Mae West: Black & White

A saucy starlet was MAE WEST.
• • Inspired by black dance trends - - like The Shimmy - - and always seeking out new music by black composers, Mae West could have conducted her own class for "Black History Month" and it would have been fascinating. One of the best books available is Mae West: An Icon in Black and White by scholar Jill Watts.
• • The promotional copy described the book this way:
• • Exploring West's penchant for contradiction and her carefully perpetuated paradoxes, Watts convincingly argues that Mae West borrowed heavily from African American culture, music, dance and humor, creating a subversive voice for herself by which she artfully challenged society and its assumptions regarding race, class and gender. Viewing West as a trickster, Watts demonstrates that by appropriating for her character the black tradition of double-speak and "signifying," West also may have hinted at her own African-American ancestry [!] and the phenomenon of a black woman passing for white. This absolutely fascinating study is the first comprehensive, interpretive account of Mae West's life and work. It reveals a beloved icon as a radically subversive artist consciously creating her own complex image. ...
• • Oxford University Press published this worthwhile study in the year 2001.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: Mae West • • 1918 • •
NYC
Mae West.