Happy Birthday, Mae West, Hollywood Star of the 1930s

Mary Jane West was born August 17, 1893 in Brooklyn, N.Y., to boxer and livery stable owner John “Battlin’ Jack” West and Matilda “Tillie” Delker-Doelger, a corset model and unsuccessful actress. She began entering talent contests at age five as “Baby Mae.” At age 12, she was performing in vaudeville as “Baby Vamp,” and introducing audiences to the sexy dance move known as the shimmy by age 18.

In 1911, West debuted on Broadway with the revue “A la Broadway and Hello, Paris.” For the next 15 years, she performed both on Broadway and in vaudeville as a dancer and singer.

In 1926, West wrote and performed in a play called “Sex,” playing “a hooker with a heart of gold.” At the urging of the Society for the Suppression of Vice, West earned 10 days in jail on obscenity charges in February of the following year. While in jail, she gave daily press interviews and dined nightly with the warden. Afterwards, she wrote an article about her time in jail and the people she met. Unfortunately for her critics, West’s stint behind bars was excellent publicity.

In 1932, she appeared in her first Hollywood film, “Night After Night.” It was followed by “She Done Him Wrong,” adapted from her Broadway play, “Diamond Lil,” and which included several memorable lines, such as “Is that a gun in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?” According to the New York Times, the movie “literally saved Paramount from bankruptcy.” In addition to being a success for West, “She Done Him Wrong” made Cary Grant a star.

By 1936, Mae West was the highest-paid actress in Hollywood. She made several films during the 1930s and 40s, including “I’m No Angel” (1933), “Klondike Annie” (1936) and “My Little Chickadee (1940), which also starred W.C. Fields. After 1943’s “The Heat’s On,” West’s film career went on hiatus until the 1970s.

Listen to an interview with Mae West, archived on the History Channel Web site. Discussing two of her roles from Hollywood and Broadway, Diamond Lil and Catherine the Great, she said, “They operate pretty much the same … The empress Catherine did an awful lot for Russia while Diamond Lil does an awful lot for herself.” When asked about her favorite type of man, she responded, “The man I don’t like doesn’t exist, I’m afraid.”

West’s last films, “Myra Breckenridge” (1970) and “Sextette” (1978), weren’t well received. Time magazine’s obituary noted, “Mae could not comprehend that anyone would find it odd to see a woman her age being romanced by men half a century younger.” In her later years, she remained obliviously narcissistic, telling interviewers, “I look the way I did when I was 22.” West died on November 22, 1980, following complications from a stroke three months earlier.