On this day in 1927, stage actress Mae West was found guilty of crimes of obscenity and sentenced to 10 days in a women’s prison in New York City.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This Day in History Class is a production of I
Heart Radio, Hello and Welcome to This Day in History Class,
a show that raises the curtain on everyday history and
lets it take about. I'm Gabe Bluesier, and in this
(00:24):
episode we're talking about an eventful day in the life
of May West, an actress, performer, and playwright who proudly
climbed the ladder of success wrong by wrong. The day
was April nineteen, nineteen seven. Stage actress May West was
(00:49):
found guilty of crimes of obscenity and sentenced to ten
days at a women's prison in New York City. At
the time, midway through the Prohibition era, the city was
still in the throes of a moral panic. By ninety seven,
the NYPD's Municipal Vice Squad had begun cracking down on
(01:09):
other forms of immoral behavior in society besides alcohol. Even
the stages of Broadway were targeted, which is how May
West wound up in the vice squads crosshairs. For ten months,
she had starred in a play she'd written herself, the
provocatively titled Sex. The show's lengthy run had attracted a
(01:30):
large audience and not much controversy. It was a bit
surprising then, when on February ninth seven, the New York
Vice squad rated the theater and placed may West and
her fellow cast mates under arrest. The same thing happened
to two other supposedly indecent plays that night. In all
(01:52):
three cases, the producers were given the chance to have
the charges dropped if they agreed to close their shows.
Two shows to that deal, but may West refused to
close hers. She accepted the charges and was eventually convicted
for them. That was all fine by her, though in fact,
it was all part of a plan to take her
(02:13):
career to the next level. Although she later became one
of the most famous stars of Hollywood's Golden Age. Mary
Jane West began her career in vaudeville in nineteen oh seven,
when she was just fourteen years old. She later performed
at burlesque shows and then moved to Hollywood to become
a stage actress. She had a tough time landing decent roles,
(02:36):
so she made a bold move and decided to write
one for herself. In nineteen twenty six, at the age
of thirty three, may West mounted the production of Sex,
a play she wrote under the pen name Jane mast.
It opened at the Daily Theater on West sixty third
Street on April nineteen twenty six. In the show, West
(02:59):
play a sex worker named Margie Lamont. In the play,
the character is torn between two prospective husbands, a young
man who has no idea what she does for a
living and an older man who knows and accepts her situation.
The title of the play was controversial, likely on purpose,
but the story itself was fairly tame. It didn't even
(03:22):
have much to do with the act of sex. Instead,
it dealt with complex social issues like the power dynamics
between men and women. Most critics weren't impressed by the show,
but for whatever reason, audiences were drawn to it. Over
the next ten months, about three hundred and twenty five
thousand people turned out to see the show. It was
(03:45):
performed three hundred and seventy times, making it the third
longest running show in Broadway history up to that point.
But all that came to a sudden end on the
night of February nine. When May West left the stage
that evening, she was immediately confronted by members of the
municipal Vice squad. She and several other cast members were
(04:08):
placed in black police vans and driven to night court
on charges of obscene exhibition and contributing to a common nuisance.
The actresses spent a rough night in the Jefferson Market
Women's prison, but made bail the following morning. Nearly two
months later, on April five, May West was indicted by
(04:30):
a grand jury after it was determined that her show
quote tended to corrupt the morals of youth and others.
Outside the court house, hundreds of people had gathered that day,
hoping to hear a statement from West, and maybe to
get her autographed too. One reporter asked her what she
expected to happen at her upcoming trial. Aware that her
(04:52):
newfound publicity was worth more than a not guilty verdict,
West simply replied, I expect this will be the making
of me. Two weeks later, May West was found guilty
of obscenity and behavior intended to corrupt the morals of youth.
She was sentenced to either a fi fine or ten
(05:12):
days in a workhouse on Welfare Island now known as
Roosevelt Island. West chose prison, knowing that it was sure
to garner more attention in the press. She arrived there
the next day in the back of a limo and
with a bouquet of white roses in hand. As expected,
the press was waiting for her, and she made sure
(05:32):
to smile for plenty of pictures before heading inside a
server sentence. During her stay on welfare Island, West reportedly
dined with the warden and his wife, and she later
said her only real complaint was that she had to
wear cotton underwear. In the end, the actress was released
two days early, an outcome she described her reporters as
(05:53):
quote the first time I ever got anything for good behavior.
Once released, May West capitalized on her notoriety by staging
three new risk ay plays over the next few years.
They were Drag, later renamed The Pleasure Man, Diamond Lil,
and The Constant Center. Like her first play, these efforts
(06:17):
were met with audience acclaim, social controversy, and tepid critical reviews,
but that was enough to catch the attention of Hollywood producers,
and soon after West signed a five thousand dollar a
week contract with Paramount Pictures. That's about eighty five grand
a week in today's money, and within three years, the
(06:37):
in demand actress was making even more than that, so
much in fact, that she became the second highest paid
person in the country, second only to newspaper mogul William
Randolph Hurst. West's massive salary was a testament to the
box office draw she'd become by nine five, and it
was all the more impressive when you consider that she'd
(07:00):
didn't launch her movie career until she was thirty eight
years old, with her star continuing to rise well into
her forties. That wasn't the norm for actresses in Hollywood,
and unfortunately it still isn't. But there wasn't much about
may West that conformed to the status quo. Even the
control she wielded over her career was unprecedented. She managed
(07:22):
to negotiate a deal with Paramount that allowed her to
write and rewrite many of her own lines. This arrangement
led to many of the one liners, double entendres, and
clever innuendo that made her character so memorable in movies
like Night After Night, I'm No Angel, and My Little Chickadee.
If you're unfamiliar, here are a few of her funniest lines. Well,
(07:46):
when I'm good, I'm very good. But when I'm bad,
I'm better. Haven't you ever met a man that can
make you happy? Sure? What kind of husband did you
think I should get to take a single man leave
as was alone? Are you were wonderful? Denied? I'm always
wonderful at man, aren't you forgetting that you're married? I'm
(08:08):
doing my best. You certainly know the way to a
man's heart. It's funny too, because I don't know how
to cook. Great town of St. Louis, you were born there. Yes, what,
young lady, are you trying to show contempt for this court? No,
I'm doing my best to hunt. West faced off with
sensors again after Hollywood adopted the Haze Code in the
(08:32):
mid nineteen thirties. Suddenly profanity, sex and violence, and movies
were scrutinized and regulated like never before. The restrictions presented
a new challenge from may West, who had built a
career on being both a champion of sexual expression and
a notorious tester of societal limits. But as always, the
(08:53):
actors saw the challenge as an opportunity for further success.
I believe in censorship, she once said, After all, I
made a fortune out of it. I'm gay, bluesier, and
hopefully you now know a little more about history today
than you did yesterday. If you'd like to keep up
(09:14):
with the show, you can always follow us on Twitter, Facebook,
and Instagram at t d i HC Show. You can
also send us your comments or questions by writing to
This Day at I heart media dot com. Thanks to
Chandler Mays for producing the show, and thank you for listening.
I'll see you back here again tomorrow for another Day
(09:35):
in History class
This Day in History Class is a production of I
Heart Radio, Hello and Welcome to This Day in History Class,
a show that raises the curtain on everyday history and
lets it take about. I'm Gabe Bluesier, and in this
(00:24):
episode we're talking about an eventful day in the life
of May West, an actress, performer, and playwright who proudly
climbed the ladder of success wrong by wrong. The day
was April nineteen, nineteen seven. Stage actress May West was
(00:49):
found guilty of crimes of obscenity and sentenced to ten
days at a women's prison in New York City. At
the time, midway through the Prohibition era, the city was
still in the throes of a moral panic. By ninety seven,
the NYPD's Municipal Vice Squad had begun cracking down on
(01:09):
other forms of immoral behavior in society besides alcohol. Even
the stages of Broadway were targeted, which is how May
West wound up in the vice squads crosshairs. For ten months,
she had starred in a play she'd written herself, the
provocatively titled Sex. The show's lengthy run had attracted a
(01:30):
large audience and not much controversy. It was a bit
surprising then, when on February ninth seven, the New York
Vice squad rated the theater and placed may West and
her fellow cast mates under arrest. The same thing happened
to two other supposedly indecent plays that night. In all
(01:52):
three cases, the producers were given the chance to have
the charges dropped if they agreed to close their shows.
Two shows to that deal, but may West refused to
close hers. She accepted the charges and was eventually convicted
for them. That was all fine by her, though in fact,
it was all part of a plan to take her
(02:13):
career to the next level. Although she later became one
of the most famous stars of Hollywood's Golden Age. Mary
Jane West began her career in vaudeville in nineteen oh seven,
when she was just fourteen years old. She later performed
at burlesque shows and then moved to Hollywood to become
a stage actress. She had a tough time landing decent roles,
(02:36):
so she made a bold move and decided to write
one for herself. In nineteen twenty six, at the age
of thirty three, may West mounted the production of Sex,
a play she wrote under the pen name Jane mast.
It opened at the Daily Theater on West sixty third
Street on April nineteen twenty six. In the show, West
(02:59):
play a sex worker named Margie Lamont. In the play,
the character is torn between two prospective husbands, a young
man who has no idea what she does for a
living and an older man who knows and accepts her situation.
The title of the play was controversial, likely on purpose,
but the story itself was fairly tame. It didn't even
(03:22):
have much to do with the act of sex. Instead,
it dealt with complex social issues like the power dynamics
between men and women. Most critics weren't impressed by the show,
but for whatever reason, audiences were drawn to it. Over
the next ten months, about three hundred and twenty five
thousand people turned out to see the show. It was
(03:45):
performed three hundred and seventy times, making it the third
longest running show in Broadway history up to that point.
But all that came to a sudden end on the
night of February nine. When May West left the stage
that evening, she was immediately confronted by members of the
municipal Vice squad. She and several other cast members were
(04:08):
placed in black police vans and driven to night court
on charges of obscene exhibition and contributing to a common nuisance.
The actresses spent a rough night in the Jefferson Market
Women's prison, but made bail the following morning. Nearly two
months later, on April five, May West was indicted by
(04:30):
a grand jury after it was determined that her show
quote tended to corrupt the morals of youth and others.
Outside the court house, hundreds of people had gathered that day,
hoping to hear a statement from West, and maybe to
get her autographed too. One reporter asked her what she
expected to happen at her upcoming trial. Aware that her
(04:52):
newfound publicity was worth more than a not guilty verdict,
West simply replied, I expect this will be the making
of me. Two weeks later, May West was found guilty
of obscenity and behavior intended to corrupt the morals of youth.
She was sentenced to either a fi fine or ten
(05:12):
days in a workhouse on Welfare Island now known as
Roosevelt Island. West chose prison, knowing that it was sure
to garner more attention in the press. She arrived there
the next day in the back of a limo and
with a bouquet of white roses in hand. As expected,
the press was waiting for her, and she made sure
(05:32):
to smile for plenty of pictures before heading inside a
server sentence. During her stay on welfare Island, West reportedly
dined with the warden and his wife, and she later
said her only real complaint was that she had to
wear cotton underwear. In the end, the actress was released
two days early, an outcome she described her reporters as
(05:53):
quote the first time I ever got anything for good behavior.
Once released, May West capitalized on her notoriety by staging
three new risk ay plays over the next few years.
They were Drag, later renamed The Pleasure Man, Diamond Lil,
and The Constant Center. Like her first play, these efforts
(06:17):
were met with audience acclaim, social controversy, and tepid critical reviews,
but that was enough to catch the attention of Hollywood producers,
and soon after West signed a five thousand dollar a
week contract with Paramount Pictures. That's about eighty five grand
a week in today's money, and within three years, the
(06:37):
in demand actress was making even more than that, so
much in fact, that she became the second highest paid
person in the country, second only to newspaper mogul William
Randolph Hurst. West's massive salary was a testament to the
box office draw she'd become by nine five, and it
was all the more impressive when you consider that she'd
(07:00):
didn't launch her movie career until she was thirty eight
years old, with her star continuing to rise well into
her forties. That wasn't the norm for actresses in Hollywood,
and unfortunately it still isn't. But there wasn't much about
may West that conformed to the status quo. Even the
control she wielded over her career was unprecedented. She managed
(07:22):
to negotiate a deal with Paramount that allowed her to
write and rewrite many of her own lines. This arrangement
led to many of the one liners, double entendres, and
clever innuendo that made her character so memorable in movies
like Night After Night, I'm No Angel, and My Little Chickadee.
If you're unfamiliar, here are a few of her funniest lines. Well,
(07:46):
when I'm good, I'm very good. But when I'm bad,
I'm better. Haven't you ever met a man that can
make you happy? Sure? What kind of husband did you
think I should get to take a single man leave
as was alone? Are you were wonderful? Denied? I'm always
wonderful at man, aren't you forgetting that you're married? I'm
(08:08):
doing my best. You certainly know the way to a
man's heart. It's funny too, because I don't know how
to cook. Great town of St. Louis, you were born there. Yes, what,
young lady, are you trying to show contempt for this court? No,
I'm doing my best to hunt. West faced off with
sensors again after Hollywood adopted the Haze Code in the
(08:32):
mid nineteen thirties. Suddenly profanity, sex and violence, and movies
were scrutinized and regulated like never before. The restrictions presented
a new challenge from may West, who had built a
career on being both a champion of sexual expression and
a notorious tester of societal limits. But as always, the
(08:53):
actors saw the challenge as an opportunity for further success.
I believe in censorship, she once said, After all, I
made a fortune out of it. I'm gay, bluesier, and
hopefully you now know a little more about history today
than you did yesterday. If you'd like to keep up
(09:14):
with the show, you can always follow us on Twitter, Facebook,
and Instagram at t d i HC Show. You can
also send us your comments or questions by writing to
This Day at I heart media dot com. Thanks to
Chandler Mays for producing the show, and thank you for listening.
I'll see you back here again tomorrow for another Day
(09:35):
in History class
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