"Goin' to Town" with Mae West (1935)

This is the closing scene from my new favorite Mae West film, "Goin' to Town", which was released in 1935. She plays the widowed wife of a rancher who falls for an English aristocrat. With a lack of what she thinks of as "class", she despairs of ever winning his love. But have no fear, the irrepressible Ms. West, just like the Royal Canadian Mounties, always gets her man.

This film contains 2 really good numbers. I especially liked the blues format of "Now I'm a Lady". As a matter of fact, I liked it so much that I converted it to MP.3 and it now plays in my car, somewhere between "James Brown Live at the Apollo", and Jason Mranz doing "Life Is Wonderful."

I thought I had seen all the Mae West movies, but apparently I missed this one. What makes it so unique is that it opens in a town that is purely 19th Century, and it's not until the first automobile appears, about 15 minutes into the film, that you realize this is a contemporary movie. It takes place in 1934, as evidenced by the close-up of the datebook page in one of the scenes. Also, the airplane trip to Argentina is kind of a giveaway.

There’s lots of fun in this movie, with Ms. West at her best, singing and vamping her way across 2 continents in search of class, and finding true love in the bargain.

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

It's been 43 years since the hot June day in 1967 when "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" came to America for the first time. The album had been out in England since May 1st, and some of the local DJ's had gotten copies from friends there. Late at night during the month of May, some of them were playing a few of the "cuts" before the American release date.

I had been standing outside Crawford's, a home furnishing store on the corner of East 14th Street and Kings Highway, that had a small record department. They sat across the street from Benhoff's Sporting Goods, which is where I normally purchased my records. But Crawford's had something that Benhoff's lacked- an outside speaker. And they weren't afraid to use it. In this case they were blasting "A Little Help From My Friends" for several days prior to the release of Sgt. Pepper. I would stand in front of their window, looking at all the bric a brac, listening to Ringo intone "...what do you see when you turn out the lights? I can't tell you but I know it's mine."

I bought the album across the street at Benhoff's for $2.57 in mono. The stereo version was $3.17 at that time. I took that album home and wore the grooves off of it!

The album seems a bit dated now. Playing it all the way through takes some patience and an understanding of the times. 1967 was a pivotal year for music in several ways. The Beatles had been locked into that rigid "pop radio" sound of 2 minutes 30 seconds give or take some, just as everyone else had been for so many years. Bored with touring, they announced the end of touring as a band in the fall of 1966. They would, instead, work in the studio to create new sounds. Working from December 1966 until April of 1967, with only 8 track equipment, they created an album that would revolutionize the way people thought of, and made, music.

The album was a smash, setting records (no pun intended) in every category. Music would never again be confined, as it had been, within time constraints and "permissable" uses of sound. This was the precursor to The Who's "Tommy" and Pink Floyds "concept" albums of the 1970's.

And the cover was, well, let's put it this way- the "normal" album cover of the time depicted a singer, or group, in a cute pose under the title. The cover of Sgt. Pepper was filled with imagery and symbolism. It was an intriquing work of art conceived by Peter Blake at the suggestion of John Lennon and Paul McCartney. They envisioned an imaginary band, Sgt. Pepper's, having just completed a concert in a park, with the crowd standing behind them. Peter Blake then asked for a list of notable people that they would like in the collage. John chose Jesus, Ghandi and Hitler. Ringo didn't care and George wanted all Hindu Gurus.

The end result featured Charlie Chaplin, WC Fields, Marilyn Monroe, Marlon Brando, a host of others too long to enumerate and even the wax figures of The Beatles from Madame Tussauds. Originally Mae West turned down the offer to be on the cover, replying to Brian Epstein's letter "...what would I be doing in a Lonely Hearts Club?" Only a personal letter from the Fab Four was able to change her mind.

The album went on to change the course of music, both in the way we listen to it, and the way in which we perceive it visually. It broke bounds and made a place for itself in the history of recorded music.

"Mae West - A Personal Biography" by Charlotte Chandler

Often, when I have been watching an old Mae West film, I have wondered how much different the character she plays is compared to the “real” Mae West. Thanks to Charlotte Chandlers’ book I finally have my answer – Not much!

In 1980 Ms. Chandler, armed with an introduction to Ms. West from legendary Director George Cukor, was able to interview the star who had weathered all of show business from Vaudeville and on through the Golden Ages of Movies and Radio. And she did it on her own terms at a time when women were not supposed to be so bold, working as performer, writer and even director of some of her own films.

Born in Greenpoint, Brooklyn before the turn of the 20th century, Ms. West was raised as a privileged child. She was always told by her mother that she was destined to do great things. Her father was a sometimes boxer and later carpenter and horse stable operator. She loved both her parents deeply and credits them with her early independence and success.

The book is, in a sense, an oral autobiography, in that the author has used Ms. West's responses to posed questions in order to create a seamless narrative of her life in her own words. Extraordinarily insightful reading on so many levels, this book gives us a close up look at the life of a real legend and the times in which she reigned.

Beginning with her childhood the author takes us through Ms. West’s early years, World War One and Prohibition. The 1926 “SEX” trial is of extreme interest. She was charged with “Producing an Immoral Performance.” She was found guilty and sentenced to a $500 fine or 10 days on Welfare Island (now Roosevelt Island) in the same wards where Mary Mellon (Typhoid Mary) had been held a few years earlier. Ms. West relished this experience and it left her with a new understanding of those who had not had the love she received when growing up. All in all, she counts the experience as being one of the most influential experiences of her life.

The book never stops giving as Ms. West lays bare her views on life, love, money, sex, marriage (she was married once at 17 but never lived with the man.) She explains why she never married and has only ever slept alone. When asked what she is like when she’s alone her sardonic reply is “When I’m alone I’m the same Mae West- but you’ll have to take my word for it cause when I’m alone there isn’t anyone else here.” True Mae West.

She once banned W.C.Fields from the set of “My Little Chickadee” for a day when he violated his contract and got drunk. Although not entirely a tee totaler, she would not abide a drunk. A non smoker as well, she despised cigarettes and cigars as ruinous to ones health and the skin.

She lived in the same apartment that the studio had provided her with in 1932. It was furnished with stuff from the prop department. She liked it so much- she kept it and in 48 years had made few changes.

There is so much more to this book as the author guides us through Ms. West's later career movie by movie. It is the skillful questioning of the author that unleashes this compelling story of one of the 20th Century's biggest stars.

If you like Mae West, or are a fan of her movies, then you will want to read this book. As a matter of fact, the author, Ms. Chandler, has done the same type of “Personal Biography” with the lives of Joan Crawford, Alfred Hitchcock, Bette Davis and Billy Wilder. You can be sure I will be reading those ones soon.