She Done Him Wrong: Mae West’s career died for your sins.
This week we go West, Mae West, for a pair of saucy comedies: one’s pre-code, the other isn’t.
She Done Him Wrong
(1933)
Across town at 20th Century Fox, it was child superstar Shirley Temple keeping the studio in the black, while Paramount used pre-code sex to foot the bill. At a time when monogamy governed Hollywood, Mae West had more lovers in a single picture than most did in a lifetime. Based on West’s scandalous stage play
Diamond Lil, this was to be her second feature and first starring role. For two years, West and screenwriters Harvey Thew and John Bright grappled with a way to get it past the censors. Within months of its release, the Catholic Legion of Decency was formed, largely in response to the perceived threat West posed to the male libido.