Sin and Sex on Nov. 22nd

Mae West’s “Diamond Lil” to Have a Free Performance at Jefferson Market Library in Manhattan to Honor the Brooklyn Bombshell on Her Anniversary
Underworld Meets Underwear in this Bold, Bawdy Drama Set on the Bowery in 1895

Photo by Wayne Takenaka

• • New York, NY -- Written in 1928 by Mae West [17 August 1893 – 22 November 1980], the stage play “Diamond Lil” has laced itself into a position of public awareness once again thanks to a frisky adaptation by playwright LindaAnn Loschiavo. The original script, a voluptuous 3-hour affair stuffed with villains and sub-plots, has been tightened and trimmed to 85 minutes.  The cast size has been whittled down, from 34 players in 1928, to eight.
• • “Diamond Lil” is set in 1895 on the Bowery in Chinatown. Diamond-loving Lil, a chanteuse starring at Gus Jordan’s dance hall, becomes fixated on Captain Cummings, who seems to be the leader of a Bowery rescue mission and a clean-living decent man.  Diamond Lil falls in love with this handsome missionary, unaware that he is an undercover detective who is about to arrest her and her lover Gus Jordan, ending the criminal enterprise that has brought her to prominence and filled her jewelry box with diamonds.
• • People often ask:   If I’ve seen “She Done Him Wrong,” why should I see “Diamond Lil” onstage?
• • In 1932, under the watchful gaze of the censors, Paramount Pictures took a 3-hour play about the criminal underworld and sanitized it beyond recognition. The movie studio boiled it down to 66 minutes, turning the white slavery traffickers into counterfeiters, eliminating the sex and seduction scenes, and refining the “Lady Lou” character. On stage, Mae’s character Lil sashayed in corsets and revealing garments; in the movie, Lady Lou’s costumes carefully concealed her cleavage.  In her stage version, Mae offered vivid encounters between men and women with kissing, touching, man-handling, and an attempted rape. Fortunately, the adapted script by LindaAnn Loschiavo has all of the sex and none of the censorship.  And the actresses wear beautiful bustiers.
• • The public is invited (suitable for age 18 and over). Join us as we turn the iconic Greenwich Village library into Gus Jordan's lawless "Suicide Hall"!
• • The Cast: Starring Darlene Violette as Diamond Lil, Queen of the Bowery and also featuring Sidney Myer, Anthony DiCarlo, Joanna Bonaro, Juan Sebastian Cortes, Kimmy Foskett, Jim Gallagher, and others.
• • Watch a Video of "Diamond Lil" • •
• • http://youtu.be/xfbJHhw47OQ
• • Read a Review of "Diamond Lil"
• • L'Idea Magazine's editors had lots to say. Link: http://www.lideamagazine.com/usa-still-entertaining-mae-wests-diamond-lil-makes-new-fans-in-new-york-city/ The public is invited (suitable for age 18 and over). Join us as we turn the iconic NYC nightspot Don't Tell Mama into Gus Jordan's "Suicide Hall"!

• • Who, What, When, Where • •
• • Who: Actress Darlene Violette, Anthony DiCarlo, Joanna Bonaro, Juan Sebastian Cortes, Kimmy Foskett, Jim Gallagher, and TBA along with dramatist-journalist LindaAnn Loschiavo
• • What:  Mae West’s "Diamond Lil" — – an adaptation by LindaAnn Loschiavo 
• • When: 7:00 pm, Friday, Nov. 22, 2013
• • Where: Jefferson Market Library, 425 Sixth Avenue, New York, NY — – in the same chamber where Mae West [1893--1980] faced off with the magistrate in 1927
• • What Else: the popular Mae West Raffle
• • Fee: Free
• • RSVP: Jefferson Market Library, T 212-243-4334
• • Url: The Mae West Blog
• • Email: maewestdiamondlil@gmail.com
• • Subway: West Fourth St. station via A, C, D, E, F subway
• • Path: West Ninth St. station
— — — — — On-going performances of "Diamond Lil" — — — — —
• • Those who prefer night life will enjoy "Diamond Lil" starring actress Darlene Violette — — and the roisterous cast who brought the Bowery denizens and Suicide Hall’s ne’er-do-wells to life — — now onstage with performances at Don’t Tell Mama [343 W. 46th Street] on certain Sunday evenings from October 27 until November 24, 2013.
• • Reserve seats by phone: 212-757-0788; RSVP online: www.donttellmamanyc.com
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "Come up sometime. I'm home every evening."
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
• • The legal battles fought by Mae West and Jim Timony are dramatized in the play "Courting Mae West: Sex, Censorship, and Secrets," set during the Prohibition Era. Watch a scene on YouTube.
• • Source:http://jeffersonmarketcourthouseny.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Jefferson Market
• • Photo: Mae West • • in 1927; the return of "Diamond Lil" in 2013 • •
NYC
New York Public Library
Jefferson Market.

Mae's back at court Aug. 17

MAE WEST and Fiorello LaGuardia have a curious connection.
• • In his column "A New Yorker at Large," Mark Barron shared insights about the Brooklyn bombshell and the ambitious politician Fiorello LaGuardia [11 December 1882 — 20 September 1947]. This installment of Barron's column was published on 28 January 1934.
• • Mark Barron wrote: New York — Mayor LaGuardia turned on the producers of risque shows, charging them with deliberately inviting police interference for the publicity it would bring.
• • Mark Barron noted: What is interesting in an ironic sort of way is the fact that it was an off-color show which led to the movement that — by increase and addition — eventually elected LaGuardia to his office. And, for that, some might say he owes thanks to Mae West.
• • Back in 1927, Miss West produced a play that brought a squadron of police censors tumbling about her with the turmoil of a Union Square red riot. As a result, Miss West was invited to spend a short vacation in the Welfare Island calaboose. [Mae's 1927 arrest and trial in Jefferson Market Court are dramatized in the play "Courting Mae West," which is based on true events during the Prohibition Era.]
• • Despite the avalanche of publicity, Mae was shocked, thinking that her attorney — a Tammany district leader — would be able to keep her this side of the steel bars.
• • A girl reporter was sent to interview Mae. In jail [i.e., Jefferson Jail — then located on Sixth Avenue], the reporter had a conversation with a girl prisoner who charged she'd been "framed" because she would not pay a bribe to a detective on the vice squad.
• • The resultant story started the inquiry into the women's courts, and it was this inquiry that brought Judge Samuel Seabury into such high esteem in the public mind. And it was Seabury whose master minding helped put LaGuardia in the mayor's office.
• • On Sunday 17 August 2008, during the "Mae West's Walk on the Wild Side" walking tour, the group will visit the little flower and a number from "Fiorello!" will be sung live by a vivacious actress, a native New Yorker who has performed in many musicals.
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• • Source:http://jeffersonmarketcourthouseny.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Jefferson Market
• • Photo: Mae West's raid • • February 1927 • •
NYC
New York Public Library
Jefferson Market.

William Zorach's Jeff Encounter

The late great sculptor and painter William Zorach [28 February 1887 — 15 November 1966] often sketched Jefferson Market since, for years, he lived on West Tenth Street and Greenwich (next to the Cushman bakery and directly opposite the formidable jail doors). Zorach reveals an interesting Prohibition Era secret in his colorful memoir Art Is My Life.
• • William Zorach writes: There was Frank Harris [14 February 1856 — 27 August 1931] living on Washington Square, whom I enjoyed visiting. I always found him in bed dictating to his secretary, a handsome redhead. He gave me a set of his Life of Oscar Wilde. I never got a chance to read it, it was lifted from our bookcase so quickly. I remember Frank Harris going into Jefferson Market Court and exposing detectives who enticed young girls, often innocent ones, and then arrested them for prostitution.
• • We faced the Jefferson Market Jail door where the wagons brought in the night's haul, and below us would be the bail-bond lawyers waiting to bail them out.
• • We used to see a manhole cover just outside the jail lift up. A man would stick his head out and whistle and a boy would rush a bucket of beer over from the corner saloon. This went on for years — — and then one day a prisoner escaped through the manhole and that stopped the flow of beer.
• • William Zorach's reminiscence inspired an interlude in "Courting Mae West" [Act I, Scene 4] when Mae West is being held in Night Court and her newsman-boyfriend wants to gain access and get a scoop. Suddenly, he observes a manhole cover just outside the jail lift up. . . .
• • Bringing "Courting Mae West" to an audience requires funding. To support A Company Of Players, a non-profit theatre group established in 1979 to present meaningful theatre, please click on this link — — http://www.companyofplayers.com/support.htm
• • A Company Of Players is recognized by the IRS as a 501(c)3 type organization, and donations to the group are considered a charitable, tax-deductible contribution.
• • Contribute through "Pay Pal" or you can mail a check to: A Company Of Players, 545 Eighth Avenue, #401, New York NY 10018-4307.
• • "Courting Mae West: Sex, Censorship, and Secrets" — — based on true events when Mae West was tried at the Jefferson Market Police Court — — will be onstage at the Algonquin Theatre [123 East 24th Street, New York, NY 10010] on July 19th — 22nd, 2008.
• • Get ready to come up and see Mae onstage in mid-July 2008.
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• • Source:http://jeffersonmarketcourthouseny.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Jefferson Market
• • Photo: Jefferson Market and elevated train • • early 1930s • •
NYC
New York Public Library
Jefferson Market.