Mae West
Mary Jane West, better known as Mae West (Bushwick, Brooklyn, New York, August 17, 1893 - Hollywood, Los Angeles, November 22, 1980), was an American actress, singer, comedian, screenwriter, and playwright.
Endowed with great irony and sinuous curves that she exhibited in languid and provocative poses, her style scandalized the puritans of the 1920s-40s, a gray era in the United States due to Prohibition and the Great Depression after the Crash of '29. A master of double meanings, she was known for her spicy phrases.
I believe in censorship; I have made a fortune because of it.
Biography
Her father was John Patrick West, an Irish-born boxer and rowdy who worked various trades; he managed a stable of horses used for carriages and set up a private detective agency. His mother was a corsetry model named Tillie Delker. The future actress had two younger siblings: Mildred Katherine West and John Edwin West II. Due to the environments in which her parents moved, she got used to watching and listening to men with bad manners from a young age, which contributed to forging her cheeky character and her ability to write sparkling dialogues to the liking of the working-class audience that filled the theaters. theaters.
Baby vamp at 14
Encouraged by her mother, Mary Jane received singing and dancing lessons as a child, making her amateur theater debut at age 7. She won several local awards for young talent, and at the age of 14 she had already made herself known on stage as a "baby vamp" (girl dressed and made up like a vampire) with the nickname La Petite Daffy . She was subsequently renamed Mae West.
Secret marriage
Mae West had several partners throughout her life, but she was married only once. The information on this is contradictory.
According to some sources, shortly before her 18th birthday, in 1911, she married Frank Szatkus, a vaudeville actor known artistically as Frank Wallace, but they barely lived together and she covered up her marital status for years, which became widely publicized. the press in 1927. Even later, Mae West reiterated that she had never been married, until in 1937 she had to admit it during an interrogation. The union would dissolve with a divorce in 1942, after her husband claimed (unsuccessfully) a division of assets. The couple had barely lived together as such for a few months, she being unknown, for which the judge understood that her husband had not intervened in the fortune that she amassed.
Other reviews say that Mae West married the accordionist Guido Deiro in 1914, and that they coincided for several years on tours; according to these sources, they divorced in 1920. The dates of their relationship are possibly true, but it is most likely that Mae and Guido did not get married because they did not commit bigamy, since she would be legally married to Frank Wallace.
Prison for immoral
Already in his stage as a stage comedian, Mae knew how to enhance his mischief and generate scandal; In 1927 she was arrested and sentenced to ten days in jail for "corrupting the youth" with the successful play Sex, about a prostitute, in which she had starred, produced, written and directed and which had a resounding success by remaining on the bill for a year on Broadway. The actress ruled out paying a fine to avoid prison, but not for lack of money, but to exploit the news for publicity purposes: she appeared at the prison gate aboard a limousine full of roses, causing a sensation among journalists, and during her internment she boasted of wearing silk stockings instead of the austere convict clothes. For her good behavior she was released from jail two days ahead of schedule, and she gave an exclusive interview for which she was paid a thousand dollars at the time. This type of adventures established West as a "bad girl ", with a self-confidence and outbursts prohibited for the figures of the Hollywood Star-system , which were forced to by contract to maintain an impeccable public image.
His next theatrical project was The Drag, alluding to the type of homosexuality known as Drag / Transvestí / Reinona; he announced his staging in New York with transvestite actors, but a local association ( Society for the Suppression of Vice ) managed to prevent it. Yes, he managed to premiere other comedies, all with obscenely obscene dialogues that ensured him press coverage and, as a consequence, public success. Already at a mature age she revealed how she managed to circumvent censorship: in her scripts she included explicit phrases, knowing that they would be eliminated, and by distracting the censors with them she managed to slip in other more hidden insinuations.
Success in Hollywood
The success of the theatrical comedy Diamond Lil (1928) opened the doors of Hollywood cinema to Mae West: she signed for Paramount in 1932. She saved this company from bankruptcy by collecting with her first film, Night After Night, more than two million dollars in just three months. In the script, she had a secondary role and the protagonist was George Raft, but Mae managed to get them to let her rewrite her dialogues and with them she eclipsed the rest of the cast, in such a way that Raft recounted in amazement: «She stole our scenes; everything but the cameras”. In one of the most remembered moments of this film it was said:
- A waitress: For God's sake, what diamonds!
- Mae West: The love of God has nothing to do with them, dear.
The actress was 40 then, a ripe age for a debuting star; but West was not playing naive young women, but liberated women with a lot of experience behind her back. Physically she did not fit the star prototype because her features were not very beautiful, she was too curvaceous for the time and she was barely 1.50 tall, but she redefined her appearance with an exuberant aesthetic: she dyed her hair platinum blonde, wore clothes Very tight, she enhanced her small eyes with false eyelashes and wore 15-centimeter heels that forced her to walk with a characteristic sway. In her films and performances, she surrounded herself with men and avoided the presence of other actresses who could outshine her. Although in public he conveyed a cheeky and ironic character, in his private life he was measured and familiar: he did not drink alcohol or smoke, hardly attended parties, and when he settled in Hollywood he took his father and brothers with him, giving them jobs and comforts. Unfortunately her mother (her great mentor of hers) had passed away in 1930.
Mae West was the set designer and scriptwriter for her performances and always chose her co-stars, something that was rarely granted to other actresses. She cast Cary Grant when he was not yet known for one of her most successful films, She She Done Him Wrong (1933), an adaptation of Diamond Lil. This film was retitled Lady Lou for the Spanish public.
She herself recounted how she met Cary Grant: she was looking at photographs of various candidates for her film, when she looked out the window at the street and saw Grant walking:
- Mae West: Who's that guy?
- An agent: Emmm... he's a beginner, Grant; Cary Grant. He will participate in “Madame Butterfly”.
- Mae West: I don't care if I do Madame Butterfly or Blancanieves; if you can talk, I want you in my movie.
Lady Lou was nominated for an Oscar, and Mae West reunited with Cary Grant for another comedy, I'm No Angel (1934). West also assisted a young Anthony Quinn, and in 1934 she arranged for Duke Ellington and her orchestra to accompany her in the musical numbers of her film Belle of the Nineties , despite financial and financial objections. industry racials.
By 1935, Mae West was the highest-paid woman in the United States, and in fact second in salary only to magnate William Randolph Hearst, who invited her to his fabulous mansion, Hearst Castle. She stated: “I could have married him, but I don't have time for parties. I don't like crowds." Parallel to her films, West made sketches for the radio, which also generated controversy due to her daring and her phrases with double meanings.
Even today, some of his witticisms are cited as examples of mischief and lewdness:
Are you wearing a gun in your pocket or are you happy to see me?
Good girls go to heaven; bad girls, everywhere
When I am good, I am very good; when I am bad, I am better
- Mae West: You're too tall, how many feet?
- A young actor: Mrs. West, I measure six feet and seven inches (two meters)
- Mae West: Well, let's forget our feet and talk about those seven inches. (18 centimeters)
Goodbye to the movies
Mae West's heyday in film was brief; the rigorous censorship imposed by the Hays Code increasingly limited the dialogues that the actress could shoot, and Paramount dispensed with her (probably due to external pressure) after one last film in 1938. Mae shot two more films with different companies: My Little Chickadee (1940), which was a success, and The Heat's On (1943), which failed, perhaps because the actress was unable to write her dialogues.
Then Mae West returned to her professional roots: live variety shows. In one of them, Catherine was great, the diva mischievously parodied the salacious Empress Catherine II of Russia, surrounded by an army of muscular young soldiers. This theatrical production was financed by Mike Todd, Elizabeth Taylor's future husband, and was so successful that it ran for 190 performances.
Mae West maintained enormous popularity in the 1950s and 1960s, receiving tempting scripts to return to film, which she turned down. Possibly in more than one case she was wrong, but she did not want to play roles opposed to the image of the femme fatale and linguist that she always cultivated. She turned to offering shows in theaters, where she could express herself more freely. On the occasion of a show of hers in 1949, the newspaper The New York Times stated: «Mae West is an American institution. Like Donald Duck, Chinatown and General Grant's Tomb, you have to see it at least once in your life».
Rejected Papers
In the 1950s and 1960s, he was offered leading roles in successful films; Billy Wilder offered her to be Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard but West considered that a decadent and unsuccessful character did not fit her, because despite her age she still felt like a popular comedian like Charles Chaplin. He also refused to be a co-star in the musical film Pal Joey (1957), where Marlon Brando was going to participate (finally the protagonists would be Frank Sinatra and Rita Hayworth) and declined to work on Roustabout (1964) with Elvis Presley; the role of her was done by Barbara Stanwyck. Even Federico Fellini had her in mind for Juliet of the Spirits and Satyricon , but she couldn't get him to accept.
Last years: unsuccessful return to the cinema
At the 1958 Oscars ceremony, at the age of 65, Mae West sang with the young Rock Hudson the mischievously lyric theme "Baby, It's Cold Outside" ("Honey, it's cold outside"); the audience gave them a standing ovation. Years before, West had put on an ornate show in Las Vegas, with exuberant costumes; True to her style, she surrounded herself on stage with eight nearly naked bodybuilders. She and she explained it like this: « The gentlemen come to see me, but I also offer something to the ladies: men from wall to wall ». She hit it off so well with one of her stocky companions, stage name Paul Novak, that they would remain together for more than 25 years, until her death. Another of the bodybuilders from her show , Mickey Hargitay, married the also stunning Jayne Mansfield.
West was a shrewd businesswoman; She financed many of her shows of hers, which were blockbusters, and invested in land, so she enjoyed a healthy economy until the end. Despite this, she wanted to stay active and did some work for British radio and TV, and she continued to release albums of songs until 1972; Her last album was Great Balls of Fire , of the rock genre, which included compositions by The Doors (& # 34; Light My Fire & # 34;).
Nearly 30 years after her last film, Mae West returned to the set; a decision regretted by many fans as the two resulting films disappointed. The social context of the 70s was very different from the gray and timorous of the Great Depression, and Mae's bawdiness was already more likeable (or grotesque) than explosive. Despite this (or because of it), her films became cult objects and made her a kind of camp diva.
In 1970 West was cast in a comedy about transsexuality, Myra Breckinridge, which was panned by critics despite the participation of Raquel Welch, John Huston and very young Tom Selleck and Farrah Fawcett. His last film dates back to 1978: the musical comedy Sextette, with a striking cast that included Timothy Dalton, Tony Curtis, George Hamilton, rockers Ringo Starr and Alice Cooper, and veteran George Raft, along with which West had made his film debut 45 years earlier. In this film, Mae West, at 85, insisted on embodying a man-eating diva who attracted the attention of young gymnasts and brainy diplomats; she even intervened to prevent a world crisis. The shooting was somewhat eventful; It was said that Mae herself moved with difficulty and could no longer memorize the dialogues, which were whispered to her through an earphone hidden in her hairdo. Other sources say that the incessant script changes botched the project. The film had poor reviews and failed commercially.
Popular Icon
The Spanish painter Salvador Dalí portrayed the actress in a famous painting of his: Portrait of Mae West that can be used as a surreal apartment (1934-1935). Decades later, this original composition with optical tricks, actually a small watercolor, was recreated as a real three-dimensional room at the Dalí Theater-Museum in Figueras.
There is an allusion to Mae West in a famous painting by Frida Kahlo: My dress hangs there, or New York (1933). Diego Rivera praised Mae as a stunner and regretted only seeing her on screen, not in person. The actress also appears on the cover of the legendary album Sargent Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967), by the British group The Beatles. It is said that she initially refused to appear on the cover, stating that she had nothing to do with the lonely hearts of the title, but the group from Liverpool sent her a letter and managed to persuade her.
The equipment of RAF pilots during World War II included a life jacket that had to be inflated manually. This life jacket was popularly called "Mae West", due to how prominent it was on the chest, in reference to the pectoral attributes of the actress.
Death
Mae West passed away in November 1980 from multiple strokes. Her body rests in the family crypt in Brooklyn.
By 1959 he had published a daring memoir, Goodness Had Nothing to Do With It, which was reprinted updated in 1970.
Mae West famous quotes
- «Good sex is like a good bridge game; if you don't have a good couple, you must have a good hand. »
- «When I am good, I am very good; but when I am bad, I am better. »
- «I try everything at least once, twice if I like it, and three times to make sure. »
- «Do not cry for a man who leaves you; the next will fall for your smile. »
- «Marriage is a great institution, but I'm not ready for an institution.. »
- «Take care of your curves; they may be dangerous, but they will not be avoided. »
- «Do not leave a man doubting too long; you can find the answer elsewhere. »
- «Love your neighbor; and if it is high, handsome and devastating, it will be much easier. »
- «Those who are scandalized should be more often. »
- «What matters is not the men of your life, but the life in your men.. »
- «Show your best image, who said love is blind?»
- «The curve is more powerful than the sword. »
- «When women are crooked, men go straight to them.. »
- «Do not marry a man to re-educate him; for that there are the reformatory. »
- «You say there are 10 guys waiting for me at the door? Wake one of them, today I'm tired. »
- «Having brain is an advantage, if you hide it. »
- «Sex with love is the best of life; but without love it is not so bad either. »
- «I am a woman of few words, but a lot of action. »
- «You only live once, but if you did things right once it's enough.. »
- «Want me when I least deserve it, because it's when I need it the most.. »
Filmography
- Night After Night (1932) (Paramount) — Maudie Triplett
- She Done Him Wrong/Lady Lou (1933) (Paramount) — Lady Lou
- I'm No Angel (1933) (Paramount) — Tira
- Belle of the Nineties/No sin (1934) (Paramount) — Ruby Carter
- Goin' To Town/Now I am a lady (1935) (Paramount) — Cleo Bordon
- Klondike Annie (1936) (Paramount) — The Frisco Doll (Rose Carlton)
- Go West, Young Man (1936) (Paramount) — Mavis Arden
- Every Day's A Holiday (1938) (Paramount) — Peaches O'Day
- My Little Chickadee (1940) (Universal) — Flower Belle Lee
- The Heat's On (1943) (Columbia) — Fay Lawrence
- Myra Breckinridge (1970) (20th Century Fox) — Leticia Van Allen
- Sextette (1978) (Crown International Pictures) — Marlo Manners