Mae West – A Legendary Leo

Mae West is remembered for her platinum blonde hair, stunning figure, and sexy quips like “I was as pure as the driven snow but then I drifted.” Behind the beautiful face there was a brilliant mind with a keen grasp of the entertainment business. Fame didn't fall into her lap like a ripe plum, either! She worked very hard to gain fame and continued to write and perform until the end of her life.

West was born in Brooklyn, New York on August 17, 1893. Her Leo Sun trines Jupiter in Aries and her Mercury Rx in Virgo trines her Taurus North Node. This was a woman who knew exactly what she wanted and directed her radiant personality, will power, and talents into getting it! Venus, the ruler of her earthy Taurus Ascendant, is in Cancer with the Moon and Part of Fortune. This signifies her abundant feminine charms and her ability to captivate audiences with her assets. Mars, another retrograde planet, is conjunct the Midheaven in Aquarius. Many famous performers have trines to the tenth house. West's Mars and Midheaven are trine Pluto and Neptune in Gemini from her second house of income. Both of these invisible outer planets are associated with the film and entertainment industries. Neptune in the second house sometimes signifies great wealth.

West's powerful Mars-Midheaven gave great courage and physical stamina, but with Mars retrograde, neither her creative genius nor her financial dexterity were obvious to fans. West made the most of her Moon-Venus-Part of Fortune combo by creating roles that showcased her sensuality and sly comedic delivery. In order to get good roles, West started writing her own plays in the 1920s. There's Mars in Aquarius, pen in hand scribbling scenes where she could bump and grind her way across the stage delivering sizzling one-liners while sparkling in silk, feathers and diamonds. That airy Mars retrograde says one thing but means another, a great astrological signature for double-entendres and cheeky witticisms like “A hard man is good to find.”

As a child Mae West was determined to be a star. She gave her first stage performance as a five-year old and was a member of a stage company when she was fifteen. She toured with vaudeville groups and earned leading-lady roles by 1918. At this same time, Broadway entertainers were in a protracted battle with the censors. Anti-vice groups protested plays about racy topics and overtly sexy song lyrics. Of course, that's what sold tickets! Show biz producers have to give audiences what they want or starve.

Mae West wrote a play cunningly entitled Sex. It was produced in April 1926 and was a hit. Anti-vice groups complained to city officials. Mae West was arrested and tried on charges of obscenity. She was fined and sentenced to a month in a women's prison. Mae decided to serve the sentence, but she didn't go quietly! She gave interviews to journalists on the way in and more interviews after her release. The sensational news story generated incredible free publicity. Instead of ruining her career it made her famous. The next year she wrote a play called The Drag performed by a cast of gay men in drag. This time the police arrested the entire cast and crew. Mae bailed them out and paid all the fines. It was front-page news and yet more sensational publicity.

The 1929 stock market crash ruined the New York theater business. Mae decided it was time to make movies. She relocated to Hollywood and signed a contract with Paramount. The film industry was struggling through the Great Depression and Paramount was on the verge of bankruptcy.

One of Mae West's most famous stage roles was Diamond Lil, a brothel singer who meets a Salvation Army officer. She falls in love and he convinces her to reform. Plays with a moral lesson usually got past the censors, but it was awfully convenient that her character didn't reform until the final scene! Paramount executives waged a battle with Will Hayes, the film censor, over the script. West insisted that Cary Grant, an unknown actor, perform as her leading man. She Done Him Wrong and her second film I'm No Angel, also co-starring Cary Grant, were made and released in 1933.

The films were wildly popular. The ticket sales saved Paramount Studios from bankruptcy and incidentally launched Cary Grant's career as a film star.

West made only nine films from 1933 to 1944, but they made her one of the wealthiest women in Hollywood. She scoffed at racial prejudices and demanded the best jazz musicians for her films. Duke Ellington was featured in Belle of the Nineties and Xavier Cugat and his band in Go West, Young Man.

Mae West was forty when she made her first film and fifty-five when she left Hollywood in 1944. She revived Diamond Lil with profitable stage tours until 1954, when she starred in her famous Muscle Men shows in Las Vegas. The two film flops she made in the 1970s were offset by the publication of Mae West on Sex, Health, and ESP and her third novel The Pleasure Man in 1975.

Mae West was a lot more than a blonde bombshell! She fought for freedom-of-speech, civil rights and gay liberation in the 1920s-30s. Her films saved Paramount Studios. She wrote scripts to showcase her talents and authored several books. Mae West was also a pioneer for the healthy lifestyle movement. She was highly disciplined about diet and daily exercise, and did not drink or smoke. West's diet centered on lean meat and fresh produce and excluded processed foods and sugars.

Mae controlled her career from start to finish, actively working as a popular sex symbol until she was in her eighties! With her fixed Taurus Ascendant and Leo Sun, West never strayed from her chosen destiny. She’s an icon of liberated feminine sexuality who bypassed the whole issue of feminism by being wildly successful. West oozed sensuality on stage and film in spite of anti-vice groups and censors. In her own inimitable way, Mae West was a force of nature who steamrolled past the moral battles of her times and blazed a trail of female independence and business success. Her life story continues to provide a remarkable role model for contemporary women.

Mae West died on November 22, 1980 at age 87, but once again she didn't go quietly! Mae's spirit haunted her old Hollywood apartment. The tenant who followed her was very sensible about it. He was able to re-acquire her old phone number, replicated her furniture arrangements, and sprayed the rooms with her favorite perfume. This soothed her restless spirit and eventually the hauntings ceased.

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Mae West Filmography

“She Done Him Wrong” and “I'm No Angel” (1933), “Belle of the Nineties” (1934), “Goin' to Town” (1935), “Klondike Annie” (1936), “Go West, Young Man” (1936), “Every Day's a Holiday” (1938) “My Little Chickadee” with W. C. Fields (1940), and “The Heat Is On” (1944). Later films: “Myra Breckinridge” with Raquel Welch (1970) and “Sextette” (1976).