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Mae West: It Ain't No Sin
Sex goddess, Hollywood star, transgressive playwright, author, blues singer, and vaudeville brat---Mae West remains the twentieth century's greatest comedienne. She made an everlasting mark in trailblazing Broadway plays such as Sex and The Constant Sinner and in films such as She Done Him Wrong, Klondike Annie, and I'm No Angel.
Simon Louvish, biographer of W. C. Fields, the Marx Brothers, Laurel and Hardy, and Keystone's Mack Sennett, brings Mae to vibrant life in this unparalleled new biography. He charts her amazing seven decades in show business, from early years in teenage summer stock to her last reincarnation as 1960s gay icon and grande dame of Hollywood survivors.
Mae West: It Ain't No Sin is the first biography to make use of Mae's recently uncovered personal papers, offering an unprecedented view into the endless creative drive and daring wit of this legendary star.
Simon Louvish, biographer of W. C. Fields, the Marx Brothers, Laurel and Hardy, and Keystone's Mack Sennett, brings Mae to vibrant life in this unparalleled new biography. He charts her amazing seven decades in show business, from early years in teenage summer stock to her last reincarnation as 1960s gay icon and grande dame of Hollywood survivors.
Mae West: It Ain't No Sin is the first biography to make use of Mae's recently uncovered personal papers, offering an unprecedented view into the endless creative drive and daring wit of this legendary star.
512 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2005
14 people are currently reading
634 people want to read
About the author
Simon Louvish
25 books10 followersSimon Louvish (born 1947 in Scotland) is an Israeli author and film maker. He has written many books about Avram Blok, a fictional Israeli caught up between wars, espionage, prophets, revolutions, loves, and a few near apocalypses.
He has also written biographies of W. C. Fields, The Marx Brothers, Groucho Marx, Laurel and Hardy, and Mack Sennett.
He has also written biographies of W. C. Fields, The Marx Brothers, Groucho Marx, Laurel and Hardy, and Mack Sennett.
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
December 16, 2009
Mae's a fascinating woman, who went through life playing by her own rules and we get an equally interesting look at the early days of Hollywood, but the author is so eager to show us that he did a lot of research that the book is dry as a text book for long stretches and some really fascinating stuff is presented so matter of factly that you feel you're missing some of the magic of both the lady and the times she lived in.
Be interesting to try one of the books Mae herself wrote. Can't imagine she writes anything in a dry or boring style.
Any time Louvish quotes Mae or deals with some of her interactions with other movie stars ( especially WC Fields) you get a glimpse of how much fun this book could have been.
Be interesting to try one of the books Mae herself wrote. Can't imagine she writes anything in a dry or boring style.
Any time Louvish quotes Mae or deals with some of her interactions with other movie stars ( especially WC Fields) you get a glimpse of how much fun this book could have been.
April 4, 2014
A long, deep look into the archives of Mae West, of the papers she left behind, and an analysis of same. I really liked the dive into the vaudeville years, and the deep look at that lifestyle and history.
Despite being well-researched, it was still on the dry side, and the last years felt kind of rushed through. And it captured times, dates, plays, events, but not the SPIRIT of them... I felt like it was circling around Mae West, but never got close enough to feel her essence.
On the other hand, if anyone was ever deeply invested in maintaining the image, and dead-set not to reveal any inner fears/doubts/mistakes, it was Mae West. So, worth a read for Mae West fans or researchers.
Despite being well-researched, it was still on the dry side, and the last years felt kind of rushed through. And it captured times, dates, plays, events, but not the SPIRIT of them... I felt like it was circling around Mae West, but never got close enough to feel her essence.
On the other hand, if anyone was ever deeply invested in maintaining the image, and dead-set not to reveal any inner fears/doubts/mistakes, it was Mae West. So, worth a read for Mae West fans or researchers.
January 19, 2008
This book reads like an incredibly boring academic paper. There are a lot of "we can assume"s and "we can never know"s. I just couldn't keep on with it. For such a fascinating lady, who had such an interesting life, this book was incredibly dull.
November 30, 2009
I’ve read Louvish’s previous tomes on the Marx Bros, Laurel & Hardy and W.C. Fields, and – despite a sometimes arid writing style – he is good at conjuring up the long ago periods when these acts were amongst the biggest in the world. Although, if they did happen to make silent movies, he will spend page after page telling them to you.
Fortunately Mae West – like Groucho and co – was came to cinema at the dawn of sound. And her thirties heyday is the most informed part of this book, as Mae and those around her try again and again to get their ideas past the censors. Hers was a carefully crafted persona or salaciousness and sharp wit, which she did her best to live both on and off screen. As such it’s difficult for Louvish to get to the real Mae West (perhaps, like Peter Sellers, she had the real her removed). He does his best in bringing the vaudeville/Broadway years to life, and does answer somewhat the question of how a plump lady pushing forty could become one of cinema’s foremost embodiments of sex. Yet, the later Norma Desmond years do drift by (as maybe they did in reality) and the impression we’re left is of a woman whose true self is obscured by good make up and soft lighting. Which is undoubtedly the way Mae would have liked it.
Fortunately Mae West – like Groucho and co – was came to cinema at the dawn of sound. And her thirties heyday is the most informed part of this book, as Mae and those around her try again and again to get their ideas past the censors. Hers was a carefully crafted persona or salaciousness and sharp wit, which she did her best to live both on and off screen. As such it’s difficult for Louvish to get to the real Mae West (perhaps, like Peter Sellers, she had the real her removed). He does his best in bringing the vaudeville/Broadway years to life, and does answer somewhat the question of how a plump lady pushing forty could become one of cinema’s foremost embodiments of sex. Yet, the later Norma Desmond years do drift by (as maybe they did in reality) and the impression we’re left is of a woman whose true self is obscured by good make up and soft lighting. Which is undoubtedly the way Mae would have liked it.
April 3, 2017
It all started with a YouTube search for Mae West saying "Is that a gun in your pocket or are you just happy to see me." I never found it, but the last chapter of this book revealed to me where I should look. It's a line from her last movie, from 1978, Sextette. (She may have written the line as early as 1967 however.)
As for this book, it contains more information than a person with a casual interest could possibly absorb, but as one skims through it, reading some chapters, skipping over others, it is often amusing. The best part of Mae West was surely her quips - she collected them endlessly, and deployed them throughout her career to good effect. The author peppers the book with an ample and rewarding supply of these gems of innuendo.
We learn here of her early life, her vaudeville career, her transition to Hollywood and super stardom in the 1930s, the battles with the Hayes code (so much great material couldn't make it to the screen) and then the long decline of a star.
The most surprising and interesting fact? She was a lifelong writer, scribbling scripts and plays and quips in endless notebooks. When she wasn't on the set, or performing, she was writing, writing, writing. It seems that she had writing credits in almost every movie she appeared in, and wrote most or all of her own plays. She invented her own character and wrote the lines she needed to inhabit it.
"Goodness had nothing to do with it."
"She had achieved a very clear knowledge of how to project this image and what effect she wanted to have on her audience. To the men: Here I am, boys, come up an' see me, but be prepared - I'm in charge. To the women: You can do it girls, you can have it all, but you need the confidence to carry it off. Inside this mask, Mary Jane West, the little girl who had always craved the spotlight, finally felt truly at home." (p. 190)
As for this book, it contains more information than a person with a casual interest could possibly absorb, but as one skims through it, reading some chapters, skipping over others, it is often amusing. The best part of Mae West was surely her quips - she collected them endlessly, and deployed them throughout her career to good effect. The author peppers the book with an ample and rewarding supply of these gems of innuendo.
We learn here of her early life, her vaudeville career, her transition to Hollywood and super stardom in the 1930s, the battles with the Hayes code (so much great material couldn't make it to the screen) and then the long decline of a star.
The most surprising and interesting fact? She was a lifelong writer, scribbling scripts and plays and quips in endless notebooks. When she wasn't on the set, or performing, she was writing, writing, writing. It seems that she had writing credits in almost every movie she appeared in, and wrote most or all of her own plays. She invented her own character and wrote the lines she needed to inhabit it.
"Goodness had nothing to do with it."
"She had achieved a very clear knowledge of how to project this image and what effect she wanted to have on her audience. To the men: Here I am, boys, come up an' see me, but be prepared - I'm in charge. To the women: You can do it girls, you can have it all, but you need the confidence to carry it off. Inside this mask, Mary Jane West, the little girl who had always craved the spotlight, finally felt truly at home." (p. 190)
July 24, 2025
I don't understand why authors call their research papers biographies. They bloat their books with examples of the subject's works or quotes that they then proceed to argue with and dispel as untrue. In this case, accusing the subject of being as senile at best and an outright liar at worst. Even if they can disprove now in the current time things that were said back then, doesn't mean that they were untrue at the time.
Also, the author refers to himself as 'the author' which is annoying. Why doesn't he just say I or me?
Also, the author refers to himself as 'the author' which is annoying. Why doesn't he just say I or me?
library-to-read
August 29, 2025I bet she's a lot more than her quotes. But they're pretty interesting, too, as this one, that brought me to add a bio of her to my to-read list.
"Between two evils, I always pick the one I never tried before."
"Between two evils, I always pick the one I never tried before."
October 1, 2011
Simon Louvish (2006) Mae West: It Ain't No Sin. London: Faber & Faber: 491 pages.
In highschool near Seattle, my classics teacher fostered erudition in philosophy, Latin and German with his carrot & stick application of discipline & humor. Herr Reinert was quick to scorn the unprepared student, but happy when one made an effort. Those who passed muster might be introduced to the poetry of Ovid, and power figures such as Odysseus and Dido. Pupils wondering how much they could get away with did well to ponder the caption on a poster of WC Fields tacked to the podium: 'Any man who hates dogs and small children cannot be all bad.'
Students fortunate to stick with Reinert more than a quarter acquired regard for Fields - and curiosity about a woman of Dido-like proportions, Mae West. She was WC's greatest co-star in the film, My Little Chickadee. You've probably heard her famous line, 'Why don't you come up and see me some time?'
But ribaldry obscures part of Mae's nature, which was almost as scholarly as her recent biographer, Simon Louvish. Based at the London Film School, Louvish has also written on Laurel & Hardy and the Marx Brothers. His biog of West is revealing. Perhaps she was as voracious as, say, rock star Freddie Mercury. She could also be kind to friends, family - and herself. What is surprising is that West was a painstaking student of comedy, resolutely filling journal after journal with jokes, and developing signature lines involving bananas and other items. Rejecting American Puritanism, West used humor in a belief that sex could be a power for good ('It Ain't No Sin'). She took herself as seriously as a pioneer of the study of sex as, for instance, Dr. Alfred Kinsey. West's long career was as important to the first half of the 20th century as Hugh Hefner's was to the second. Dozens of photos, cartoons and other illustrations - all properly indexed - make this biography a keeper.
But without an eclectic classics teacher like Herr Reinert, I might never have read it! Whatever happened to Herr Reinert's WC Field's poster is unknown. But lately he was heard to say, 'One of my fondest memories is of new kids who showed up in my room on the first day of school, saw that poster, and blanched.'
Bruus Scriptus
Seattle, USA & Durham, UK
In highschool near Seattle, my classics teacher fostered erudition in philosophy, Latin and German with his carrot & stick application of discipline & humor. Herr Reinert was quick to scorn the unprepared student, but happy when one made an effort. Those who passed muster might be introduced to the poetry of Ovid, and power figures such as Odysseus and Dido. Pupils wondering how much they could get away with did well to ponder the caption on a poster of WC Fields tacked to the podium: 'Any man who hates dogs and small children cannot be all bad.'
Students fortunate to stick with Reinert more than a quarter acquired regard for Fields - and curiosity about a woman of Dido-like proportions, Mae West. She was WC's greatest co-star in the film, My Little Chickadee. You've probably heard her famous line, 'Why don't you come up and see me some time?'
But ribaldry obscures part of Mae's nature, which was almost as scholarly as her recent biographer, Simon Louvish. Based at the London Film School, Louvish has also written on Laurel & Hardy and the Marx Brothers. His biog of West is revealing. Perhaps she was as voracious as, say, rock star Freddie Mercury. She could also be kind to friends, family - and herself. What is surprising is that West was a painstaking student of comedy, resolutely filling journal after journal with jokes, and developing signature lines involving bananas and other items. Rejecting American Puritanism, West used humor in a belief that sex could be a power for good ('It Ain't No Sin'). She took herself as seriously as a pioneer of the study of sex as, for instance, Dr. Alfred Kinsey. West's long career was as important to the first half of the 20th century as Hugh Hefner's was to the second. Dozens of photos, cartoons and other illustrations - all properly indexed - make this biography a keeper.
But without an eclectic classics teacher like Herr Reinert, I might never have read it! Whatever happened to Herr Reinert's WC Field's poster is unknown. But lately he was heard to say, 'One of my fondest memories is of new kids who showed up in my room on the first day of school, saw that poster, and blanched.'
Bruus Scriptus
Seattle, USA & Durham, UK
April 4, 2024
I loved reading about this skilful, acutely intelligent performer who haunts my foggy formative years' recall. I still visualise her swagger, hear her distinct drawl in scratchy, early '30s movies that TV showed late at night, like 'She Done Him Wrong,' 'I'm No Angel' 'Bell of the Nineties' and 'Klondike Annie'.
What we learn from this book is that Mary Jane 'Mae' West, born 1893, turned her hand to many things including scriptwriting and jazz singing. She did some astonishingly risqué work long before there were any movies, or talkies anyway. Learning her stagecraft treading the boards, she wrote prolifically, including some fiction and much that was banned.
She produced some extraordinarily daring comedic material, loaded with double entendres outrageous even by today's standards. This was long, long before the age of political correctness, way before anything like the Hayes Production Code was even thought of. She subsequently became a pioneer in fighting censorship.
Her celluloid glory days need no elaboration here.
By the '50s she was such a legend she was blithely turning down roles like Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard. By the early '70s she was appearing in gender-bending things like Gore Vidal's 'Myra Breckinridge' with Raquel Welch. How long can any mortal keep going so, really? But she kept at it.
By the late '70s, making 'Sextette', she needed her lines fed to her through a tiny speaker hidden inside her wigs. She reportedly seemed disoriented and forgetful, having difficulty following direction. Failing eyesight made navigating around the set difficult for her. The camera crew started shooting her from the waist up (one official account is that this was to hide an out-of-shot production assistant crawling on the floor, guiding her around the set, but another I've read is that she had sandbags strategically placed for her feet to feel and guide her as she shuffled her way about the set floor).
I didn't mind Simon Louvish's academic style of documentation here, which accorded fine balance between the unavoidably outlandish subject material and the sensibly erudite final draft.
Fascinating and well-crafted biography about a greatly underestimated gal, the remarkable woman behind the legend of Diamond Lil.
What we learn from this book is that Mary Jane 'Mae' West, born 1893, turned her hand to many things including scriptwriting and jazz singing. She did some astonishingly risqué work long before there were any movies, or talkies anyway. Learning her stagecraft treading the boards, she wrote prolifically, including some fiction and much that was banned.
She produced some extraordinarily daring comedic material, loaded with double entendres outrageous even by today's standards. This was long, long before the age of political correctness, way before anything like the Hayes Production Code was even thought of. She subsequently became a pioneer in fighting censorship.
Her celluloid glory days need no elaboration here.
By the '50s she was such a legend she was blithely turning down roles like Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard. By the early '70s she was appearing in gender-bending things like Gore Vidal's 'Myra Breckinridge' with Raquel Welch. How long can any mortal keep going so, really? But she kept at it.
By the late '70s, making 'Sextette', she needed her lines fed to her through a tiny speaker hidden inside her wigs. She reportedly seemed disoriented and forgetful, having difficulty following direction. Failing eyesight made navigating around the set difficult for her. The camera crew started shooting her from the waist up (one official account is that this was to hide an out-of-shot production assistant crawling on the floor, guiding her around the set, but another I've read is that she had sandbags strategically placed for her feet to feel and guide her as she shuffled her way about the set floor).
I didn't mind Simon Louvish's academic style of documentation here, which accorded fine balance between the unavoidably outlandish subject material and the sensibly erudite final draft.
Fascinating and well-crafted biography about a greatly underestimated gal, the remarkable woman behind the legend of Diamond Lil.
July 1, 2010
"Mae West: 'It Ain’t No Sin'" is an idiosyncratic biography, full of cocked-hat authorial bluster and snotty jabs at previous West biographers. This often makes for entertaining reading, for Simon Louvish’s highly personalized style and West’s more-applause-please life are well suited to one another. It’s also nice to see West retrieved from academia, where her corpse has moldered for years under the scrutiny of professors seeking to put their own, usually dubious Ivory Tower interpretations on her life and motives. Louvish recognizes that West was, above all else, an entertainer. She wanted the spotlight, period. The legendary star’s other concerns – women’s rights, prisoner’s rights, sexual freedom, the downtrodden in general, etc. – were true and legit but only when serving her primary interest: herself. On the downside, Louvich runs so far and fast from academic analysis that he ends up with no solid themes at all. So in this telling, West’s life – like all of our lives, really – doesn’t have a coherent narrative. West does this and she does that, and then, finally, she dies. My other knock: This portrait of West is surprisingly bloodless. A veteran Hollywood chronicler, Louvish admirably captures Mae West the performer and persona, but he can’t find the real person behind all of the razzmatazz.
September 25, 2012
Although at least four full-length biographies have been written about Mae West since her death at 87 in 1980, Louvish (Man on the Flying Trapeze) is the first biographer to have access to the recently opened archive of West memorabilia including a 2,000-page collection of quips and jokes and the numerous revisions of the 12 plays, eight screenplays and three novels she wrote. West created and perfected her languid sex goddess persona during years in vaudeville and by serving as her own playwright, but Louvish discovers West's secret life was filled not with lovers but long nights of polishing and refining her scripts. She was almost 40 when she made her first film, but two years later, she was the highest paid performer in the U.S. Louvish's bio is appreciative and extensively detailed, focusing on West as writer. It can sometimes feel plodding as he transcribes skits and routines (although most still sparkle seven decades later, like "I used to be Snow White, but I drifted"). Summing up West's final three decades in a mere 50 pages feels rushed. But Louvish's research cements West's reputation as the definitive siren of suggestion, without whom there would never have been any Sex & the City.
December 16, 2008
Disappointing for a first biographical read about her. This might be a better nonfiction if you had first read all the other biographies on the market about her. After about the first 150 pgs. I lost interest because the biographer was more focused on researching her screenplay activity than Mae in general. Being a writer, I of course found that interesting, but none of her liasons were being explored here, nor her family, friends or personal life.
That's why this is probably a great biography to read AFTER you already know all about her life and want to know the screenplays she'd colaborated on.
That's why this is probably a great biography to read AFTER you already know all about her life and want to know the screenplays she'd colaborated on.
Want to read
June 10, 2009Well, I'd read Louvish's bio of WC Fields, and it was pretty good even though James Curtis' greatly surpassed it. So I saw three copies of this Louvish-penned Mae West bio on the clearance shelf at Half Price Books for $3, and I thought this would be a no-brainer purchase -- until I grabbed one and started skimming through page after page of lifeless copy. I wanted the book to grab me somewhere and it just looked like blocks of letters droning on. I have a pretty good talent for spotting lively writing within seconds; and this one wasn't getting it. So, maybe I'll still get 'hold of this at some point. Some of the reviewers here seem to echo my first impressions.
June 12, 2014
Mae West is the eternal siren. She was a woman who pushed censorship as far as she could, and then some. This biography captures her as such, the definitive sex symbol of the time. However, it sometimes got a little off topic and too indepth with outside subjects. The final years of her life were rushed through, but the overall book was well put together and extremely well researched. Very impressed.
October 21, 2009
I enjoyed this author's book on the Marx Brothers and was excited to find he had written about Mae West. While meticulously researched, this Mae West bio is so dry and boring that I could not get through it. Way too much time is spent cramming every last date and fact into the pages and little time is devoted to a narrative describing the personality and motivations of this fascinating woman.
June 20, 2012
Swore I would not give more than three stars to any bio that is written of a person I am not that familiar with, but since it was clearly written with respect and was very interesting, I decided to give it the four stars... though I can not point out any flaws etc, I am sure there are some, just like in any other bio... still, seemed pretty honest to me. Mae's own writings were very interesting.
August 23, 2008
I found this book on a trade shelf on a cruise earlier this year, and I had no expectations at all when I picked it up. I really knew nothing about West -- but now she has my attention and respect. What a ballsy, amazing woman. And this great book does her justice.
April 18, 2016
I. Have. Always. Throught. Mae. West. Was. A. Fabulous. Star. One. Of. Favorite. Line's. To. The. Guy's. Come. And. See. Me. Some. Time. She. Knew. She. Had. The. Guy's. On. Her. Finger. Tip. She. Knew. How. To. Reel. Them. In.
Currently reading
July 19, 2010Mae was a very savvy businesswoman. I love all her old movies so I decided to see what was behind the scenes.
July 3, 2016
I have this hardback version and really enjoyed it . Didn't know much about Mar but this book has amazing detail of her early life, her relationships and her playwriting and movies . Brilliant .
July 31, 2022
It’s a shame when “the most interesting woman in Hollywood.” Isn’t written as such
October 31, 2019
Mae was a fascinating woman, who played by her own rules in the early days of Hollywood. Beginning her film career unusually late (she was nearly 40) she never played ingenues, but rather played confident women who used their feminine charms to get ahead in life.
Far from the stereotypical dumb blonde, she was actually an astute business woman ("I believe in censorship. I made a fortune out of it") and someone who explored controversial topics in her plays, such as homosexuality and feminism, before the mainstream embraced discussion of those topics. By today's standards, the controversy she faced seems tame, but she succeeded in spite of (or maybe because) of that willingness to embrace controversy.
She's definitely a unique character who had a fascinating life, but I feel like this book was so long-winded at times that the most interesting facts of her life got lost in the shuffle. It was as though the author was so determined to show off how much research he did that he didn't let the reader fully absorb everything that was on the page.
Far from the stereotypical dumb blonde, she was actually an astute business woman ("I believe in censorship. I made a fortune out of it") and someone who explored controversial topics in her plays, such as homosexuality and feminism, before the mainstream embraced discussion of those topics. By today's standards, the controversy she faced seems tame, but she succeeded in spite of (or maybe because) of that willingness to embrace controversy.
She's definitely a unique character who had a fascinating life, but I feel like this book was so long-winded at times that the most interesting facts of her life got lost in the shuffle. It was as though the author was so determined to show off how much research he did that he didn't let the reader fully absorb everything that was on the page.
September 17, 2024
It is very detailed and researched so does read more like an academic book but I learned so much about Mae as well as the early 1900s which I was very interested in because it was my grandma’s era (she was born in 1901, still younger than Mae’s fake birthday) :) Plus I learned about others’ early start like Cary Grant who I adore as an actor. I forgot that I share Mae’s birthday so it was fun to be reminded. But I love biographies, nonfiction as well as historical fiction, so this kind of met lots of my interests. I love the early feminism if Mae. Yes it definitely had some slow stretches and the author probably could have made the book more readable but I still enjoyed it.
January 23, 2021
A fascinating and cleared eyed look at the woman behind the carefully calculated image. I gained a new respect for West : for her resourcefulness and her survival skills. I appreciated depth of the author's research and loved the many excerpts and illustrations. I would have liked a little more focus on her declining years but can see why the author focussed where he did--her golden age is much more rich and interesting. The details are dazzling!
April 21, 2025
This is a very thorough review of Mae West's life from her start in Vaudeville to her final movie and last days. Some chapters could have been condensed. However, I did appreciate that it didn't shy away from the less glamorous side of her. She was a pioneer for women, especially when it came to expressing their sexuality, but she was also extremely vain and egotistical. I wanted to read about her after coming across a collection of her many quips, and the story of her life did not disappoint.
November 24, 2023
Average bio on Mae West not one of the best bios on her but I would still recommend it
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 16, 2008
just started it
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews