Mae West: It Ain't No Sin
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Mae West’s manner was a mechanism for getting her work past the censors. Simon Louvish has written a new biography of her.
Mae West: It ain’t no sin, by Simon LouvishLouvish describes in extensive detail how these fell foul of the censor and how both Randolph Hearst and the Catholic newspapers waged a relentless war against their supposed immorality. He makes the intriguing point that her camp mannerisms - the languid glances and slow drawl - were a means of subverting the Hays code by suggesting what she was forbidden to say.