900, the daughter of Jack West, a
and theater bouncer.
Mae started her theatrical career
by doing limitations of Eddie Foy and
Bert Williams, names known to an
other generation. The dance known
as the shimmy is attributed to her
and not to Gilda Gray, who took it up
when Mae discarded it.
Mae isn't really as tough as she APP
pears She's just modern W man
with keen sense of what the public
wants. If her public wants her to
act vulgar and tough, it's kay with
Mae. But off stage and off the scree en-
she has complete control of her in
stincts. She seldom drinks.
When appearing before the GENERA,
Mae appears in padded costumes. Her
real dimensions are: height, 5 feet, 5
inches; weight, 100 pounds; waist, 81
inches; hips, SO inches; bust, 36
inches.
Code is "Be YOURSELF
Naturalness-or, in the language of
the common people, "be yourself" is
Macs code. For example, when she
got an idea for play, she'd call re-
hearsals and start production from
rough notes. In this way, she insists,
with the aid of her cast, she gets ac-
tors to talk and say the things real
folks say. Her system is to write the
dialogue and work out situations dur
ing rehearsals to fit the cast she has