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07 May 2026

Two books that never arrived

 Over the years I noticed again and again comments in various places, and particularly on maewest.blogspot.com, by R Mark Desjardins (1963-2025) that had something interesting to say about Ms West. He often mentioned that he was writing In Search of Mae West, but the book was never published.

Mark recently died. Hopefully his executor will be arranging publication.

"I've been asked many times when my manuscript "In Search of Mae West" will be available. Hopefully sharing this backstory will shed some light on my journey. Originally, my interest in Mae West was casual, and an intense dream encouraged me to delve deeper into her life. In 1994 I travelled to Los Angeles and by stroke of good luck, had the opportunity to meet several of the fellows who surrounded Mae during the last ten years of her life. Many previously unknown facts were disclosed and I was dumbfounded that these stories were finally being shared.

Returning home to Vancouver, Canada, I pondered over what I was told, and in 1996, I returned to Los Angeles and got these fellows to relate more insights on tape. When I shared my 2001 first draft of "Saint Mae Our Lady of Hips & Quips," weighing in at 350 pages, it was enthusiastically received. One very important close friend of Mae's thought my chapter on one personal assistant was overly harsh. Truth be known, communication with that individual had broken down, and information I utilized was from other members of the "inner group" who had axes to grind.

It took over a decade to mend fences and to obtain a face to face taped interview, which took place over two days, June 4 and 5th, 2013, to be fair in getting his story right. In the ensuing years, many more previously unavailable sources have become available to me to provide a much deeper examination of very important people extremely close to Mae whose voices have never been heard from before. Blending all this new material into my original work has proven to be a huge undertaking. Frankly, I may have more than one book worth of original material, but that ultimately will be the decision of a good editor.

Meanwhile, I would like to share two different cover possibilities I have entertained over the years. However, no final decision has been made. Brian J. Bradley's new book, "Outrageous Misfits" has cited my first draft, "Saint Mae Our Lady of Hips & Quips" in his bibliography. His book on the life and times of Craig Russell is a must read, and he has been very supportive of my project." Mark Desjardins on Facebook.

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Margaret Branch had a fascinating life, in the French Resistance, studied with Carl Jung, psychiatric social worker with gifted children, did liaison with trans and intersex persons at Guys Hospital, etc. In 2016 it was announced that Ed Knox, a relative of Margaret's wife, was working on a much anticipated biography of Margaret.

That was 10 years ago.




See also: Three books – expected but never arrived.


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