Mae West and the Men Who Knew Her

Oh Mae! In some key ways, you remind me of my dear Joan Jett. I see a lot of you in her, and that made me appreciate this even more. But, in some other marked ways, you two are night and day.

Mae West was a true force of nature! She was witty and sexual, but always classy about it. She refused to use foul language in her plays, and never drank or smoked. For, she was a clean kind of dirty, if you know what I mean. And it takes a real genius to be both!

I loved this little documentary, but as expected, it only scratched the surface of who she was. Like my dear Joanie, Mae was extremely private and never really let people into her inner world. Few ever knew her on a personal level, and even they got the sense that she always kept her real self hidden away, or that she had spent so long crafting the character of Mae West, that there was no Mary Jane (her birth name) left. And like Joanie, if she did go out somewhere, she usually had her entourage with her. So, how could anyone ever hope to have a private moment with her? But, it was just as well for Mae, who wanted to keep up her image- or as Joan Jett would put it, her "mystique" for the public.

Incidentally, it just dawned on me as I was typing this review that Mae's real name of Mary Jane is a reverse-variation of Joan Jett's name Joan Marie. Yes, Jane is a variation of Joan, and Marie is a variation of Mary. Gosh, when I say Joan Jett and Mae West sort of remind me of each-other, I guess I'm really onto something!

For any Joan Jett fans who may be reading this, just know that she once likened Janice Joplin to having a certain Mae West quality, and that one of the aliases Joan used in the past to sign into hotels was "Randy Hooker". Let that sink in. Mae West would get a real kick out of it, I'm sure! 😊💥💖