Mae West: 100 Angry Men

MAE WEST dictated a fanciful retelling of her life to her secretary Larry Lee. The material was reshaped by ghostwriter Stephen Longstreet and published as "Goodness Had Nothing to Do With It" in 1959. For Mae mavens interested in a factual, insightful account, The Mae West Blog recommends the riveting biographies written by Jill Watts and Emily Wortis Leider. Meanwhile, enjoy these (uncorrected) excerpts below from the pen of Mae West.
• • "Goodness Had Nothing to Do With It" by Mae West • •
• • Chapter 1: Take the Spotlight — — Part E • •
• • When provoked, John West had a savage temper • •
• • Mae West wrote:  The club members, a hundred angry men, ganged up on him. Father, in a savage rage, knocked two glass beer mugs together and with the jagged remains cut and slashed his way through the fray, leaving a bloody mob.
• • Mae West wrote:  Father once captured two robbers single-handed. He was very strong. He had been a catch-as-catch-can street fighter, and had fought in the ring since he was eleven years old. He said that at that age he'd rather fight than eat. He was always ready to do physical violence when the urge was on him.
• • Mae West wrote: After he was married, he gave up his fighting career and became a business man. There was a power and a vitality about Mother that made a man melt before her glance.
• • A livery stable • •  . . .
• • To be continued on the next post.
• • Source: The Autobiography of Mae West  [N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1959].
• • On Tuesday, 1 February 1927 in Connecticut • •
• • On Tuesday, February 1st at 5 AM, Mae West was arrested along with her sister and the director Edward Elsner in Bridgeport, Connecticut.
• • The tabloid New York World covered the story on the front page on 1 February 1927 as did the New York Morning Telegraph, offering their voyeuristic readers every sin-soaked scrap about the scandal. The N.Y. Times also reported on this on February 1st but in less lurid detail.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Variety ran this article: "No Good Women in History, Mae West Says, During Hot Sex Selling Talk."
• • In Her Own Words • •

• • Mae West said: "It's no good trying to be serious. I tried it 18 months ago by playing Catherine of Russia, but when I held out my hand to be kissed the audience was not happy until I raised my eyebrows in that way they like. So gradually the whole thing became a burlesque."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • The World of Yesterday featured Mae West.
• • The World of Yesterday, No. 1, February 1976 had Mae West on the front cover.
• • This was a Single Issue Magazine of 24 pages. The editor was Linda S. Downey . . .
• • Source: Publication released in February 1976

• • The Mae West Blog celebrates its 14th anniversary • •  

• • Thank you for reading, sending questions, and posting comments during these past fourteen years. Not long ago, we entertained 3,497 visitors. And we reached a milestone recently when we completed 4,100 blog posts. Wow!  

• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started fourteen years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 4140th blog post. Unlike many blogs, which draw upon reprinted content from a newspaper or a magazine and/ or summaries, links, or photos, the mainstay of this blog is its fresh material focused on the life and career of Mae West, herself an American original.

• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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• • Photo: • • Mae West • • in 1944 • •
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