She hurt him
Welcome to Screen Gems, our weekend delves into adjacent queer and queer headlines from the past that deserve a watch or re-watch.
The OM: she wronged him
Movie legend Mae West reportedly celebrated her 128th birthday this week, and while she left our world a long time ago, that doesn’t mean we can’t celebrate. Besides, Mae would have told us.
West, for the uninitiated, began his career on stage before hitting theaters, becoming a famous cause for his steamy stage performances. West, who wrote all of her own material, loved to push the boundaries of censorship and good taste – a trick she learned from frequenting gay clubs and drag bars. She also adopted a few drag tricks in terms of body modeling and makeup … not to mention the art of double meaning. In fact, her stage number caused such a scandal, she ended up in jail. The cops raided the theater that hosted his play Sex in 1926 for indecency. The publicity that followed made West a national figure, and of course Hollywood took notice.
Paramount Studios brought West to Hollywood (after her 10-day jail term, no) and used her in a few games before giving her a star vehicle in She Done Him Wrong. The Plot: A saloon singer named Lou (West) with too many boyfriends finds herself at the center of an elaborate criminal ring involving diamond trafficking. She manages to dodge several attempts to murder jealous men and women, before falling for a handsome police captain (a very young Cary Grant).
It is more or less that. West’s films did not gain popularity for their storylines; they won over the public for their star. She Done Him Wrong became a major hit and catapulted West to mega-star status. The film’s one-liners, including “Why Don’t You Come See Me?” or “When women make mistakes, men pursue them” and “There was a time when I did not know where my next husband was coming from”, has become legendary. West also became a sex symbol, known for her curves and her voluptuousness… at the age of 40.
And that, gentlemen, is a success, even by today’s standards. These drag tricks – wigs, corsets, makeup, contouring – have come in handy.
We would be remiss not to mention West’s remarkable activism here as well. She became one of the first stage and screen artists to ever insist on including women of color in the cast and spoke out in support of gay rights. As early as the 1920s, West also publicly criticized raids and brutality against gay people, advocating for equality and acceptance of the LGBTQ community.
Besides, it is impossible to overstate the influence of the West on Western culture (pardon the expression); especially the leads she has charted for other female stars. Her mix of glamor, bawdy comedy and flirtation would influence artists from Madonna to Roseanne Barr to Lizzo to Amy Schumer to Grace Jones to Bette Midler to Cardi B.
She Done Him Wrong is, without a doubt, a dated movie. That doesn’t make it any less entertaining. West’s glamorous on-screen charisma and penchant for catchy one-liners made her a hit with gay audiences for decades … maybe because she spoke the language.
Streams on Amazon, YouTube, and VUDU.
