18/08/2026
“Mae West was once described as “an outrageous female impersonator”; certainly, the persona she evolved on stage and in the cinema must be considered as the ultimate s*x satire: splendidly vulgar, ostentatiously overdressed and not so much licentious as laughable. She is one of the great screen comediennes and the object of her mockery is not s*x at all, but our attitudes towards it. Her first stage play was called simply S*x and gained her a ten-day jail sentence for its naughtiness. She could be considered the Lenny Bruce of the 30s, daring to talk about the unmentionable.”
/ From The Illustrated Encyclopedia of The World’s Great Movie Stars (1979) by Ken Wlaschin /
“Can you honestly name another artist, male or female, in the cinema whose comic acting equals that of this ample blonde who undulates in little waves, who is ornamental with her real diamonds, whose eye is pale and hard, whose throat swells with the coos of a professional dove?” Colette on Mae West
“I speak two languages: body and English.” Mae West
Born on this day in Brooklyn, New York: inimitable high empress of s*x, ra**ch queen, actress, pioneering risqué playwright, chanteuse, connoisseur of firm male flesh, Las Vegas headliner, camp icon, inspiration for legions of drag queens and ultimate “dirty blonde” – Miss Mae West (17 August 1893 – 22 November 1980)!
