Show Business: She Was What She Was

Mae West: 1893-1980

Mae West did not invent sex. She just saw the humor in it, and probably no one before or since has had more fun on what she called the "linen battlefield." "I kid sex," she said. "I take it out into the open and laugh at it. I'm a healthy influence." And, as usual, she was right. Sex goddesses have come and gone and will remain so long as people go to the movies. But only Mae West was able to make a whole career out of the leer and the wink....