EARLY DAYS PRODUCTIONS
West was born Mary Jane West on August 17, 1893 in Bushwick, New York, daughter of John Patrick West and Matilda "Tillie" Doelger (also spelled Delker). Her father was a prizefighter known as "Battlin' Jack West" who later worked as a "special policeman" and then as a private investigator who ran his own agency. Her mother was a former corset and fashion model. The family was Protestant, although West's mother was reported as a Jewish immigrant from Bavaria. Her Irish Catholic paternal grandmother, as well as other relatives who were Roman Catholic, disapproved of her career and her choices, as did the aunt who helped deliver her. By some accounts, West's paternal grandfather, John Edwin, may have been an African American who passed for white.
1893 - 1980
Stats:
Bith Name:
Mary Jane West
Height: 5' 1"
Hair Color: Blonde
Eye Color: blue
Nickname: "The Statue of Libido"
Quote: "It's better to be looked over than overlooked."
Bith Name:
Mary Jane West
Height: 5' 1"
Hair Color: Blonde
Eye Color: blue
Nickname: "The Statue of Libido"
Quote: "It's better to be looked over than overlooked."
She began performing professionally in vaudeville in the Hal Clarendon Stock Company in 1907 at the age of fourteen. Her first appearance in a legitimate Broadway show was in a 1911 revue "A La Broadway" put on by her former dancing teacher, Ned Wayburn. The show folded after just eight performances. She then appeared in a show called "Vera Violetta," whose cast featured another newcomer, Al Jolson. In 1918, after exiting several high-profile revues, West finally got her break in the Shubert Brothers revue "Sometime", opposite Ed Wynn. Her character Mayme danced the shimmy. Eventually, she began writing her own risqué plays using the pen name Jane Mast. Her first starring role on Broadway was in a play she titled "Sex", which she also wrote, produced, and directed. Though critics hated the show, ticket sales were good. The notorious production did not go over well with city officials and the theater was raided with West arrested along with the cast.
In 1932, West was offered a motion picture contract by Paramount Pictures. She was 38, unusually advanced for a first movie, especially for a sex symbol (though she kept her age ambiguous for several more years). West made her film debut in "Night After Night" starring George Raft. 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."
For more information about Mae West please visit: Wikipedia
Mae West's Selected Filmography
1932 Night After Night
1933 She Done Him Wrong
1933 I'm No Angel
1934 Belle of the Nineties
1935 Goin' to Town
1936 Klondike Annie
1936 Go West, Young Man
1938 Every Day's a Holiday
1940 My Little Chickadee
1944 The Heat's On
1970 Myra Breckinridge
1978 Sextette
1933 She Done Him Wrong
1933 I'm No Angel
1934 Belle of the Nineties
1935 Goin' to Town
1936 Klondike Annie
1936 Go West, Young Man
1938 Every Day's a Holiday
1940 My Little Chickadee
1944 The Heat's On
1970 Myra Breckinridge
1978 Sextette
Full Movie: Mae West and the Men Who Knew Her (1994)
A Mae West Biography - Taken from IMDB
She brought her Diamond Lil character, now renamed Lady Lou, to the screen in "She Done Him Wrong" (1933). The film is also notable as one of Cary Grant's first major roles, which boosted his career. West claimed she spotted Grant at the studio and insisted that he be cast as the male lead. The film was a box office hit and earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture. The success of the film most likely saved Paramount from bankruptcy. Her next release, "I'm No Angel" (1933), paired her with Grant again. "I'm No Angel" was also a financial success. By 1933, West was the eighth-largest U.S. box office draw in the United States and, by 1935, the second-highest paid person in the United States (after William Randolph Hearst). On July 1, 1934, the censorship of the Production Code began to be seriously and meticulously enforced, and her screenplays were heavily edited.
Her next film, "Klondike Annie" (1936), was concerned with religion and hypocrisy and was very controversial. Many critics have called this film her screen masterpiece. That same year, West played opposite Randolph Scott in "Go West, Young Man". In this film, she adapted Lawrence Riley's Broadway hit "Personal Appearance" into a screenplay. Directed by Henry Hathaway, "Go West, Young Man" is considered one of West's weaker films of the era. After this film, West starred in "Every Day's a Holiday" (1937) for Paramount before their association came to an end.
In 1939, Universal Pictures approached West to star in a film opposite W. C. Fields. The studio was eager to duplicate the success of "Destry Rides Again" starring Marlene Dietrich and James Stewart with a vehicle starring West and Fields. Having left Paramount eighteen months earlier and looking for a comeback film, West accepted the role of Flower Belle Lee in the film "My Little Chickadee" (1940). Despite mutual dislike between West and Fields (at least in part because West was a teetotaler who disapproved of Fields' heavy drinking) and fights over the screenplay, "My Little Chickadee" was a box office success, outgrossing Fields' previous films "You Can't Cheat an Honest Man" (1939) and "The Bank Dick" (1940). Mae West died on November 22, 1980, at age 87.
In 1939, Universal Pictures approached West to star in a film opposite W. C. Fields. The studio was eager to duplicate the success of "Destry Rides Again" starring Marlene Dietrich and James Stewart with a vehicle starring West and Fields. Having left Paramount eighteen months earlier and looking for a comeback film, West accepted the role of Flower Belle Lee in the film "My Little Chickadee" (1940). Despite mutual dislike between West and Fields (at least in part because West was a teetotaler who disapproved of Fields' heavy drinking) and fights over the screenplay, "My Little Chickadee" was a box office success, outgrossing Fields' previous films "You Can't Cheat an Honest Man" (1939) and "The Bank Dick" (1940). Mae West died on November 22, 1980, at age 87.
Early Days Productions: Mae West 04/23/2012
