She done us right; comedic movie star Mae West was addressing such then-provocative material as intercourse, homosexuality, drag queens and prostitution in the 1920s.

• Author: Gehring, Wes D.
• Position: REEL WORLD

IN LIGHT OF THE CURRENT FCC campaign to crack down on TV indecency, one cannot help but wonder what Chairman Kevin Martin would have made of the incomparable Mae West, the film legend whose comically sexy axioms ("When women go wrong, men go right after them.") helped bring about the cinema censorship code of 1934.

Just who or what was Mae West? She most resembled a female impersonator ... with the verbal wit of Oscar Wilde. Armed with this repartee, West transformed a small, pleasantly plump, over 40 physical form into an inspired parody of sex. Like many of her contemporaries, from Will Rogers to the Marx Brothers, she came to sound films with an established persona, honed from years of stage work. Also like many of these fellow funnymen, especially Groucho Marx and W.C. Fields, her older, cynical, world-wise screen character matched the harsh climate of the Depression. This was in marked contrast to the youthfully innocent and naive screen clowns of the silent era, such as Harry Langdon, Harold Lloyd, and Buster Keaton.

Like film comedians of all eras, however, her persona began with an iconically comic physical presence. A steamy, or was that seamy, figure poured into that hourglass gown, she accented all the "merchandise" with the most come-hither shimmying strut found on the silver screen. Yet, her sashay was provocatively slow, which paralleled the message of her merriment--savor the sensual, be it the West walk, or the sex act itself. After all, one of her signature songs featured in "She Done Him Wrong" heavily praises "A Guy What lakes His Time." (Along related--but paradoxical--lines, for a sensual spooler of all things sexual, her elaborate period gowns made her the most covered-up of provocative performers.)

West's deliberately dainty style, moreover, further accented the sexual parody heart of her act--a titillating tease to a pay-off that 1930s censorship laws never would allow. This slowly methodical pacing also differentiates West from most of her comedy contemporaries. For example, the nervous antiheroic persona of Eddie Cantor was complemented by his helter-skelter dance steps whenever he sang one of his novelty songs. Groucho's bent-over, loping gait always was performed in fast-forward mode, as if to accent his driven nature to comically dominate. Of her fellow 1930s comedy legends, only W.C. Fields, her later "My Little Chickadee" (1940) co-star, matched West's drawn-out deliberate style. In fact, like West, Fields'...