Pages 656-663

This page-by-page annotation is organized by sections, as delineated by the seven squares (sprockets) which separate each section. The page numbers for this page-by-page annotation are for the original Viking edition (760 pages). Editions by other publishers vary in pagination — the newer Penguin editions are 776 pages; the Bantam edition is 886 pages.

Contributors: Please use a 760-page edition (either the original Viking edition with the orange cover or the Penguin USA edition with the blue cover and rocket diagram — there are plenty on Ebay for around $10) or search the Google edition for the correct page number. Readers: To calculate the Bantam edition use this formula: Bantam page # x 1.165. Before p.50 it's about a page earlier; as you get later in the book, add a page.

Finally, profound thanks to Prof. Don Larsson for providing the foundation for this page-by-page annotation.

Page 657

Mae West

Diamond Lil is a 1928 play by sultry American actress and playwright Mae West (1893-1980). Prior to Diamond Lil, she had written a number of plays that were closed down due to either poor ticket sales or indecency issues with local law enforcement authorities of the time. Diamond Lil, about a racy woman in the 1890s, was her first major Broadway success, and was the basis for her character Lady Lou in her 1933 film She Done Him Wrong.

Mary Louise Cecilia "Texas" Guinan (1884-1933) was a saloon keeper (she opened a speakeasy, the 300 Club, in New York City, during Prohibition), actress (her first film was The Wildcat (1917), and entrepreneur. As an actress, she preferred and popularized roles that allowed her to portray self-reliant women who were true gunslingers, i.e., loud, brassy dames. Wikipedia entry