She Knew Herself: Mae West

 I watched Mae West's I'm No Angel last week. The beginning is slow but it's the courtroom scene that makes the whole movie. Cary Grant's been fooled into thinking Tira's cheated on him so he cancels their wedding on their wedding day. She sues him for breach of contract, so Grant's lawyer tries to tear down her character in court, as a defense. It only makes Grant fall for her all the more, and the misunderstanding is cleared up.

There's no character growth, no lessons learned, and no one changes, other than really falling in love for the first time. We don't even have a good reason to understand why she falls for Grant cause their romance grows offscreen. But the film isn't about them, it's all about her--about unapologetically being yourself. When she overhears a *high society dame* insult her, she doesn't wilt in silence like the characters in most films; she opens the door and throws water on her. And when her man-filled past in thrown in her face in a courtroom in the 1930s, she doesn't make excuses for what she's done and who she's been with. Instead, she turns the tables on the men. And while her sexuality is part of what charms les boys, the court scene shows she's got big brains under the platinum hair.

So it's a bad movie in terms of traditional structure, but a wonderful movie in terms of role modelism. ;-)  And great lines and humor, of course. And it's 100% Mae West as she wrote the movie herself.

According to wiki Mae West's mother supported her career in entertainment (she started in vaudeville.) She got thrown in jail for one of her first shows just called Sex, which she wrote. lol. She also supported gay rights. She got her first motion picture contract when she was 38--now if that's not groundbreaking... sheesh!

At first, she did not like her small role in Night After Night, but was appeased when she was allowed to rewrite her scenes. In West's first scene, a hat check girl exclaims, "Goodness, what beautiful diamonds." West replies, "Goodness had nothing to do with it, dearie." Reflecting on the overall result of her rewritten scenes, Raft is said to have remarked, "She stole everything but the cameras."

Her first feature probably saved Paramount from bankruptcy; and though Cary Grant was annoyed that she kept saying she discovered him, since he had a smash hit before his movies with West, there's no doubt he got good exposure from them as they were huge hits. ;-) Unfortunately (or fortunately, for the future of screwball comedy) we can blame her for the Hay's code too. By 1935 she was the second highest paid American after William Randolph Hearst (and we know she could have taken him in a cage match.)

After she left film she did radio and theatre. Here she is with Rock Hudson at the Oscars, at age 66.

She then wrote a bestselling autobiography.

 Then in the 60s (and her 70s) she did a couple rock albums. !  And they're not bad!! I rather like this one. I love the comment someone left to her cover of "Rock Around the Clock": "If you didn't know the song was about sex before, you can't miss it when Mae West sings it."

Like all the great ones she had some crazy flops too, like the movie Sextette. But not bad when you're in your 80s, partly blind, losing your marbles, wearing an earpiece to be fed lines, and mostly filmed from the waist up so that someone can lead you around the set properly. lol.

She died in 1980, at 87.

Not much is known about her romantic life cause she wasn't the kiss and tell type. She was married once when young, but kept it secret. She may have been married in secret a second time, at the same time. She had a serious relationship with an older man that turned into a lifelong friendship; and then another long relationship with a younger man. She also dated an African-American boxer, and when the management of her building tried to bar his entry, she bought the building. "Right arm!" as my mother would say.

And now, let us enjoy some Mae West one liners, written by her--no comedy team for this old gal. And enjoy her slinky gowns, which she seems to have worn throughout her career, despite the changing fashions. This was a woman who knew who she was. :-)

• Goodness had nothing to do with it, dearie.
  • Response to an exclamation, "Goodness! What lovely diamonds!" in Night After Night (1932).

• Why don't you come up sometime and see me? ... Come on up, I'll tell your fortune.
  • She Done Him Wrong (1933)

• Is that a pistol in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?
  • She Done Him Wrong (1933)

• Beulah, Peel me a grape.
  • I'm No Angel (1933)

• I only like two kinds of men, domestic and imported.
  • I'm No Angel (1933)

• When I'm good, I'm very good. When I'm bad, I'm better.
  • I'm No Angel (1933)

• I used to be Snow White, but I drifted.
  • I'm No Angel (1933)

• Between two evils, I generally like to pick the one I never tried before.
  • Klondike Annie (1936)

• It's not the men in your life that matters, it's the life in your men.
  • I'm No Angel

• When women go wrong, men go right after them.
  • She Done Him Wrong

• I feel like a million tonight. But one at a time.
  • Myra Breckinridge

• To a young actor: How tall are you without your horse? Six foot, seven inches. Never mind the six feet. Let's talk about the seven inches!
  • Myra Breckinridge

• I'm the kinda girl who works for Paramount by day, and Fox all night
  • Sextette

(Those are the sourced ones. You can read the unsourced ones that have been credited to her here, like "You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.")


If you want some Mae West music, iTunes has a collection of 55 songs for $11.99 that includes both the silver screen songs and the rock ones.

This setting is mucho "yellow face" but... quel pretty song.


I love this one from 1955.

Her vocal tone is awesome! Gonna download more songs that came from that album... should be on this best of somewhere...