August 17 (this post is written a day early) was the birthday, in 1893, of Mary Jane “Mae” West. an American actress, singer, comedian, screenwriter, and playwright whose career spanned more than seven decades. Recognized as a prominent sex symbol of her time, she was known for portraying sexually confident characters and for her use of double entendres, often delivering her lines in a distinctive contralto voice.
She was frequently associated with controversies over censorship and once stated, “I believe in censorship. I made a fortune out of it.”
West was five when she first entertained a crowd at a church social, and she began appearing in amateur shows at the age of seven. She began performing in vaudeville at age 14 and on Broadway at age 18. Eventually, West began writing her own risqué plays using the pen name Jane Mast. Her first starring role on Broadway was in the 1926 play Sex, which she wrote, produced, and directed. Although conservative critics panned the show, ticket sales were strong. The production did not go over well with city officials, who had received complaints from religious groups, and the theater was raided and West arrested along with the cast. She was taken to the Jefferson Market Court House, where she was prosecuted on morals charges, and on April 19, 1927, she was sentenced to 10 days for “corrupting the morals of youth”. Though West could have paid a fine and been released, she chose the jail sentence for the publicity it would garner.
She made her film debut in the role of Maudie Triplett in Night After Night (1932) starring George Raft, who had suggested West for the part. She did not like her small supporting role in the drama at first, but was appeased when she was allowed to rewrite portions of her character’s dialogue. One of several revisions she made is in her first scene in Night After Night, when a hat-check girl exclaims, “Goodness, what beautiful diamonds”, and West replies, “Goodness had nothing to do with it, dearie.”
By 1933, West was one of the largest box-office draws in the United States and, by 1935, she was also the highest paid woman and the second-highest paid person in the United States (after William Randolph Hearst). On March 26, 1958, West appeared at the live televised Academy Awards and performed the song “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” with Rock Hudson, which received a standing ovation.
…and I’ll have a diet coke, please…
Today is the birthday, in 1958, of Belinda Carlisle, singer, from all-female American rock band The Go-Go’s, who had the 1982 US No.2 single, ‘We Got The Beat’, and the 1982 UK hit single ‘Our Lips Are Sealed’. Their 1981 debut album, Beauty and the Beat, is considered one of the “cornerstone albums of US new wave music”. Carlisle had the 1987 solo, US & UK No.1 single ‘Heaven Is A Place On Earth’. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOGEyBeoBGM
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