Trivia / Mae West

• The Cast Showoff: In most of West's movies she re-wrote her own lines and many of her movies were based on un-produced stage plays.
• Dawson Casting: West didn't start movies until she was 39 and she was playing characters younger than her age, even trying to pull it off in Sextette where she's meant to be 28.
• Referenced by...:
  • Karolina Żebrowska points out that Lady Dimitrescu's look takes a lot of inspiration from Mae West.
  • Since she's such a favorite of Drag Queens, it's no surprise that she's been imitated a few times on RuPaul's Drag Race, most notably by Alaska on All Stars 2, and Aiden Zhane on season 12.
  • A Real Life example: Inflatable life jackets are sometimes referred to as a "Mae West" due to them making the wearer appear as large breasted as she was.
• Typecasting: In most of West's appearances on Television and her last two films she's still playing Mae West even to the point that in Myra Breckinridge she is playing to her role.
• What Could Have Been: The Drag, West's play about homosexuality, was to go to Broadway after a successful run out of town but after West's arrest in Sex and threats from police, Mae gave in.
  • West was offered Belle Watling in Gone with the Wind and Norma Desmond in 'Sunset Boulevard', but she rejected both roles.
  • Her episode of Person to Person wasn't aired due to her nude statue on her piano.