Mae West: Sex - - Act III

"MAE WEST herself, not to be outdone by Sadie Thompson, kissed hither and yon with abandoned passion," reported the New York American [27 April 1926], reviewing the play "Sex" [then onstage at Daly's 63rd Street Theatre in New York City]. Perhaps not coincidentally, the Broadway blockbuster "Rain" also had featured military men in the plot. Early advertisements for "Sex" promised the play was "more sensational than 'Rain'!"
• • The following year, during the obscenity trial, Mae famously quipped, "People want dirt in their plays, so I give 'em dirt."
• • What Mae West never admitted to publicly, though, was the anger and resentment that motivated her to write certain scenes, such as this explosive exchange. It wasn't selling yourself that irked Mae; it was selling yourself short. And clearly Brooklyn-born Mae chafed when scrutinized by society's high hats such as Connecticut-bred Clara Stanton.
• • Listen in on ACT III, Scene 1 of SEX:
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CLARA: I'll not listen.

MARGY: Oh, yes you will. You've got the kind of stuff in you that makes women of my type. If our positions were changed — — you in my place, and I in yours — — I'd be willing to bet that I'd make a better wife and mother than you are. Yeah, and I'll bet without this beautiful home, without money, and without any restrictions, you'd be worse than I have ever been.

CLARA: No, no — —

MARGY: Yes you would. You'd do it and like it.

CLARA: For God's sake stop it, I can't endure any more — —

MARGY: Now you're down off your pedestal. You're down where you can see — — it's just a matter of circumstances. The only difference between us is that you could afford to give it away.

• • Dialogue between Margy LaMont, a prostitute, and Clara Stanton, a wealthy woman, from Mae West's play Sex, a Comedy Drama, 1926 [NY: Routledge, 1997].
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• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West in SEX • • 1926 • •
NYC
Mae West.