Our Star for October is no stranger to you even though she made only 10 films from 1932 through 1943. The voice, gesticulations and intonation of Mae West made her a Hollywood icon for the ages. Born Mary Jane West in Brooklyn on August 17, 1893 to Matilda and John West. Her mother “Tillie” an aspiring actress and her father a prizefighter known as “Battlin’ Jack” for his fisticuffs in and outside of the ring. He initially disapproved strongly to May’s thoughts of acting and to placate him their young daughter sought gainful employment as a garment worker but clandestinely never gave up on what she would ultimately become an internationally famous star stage and screen actress. (actor)
When we think of Mae West we automatically think of movies with Cary Grant and W.C. Fields and maybe not of her acting in musical plays on stage but that is where she began and felt most comfortable and as we will see later scripted much of her dialogue which she is still so famous for today.
Tillie tried to keep it a secret but May was her favorite and the precocious child at 3 began impersonating family members much to the delight of both her parents. With their gentle coaxing the young vixen to be began to realize how to command an audience. Her mother would bring her to vaudeville shows and the youngster was smitten by the magical world within. Mae would recount later that the African American performer Bert Williams was her early inspiration. It was he she claims that taught her the art of the double entendre, innuendo and bawdy comebacks that mark all of her movies.
Incredibly she was on stage by 5 years old for a church social and although Dad wasn’t too happy Tillie her mother was nonplussed and her next step had her in dance class at 7 and then it was off to burlesque theaters under her new stage name “Baby May”. After she won her first contest Dad was fully enrolled. By age 14 she was impersonating popular burlesque stars of the day and her Mother as manager was making her costumes and the young West was singing and dancing popular songs and began adding in her sexual sensations.
Her biggest break came in 1918 when she starred opposite Ed Wynn in a stage production called Sometime. It featured an eye popping move in which she would shake her shoulders wildly topped off with thrusting her chest out. It was here Mae started to rewrite her parts and then began writing her own plays under the pen name Jane Mast.
In 1926 she wrote and starred in a Broadway play called Sex which was a hit but the critics panned it over content and was jailed for 10 days on a morals charge serving just 8 days on Roosevelt Island but it wasn’t too arduous as several times she dined with the warden and his wife. The media attention was worth it. Next she wrote and starred in a play about homosexuality called Drag, which she showcased in Connecticut and thought better of it of bringing it to New York fearing a second stint in the hoosegow. She continued to be successful with plays but she had to constantly rewrite them to conform to the moral codes of the day.
It was 1932 and then Hollywood came calling and although she was 38 and old by standards back then her physique and beauty won the day and her first role with George Raft in a film titled Night After Night which at first she was miffed at because of her small part but then she was allowed to rewrite. It was here her movie career was launched. In 1933, starring opposite newcomer Cary Grant in She Done Him Wrong inlaid with the classic line “Why don’t you come up sometime and see me?” It was nominated for Best Picture. It saved Paramount from bankruptcy it did so well. Her next film paired her again with Grant in I’m No Angel it was another financial success and West was number 8 at the box office. By 1935 Mae was the second highest paid person in America behind William Randolph Hearst.
But the Hays Code and that same Randolph Hearst would be the lance in her side that ultimately would keep her star from rising further even though audiences flocked to see her wherever she went. In 1940 she was paired with another luminary W. C. Fields in the now classic My Little Chickadee another bonanza. Tension on the set between the two super ego stars however as Mae was a teetotaler and Fields a known heavy drinker but the film did well and remains a classic in the annals of Hollywood film.
In 1943 Mae was coaxed back by an old friend that was in dire financial straits and she made The Heat’s On the flick didn’t do well and she didn’t return to the screen until 1970. In 1954 she put together a nightclub act and that ran several years. She surrounded herself with men with bulging physiques and as it was a great success she thought it might be a great time to retire. She made some TV appearances like the Red Skelton Show and Mister Ed. In 1970 as mentioned she had a small part in Gore Vidal’s Myra Breckinridge not a box office success but a cult classic and then later in her own Sextette in 1978.
In August of 1980 she had a severe fall and it was later diagnosed that she had a stroke a few months later she suffered a second stroke which left her partially paralyzed she was later released and convalesced at home but by November 22, 1980 at 87 she had passed away. Mae West lived a full life and was way ahead of her time except Mr. Hays was there too.
