Mae West: Don't Touch!

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 M • •
• • To tea with elderly spinsters • •
• • Mae West wrote:  Another time Mother took me for tea to some elderly spinster friends of hers. Before tea was served, I went over to look at a glass dome covering a bouquet of wool flowers.
• • Mae West wrote:  "Don't touch that, little girl," said one of the spinsters quite sharply.
• • Mae West wrote:  I drew back in anger and contempt, went to my mother, whose back was turned to the incident, and insisted that we leave at once. No pleading, no cajoling, no apologies from the spinster, who sensed the unspoken reason for my mood, could deflect me.
• • Mae West wrote: We went home without the refreshments that were temptingly offered to me.
• • Mother was wise — — letting me have my way • • . . . 
• • To be continued on the next post.
• • Source: The Autobiography of Mae West [N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1959].
• • On Saturday, 13 February 1971 • •

• • Mae West was the cover girl on Nieuwe Revu (in the Netherlands), a magazine dated for Saturday, 13 February 1971, Issue # 8.
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • "Excellent Mae West vehicle filled with laughs," noted Film Daily, praising “Go West Young Man.”
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "I don't like myself — — I'm crazy about myself."
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • An article on the literature of love nodded at Mae West.
• • Maureen Dowd wrote: In "My Little Chickadee," Mae West rolls her hips and eyes and goes with arithmetic. "A man has $100 and you leave him with $2," she lectures a class of schoolchildren. "That's subtraction." ...
• • Source: "Love Lit 101" by Maureen Dowd for The N.Y. Times; published on Sunday, 13 February 2005

• • 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 4148th 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 • • LP in 1974 • •
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