Mae West
I'M NO ANGEL
Starring Mae West & Cary Grant
Wednesday, August 29 at 7 pm | Members $11 | Public $16
With guest speaker Trav S.D., author, and one of the founders of West Fest
In one of her greatest roles, Mae West stars as a wisecracking lion tamer with a relentless appetite for lust and love, who literally charms the pants off everyone, including a young Cary Grant, in this hilarious Pre-Code comedy.
Released 9 months after She Done Him Wrong, I’m No Angel reunites Mae West and Cary Grant, and once again revolves around West literally charming the pants off anyone and everyone she meets. The eccentric plot starts at a circus and ends in a courtroom, featuring West as a charismatic, intelligent lion tamer named Tira who cracks risqué one-liners like a circus whip. Made “pre-code,” before the introduction of film censorship guidelines, I’m No Angel depicts a level of female sexual liberation that would all but disappear from mainstream cinema. At the same time, West’s strong Brooklyn accent and stronger innuendos (and the fact that she’s a lion tamer!) challenge further the notion of how women should behave. Her ethos is to be yourself, and to be fabulous with it. And it’s easy to be fabulous with such incredible costumes, including a sparkly spider’s web number. I’m No Angel has it all Music. Romance. Lions. (USA, 1933, 87 min., NR, English, 35mm| Dir. Wesley Ruggles)
Writer and performer Trav S.D. is a is a key figure in the New Vaudeville, Burlesque and Indie Theatre movements. He is best known for his critically acclaimed 2005 book No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous and as the original director and producer of the 2014 revival of the Marx Brothers’ 1924 show I’ll Say She Is.
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