December 2, 2011
“I’m all for restraint, as long as it doesn’t go too far.”
Mary Jane (Mae) West (1893- 1980)
From her beginnings in vaudeville, West moved on to Broadway, writing, directing and starring in the 1920’s hit play Sex for which she was arrested and jailed on morals charges, launching a life-long battle with censorship. Her film career began in the thirties with memorable roles in Night after Night, I’m No Angel, and Diamond Lil. West often wrote or rewrote her own dialogue featuring her penchant for double entendre while up-staging a long string of leading men, including Cary Grant, Randolph Scott, and W.C. Fields. She made no films from the Second World War until 1970 when she appeared in Gore Vidal’s camp hit Myra Breckenridge. Inflatable life jackets are still referred to by her name for their resemblance to her statuesque form.
Good Morning Gloucester 
Besides life jackets I can think of one other namesake. When you parachute jump there are several ways the chute can fail. One of them is if you get a line over the top as the canopy deploys. If you look up and see two orbs and not one that is a Mae West. You are to disengage your main chute and fall away from it before deploying your emergency chute.
LikeLike