Mae West: Before Her Time?

Mae West has often been described as one of the more controversial movie stars of her day, West encountered many problems including censorship. This brings me to the main point in this blog post about an incredible actress and performer who was so obviously well before her time, in terms of the roles she was playing. Her characters did not play second best to men, and some of the lines she was given are still fantastic quotes to this day. She really was just incredible. When you put everything into context based on the way life was back in the day when West was delivering these controversial lines it really must have been quite shocking at the time! A lot of these lines would still be brilliant if thought up today.

“A hard man is good to find.”

“A woman in love can’t be reasonable – or she probably wouldn’t be in love.”

“All discarded lovers should be given a second chance, but with somebody else.”

“Any time you got nothing to do – and lots of time to do it – come on up.”

“Anything worth doing is worth doing slowly.”

“Between two evils, I always pick the one I never tried before.”

“Don’t keep a man guessing too long – he’s sure to find the answer somewhere else.”

“Every man I meet wants to protect me. I can’t figure out what from.”

“Give a man a free hand and he’ll run it all over you.”

“I believe that it’s better to be looked over than it is to be overlooked.”

“I generally avoid temptation unless I can’t resist it.”

“I never loved another person the way I loved myself.”

“I used to be Snow White, but I drifted.”

“I’ll try anything once, twice if I like it, three times to make sure.”

“I’m a woman of very few words, but lots of action.”

“If I asked for a cup of coffee, someone would search for the double meaning.”

“It takes two to get one in trouble.”

“It’s not the men in my life that count, it’s the life in my men.”

“Marriage is a great institution, but I’m not ready for an institution.”

“Sex is emotion in motion.”

“When I’m good I’m very, very good, but when I’m bad, I’m better.”

“You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.”

It’s actually quite unbelievable how many of those quotes (if not all of them) I actually agree with! They really are just fantastic. When I grow old I want to be Mae West!!! Hopefully I am already on the right track! But looking at these quotes have really made me want to watch as many of her films as possible. This meant a quick visit to play.com to see which ones I can buy. So expect some reviews of Mae West films in the up and coming months!