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I'm No
Angel (1933)
In statuesque blonde Mae West's second starring feature
film comedy, by director Wesley Ruggles - a bawdy comedy classic:
- the film's opening - one-ring circus and sideshow
carnival barker's (Russell Hopton) tempting of a crowded audience,
and his introduction of carnival queen and dazzling international
small-time, vamp circus star performer Tira (Mae West) in a sequined,
tight-fitting gown: ("Over there, Tira, the beautiful Tira,
dancing, singing, marvel of the age, supreme flower of feminine
pulchritude, the girl who discovered you don't have to have feet
to be a dancer")
- Tira's sauntering entrance on the catwalk and her
purring to spectators to follow her behind the curtain: ("A
penny for your thoughts....Get the idea, boys....Ya follow me?")
- in an early scene, Tira's shake-down of an admiring,
visiting suitor in his hotel room, a Chump named Ernest Brown (Wm.
B. Davidson); after learning he was from Dallas, she played a record
with the song: "No One Loves Me Like That Dallas Man" (originally
titled "No One Does It Like That Dallas Man") (pictured),
choosing the appropriate city title from among similar records for
Frisco and Memphis Men; she sang and danced seductively in front
of him as he warmed up to her: "You're certainly givin' me the
time of my life, baby" with her quick reply: "Don't say
givin'. I don't like that word givin'" - she then gave him a
long kiss
- while on the phone with millionaire leading man Jack
Clayton (Cary Grant, reuniting with West in their second film together),
she advised him, coyly (in one of the film's oft-misquoted lines),
to join her in her bedroom: "Hey, you'd better come up and see
me"
- the final courtroom scene (Tira was wearing a floor-length
black gown and fur wrap), when she sued lover Jack Clayton (Cary
Grant) for breach of promise; she flirted with the judge, and asserted
her right to have lots of male acquaintances to her own lawyer: "Why
shouldn't I know guys? I've been around. I travel from coast to coast.
A dame like me can't make trips like that without meetin' some of
the male population"
- her self-defense when she acted as her own lawyer,
and at one point quipped: ("How'm I doin'?"); with her
hands on her hips, she sashayed in front of the male jury, and cross-examined
many male witnesses before having the case dismissed
Defending Herself in Court
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- the courtroom scene ended with a risque one-liner
and memorable quip when she was asked why she knew so many men
in her life: "Well, it's not the men in your life that counts,
it's the life in your men"
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Tira on the Catwalk: "A Penny For Your Thoughts"
Lion-Tamer Tira
In Hotel Room
On Phone with Jack Clayton
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