A Brief History
On April 19, 1927, vaudevillian and stage actress Mae West was sentenced to 10 days in jail for “corrupting the morals of youth!”
Digging Deeper
Mae West, star of stage, movies and radio, started her performing career at age 5.
Obviously meant for entertainment, West also wrote the play, Sex, for which she was jailed. The arrest and jail time only gave her more good publicity which helped propel her to stardom, eventually being ranked the 15th biggest female star of all time.
Known for her hourglass figure and sultry ways, she played the role of sexy vamp and was one of the first “blonde bombshells.” Her top heavy figure was behind World War II sailors and airmen naming their life saving floatation vests “Mae Wests.” With the tremendous increase in parachuting due to World War II the parachute malfunction where lines cross over the top of the parachute making it look like a giant bra was also called a “Mae West.”
Starting her movie career at the age of 39, West helped launch the career of Cary Grant as her leading man. The plays she wrote and movies she starred in dealt with sex, homosexuality, religion and hypocrisy, all of which made censors crazy! West was not only brash and outspoken on the screen, but was also an advocate of women’s rights and homosexual rights long before the mainstream.
Mae West (born Mary West) was the subject of Salvador Dali’s famous Mae West Lips Sofa in 1938, appeared on the cover for the Beatle’s Sgt. Pepper album, and is depicted in a statue located at the end of the Hollywood Walk of Fame (along with Anna May Wong, Dorothy Dandridge, and Dolores del Rio). Of course, she also has a star on the Walk of Fame. Cole Porter wrote songs about her and she continues to be the subject of many impressions as the archetypical sultry sex-pot.
Married once and with numerous boyfriends through the years, including boxer William “Gorilla” Jones (an African-American), West lived as she pleased which of course did not please many entertainment executives! Mae was out of the movies from 1943 until 1970 with her last film being the appropriately named Sextette (1978).
West also made many record albums rounding out her multi-talented resume.
Mae West met the love of her life at age 61 (he was 31) and lived with body builder Paul Novak until her death from a series of strokes at age 87 in 1980. Today, it is still hard to pick a sex symbol more iconic than Mae West. Question for students (and subscribers): Can you? Please let us know in the comments section below this article.
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Chandler, Charlotte. She Always Knew How: Mae West, A Personal Biography. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2009.
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="1795 http://www.crackedhistory.com/?p=1795">50 Comments
No I ca’t ahve no reason to pick one.
honestly, I think that lady looked horrible.
Perhaps she was a great actress, but I think she was not attractive.
It’s amazing to see how much society has changed with the way women portray in films because back then, it was unacceptable.
I personally think that Mae West is not very attractive, but then again we live in a society where Miley Cyrus is adored so there was a better taste in women back then instead of now.
I don’t think anyone should be put in jail for playing a role in a play.
Definition of a cougar right here
She may have went to jail but it helped propel her stardom, which I think the was probably okay with.
This lady was impressive! Talk about having a positive outlook with serious pushes towards the rights and equality of women and homosexuals. She was ahead of her time, and she awesomely used her influence for good. I have tons of respect for her and her forward thinking.
No one should go to jail for a play especially when it is a comedy
There would be a lot of people in jail now.
This women is impressive, she fought for women’s rights and rights for homosexuals and was in a relationship with a African-American when it was still a very touchy subject. I wonder why she is not more well-known or talked about today?
Wow! She was definitely ahead of her time. I really loved that she pushed peoples buttons with hot topics and didn’t seem to care what people thought of her. Loved the clip at the bottom! Fabulous until the end.
How times have changed… “corrupting the morals of youth!” With that logic… the majority of the population would be imprisoned! — DAVID WARDLE
“Today it is still hard to pick a sex symbol more iconic than Mae West. Can you?”
Marilyn Monroe, Brigitte Bardot, Betty Grable, Rita Hayworth. Easy.
“The arrest and jail time only gave her more good publicity which helped propel her to stardom.”
Somewhere, a censor saw this backfired move and facepalmed, hard.
It’s crazy to see how far we’ve come as a society. The things we show on national television now would have people outragedy back then.
nothing could hold down this woman’s spirit. the best role model for girls today not teen vogue
That’s awesome to see famous women fighting for our rights and other rights way before it was a big thing !
Interesting that she was such an advocate for women and gay rights. Seems like she was very ahead of her time. If she saw Jersey Shore she would not be disappointed I guess.
It is cool to see the impact she had on society. Not just for normal citizens but soldiers as well.
Being an advocate for women’s and especially gay rights was very forward thinking. It’s unfortunate that it took so long for everyone else support these things too.
Homosexuality is still a subject that often receives a lot of scrutiny. At the time of Mae Wests career I’m sure her ideas were radically different. It is cool to see a women who stood for what she believed in, even when she had to go to jail for it.
Mae West was a pioneer for women’s rights and homosexual rights. This was time when women were just beginning to gain equality. I admire her courage to stand up for what she believed in.
She had a huge impact on society. She went out of the norm and did something different. In my option she changed ways.
Impact is not the only thing she had that was huge! Parents should have kept tabs on their kids, maybe she wouldn’t have went to jail. Guess they didn’t pay attention to their kids back then either.
I’m sure for Mrs. West the five days in jail really did not do anything but excel her career. It is really interesting that she stood up for some many things and was still so popular with the masses.
Talk about a big age difference in her husband but I guess he must of thought she still looked good in her 60s. Does not sound like she did very much to receive any time in jail. A couple days is not long though. Probably did not even affect her.
I’m so proud that she advocated for so many things. I like seeing awareness for things. It’s messed up that she was jailed but that was just the time period. Things are changing, slowly…
I find it interesting how they jailed her in an attempt to decrease her popularity but it ended up doing the opposite.
It is remarkable and empowering seeing people who believe in themselves and still press forward with their ambitions. In her days, society was totally against everything she was promoting and the big factor that helped her propel was money, not being selfish and knowing how to spread the wealth around to include the people that were important was a very smart tactic on herbal. In society, as long as money is the root of ambition, you will find powers to back you in your endeavors. Listen to politicians, one day stead fast against a new shift in culture, but when money is involved that will benefit them, the turn around in their beliefs is head spinning. Mae West knew what motivated men in all regards, sex and money and she knew exactly how to manipulate the power boards with out them even knowing. She still made them feel in control and that the accomplishments were there’s. She knew how to play the game. And she won.
I agree with Kamarin – funny that jailing her only increased her popularity.
I’m really glad she was a strong advocate of not just womens rights obviously, but gay rights as well. Especially how it was before it became normal to think about equal rights for people commonly looked down on as if by tradition.
she impacted our society greatly, and i believe she made her point valid. since they jailed her to “silence” her, but this only gave her a bigger impression on her topic.
I think what she did was great but ridiculous what they thought about doing
Jailing her only increased her popularity, rather than silencing her like they planned
I agree with Andy and Kamarin on this one. It always seems like people get popularity in a weird way
It is funny how being jailed increased her fame in the same way putting the warning labels or parental advisory stickers on CDs made them that much cooler for kids. In the entertainment business being jailed can make her seem edgy and cool, and anywhere else just stupid.
Back then she was hated today she would be celebrated its funny how quickly society can change
Nowadays what she did is no big deal at all it’s amazing how our society morals have become so different so quickly.
She was way ahead of her time. at least she brought the subjects to the light, nowadays people just post nudes and call it self empowerment.
I applaude her for starting not just trend but a way of social expression i would say because now and days, its worse if you think she was bad.
any publicity is good publicity!
It’s interesting to see how much our society has changed since then.
If she would have grown up in today’s time with people like Kim Kardashian her wouldn’t be looked at the way she did in her day and age. Morals change with time and its not such a good thing.
I had never heard of someone to stand up for homosexual rights so early in the 20th century.
Mae West is the most successful film star in history.
What she did was inspirational and most people in society today just don’t care as much.
I love reading about people like this that were ahead of the times. She stood for things that were not even considered acceptable to discuss, let alone by a woman.
It’s interesting to read about the women back in the day and what they did. That era is so different it just really interests me.
Just the general perception of women has changed so much.