NEWS FROM FILM, CENTRES.

Waikato Times, Volume 116, Issue 19314, 21 July 1934, Page 17 (Supplement)

NEWS FROM FILM, CENTRES.

CLEANER FILMS.

MOVE IN UNITED STATES. MAE WEST DEFENDS HERSELF, j "A NARROW-MINDED WOMAN." J (By Philip Kinsley in Chicago I Tribune.) HOLLYWOOD, June 13. Can thirty-five million people be wrong? Is Mae West through? These are questions which Hollywood is now asking itself in connection with the, forthcoming release of her picture, “It Ain’t No Sin." '■ A new hesitancy about “throwing : sex at the public" has become apparent here since the churches and mothers of the nation began llicir campaign 1 for decency in Ihc film shows. No ! star has ever been censored as she | has been, day after day, week al’lei j week, during this production, i She does not want to offend any I one, she says. This new timidity doI mands analysis. It chimes with the changing times in Hollywood. It may mean the end of the Mae West vogue, a contingency of which she is fully aware. Show Girl First of AIL Mae West is first of all a showgirl She has been described as the greatest “female impersonator" of all times. The element of truth in this wise crack is that she is definitely giving the public what long experience on Broadway taught her they want, yet remaining indifferent to it herself. She puts on a sex part with her famous corsets, and takes it off when she goes home. A similar case is that of Maurice Chevalier, who when he is not dancing and smiling his famous smile and kissing rapturously before the long arm of the sound box and the glare of the camera lights, is remote and dignified and uninterested in the beautiful ladies that flutter around him. The Hollywood Way. This is all part of the great illusion of Hollywood. The flickering shadows of firelight falling on the faces of camp singers are made by waving strips of paper in front of the camera. Tears are produced by glycerine. The motive is illusion and the box office. Twelve million people saw the first West picture, “ She Done Him Wrong,” and thirty-five million flocked to “ I’m No Angel." /Ml the king’s censors could not keep a third picture of this type from the screen. Three million dollars in it, if It goes. But something is happening to it. The producers have decided that more entertainment and less sex is the current demand. “It Means Nothing.” “What ain’t no sin?” was the first question put to Miss West. “It means nothing," said Miss West. “ That title is just a gag—no relation to the picture." 'One of the fan magazines had just started a letter contest on whether the West influence was good or had. Miss West did not like tills. Her smooth face registered disapproval and seriousness. “■That carries a bad suggestion,” she said. “I never mean to be offensive, never. I never say anything to hurt people, or call them names." It was explained that Miss West's influence Is always thrown on the side of good, that she receives tons of fan mall, mostly from girls asking advice, and she always tells them to obey their mothers and be good girls. Sex Just a Big Laugh. ■Her sex, it was also explained by her explainers, is just a big laugh, so absurd that it is more like Punch and Judy than any portrayal of real life, and no one could possibly be led wrong by it. “ I went into vaudeville with a nice son'g and play,” said Mae. , ‘ The manager said to me one day that that was not what people wanted, that they wanted sex. I said I could give it to them, and I did.” Miss West has no doubts now thal “ She Done Him Wrong” was a good picture, harmless entertainment, but she says there are some things in “ I’m No Angel ” that she did not like. It was here that she invited sundry gentlemen who were able to give her diamonds to "come on up and. see me some time.” One song of flaming love written for her in the studio had to be thrown out. They could not get by now, they realised. “ I am really a rather narrow minded woman. This may sound funny coming from me, but it is true. I do not drink or smoke. I do not go to Hollywood parties because I (lo not enjoy them. They can’t be enjoyed without drinking. I like it in Hollywood because of the sunshine. I never had much of that in New York. I may build a house and stay here.

Will She Be Through? “ They say that I will be through after this picture. It may lie that the public will tire of me, but 1 am a show woman and have a few tricks up my sleeve, yet. I think 1 will he good for a number of years.” There are people in other Hollywood studios who think that the West pictures should never have boon produced, but this is regarded as mere sour grapes at Paramount, where it is said that every sludio in town lml for her after her first success. Hie has remained faithful to Hie people who brought tier out, although she might, have made a million dollars ,a year in four pictures lor other studios. When it came to llie last picture "It \iii't No Hn,” Hie first script was rejected by the Hays censors as highly offensive, dealing with seduction, gambling, robbery, arson, and Ihc dialogue was found lo he a eon.(Uonltaued in next column./

* STARS AT WORK AND LEISURE

flict with the producers’ code, which states: “Xo picture shall be produced which will lower the moral standards of those who see it. Hence the sympathy of the audience would never he thrown to the side of crime, wrong-doing, evil, or sin." Glorifying Evil. This script was warned against as glorifying a prostitute and crime, producing audience sympathy with evil. A second script was written and a third and the company went ahead with Hie production under the watchful eye of their own censor. The (tint result is now declared by lhe Hays ofllce lo be "not offensive.” II remains lo he seen how the Hays censors, who had intended making a tesl case of this new West picture, can reconcile it with their code. Hollywood has in tile oiling as other sex Show attractions .loan Crawford in "gadie .McKee.” .lean Harlow in "100 Per Gent Pure.” Claudette Colherf in " Cleopatra,” and Anna SLen in ” Resurrection.’'