94-11-04:  MAE WEST: MORE THAN A SEX SYMBOL

     Mae West packed the house once again for a screening of
"I'm No Angel," followed by a panel discussion Oct. 29 at the
Jefferson Theatre on "Liberated Women of the 1930s," as part
of the seventh annual Virginia Festival of American Film.

The quintessential sex symbol of the early 1900s who once
said "it's better to be looked over than to be overlooked," Mae
West was also a successful playwright, actress and
businesswoman. "She was a liberated woman -- blunt and
direct" despite the economic and social obstacles of her day,
said panelist Marie Travis, assistant professor of radio,
television and film at George Washington University.

West met the economic challenges of the Great Depression
head on. She is credited with single-handedly saving
Paramount from bankruptcy with her performance in "She Done
Him Wrong." The role gave her the leverage to finagle a
lucrative contract with Paramount, including considerable
artistic rein. Her next film, "I'm No Angel," grossed $3 million,
at a time when Hollywood was averaging $500,000 a film. 

West not only starred in but wrote "I'm No Angel," released in
1933 -- the height of the Depression, during which time the
sexual division of labor was breaking down and causing tension
within the home, said Margaret McFadden, an American studies
instructor at Yale University. Movies provided the public an
escape from daily hardships. Women, though they didn't
necessarily want to emulate Mae West's behavior, related to
the role reversal scenarios she created on screen, said Ms.
Travis. In "I'm No Angel," for example, West constantly ogles
men, makes wise-cracks and even croons to Cary Grant. 

Most of her films of the '30s were based on plays she had
written in the '20s in New York, noted Ms. Travis.

One of the social obstacles for West was the Hays Office, a
U.S. film industry censor. It  forced her and other writers to
use techniques such as double entendre. In "I'm No Angel," she
sings in a blues style and reels off a number of classic
one-liners, including: "Marriage is a great institution -- but
I'm not ready for an institution"; "I wrote the story myself. It's
all about a girl who lost her reputation and never missed it";
"It's not the men in my life that count -- it's the life in my
men"; and "men like women with a past -- because they hope
history will repeat itself."

Like her art, West's life did not conform to social standards.
She grew up in Vaudeville; her father was a boxer. West
married when she was 18 or 19 and never divorced, although
she decided after only two days of marriage that she didn't
like it, said Ms. Travis. Her affairs were many and included her
leading man in "I'm No Angel," Cary Grant, whom she took
credit for having discovered. Later, however, she met Paul
Novak, who became her companion for some 40 years.

"She wasn't well thought of in Hollywood because she hung out
with homosexuals, wrestlers and black men," even after having
made it big, said Ms. Travis. She was especially snubbed by
women, and employed few of them in her productions --
on-screen or behind the scenes. She did, however, hire more
blacks than most in Hollywood, though the roles they played
were stereotypical. But Hallie McDaniel, one of the maids in
"I'm No Angel," said "I'd rather act as a maid than be one," the
panelists noted.

Selflessly paving the way for other women was not West's
intent. She was more of an opportunist than a feminist heroine,
concurred the panelists, who likened her to Lucille Ball and
Madonna. Due to her enormous success, however, she
inadvertently furthered women's progress, said Ms. McFadden.

In 1938, the Hays Office finally had its way when Paramount
released West from her contract. She starred in several films
after that, but eventually returned to the stage she loved so
well. In her 60s, she wrote her autobiography, titled "Goodness
Had Nothing To Do With It". And in 1980, at the age of 93, she 
died of a stroke. --Written by Rebecca Arrington--