Upon completing her = prison=20 sentence, she announced that she would in future devote some of her time = to=20 philanthropy, especially to getting jobs for some of the unfortunates = whom she=20 met on Welfare Island.
She started =
by a=20
donation of $1,000 to the Mae West Memorial Library in the Women=92s =
House of=20
Detention. This donation was the fee she received for a magazine article =
she=20
wrote on her experiences there.
Her first play, = Sex, had already run for over 300 performances at Daly=92s = Theatre, =20 New York, before it was raided by police on the grounds that it might be = "corrupting the morals of youth, or=20 others".
Her term was served =
in Welfare=20
Island Women=92s Work House, a granite fortress built by convicts, its =
location is=20
now called Roosevelt Island.
tattered drug addicts, wasting = and=20 prematurely aged
a spinster type with a =
long scar on=20
the side of her face and neck
she spoke with an Irish=20
accent
sentenced to 10=20
days for stealing a $3.89 pair of shoes
a black woman of comely =
personality,=20
her presence gave them all a lift
Mae was permitted to = take her=20 meals in the warden's home. Six other convicts worked there, and Mae = asked each=20 of them about their paths to prison.
Her first play, = Sex, had already run for over 300 performances at Daly=92s = Theatre, =20 New York, before it was raided by police on the grounds that it might be = "corrupting the morals of youth, or=20 others".
Her term was served =
in Welfare=20
Island Women=92s Work House, a granite fortress built by convicts, its =
location is=20
now called Roosevelt Island.
tattered drug addicts, wasting = and=20 prematurely aged
a spinster type with a =
long scar on=20
the side of her face and neck
she spoke with an Irish=20
accent
sentenced to 10=20
days for stealing a $3.89 pair of shoes
a black woman of comely =
personality,=20
her presence gave them all a lift
Mae's article in Parade = magazine=20 1929:
For years I have been = devoting my=20 career in the theater to education of the masses to certain sex truths. = My last=20 four plays, Sex, Pleasure Man, Drag and Diamond Lil = have all=20 dealt with major, vital sex problems
Mae speaking to = the press on=20 her next stage production, Drag :
Some of our = best people=20 have been in jail
Upon completing her = prison=20 sentence, she announced that she would in future devote some of her time = to=20 philanthropy, especially to getting jobs for some of the unfortunates = whom she=20 met on Welfare Island.
She started =
by a=20
donation of $1,000 to the Mae West Memorial Library in the Women=92s =
House of=20
Detention. This donation was the fee she received for a magazine article =
she=20
wrote on her experiences there.
Mae was permitted to = take her=20 meals in the warden's home. Six other convicts worked there, and Mae = asked each=20 of them about their paths to prison.
Mae's article in Parade = magazine=20 1929:
For years I have been = devoting my=20 career in the theater to education of the masses to certain sex truths. = My last=20 four plays, Sex, Pleasure Man, Drag and Diamond Lil = have all=20 dealt with major, vital sex problems
Mae speaking to = the press on=20 her next stage production, Drag :
Some of our = best people=20 have been in jail
Copyright Christine Kennedy = 2003
All photos and web show design copyright to Christine Kennedy
Source material on Mae West from the following = publications:
=91Peel Me a Grape=92
Ed. =
Joseph=20
Wientraub
Futura Publications Limited, Aylesbury 1975
=91Day with Mae=92 by Count
Deluxe =
No. 2,=20
1978
London, H.M. Schneider Deluxe Publications Ltd
Too Much of a Good Thing: Mae West =
as=20
Cultural Icon
Ramona Curry
University of Minnesota Press, =
Minneapolis=20
1996
Becoming Mae West
Emily =
Wortis=20
Leider
Farrar Strauss Giroux, NY 1997
Three Plays by Mae West: Sex, The =
Drag, The=20
Pleasure Man
Ed. Lillian Schlissel
Nick Hern Books, London=20
1997
Copyright Christine Kennedy = 2003
All photos and web show design copyright to Christine Kennedy
Source material on Mae West from the following = publications:
=91Peel Me a Grape=92
Ed. =
Joseph=20
Wientraub
Futura Publications Limited, Aylesbury 1975
=91Day with Mae=92 by Count
Deluxe =
No. 2,=20
1978
London, H.M. Schneider Deluxe Publications Ltd
Too Much of a Good Thing: Mae West =
as=20
Cultural Icon
Ramona Curry
University of Minnesota Press, =
Minneapolis=20
1996
Becoming Mae West
Emily =
Wortis=20
Leider
Farrar Strauss Giroux, NY 1997
Three Plays by Mae West: Sex, The =
Drag, The=20
Pleasure Man
Ed. Lillian Schlissel
Nick Hern Books, London=20
1997