Mae West
Buxom actress Mae West employed clever double-entendres throughout the course of her long career on stage and screen. More than once she managed to squeeze something suggestive past the eagle eyes and ears of her rigid censors, and her public came to adore her for it. In fact she boasted of the feat, saying, "I believe in censorship. I made a fortune out of it." Similarly, the titles of West's recordings veered toward the suggestive and risqué. The Rosetta Records release Mae West Sings Sultry Songs includes such numbers as "A Guy That Takes His Time," "Easy Rider," and "Pardon Me for Loving and Running." The compilation I'm No Angel from Jasmine Records, which was named for one of her early films, features the title song and "I Want You, I Need You." The Fabulous Mae West from MCA Records offers "I'm in the Mood for Love" and "All of Me." The Mind's Eye issued a cassette featuring such classic West numbers as "Come Up and See Me Sometime," as well as "Slow Down."
The actress was born Mary Jane West in Brooklyn, NY, in 1893, although some sources say she was born a year earlier. By the age of five she was working the boards in vaudeville. By her early teens her performances had earned her the moniker of "Baby Vamp." She eventually landed on Broadway in Diamond Lil, but not before offending the moral code of the 1920s and earning a short stop in jail for one of the plays she had written, which she titled Sex.
Her fortunes turned around when she went to Hollywood. Outrageous remarks packed with sexual innuendo brought fame and adulation to the five-foot blonde actress with an exaggerated hourglass figure, as well as an Oscar nomination in 1933 for She Done Him Wrong, her second movie. Evidently another of West's oft-quoted remarks was accurate. She said, "When I'm good, I'm very good, but when I'm bad I'm better." A look at her salary during the early Hollywood years backs up this claim. In 1932, in the midst of the Depression, she was paid $50,000 to make one film. In 1959 the actress published Goodness Had Nothing to Do with It, her autobiography. She remained active almost until the end, making her final film, Sextette, just two years prior to her passing. She died in Los Angeles, CA, in 1980, after experiencing a number of strokes. During her life she claimed that she had never taken a husband, and she is given credit for saying, "Marriage is a great institution, but I'm not ready for an institution." However, records indicate that she married a man named Frank Wallace.
Recordings are available of West's radio and television appearances. Mark 56 Records offers recordings of the actress on a 1937 radio broadcast with Edgar Bergen and his puppet, Charlie McCarthy. Other broadcasts include a take from her guest appearance in the '30s on The Rudy Vallee Show and two of her Christmas broadcasts from the early '70s for The American Forces Radio Service. Recordings of her television work span the 1940s to the 1960s and include guest appearances on shows hosted by Perry Como, Red Skelton, and Dean Martin.
© Linda Seida /TiVo
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Way Out West
Vocale jazz - Released by Master Classics Records on 1 jul. 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Christmas Classics
Kerstmuziek - Released by Master Classics Records on 1 jul. 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Reminiscing in tempo
Duke Ellington and His Orchestra, Louis Bacon, Ivie Anderson, Mae West, Duke Ellington Sextet, Duke Ellington
Klassiek - Released by Naxos on 26 dec. 1991
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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BD Music Presents Mae West
Vocale jazz - Released by BDMUSIC on 25 jun. 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Very Best Of
Vocale jazz - Released by Master Classics Records on 1 jul. 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Great Balls of Fire
Vocale jazz - Released by Vintage Masters Inc. on 1 feb. 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Queen Of Sex Sings Sultry Songs! (Remastered)
Originele soundtracks - Released by RevOla on 30 jul. 2021
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
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Alone With The Moon
Pop - Released by Reminisce Music on 29 mei 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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The Fabulous Mae West And Other Wonderful Girls
Vocale muziek (wereldlijk en religieus) - Released by Sepia on 4 jul. 2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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His Only Recording
Humour/Spoken Word - Released by Tin Toy on 31 jan. 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Woman in Blues - Mae West
Blues - Released by ISIS on 5 sep. 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Golden Selection (Remastered)
Jazz - Released by Master Tape Records on 3 okt. 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Ultimate Collection
Vocale jazz - Released by Master Classics Records on 1 sep. 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Fabulous Mae West
Ragtime - Released by Poppydisc on 1 jan. 1955
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Wild Christmas! (Remastered)
Ambient / New Age / Easy Listening - Released by RevOla on 20 feb. 2020
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
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Wild Christmas
Musicals - Released by Christmas Album on 30 nov. 2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo