Facts About Mae West

Larrylambert
3 min readAug 5, 2024

She was one of the most controversial figures in early Hollywood.

Creative Commons: twm1340

Back in her day, Mae West was both controversial and huge at box office. I don’t believe I’ve ever seen a single Mae West movie but have seen numerous clips of her work. Perhaps her most famous movie is, My Little Chickadee which also starred W C Fields.

While West was a noted a sex symbol in her time, it seemed that that designation was based more on attitude than actual appearance. But Mae did put real effort into that designation. So, let’s take a look at some things you didn’t know about Mae West.

1: Not surprisingly, Mae had issues with censorship.

She summarized it this way: I believe in censorship. I made a fortune out of it.”

2: Mae’s mother was a corset and fashion model, and her father was a boxer/ special policeman. His name was John Patrick “Battlin’ Jack” West.

It’s easy to see why her career took a certain arc.

3: Her real name is Mary Jane West.

And if she had been born at a later time, she would probably have loved the name, Mary Jane. It would have been more controversy.

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Larrylambert
Larrylambert

Written by Larrylambert

You probably don't know my name, but have likely seen my work. I've written for numerous syndicated cartoon strips and my gags have appeared in national pubs.

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