50 Fun Facts About Mae West

In which New York borough was Mae West born on 17 August 1893?

It was either Greenpoint or Bushwick, before the consolidation of New York City; her family later lived in Woodhaven, Queens, too.

What was Mae West's real first and middle name?

Her father, 'Battlin' Jack' West, later ran a private investigation agency.

What was Mae West's father 'Battlin' Jack' West's occupation before he became a special policeman?

Her mother Tillie, a Bavarian immigrant, was a corset and fashion model.

Under what stage name did Mae West perform as a child?

She started professionally in vaudeville with the Hal Clarendon Stock Company in 1907, aged 14, and even tried working as a male impersonator.

Mae West made her Broadway debut in 1911 in A La Broadway, staged by which former dancing teacher of hers?

It closed after eight performances, but the New York Times praised the 'hitherto unknown' girl's grotesquerie and snappy singing.

Which dance did Mae West's character Mayme perform, landing her on the sheet music of 'Ev'rybody Shimmies Now'?

She built her early reputation on the vaudeville circuits, including Gus Sun's in Ohio.

Under what pen name did Mae West write her early risqué plays?

It is a simple rearrangement of her own name.

What one-word 1926 Broadway play, written and starring Mae West, got her arrested?

She could have paid a fine but chose jail for the publicity, telling reporters she wore silk panties inside instead of the issued burlap.

Where did Mae West serve her jail sentence after the raid on her play?

She dined with the warden and his wife while inside.

Which Mae West play about homosexuality never opened on Broadway due to vice campaigners?

She called it one of her 'comedy-dramas of life'.

What was Mae West's 1928 Broadway hit about a racy 1890s lady, filmed as She Done Him Wrong?

It ran for 323 performances; she revived it on Broadway in 1949.

Which studio signed Mae West in June 1932 at $5,000 a week?

Her second film there grossed over $2 million and is credited with saving the studio from bankruptcy; a building on the lot is named after her.

Mae West debuted in Night After Night (1932) opposite which star, who had suggested her?

He later said, 'She stole everything but the cameras.'

Complete Mae West's famous reply in Night After Night when a hat-check girl admires her diamonds:

She rewrote her own scenes; the phrase became the title of her 1959 autobiography.

What was Mae West's 1928 Broadway heroine renamed for the 1933 film She Done Him Wrong?

The film was nominated for the Best Picture Oscar and made a star of its young leading man.

Which actor did Mae West reportedly pick for She Done Him Wrong with the words 'If he can talk, I'll take him!'?

They were reunited the same year in I'm No Angel.

What is Mae West's best-known line from She Done Him Wrong, as actually spoken in the film?

The film was added to the National Film Registry in 1996.

In which decade is She Done Him Wrong set?

The heroine sings in Gus Jordan's Bowery saloon and is showered with diamonds by him.

What dangerous sideshow act does Mae West's character Tira perform in I'm No Angel (1933)?

Big Bill Barton lends her lawyer money on condition that she puts her head in a lion's mouth.

By 1935 Mae West was the highest-paid woman in America and the second-highest-paid person, behind whom?

The press baron later ordered his papers to refuse advertising for Klondike Annie.

Which bandleader did Mae West insist the studio hire for Belle of the Nineties (1934)?

The studio objected to the cost, but she got her way.

On what date did strict enforcement of the Production Code begin, hobbling Mae West's brand of humour?

Her 1936 film Klondike Annie tackled religion and hypocrisy as best it could under the censors.

A Mae West remark about which actress, Hearst's mistress, made him call Klondike Annie 'a filthy picture'?

Studio executives felt they had to tone down West's characterisation after the memo.

Mae West was banned from NBC radio after flirting with which ventriloquist's dummy on 12 December 1937?

She called Charlie 'all wood and a yard long' and said she had the splinters to prove their last date.

Which biblical pair did Mae West and Don Ameche play in the second controversial sketch of that 1937 broadcast?

Written by Arch Oboler, it led women's clubs to accuse the sponsor Chase & Sanborn of letting 'impurity invade the air'.

Mae West returned to radio in 1950, after over twelve years, on which singer's show?

NBC had banned even the mention of her name after the 1937 furore.

Which comedian co-starred with Mae West in the 1940 Universal western spoof My Little Chickadee?

West wrote the screenplay but Universal gave them equal credit, which so annoyed her that she never teamed with him again.

What was the name of Mae West's character in My Little Chickadee?

She is a Chicago singer heading west to visit relatives in the 1880s.

Which empress did Mae West play on Broadway in a 1944 satirical play she wrote herself?

Catherine Was Great was one of several stage vehicles she wrote as her film career waned.

In her 1950s Las Vegas show at the Sahara Hotel, Mae West sang flanked by what?

Several of her muscle-men later reappeared in her final film Sextette.

With whom did Mae West sing 'Baby, It's Cold Outside' at the 1958 Academy Awards, earning a standing ovation?

She was 64; the number stopped the show.

What was the title of Mae West's best-selling 1959 autobiography?

It was ghostwritten by Stephen Longstreet and reissued in updated form in the 1970s.

On which 1960s sitcom did Mae West make a guest appearance in 1964?

The same decade she released a rock-and-roll album called Way Out West.

What did Mae West reportedly ask when the Beatles sought to use her likeness on the Sgt. Pepper cover?

She relented after the band wrote her a letter expressing admiration for her work.

After a 27-year absence, Mae West returned to the screen in 1970 as Leticia Van Allen in which film?

Based on Gore Vidal's novel and starring Raquel Welch, it is often cited among the worst films ever made.

Which future TV star made his film debut as one of Leticia Van Allen's 'studs' in Myra Breckinridge (1970)?

Dan Hedaya also made an uncredited first appearance as a hospital patient.

What was the name of Mae West's character in her final film, Sextette (1978)?

A much-married sex symbol whose sixth honeymoon keeps being interrupted; the film grossed just $50,000.

Which former Beatle appeared in the cast of Sextette?

Timothy Dalton, Tony Curtis, Alice Cooper and Keith Moon were also in it.

Which costume designer worked with Mae West on both She Done Him Wrong (1933) and Sextette (1978)?

Forty-five years separated the two films.

Mae West secretly married fellow vaudevillian Frank Wallace in 1911 in which city?

The marriage only came to light decades later when a clerk found the record, plus a 1927 affidavit in which she had called herself married.

Which Italian-born accordion star did Mae West meet in 1913 and possibly marry a year later?

His son claims the marriage took place, but it has never been conclusively proven.

By what name is Chester Rybinski, Mae West's much younger companion in her last decades, better known?

Thirty years her junior, he said, 'I believe I was put on this Earth to take care of Mae West.'

In which Hollywood apartment building did Mae West live for decades, until her death?

She lived in apartment 611, one floor from the top.

What caused Mae West's death in November 1980, three months after she tripped getting out of bed?

She was 87 and was entombed in the family mausoleum at Cypress Hills Cemetery in her home borough.

What did Allied aircrews in World War II nickname a 'Mae West'?

The name came partly from rhyming slang and partly from the vest's resemblance to her figure; a bra-shaped parachute malfunction is also called a Mae West.

Which surrealist created the Mae West Lips Sofa in 1938?

He also made 'Face of Mae West Which May Be Used as an Apartment' for the collector Edward James.

Where did the AFI rank Mae West on its 1999 list of the greatest female screen legends?

UCLA students had voted her 'Woman of the Century' in 1971 for her outspokenness on sexuality and censorship.

Which actress played Mae West in the 1982 television biopic?

Bette Midler later produced the 2020 PBS American Masters documentary Mae West: Dirty Blonde.

A 52-metre sculpture completed in 2011 and titled Mae West stands in which city?

A Canadian snack cake, the May West, is also named after her.

Which film role did Mae West turn down, leaving it to Rita Hayworth opposite Frank Sinatra?

She also declined Roustabout, later played by Barbara Stanwyck, and two offers from Federico Fellini.