Trivia of Mae West

 Trivia of Mae West (17 August 1893 - 22 November 1980)

*Mary Jane West a.k.a Mae West began entertaining people right from the time she was only 5 years old.Her professional on-stage performance began in 1907 at Hal Clarendon Stock Company. At this time, she was 14 years old and had the professional on-stage name “Baby Mae.”She made her Broadway debut as a singer and acrobatic dancer in the revue A la Broadway in 1911.

*Mae is credited with single-handedly saving movie studio Paramount. They were close to filing for bankruptcy when Mae signed a contract with them. Her first film, She Done Him Wrong (1933), cost them $200,000 and made $2 million. This would be over $140 million in today’s money.

*During World War II, United States Navy and Army pilots named their inflatable life vests after Mae, supposedly because of her curvy figure. The term ‘Mae West’ for a lifejacket continues to this day.

*Despite her glamour style, Mae was no party girl.She hated big crowds, didn’t drink or smoke and always ate fresh, healthy food.

*Mae was very spiritual. She loved talking to psychics, had spiritual advisers throughout her life and even asked ‘the forces’ for help when writing screenplays.West began to write and produce broadway since 1926.Movies that she wrote including: I'm No Angel (1933) , Belle of The Nineties (1934), Klondike Annie (1936), Everyday's a Holiday (1937), My Little Chickadee (1940).

*She was with George Raft in both their first movie debut Night After Night (1932) and their last movie Sextette (1977).Mae West died two days before George Raft dead.

*She loved her Ravenswood apartment, where she lived for 48 years. The whole apartment was done in white, with Louis XV furniture and a big painting of herself hung in the living room. In 1998, years after Mae’s passing, the tenant of the apartment claimed her spirit was still there. He bought back her old furniture and even sprayed her perfume around to keep her happy.