Mae West: An Icon in Black and White [Hardcover]

Jill Watts (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0195105478 | ISBN-13: 978-0195105476 | Publication Date: August 23, 2001

"Why don't you come up and see me sometime?" Mae West invited and promptly captured the imagination of generations. Even today, years after her death, the actress and author is still regarded as the pop archetype of sexual wantonness and ribald humor. But who was this saucy starlet, a woman who was controversial enough to be jailed, pursued by film censors and banned from the airwaves for the revolutionary content of her work, and yet would ascend to the status of film legend?
Sifting through previously untapped sources, author Jill Watts unravels the enigmatic life of Mae West, tracing her early years spent in the Brooklyn subculture of boxers and underworld figures, and follows her journey through burlesque, vaudeville, Broadway and, finally, Hollywood, where she quickly became one of the big screen's most popular--and colorful--stars. Exploring West's penchant for contradiction and her carefully perpetuated paradoxes, Watts convincingly argues that Mae West borrowed heavily from African American culture, music, dance and humor, creating a subversive voice for herself by which she artfully challenged society and its assumptions regarding race, class and gender. Viewing West as a trickster, Watts demonstrates that by appropriating for her character the black tradition of double-speak and "signifying," West also may have hinted at her own African-American ancestry and the phenomenon of a black woman passing for white.
This absolutely fascinating study is the first comprehensive, interpretive account of Mae West's life and work. It reveals a beloved icon as a radically subversive artist consciously creating her own complex image.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

art sexy blonde bombshell, part delusional Norma Desmond, West created an invulnerable, tough-talking, sexually assertive persona, partly to mask insecurities and psychological wounds from early sexual assaults, asserts Watts in this remarkably detailed and well-written biography. West played that indelible character on and off stage the rest of her life, often referring to herself in the third person. But West (1893-1980) was not just the actress who singlehandedly saved the financially strapped Paramount Pictures with her back-to-back hits in 1933, She Done Him Wrong and I'm No Angel. She was also a voluminous writer penning not only her films and plays but also three novels and an autobiography. Although now enshrined as a comedic institution, for virtually her entire career West's writing, singing, personality, acting and looks were blisteringly belittled by critics and yet the hard shell she'd created kept her marching confidently forward. Watts offers outstanding, clear-eyed analysis of West's career and how censorship affected her work. She's on less stable ground with her contention that West had African-American ancestry, which she attempts to prove not through documentation but by noting how West's personality, musical style, taste and interests stemmed from the African-American community. While it certainly appears that West (and others in her era) appreciated and borrowed from black artists and the Harlem Renaissance, it seems a stretch to claim West was attempting to reveal her roots every time a black character or ethnic slang appeared in her work. Still, West fans will welcome this new, enlightening biography of the enigmatic star, which offers a broader view of her impact on social and cultural history and as a First Amendment champion.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* West, the shimmying belle of innuendo and unabashed female sexuality, and self-mythologizer extraordinaire, conquered stage, film, print, and television with her bawdy comedy, which bashed gender and racial stereotypes and aroused both worship and controversy for decades. Twenty years after her death, writers Emily Wortis Leider, Claudia Roth Pierpont, and now Watts recognize the complexity and significance of her wily, risky, and courageous art and persona. Author of God, Harlem U.S.A: The Father Divine Story (1992), Watts weighs in with the first complete biography of West, an incisive and vivid portrait that focuses on the enormous influence African American music and culture had on West and the possibility that her paternal grandfather was African American. Part black or not, there is no doubt that West, a working-class hero, identified profoundly with blacks as she vamped her way out of New York's underworld to fame, power, wealth, and virtual immortality by creating tough, bluesy, and sexually assured heroines who slyly subvert society's prejudices and hypocrisy. Watts' spirited and intelligent analysis chronicles West's battles with censorship, celebrates her compassionate artistic vision and discipline, and unveils the enigmas and dualisms that pervade the forever iconic West's work and life. Donna Seaman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (August 23, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195105478
• ISBN-13: 978-0195105476
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.6 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,666,743 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Amazon Reviewers Can't Read, January 4, 2004

By 

Kathleen Chamberlain (Emory, VA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mae West: An Icon in Black and White (Hardcover)

Amazon customers' reviews of this book are as fascinating as the book itself. I'm amazed at how many people appear unable to understand what they read. Contrary to several reviewers' indignant claims, Jill Watts does *not* argue that Mae West was part black. Her meticulously-researched book carefully separates speculation from fact, and she states early and clearly that there is simply not enough information to settle the question of West's racial background. She then asserts that it doesn't matter whether West did or did not have African-American ancestry. What *does* matter is how West handled issues of racial identity in her writing and in her personal and professional performances. Watts' analysis reveals a woman who was, for her time, a strong champion of African-Americans and who was also deeply ambivalent about racial roles and identities. This book is more than a biography; it is also study of the social constructions of race, class, and gender in general and of the persona of "Mae West" in particular.

I suspect that the readers who are so outraged at the idea that West may have been part-black find issues of race personally disturbing. (As one reviewer asked, why does it matter so intensely to some people that Mae be all-white?) The dismissive readers probably also came to the book expecting a standard Hollywood-style star story rather than an academic analysis. Perhaps because the book took a different approach than they expected, they didn't read very carefully.

In terms of the text itself, it has the strengths I've already noted: it's carefully researched, thoughtful, and does a great deal more than simply detail a star's life. However, in exploring her thesis, Watts is often repetitive and is sometimes guilty of trying far too hard to make her case. Also, because she wants to portray West as a positive force in subverting traditional definitions of gender and class, Watts often downplays or excuses West's sometimes demanding, hurtful, temperamental behavior. It would have been more intellectually honest to acknowledge West's flaws more fully.

Overall, an informative, interesting book.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Most indepth and fantastic bio of Mae West ever done, September 4, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Mae West: An Icon in Black and White (Hardcover)

Finally, finally, finally! A book that looks at the intelligence and craftmanship and brilliant social commentary of Mae West, this is the best biography ever written about her. It is not one of those shmaltzy, glowing photo books without any substance. Instead, it is a cradle to grave overview of her life, considering the elements which influenced her persona and shaped her art. Mae West as a writer, playwright, screenwriter, actor and social critic and commentator is finally permitted to shine. This is not the story of a "star" or "celebrity" but a real human being with fears and uncertainties as well as the confidence and self-esteem that made her. Mae West was a genius artist, a genius mind. Instead of focusing on her clothes or her sex life or her jokes and one-liners, she emerges here as a human being. Also, Watts provides the very best analysis ever of the psychological process wherein the human being merged with the persona.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating, May 22, 2002

By 

"abk213" (San Rafael) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mae West: An Icon in Black and White (Hardcover)

Brava! This book is one of the most facsinating biographical works I have read in years. Ms. Watts's discussion on Mae West's life, her times, and heritage is a significant contribution to 20th century historical and cultural analysis. I am a fan of Mae, and appreciated how this book opened up a discussion on how fluid race is in American society.