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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ClassyCo" data-source="post: 287242" data-attributes="member: 7">I've been in a Westian mood the past few days. I've watched the "Mae West and the Men Who Knew Her" documentary that's online I know three or four different times. I've watched the Intimate Portrait one as well, but I don't like it quite as well. It seems to skid over too much for me. I like documentaries that are slam-packed with information. Mae left Paramount after six years in 1938. Her final movie for the studio, EVERY DAY'S A HOLIDAY (1937), had underperformed in theaters. Independent theater owner Harry Brandt took to labeling her (along with a variety of other well-known stars) as "box office poison" because of her apparent declining popularity. The truth of the matter was that all of Mae's movies outside of EVERY DAY'S A HOLIDAY had turned a profit for Paramount and she was largely credited for saving the studio from falling into bankruptcy during the Depression. Mae herself scoffed at the notion of being labeled "box office poison": "Why, the industry calls me the mortgage lifter," she allegedly quipped while breakfasting in bed. "Whenever business is down they just rerun one of my old pictures. The only movie to make real money was SNOW WHITE and that movie would've made twice as much had I played Snow White." West always had a large ego, although one cannot really deny that she knew her worth. The fact was her popularity with audiences was slipping by 1938, and Paramount quietly edged her out as a result. A lot of the blame generally goes to the Hays Code "fastening down" on West and watering down her famous tongue-in-cheek innuendos. Mae finally got the opportunity to resurrect her film career when Universal Pictures approached her about making a picture with W.C. Fields in 1939. The studio was anxious to duplicate the success of DESTRY RIDES AGAIN, the Western comedy that starred James Stewart and Marlene Dietrich. The film was a runaway success and essentially served as a representation of Dietrich's return to box office glory. While Mae was apparently enthusiastic about returning to movies, she hadn't wanted to co-star W.C. Fields. As Robert Osbourne of TCM later said: Mae preferred starring opposite more handsome, serious leading men like Cary Grant and Warren William. She did not necessarily think of herself as a comedy creation and therefore wasn't pleased about doing a satire where she'd basically be the brunt of Fields' on-screen jokes. Nonetheless Mae agreed to Universal's requests for her to star in MY LITTLE CHICKADEE, with Mae naturally writing her own material. West had a clause placed in her contract that stated if Fields were to ever show up on the set drunk, he would be quickly removed. "He was fine for about three weeks," Mae later remembered, before Fields showed up on the set drunk. After taking one look at him, Mae ordered him off the set. There was never another issue with his alcoholism. Mae also stated that Fields requested to write his own scene at the bar, and because he did so, he demanded an on-screen credit as joint screenwriter. MY LITTLE CHICKADEE was a big hit when it opened in 1940. Most websites state that it was the second-most-popular movie at the box office behind GONE WITH THE WIND. To modern-day audiences, the pairing of West and Fields is iconic. The film is a standout of both their careers. [ATTACH=full]29443[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]29445[/ATTACH]</blockquote>

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