Mae West is one of my greatest inspirations. I admire her refreshing confidence, brilliant double entendres, and her ability to march through life and create a magnificent reality with herself as the star. She was an actress but didn’t wait around for people to give her roles: she wrote most of her own material and cast herself as the lead. By 1935, West was the highest-paid star in Hollywood and the second highest-paid person in the United States. The first was William Randolph Hearst. Her career spanned over seven decades, but let’s think about how she felt about marriage based on her own statement:
“Marriage is a great institution, but I’m not ready for an institution.”
“Getting married is like trading in the adoration of many for the sarcasm of one.”
It’s easy to get married, but hard to stay that way.”
“Marriage is like a book. The whole story takes place between the covers.”
“It’s not the men in my life that count, it’s the life in my men.”
“He’s the kind of man a woman would have to marry to get rid of.”
Mae West married a fellow vaudevillian in 1911 at the age of seventeen. She was so thrilled with the marriage she kept it a secret, and only revealed the information in 1935 when a court clerk happened upon the legal document. Mae initially denied the marriage altogether, but finally admitted they had lived together for only a few weeks, although they didn’t officially divorce until 1942.
Mae had many lovers, and among them was boxing champion William Jones. She was living in the Penthouse of The Ravenswood in LA, and when the building barred Jones from entering because he was African American, Mae solved the problem by buying the building.
At the age of 61, she became romantically involved with one of the muscle men from her show who was thirty years her junior. Their romance stayed strong until the day she died at the age of 87, and her lover said he believed he was put on this earth to “take care of Mae West.”
Mae was such a legend, that she inspired many of the greatest artists that ever lived:
*Cole Porter wrote two of his greatest songs for her, “You’re the Top” and “Anything Goes.”
*Salvador Dali created several pieces of art including his famous lip-shaped couch based on Mae West.
*The Beatles asked her permission to use her likeness on their album, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.” Mae initially refused saying, “What would I be doing in a Lonely Hearts Club?” Eventually The Beatles persuaded here and she gave her permission.
*Superstar designed Elsa Schiaparelli designed a number of Mae West’s costumes and released a perfume that came in a bottle shaped like Mae’s infamous torso. The name of the perfume? Shocking.
*The inflatable body-hugging B-4 life preservers used in World War 2 were nicknamed “Mae Wests.”
I hope all of us divorcees can channel the dashing and daring chutzpah and courage of Mae West!
