In terms of celebrity icons, few attained the highest levels of fame and controversy as rapidly as Mae West. Labeled a "pornographer" by censorship boards, she was also one of 1930s Hollywood's most lucrative box-office draws (causing "Variety" in 1933 to label the star "as hot an issue as Hitler"). Nicknamed by critic George Jean Nathan "the Statue of Libido" and paid homage to in the title song of Cole Porter's musical Anything Goes, her voluptuous image and signature platinum blond air became recognizable worldwide and for decades beyond her prime years of fame in the 1930s. In fact, even by the 1960s when the Beatles wanted to use her image on the cover of their Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album, those long-haired icons of a new generation were required to deliver a handwritten plea to the icon (which they dutifully did), since West herself always objected, as she said, to belonging to any "lonely hearts club."In the "Movie Icon Series", people talk about Hollywood glamour, about studios that had more stars than there are in heaven, about actors who weren't actors but were icons. Other people talk about these things, "Taschen" shows you. "Movie Icons" is a series of photo books that feature the most famous personalities in the history of cinema. These 192-page books are visual biographies of the stars. For each title, series editor Paul Duncan has painstaking selected approximately 150 high quality enigmatic and sumptuous portraits, colorful posters and lobby cards, rare film stills, and previously unpublished candid photos showing the stars as they really are. These images are accompanied by concise introductory essays by leading film writers; each book also includes a chronology, a filmography, and a bibliography, and is peppered with apposite quotes from the movies and from life.More bang for your buck! "...a fast-food, high-energy fix on the topic at hand." - "The New York Times Book Review".
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About the Author
Dominique Mainon is an author, screenwriter, and filmmaker living in Laguna Beach, California. She is a frequent contributor to magazines and genre studies books. James Ursini has co-written and co-edited eleven books with Alain Silver; Ursini and Silver are considered two of the foremost authorities on the subject of film noir. Among Ursini's most notable works is the successful Film Noir Reader series. He has also contributed articles to various film magazines and has supplied the DVD commentary for numerous classic film noirs. He has a doctorate in motion pictures and has lectured on filmmaking at colleges in the Los Angeles area.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Very Impressive!,
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This review is from: Mae West (Movie Icons) (Paperback)
As a Mae West collector of almost 3 decades, I can be quite the skeptic when it comes to new Mae West items. This book just arrived in the mail and I was instantly impressed with the quality. They have clearly produced the rare color photos within, from original transparencies or had them beautifully color corrected! There are also many rare behind-the-scenes photos I have never seen before. Most of the book contains black and white photos, all very fine quality. It is mainly photos and what little text there is, is usually WAY off in terms of correct information, indicating very little research (probably an hour online one night!).There is no new insight, but this particular book is not really for that purpose, as it is part of a larger series of "icons" of which Mae West certainly is. This book is for the adoring Mae West fan or someone who is collecting the whole 'Icon' series from this company. I know my friends will love it!
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Mae West: The Original Sex And The City Icon,
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This review is from: Mae West (Movie Icons) (Paperback)
Decades before Candace Bushnell conceived Sex And The City, Mae West was experiencing the lifestyle loud and proud. West's Broadway play, "SEX" which premiered in 1926, was so far ahead of its time, she had to soften the blow of its content and make it safe for mass consumption by placing the setting in the Bowery of the 1890's complete with period piece costumes. West's vision of SEX was not an escape into the fantasy of the past, but a journey into the possibilities of the future.
Taschen's latest addition to their Movie Icons series, Mae West, is depicted in a stunning collection of mostly black and white stills from her films and stage productions, many never published before, wearing gowns designed by Travis Banton, Schiaparelli, Walter Plunkett, and Edith Head. A pleasant surprise is the inclusion of several rare advertisements that Paramount and Columbia Pictures utilized in promoting these films at the time of their original release. The only disappointment is the rather weak commentary. In an attempt to appeal to three different markets, Taschen has printed the accompanying text in English, German and French, leaving a lot to be desired. However, the superior production values and low price make this volume a must have for West aficionados.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A must have for the Mae West fan.,
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Mae West (Movie Icons) (Paperback)
A perfectly descriptive account of the film career of Mae West filled with many delightful pictures. A must have for any film buff or fan of Mae West.
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