“Goodness, what beautiful diamonds!” gushes the hatcheck girl. “Goodness,” responds the louche lady, “had nothing to do with it, dearie.” From this, her very first film scene, Mae West was stamped as a titillating, if glamorous, tramp. And audiences loved it.
It was 1932, a racy time when ’20s mores still held sway and Tinseltown was churning out pre-Code celebrations of naughtiness. Into the mix came the buxom, sashaying figure of La West, then already 39 but alluring enough to give off a “seen-it-all-done-it-all” vibe, quickly becoming the Queen of the Silver Screen Sexpots and the Duchess of Double-Entendre.
Born in Brooklyn in 1893, West took to the stage early as Baby Mae, shouting her jazz songs in the style of the day and affecting an exaggerated walk-a piece of showmanship she learned from female impersonators. Quick with the quips and wise to the streets, she realized the best material she could find would be her own, and by the mid ’20s was starring on Broadway in her own play entitled, simply and provocatively, Sex. Though the show became a hit, authorities arrested West and the cast on charges of indecency. All this publicity only raised her profile, however, and during her eight-day jail stay she dined nightly with the warden, who allowed her to wear her silk panties in prison.
Further sensational and/or hit plays included the transvestite exposé The Drag, The Constant Sinner and her biggest stage success, Diamond Lil, about the romantic affairs of a loose-living lady of the 1890s. Eager to capitalize on her sexy image and daring dialogue, producers summoned her to Hollywood for 1932′s Night After Night, a film she stole from nominal leads George Raft and Constance Cummings. Her indiscreet image was immortalized, and her next few films saved Paramount from bankruptcy. Today, we celebrate the bawdy best of Mae West.
She Done Him Wrong (1933)
West’s first starring role, based on her play Diamond Lil, features many of her most memorable lines, and forever typed her as a scarlet lady dripping in diamonds and breaking hearts at the turn of the last century.
I’m No Angel (1933)
Even racier than She Done Him Wrong, this ribald romp has been cited as one of the films that outraged Catholics and assorted other moralists, leading to the founding of the Hollywood Production Code. Censors did, however, force the change of a song title, from “No One Does It Like a Dallas Man” to “No One Loves Me Like a Dallas Man.”
Belle of the Nineties (1934)
By the next year, bluenoses were on the lookout for West and her pictures, and the title of this film was changed from its original name, It Ain’t No Sin. Again set in the 1890s, the film is highlighted by West’s songs backed by Duke Ellington and his band (no matter his price, she insisted upon Ellington appearing), particularly the torch classic “My Old Flame.”
Mae Battles Charlie McCarthy, and Is Banned From Radio (1937)
With the rise of the Code, and the subsequent toning gown of her persona, West’s films began to suffer at the box office. To goose attendance for her newest film, Every Day’s a Holiday, she appeared on the immensely popular radio show featuring ventriloquist Edgar Bergen and his star dummy, Charlie McCarthy. Her typically risqué dialogue on display, she teased McCarthy for being “all wood and a yard long,” and in an Adam and Eve sketch asked Adam to “get me a big one…I feel like doin’ a big apple.” Shocked listeners wrote in, calling the show “immoral” and “obscene,” and the FCC termed it “vulgar and indecent.” West would not appear on radio for another 13 years.
My Little Chickadee (1940)
Teamed for the only time with iconic comedian W.C. Fields, West turns up the heat but never really gets the water boiling. Still, this Wild West mishap is famous, if only for showcasing a pairing that since has become legendary. And though Fields and West disliked one another, their moments together have chemistry, providing an object lesson in how to steal a scene from two exquisite hams.
Stage Act (1950s)
Leaving her failing film career behind in 1943, West began taking her act on the road-along with a phalanx of muscle men. She was a particular hit in Las Vegas, where she warbled her old tunes surrounded by flexing physique models.
West Rides Mr. Ed (1964)
Eager to remain in the public eye, West made a showy guest appearance on the hit talking-horse sitcom, Mr. Ed, bringing out some of her classic lines. When Wilbur’s wife says, “We’ve all heard so much about you, Miss West,” Mae retorts, “Yes, I know, but you can’t prove it.”
West Does the Doors (1968)
In a bizarre bid for relevance, West began recording covers of rock hits in the 1960s. 1966′s Way Out West became a surprise best seller, featuring the legend’s take on songs from John Lee Hooker’s “Boom Boom” to the Beatles’ “Day Tripper.” Two years later, she recorded Great Balls of Fire; though her rendition of Jerry Lee Lewis’ title song is memorable, nothing beats her version of the Doors’ “Light My Fire.”
Myra Breckinridge (1970)
Returning to the screen after 27 years to portray the sex-mad Hollywood agent Leticia Van Allen in the all-star film adaptation of Gore Vidal’s scandalous novel Myra Breckinridge, West at 77 plays her scenes like a camp Hollywood relic, and famously refused to appear opposite her 30-year-old co-star, Raquel Welch.
Sextette (1978)
Based on a play West wrote in the early ’60s, this flaccid sex comedy still posits the star at 85 as the Woman All Men Desire. And though she can’t really hear or walk, stars from Timothy Dalton and Tony Curtis to Ringo Starr and George Hamilton fall all over themselves to pay their amorous respects. Unfortunately, audiences didn’t feel the same way, and the flop caused West to remain holed up in her posh apartment until her death two years later.
Post written by Eric Newill
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