Mae West: Naughty American
MARCH 31, 2008
SAN DIEGO (TNA) – Nearly 70 years before Madonna published “Sex” in 1992, a vaudeville performer named Mary Jane West produced a raunchy little play by the same name. The original “Sex,” which ran in New York City in 1926, got its producer arrested, convicted, and jailed for breaking obscenity laws.
Mary Jane would parlay “Sex” into movie stardom in the 1930’s and provide a road map for the string of performers-cum-sexual provocateurs who followed, such as Madonna, Marilyn Monroe, and Pamela Anderson. For her influence on American sexuality, Mary Jane West, later known as “Mae West,” becomes the first woman inducted in the Naughty American Hall of Fame.
West brought the female libido out of the shadows. On screen and stage West played sexually-empowered women who spoke in obvious double-entendres about their sexual appetite and conquests. Her characters never appeared bashful or ashamed, but always in control of the scene and the men around them.
Rosewithoutathorn/flickr.com Mae West: the original cougar
She was also arguably the first “cougar.” Nearly 40 years old when she broke into cinema, West’s on-screen romances included much younger men, such as Cary Grant and Timothy Dalton. West’s characters were never interested in dating her men on screen so much as bringing them in for stud.
At the time, sexual bravado was considered decidedly masculine, prompting Vanity Fair to call West “the greatest female impersonator of all time.”
West rankled the establishment. She was famous for delivering her sex-tinged lines with a suggestive drawl and hip-shake which many considered to be as subversive as the lines themselves. Some of her naughtiest one-liners – such as “A hard man is good to find,” “It’s better to be looked over than overlooked,” and "When I'm good I'm very good, but when I'm bad I'm better," – remain popular today.
That her lines also suggested sex was more for self-gain than procreation, love – or even recreation – didn’t sit well with the moral much of America. In her first film, “Night After Night,” West uttered perhaps the most famous line involving a woman and diamonds:
Lady: Goodness, what beautiful diamonds!
West: Goodness had nothing to do with it, dearie.
In 1932, the establishment decided it had had enough, applying a little-used censorship law to aggressively regulate West’s films. The censorship, some say, contributed to the decline of her film career.
Rosewithoutathorn/flickr.com Mae West tweaked the nose of propriety when she asked her leading men, 'Is that a gun in your pocket, or are you just glad to see me?'
West didn’t limit her attention to heterosexual relationships. Though West was straight, she embraced the gay community long before it was fashionable – or acceptable – to do so. The same year that she produced “Sex,” she debuted a gay-themed play called “The Drag.” But with the lead character a homosexual playboy, “The Drag” was banned by Broadway and relegated to New Jersey instead.
To this day, she remains an icon in gay culture, and Mae West impersonators can often be seen shimmying in evening gowns and boas at gay pride events.
West is an icon, but no martyr. She was famously self-centered, always writing screenplays with herself in the starring role. But she didn’t just star in the works, she swallowed them whole, saving the one-liners for herself while everyone else – even the men – settled for set-up lines.
West has faded from pop culture somewhat, but from her days as a movie star through the 60s, her legacy loomed large. So great was her identity as a sex symbol that curvaceous life vests used by the RAF during World War II came to be known as Mae Wests. And the Beatles insisted on including her portrait on the album cover for “Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band.”
May West, the original cougar, matron saint of vamps, joins an all male cast in the Hall of Fame. She’s again in her element.
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