JOAN COLLINS tells an interesting anecdote about going to visit MAE WEST at her apartment in the early 1970s. COLLINS said that WEST was really creepy (at that point), extending a shriveled hand with long thick talon like nails; WEST said little, and occassionally would look over at COLLINS through one of her heavily hooded false eyelashed bird eyes. COLLINS said that MAE WEST was slightly hunched and appeared to look as though there was an internal person inside withering away beneath a crumbling carcas of make-up, old gowns, and hair pieces.
I like the one though about WEST on the production set of her last film, the painfully bad [SIZE=3]SEXTETTE[/SIZE] which was released in 1978; Apparently MAE was losing her hearing. She was in her mid 80s afterall. Anyway, because of her hearing loss and the fact that her eyes were bad enough that she couldn't read a cue card unless it was right in front of her, they decided to read her the lines right beforehand into a mic that would go to a hearing aid she had concealed under her wig.The signal was based on frequency modulation and so, it would also pick up various other signals like those from the police dispatches. The story goes that during one of MAE'S lengthy double entendre laden script pages about sex when her next line was suppose to be something like "Ummm, ummm, so you're 5 foot 9 inches you tell me.....well, let's skip the 5 feet and talk about the 9 inches...." Unfortunately, an outgoing distress message for a 911 call center had a stronger signal so while trying to seduce RINGO STARR next or whoever the hell, MAE ended up saying ....."Ummm, there's a rape in progress at 9th Avenue and Cahuenga Blvd, 2nd floor....."
There's always film critic PAULINE KAEL'S assessment of MAE:
"A grotesque looking transvestite who's verbal attempts at moaning passion sound more like an individual simulating a bowel cramp........"
I think that the old gal was pretty amazing myself. She was ahead of her time and gave some great fun performances. They say that MAE WEST' films kept [SIZE=3]P[/SIZE]aramount from going bankrupt in the mid 30s. Her shortcoming was that, like LUCILLE BALL, she didn't know when to call it quits.
[SIZE=1]BELOW: SALVADOR DALI'S design of 'Living Salon' ala MAE WEST[/SIZE]