A City Girl: Mae West

Whether it be via old movies or my Instagram, by now I'm sure you know of, or at least heard of Mae West. The Curvy Sass Queen from New York City. As we all know, I'm quite fond of my city and the kick-ass women (past or present) who hail from it. Just in case you don't enjoy black and white cinema as much as I do, allow me to give you a brief history lesson on this old Hollywood gem.
Here are 5 things you should know about Mae West:

1. Mae Jane West, born and bred in Bushwick,was an actress, play-write  singer, comedian, screen writer and sex symbol. 
2. Mae West's first performance was at a church social when she was five years old. By 14, she was a vaudeville stage actress known as Baby Mae.
3. West later starred in her own plays, which she wrote under the pseudonym Jane Mast. She also wrote 9 of the 13 films she starred in.
4. By 1935, West was the highest-paid star in Hollywood, and the second highest-paid person in the United States. The first being newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst.
5.   In 1937, Fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli released a perfume called "Shocking" that came in a bottle shaped like West's torso. The buxom star is also rumored to have inspired the Coca-Cola bottle.

 As if her talent as an actress and writer weren't enough to make her legendary, her bodacious curves and the ability to deliver the sassiest of double entendres sure did. Here are 5 of my favorite Mae West one-liners: 

1. “I'm no model lady. A model's just an imitation of the real thing.”
2. " Love thy neighbor -- and if he happens to be tall, debonair and devastating, it will be that much easier."
3. “Women like a man with a past, but they prefer a man with a present."
4. “When women go wrong, men go right after them.”
5. "Look your best -- who said love is blind?"

Salvador Dalis' famous "Lips Sofa" was modeled after Mae West's lips.