WEBVTT - Sex! (It's a play) 0:00:08.285 --> 0:00:15.605 School of Humans. 0:00:17.365 --> 0:00:21.085 So I'm thirty two and I'm not a star. It's okay, guys, 0:00:21.125 --> 0:00:25.205 I've accepted it. But I've tried various things over the years. 0:00:25.605 --> 0:00:27.325 You know, I tried to be a rock star, a 0:00:27.325 --> 0:00:30.445 pop star. I've had a couple podcasts, I do stand 0:00:30.525 --> 0:00:33.725 up comedy, I post reels and TikTok. 0:00:33.325 --> 0:00:36.885 Singing humiliating songs and bringing shame to my family's name. 0:00:38.525 --> 0:00:39.965 You know, I've done a lot in my quest to 0:00:39.965 --> 0:00:43.525 become the most famous person who have ever existed. It's 0:00:43.565 --> 0:00:47.045 not a noble quest, but a combination of mental illness 0:00:47.085 --> 0:00:50.765 and American individualism has led me down this path. All 0:00:50.845 --> 0:00:57.605 the same, if you're like me, when you reached thirty 0:00:57.605 --> 0:01:00.885 two and looked at your efforts, you might have been like, well, 0:01:01.045 --> 0:01:03.485 maybe it's not going to happen for me, Maybe I 0:01:03.525 --> 0:01:09.325 don't have star power factor. You might have gone to 0:01:09.405 --> 0:01:12.725 the Internet and asked your search engine questions, like at 0:01:12.805 --> 0:01:15.765 what age did this famous person make it? Who are 0:01:15.805 --> 0:01:22.885 some stars who made it later in life. There's two 0:01:22.885 --> 0:01:26.165 people who give me hope. The first, of course, is 0:01:26.285 --> 0:01:30.445 Jesus Christ. Yeah, Jesus was pretty obscure until he turned 0:01:30.525 --> 0:01:33.205 thirty three, and now He's one of the most famous 0:01:33.245 --> 0:01:38.485 guys out there. Another person is the movie star May West. 0:01:39.125 --> 0:01:41.405 She didn't make a big splash until she was just 0:01:41.525 --> 0:01:47.925 like me thirty two, and she made it in the 0:01:48.005 --> 0:01:52.885 same way that Jesus did with sex appeal. Oh no, am, 0:01:52.885 --> 0:01:55.965 I about to lose all my Christian listeners with that comparison. 0:01:56.485 --> 0:01:58.405 But also, if you're a Christian and you listen to 0:01:58.445 --> 0:02:00.445 this podcast, good for you. 0:02:00.445 --> 0:02:01.565 You're very open minded. 0:02:02.485 --> 0:02:05.325 I'm just saying how Jesus was posing on the crucifix, 0:02:05.605 --> 0:02:09.925 he looked a bit spicy. May West was also very spicy, 0:02:10.605 --> 0:02:13.165 and what she did was right and star in a 0:02:13.205 --> 0:02:16.725 Broadway production with the simple title that got right to 0:02:16.765 --> 0:02:23.925 the point sex and in part because of that, she 0:02:24.045 --> 0:02:27.965 was launched from small time notoriety to big ass notoriety. 0:02:29.565 --> 0:02:31.685 So let's see what tips and tricks she has so 0:02:31.725 --> 0:02:34.005 that all of us can do the same thing and 0:02:34.085 --> 0:02:35.965 make it at the age of thirty two. 0:02:36.645 --> 0:02:45.245 Cue the theme song. This is American filth. I'm Gabby Watts. 0:02:45.325 --> 0:02:48.245 Every week I tell you a filthy story from American history. 0:02:48.565 --> 0:03:00.005 This week's episode sex do pe pe doy do boo 0:03:00.045 --> 0:03:01.445 bity do boop. 0:03:01.285 --> 0:03:10.045 Pity doo Unfortunately, in my research I found I am 0:03:10.125 --> 0:03:13.365 already far behind May West because she is funnier and 0:03:13.445 --> 0:03:18.005 wiser than me. She also just oos sexuality and confidence 0:03:18.045 --> 0:03:20.925 and bad bitchery. And I want to say, I'm not 0:03:21.125 --> 0:03:25.245 into celebrity worship, but I can do some celebrity respect. 0:03:25.565 --> 0:03:27.165 And here are some of the funniest things. 0:03:27.205 --> 0:03:27.645 She said. 0:03:29.085 --> 0:03:31.725 A hard man is good to find. Too much of 0:03:31.765 --> 0:03:35.165 a good thing can be wonderful. When I'm good, I'm 0:03:35.365 --> 0:03:40.165 very good. But when I'm bad, I'm better. Love thy neighbor. 0:03:40.525 --> 0:03:43.525 And if he happens to be tall, debonair and devastating, 0:03:43.845 --> 0:03:47.445 it will be that much easier. Personally, I like two 0:03:47.485 --> 0:03:49.965 types of men, domestic and foreign. 0:03:50.885 --> 0:03:52.445 Is that a gun in your pocket? Or are you 0:03:52.565 --> 0:03:54.965 just happy to see me? Pew pew. 0:03:55.565 --> 0:04:00.485 Love conquers all things except poverty and toothache. 0:04:02.605 --> 0:04:03.685 Wow. Pretty good. 0:04:04.165 --> 0:04:05.925 And I think it's fair to say that a West 0:04:06.045 --> 0:04:09.405 was an American icon of the stage and then the screen. 0:04:10.525 --> 0:04:11.765 She was a bleach. 0:04:11.565 --> 0:04:16.925 Blonde bombshell whose career was characterized by sexual innuendo, comedic irony, 0:04:17.405 --> 0:04:21.885 being provocative and causing chaos, or, as the censors would 0:04:21.925 --> 0:04:25.285 think so, inappropriate and ruining the youths. 0:04:27.885 --> 0:04:28.445 She was an. 0:04:28.365 --> 0:04:32.725 Actress, dancer, singer, writer who started as an obsolete actress 0:04:32.725 --> 0:04:35.005 in the theater world, but then went on to be 0:04:35.045 --> 0:04:38.965 a big star in the movies and yas. She was 0:04:39.005 --> 0:04:42.205 considered a sex symbol, but before all of that, she 0:04:42.365 --> 0:04:45.485 was a child. You perverts, and that is something I 0:04:45.565 --> 0:04:48.605 can relate to with May West, I too was once 0:04:48.645 --> 0:04:53.925 a child. May was born in eighteen ninety three and 0:04:54.005 --> 0:04:56.765 group in Brooklyn, New York. Have you heard of this place? 0:04:57.445 --> 0:05:00.605 And her life in showbiz started early. She was a 0:05:00.605 --> 0:05:03.485 wee babe of five when she did her first performance 0:05:03.525 --> 0:05:06.245 at her church, and then at seven she started doing 0:05:06.325 --> 0:05:10.765 talent shows, amateur plays, and at fourteen she entered the 0:05:10.805 --> 0:05:17.765 world of vaudeville. How did people see vaudeville at the time, Well, 0:05:17.805 --> 0:05:20.925 it wasn't one of the high arts. It featured review 0:05:21.045 --> 0:05:26.725 shows mixing comedy and song and dance. It could be provocative, raunchy, sexy, 0:05:26.925 --> 0:05:31.085 depending on the show. On the other hand, Broadway was 0:05:31.125 --> 0:05:35.445 considered the legitimate stage. May got a few opportunities on 0:05:35.485 --> 0:05:38.165 Broadway early on, but she didn't get enough work to 0:05:38.205 --> 0:05:46.405 sustain her, so she hit the touring vaudeville circuit. She 0:05:46.485 --> 0:05:49.645 toured around the country singing and dancing in vaudeville shows 0:05:49.685 --> 0:05:53.405 through nineteen seventeen, when she was about twenty four. She 0:05:53.445 --> 0:05:56.245 had done so much performing by that point she even 0:05:56.285 --> 0:05:58.845 had a bit where she would wear men's clothing as 0:05:58.845 --> 0:06:04.885 a male impersonator. When she got back to New York, 0:06:04.925 --> 0:06:08.165 it seemed that things might be looking up. In nineteen eighteen, 0:06:08.205 --> 0:06:11.645 she got cast in a high profile review show called Sometimes, 0:06:12.125 --> 0:06:14.645 and then in nineteen twenty two she had a successful 0:06:14.725 --> 0:06:18.165 double act with this pianist Harry Richmond that hit the 0:06:18.205 --> 0:06:22.525 premiere vaudeville stages, but she still wasn't back on Broadway, 0:06:23.685 --> 0:06:27.285 and then the pianist Harry Richmond dumped her ass to 0:06:27.325 --> 0:06:31.245 team up with a more notable actress. 0:06:32.125 --> 0:06:39.045 Poor May, What's she gonna do well? At that point, 0:06:39.125 --> 0:06:40.245 she was getting desperate. 0:06:40.845 --> 0:06:44.005 In her autobiography, she sort of skips over what happened 0:06:44.005 --> 0:06:46.565 between nineteen twenty two and nineteen twenty six. 0:06:47.085 --> 0:06:49.445 She's like, if I don't mention it, no one will know. 0:06:50.205 --> 0:06:54.925 But historians, those snaky historians, they discovered what happened to me. 0:06:55.725 --> 0:07:04.925 She had descended from the vaudeville stage to burlesque. Oh no, oh, 0:07:05.005 --> 0:07:08.685 the shame see, burlesque was like Vaudeville. 0:07:08.285 --> 0:07:10.485 But more lude and more nude. 0:07:10.605 --> 0:07:14.525 And a humiliating step backwards for any self respecting performer. 0:07:18.605 --> 0:07:21.365 And see, her family was already divided on her career. 0:07:21.885 --> 0:07:25.205 Her mom loved everything she did, go Mom, but her 0:07:25.245 --> 0:07:27.725 dad's side of the family they seemed to disapprove of 0:07:27.725 --> 0:07:28.325 her acts. 0:07:28.685 --> 0:07:29.685 And I was just doing. 0:07:29.565 --> 0:07:33.285 Vaudeville because in the vaudeville shows even there, May was 0:07:33.325 --> 0:07:39.085 doing crazy stuff like this nude dance move called the shimmy. 0:07:40.885 --> 0:07:44.645 And now she was doing burlesque, and not just that, 0:07:44.965 --> 0:07:48.205 she was working with the Mutual Burlesque Wheel, which was 0:07:48.285 --> 0:07:57.845 notorious for having the ludist of lude acts. So yes, 0:07:57.925 --> 0:08:01.245 burlesque could be seen as a step backwards, but honestly, 0:08:01.325 --> 0:08:04.045 it wasn't that far off from what May was doing before. 0:08:04.685 --> 0:08:07.285 And it seems that she took ownership of this provocative 0:08:07.365 --> 0:08:11.165 material and ran with it, because what she did next 0:08:11.485 --> 0:08:14.565 was write her own play under her pen name Jane 0:08:14.645 --> 0:08:19.765 Mast and through some dubious financial backing aka people think 0:08:19.925 --> 0:08:23.325 she found herself a sugar daddy who has given her money, 0:08:23.525 --> 0:08:27.045 she was able to rent a Broadway theater, hire director 0:08:27.405 --> 0:08:30.525 and put on her own production where she would star 0:08:30.685 --> 0:08:34.325 as the main character, Margie Lamont, and she named the 0:08:34.325 --> 0:08:36.325 play sex. 0:08:41.645 --> 0:08:44.205 And what was this show about? A sex worker? 0:08:44.245 --> 0:08:49.045 Of course, Margie Lamont romps from Montreal to Trinidad to 0:08:49.085 --> 0:08:52.365 the suburbs of New York, going on various adventures and 0:08:52.405 --> 0:08:56.925 sex capades in the pursuit of money. Yeah, the plot, 0:08:57.005 --> 0:09:00.685 it's convoluted. It doesn't always make sense. It's a long, 0:09:00.845 --> 0:09:05.845 unwieldy story filled with lowbrow sexual innuendo and la else. 0:09:08.445 --> 0:09:11.605 For example, in one scene, one of Margie's customers is 0:09:11.645 --> 0:09:14.845 this dude named Lieutenant Greg, and he says, I've got 0:09:14.885 --> 0:09:17.765 something for you, and then Margie's like, well, come on 0:09:17.845 --> 0:09:18.645 and let me see it. 0:09:19.005 --> 0:09:21.125 And Greg's like, you'll get it, you'll get it. 0:09:21.365 --> 0:09:23.525 I don't mind telling you. I had an awful time 0:09:23.565 --> 0:09:26.565 saving it for you. Why all the women were fighting 0:09:26.645 --> 0:09:30.005 for it. And then Margie's like, well it better be good, 0:09:30.325 --> 0:09:33.285 and then Greg's like it's good, alright, It's the best 0:09:33.325 --> 0:09:35.965 you could get, but you got to be very careful 0:09:36.005 --> 0:09:40.085 not to bend it. Oh he he haha. Doesn't it 0:09:40.125 --> 0:09:45.525 sound like they're talking about his waner? But no, joke's 0:09:45.605 --> 0:09:49.245 on you. The gift that Lieutenant Greg got Margie was 0:09:49.285 --> 0:09:52.765 not his big old dong. No, it was an ostrich feather. 0:09:58.845 --> 0:10:01.645 So May West opened the show in nineteen twenty six. 0:10:02.485 --> 0:10:05.845 It's during prohibition when the government was like, te Prince 0:10:05.925 --> 0:10:09.765 is so important, let's be teetotal ers. And you had 0:10:09.805 --> 0:10:12.525 all these activists, you know, men and women, being like, 0:10:12.805 --> 0:10:15.525 we need to keep the old values of the Victorian 0:10:15.605 --> 0:10:19.845 era when we were repressed and policing poor people's behavior 0:10:19.885 --> 0:10:22.605 to make sure they didn't get any bright ideas and 0:10:22.725 --> 0:10:26.245 have fun. And we got a censor provocative art so 0:10:26.285 --> 0:10:28.645 that people don't think that kind of stuff is okay. 0:10:30.245 --> 0:10:34.085 And censorship had reached the arts. For example, a few 0:10:34.125 --> 0:10:37.445 years earlier, New York State created the New York State 0:10:37.485 --> 0:10:41.245 Motion Picture Commission, which had to approve movies before they 0:10:41.245 --> 0:10:44.565 were released. They could demand cuts and other changes to 0:10:44.605 --> 0:10:48.485 the films if they deemed them inappropriate. And that was 0:10:48.525 --> 0:10:52.725 before people were even talking in the movies. And commissions 0:10:52.765 --> 0:10:55.485 like that had popped up all across the country because 0:10:55.525 --> 0:10:58.445 lots of folks were concerned with the devilry in Hollywood 0:10:58.485 --> 0:11:02.565 with their loose morals. But of course, as we all know, 0:11:03.045 --> 0:11:06.365 while there is prohibition, there was of course the backlash 0:11:06.405 --> 0:11:11.125 to it where you had flappers, speakeasies and provocateurs like 0:11:11.245 --> 0:11:21.085 May West. Sex premiered on April twenty six at the 0:11:21.205 --> 0:11:24.845 DALYs sixty third Street Theater. And a fun fact about 0:11:24.885 --> 0:11:28.725 that theater was the organization that financed the final construction 0:11:28.965 --> 0:11:31.765 of that building was going to use it to host 0:11:31.805 --> 0:11:36.405 religious lectures and show biblical films, and then after that 0:11:36.525 --> 0:11:39.565 it was a children's theater. But then by nineteen twenty 0:11:39.605 --> 0:11:45.685 six it was time for sex, and wow, wee did 0:11:45.725 --> 0:11:50.005 the critics freaking hate sex. The critical rage against the 0:11:50.045 --> 0:11:53.965 show was almost universal. Almost every critic was like, this 0:11:54.005 --> 0:11:56.605 show is a pile of garbage that will ruin the 0:11:56.685 --> 0:12:00.565 morals of the youths literally. One review said it was garbage. 0:12:00.845 --> 0:12:04.045 The New York Daily Mirror had the headline sex an 0:12:04.085 --> 0:12:08.845 offensive play, monster atrocity plucked from garbage can destined to sewer. 0:12:09.925 --> 0:12:11.805 The New York Times said it was a crude and 0:12:11.845 --> 0:12:16.485 inept play, cheaply produced and poorly acted, and Billboard said 0:12:16.485 --> 0:12:19.205 it was the cheapest, most vulgar low show to have 0:12:19.405 --> 0:12:19.925 dared to. 0:12:19.965 --> 0:12:21.765 Open in New York this year. 0:12:22.925 --> 0:12:25.245 One of the most positive reviews was from the New 0:12:25.325 --> 0:12:29.605 York Herald Tribune, but it was still hating on the play. 0:12:29.685 --> 0:12:32.285 It said, never in a long experience of theater going 0:12:32.565 --> 0:12:35.445 have we met with such a set of characters so depraved. 0:12:35.925 --> 0:12:38.645 All the barriers of conventional word and act that the 0:12:38.725 --> 0:12:41.525 last few seasons of the theater have shown us were 0:12:41.565 --> 0:12:44.805 swept away, and we were shown not sex, but lust, 0:12:44.805 --> 0:12:50.245 stark naked lust. But not only did the reviewers think 0:12:50.245 --> 0:12:52.645 the show was bad, some of them were like, this 0:12:52.685 --> 0:12:58.405 show should be illegal. Call the police on this play, 0:12:59.325 --> 0:13:01.885 like in that article that called the show garbage. The 0:13:01.965 --> 0:13:05.965 New York Daily Mirror reviewer went even further. It said, 0:13:06.085 --> 0:13:08.805 this production is not for the police. It comes rather 0:13:08.925 --> 0:13:11.725 in the province of our health department. It is a 0:13:11.765 --> 0:13:14.005 sore spot in the midst of our fair. 0:13:13.845 --> 0:13:16.005 City that needs disinfecting. 0:13:18.285 --> 0:13:21.285 Not only did the haters dislike sex because it was 0:13:21.365 --> 0:13:26.005 dealing with vulgar subject matter, but also the main character, Margie. 0:13:26.045 --> 0:13:29.765 She was a woman, and she had sexual agency, made 0:13:29.805 --> 0:13:34.325 her own decisions and was confident that must have been 0:13:34.365 --> 0:13:37.685 super awful for all those male reviewers to see. And 0:13:37.805 --> 0:13:41.725 may west just her whole vibe was offensive to her critics. 0:13:42.325 --> 0:13:45.365 One police officer who saw the play said that Wes 0:13:45.405 --> 0:13:48.205 moved her buttocks in other parts of her body in 0:13:48.325 --> 0:13:52.405 such a way as to suggest an act of intercourse. 0:13:53.445 --> 0:13:58.365 Oh god. So yeah. 0:13:58.405 --> 0:14:01.645 Critically the show was a bomb, But in showbiz we 0:14:01.725 --> 0:14:04.645 all know there's no such thing as a bad review, 0:14:05.925 --> 0:14:08.605 because Sex ended up being one of the most successful 0:14:08.645 --> 0:14:12.405 plays of the nineteen twenty six Broadway season, with an 0:14:12.445 --> 0:14:16.365 almost sold out run through nineteen twenty seven. Those bad 0:14:16.445 --> 0:14:19.725 reviews just drummed up more attention and New Yorkers were like, 0:14:19.805 --> 0:14:21.965 I gotta go see what the deal is with this 0:14:22.165 --> 0:14:29.085 crazy show. So when we look back at the nineteen twenties, 0:14:29.125 --> 0:14:32.845 we might think that this show seems revolutionary, but nothing 0:14:32.925 --> 0:14:38.245 happens in a vacuum, and this show wasn't alone. The 0:14:38.285 --> 0:14:41.405 same time that Sex was out, there were several other 0:14:41.525 --> 0:14:46.365 Broadway shows that had characters who were sex workers. For example, 0:14:46.445 --> 0:14:49.005 two of those shows were called The Shanghai Gesture and 0:14:49.085 --> 0:14:52.965 Lulu Bell, and those shows not only did they portray 0:14:53.085 --> 0:14:57.285 sex workers, but also interracial sex and marriage. 0:14:58.005 --> 0:14:58.965 And it seemed there were. 0:14:58.805 --> 0:15:00.845 So many of these shows going on at the time, 0:15:00.885 --> 0:15:03.885 but they got their own genre on Broadway. They were 0:15:03.885 --> 0:15:08.285 called sex plays, and as the censors and the temperance 0:15:08.325 --> 0:15:12.405 activists circled. Many people on Broadway were also not thrilled 0:15:12.405 --> 0:15:15.645 about these shows. But the thing is, while everyone was 0:15:15.685 --> 0:15:19.325 in a tizzy about sex, May West was already writing 0:15:19.365 --> 0:15:22.085 a new show, and it was going to induce people 0:15:22.125 --> 0:15:25.925 into an even bigger tizzy. The show was called The 0:15:26.005 --> 0:15:31.565 Drag and it was a comedy drama featuring homosexuals. Be 0:15:31.685 --> 0:15:38.125 right back after these soothing advertisements, so May West play 0:15:38.205 --> 0:15:41.245 The Drag was about a guy named Rally. Then Raleigh 0:15:41.365 --> 0:15:45.525 is a homosexual, but unfortunately for him, his dad is 0:15:45.525 --> 0:15:47.925 a prominent judge who likes to use his power to 0:15:48.005 --> 0:15:51.205 persecute gay people. And then Raley is married to a 0:15:51.245 --> 0:15:54.165 woman named Claire, and Claire's dad is a therapist who 0:15:54.205 --> 0:15:55.525 does conversion therapy. 0:15:56.085 --> 0:15:57.165 What a safe space. 0:15:58.325 --> 0:16:01.485 Claire is unhappy because Raleigh has no sexual interest in her. 0:16:02.005 --> 0:16:04.565 And then in act too, Raleigh makes advances on one 0:16:04.605 --> 0:16:08.045 of his employees, Alan, but Alan is like you, no thanks, 0:16:08.605 --> 0:16:10.965 And then Alan is like, actually, I'm attracted to your 0:16:11.005 --> 0:16:13.285 wife though, and then Claire seems to be kind of 0:16:13.325 --> 0:16:17.885 into him anyway. The third act features a big ball 0:16:17.925 --> 0:16:19.885 where there are all these men in drag and a 0:16:19.965 --> 0:16:24.005 jazz band on stage. It's a big old party and 0:16:24.085 --> 0:16:30.005 at some point Ralli gets shot and dies. The next morning, 0:16:30.085 --> 0:16:33.165 his dad, the homophobic judge, is trying to figure out 0:16:33.205 --> 0:16:36.925 who killed his son. They think it's Alan, but then 0:16:36.965 --> 0:16:39.005 a former lover of Rolly confesses. 0:16:40.365 --> 0:16:41.125 Claire's dad. 0:16:41.205 --> 0:16:45.125 The conversion therapist is like, hey, judge, let's be nice. 0:16:45.605 --> 0:16:48.845 Remember homosexuality is a disease and let me try to 0:16:48.885 --> 0:16:49.365 fix it. 0:16:49.845 --> 0:16:51.565 The judge is like, okay, fine. 0:16:51.325 --> 0:16:55.325 I'll say it's a suicide, but alsough discussing homosexuals. I 0:16:55.365 --> 0:16:57.605 don't want people to know my family was associated with 0:16:57.645 --> 0:17:00.605 such behavior. And then the gay lover goes off with 0:17:00.685 --> 0:17:08.565 Claire's dad to get cured of his homosexuality. So looking 0:17:08.605 --> 0:17:11.005 back at this play is a bit confusing, you know. 0:17:11.085 --> 0:17:14.605 On the one hand, the show was revolutionary. May West 0:17:14.605 --> 0:17:17.125 had been around drag before. Remember she had been a 0:17:17.125 --> 0:17:21.285 male impersonator at one point in her life, and being 0:17:21.285 --> 0:17:23.605 in vaudeville in the theater, she had been around a 0:17:23.605 --> 0:17:26.565 lot of gay men. I'm sorry, I'm not stereotyping. The 0:17:26.605 --> 0:17:30.805 gays were just there in the theater. And during the 0:17:30.885 --> 0:17:33.325 run of Sex One night, she invited some of her 0:17:33.325 --> 0:17:35.645 gay colleagues to the show, and then the ones who 0:17:35.685 --> 0:17:38.405 showed up. She said, Hey, come audition for my new play. 0:17:38.805 --> 0:17:43.645 We're having open auditions at the gay bar. And now 0:17:43.725 --> 0:17:46.605 that was the thing that was really revolutionary. This was 0:17:46.685 --> 0:17:50.485 unheard of of having gay characters but then also having 0:17:50.525 --> 0:17:54.605 them played by gay men. The Actors' Union had forbidden 0:17:54.645 --> 0:17:57.685 gay men from having speaking lines in productions, so this 0:17:57.885 --> 0:18:03.165 was huge. So yes, big ups to May West. But 0:18:03.245 --> 0:18:06.205 at the same time, her opinions on homosexuals were a 0:18:06.245 --> 0:18:09.965 bit more nuanced and changed over the course of her career. 0:18:10.565 --> 0:18:12.765 One reading of the message of The Drag is that 0:18:12.845 --> 0:18:16.525 the reason Rolly's lover wasn't convicted of murder was because 0:18:16.565 --> 0:18:17.965 the doctor said he was going. 0:18:17.805 --> 0:18:18.685 To fix him. 0:18:19.005 --> 0:18:23.125 Aka, homosexuality is a disease, and therefore you can't penalize 0:18:23.165 --> 0:18:26.045 gay people because they are sick. And may at one 0:18:26.085 --> 0:18:28.525 point was like, yeah, I didn't read Freud because it 0:18:28.605 --> 0:18:31.845 was too boring, but I agree that homosexuality is a 0:18:31.885 --> 0:18:36.125 mental illness. In her autobiography that was published in nineteen 0:18:36.205 --> 0:18:39.685 fifty nine, she said that homosexuality was a danger to 0:18:39.725 --> 0:18:44.805 the entire social system of Western civilization, but then later 0:18:44.845 --> 0:18:47.805 in her life in the nineteen sixties and seventies, she 0:18:47.925 --> 0:18:50.205 was like, actually, I've just really been ahead of my 0:18:50.325 --> 0:18:53.245 time the whole time, Like, yeah, I am a gay 0:18:53.325 --> 0:18:58.245 pioneer for sure. In an interview, she said I glorified 0:18:58.245 --> 0:19:01.645 them to a certain extent and treated them very sympathetically. 0:19:08.605 --> 0:19:11.325 So in January nineteen twenty seven, May West and her 0:19:11.365 --> 0:19:14.725 cast of gays started running previews of The Drag in 0:19:14.805 --> 0:19:19.205 Connecticut and New Jersey. These were widely publicized because it 0:19:19.325 --> 0:19:23.565 was so scandalous again to have homosexuals having speaking lines 0:19:23.765 --> 0:19:28.045 in a show, and also it's about homosexuality, and the 0:19:28.085 --> 0:19:32.485 reviews were also pretty bad, but may was undeterred. She 0:19:32.725 --> 0:19:36.325 was like, these audiences are too childlike to face, like 0:19:36.405 --> 0:19:40.765 grown ups, the problem of homosexuals. But these previews that 0:19:40.845 --> 0:19:45.005 ran over two weeks pretty successful. May West made bank 0:19:45.165 --> 0:19:49.125 about thirty thousand dollars, and she was like, I think 0:19:49.165 --> 0:19:55.045 we are ready to bring the show to Broadway. So 0:19:55.205 --> 0:19:58.925 while sex riled some feathers, the Drag made those feathers 0:19:59.005 --> 0:20:02.805 fall the fuck off. The purveyors of Broadway were pissed. 0:20:03.165 --> 0:20:05.125 They were like, don't you dare bring that filth to 0:20:05.165 --> 0:20:08.325 the New York stage. One Broadway producer said that it 0:20:08.365 --> 0:20:11.725 was the worst possible play i've ever heard of, contemplating 0:20:11.765 --> 0:20:15.685 an invasion of New York. And the reason the theater 0:20:15.805 --> 0:20:18.685 people didn't want May West to do this production in 0:20:18.765 --> 0:20:22.565 New York was because they knew if she put homosexuality 0:20:22.565 --> 0:20:25.605 on Broadway, then Broadway was going to be under even 0:20:25.645 --> 0:20:29.885 more scrutiny and they would all get fucked over. And 0:20:29.925 --> 0:20:33.325 they had reasons to be scared. Their artistic agency was 0:20:33.365 --> 0:20:39.125 at stake because, in early nineteen twenty seven, the New 0:20:39.205 --> 0:20:42.525 York City Assembly introduced a bill that would put the 0:20:42.525 --> 0:20:46.445 theaters under the control of the same commission that censored movies, 0:20:46.765 --> 0:20:50.085 the New York Board of Motion Picture Censorship, remember that. 0:20:50.965 --> 0:20:53.765 And the theater people were trying to propose an alternative. 0:20:54.725 --> 0:20:57.685 They're like, instead of having the theater under the movie 0:20:57.725 --> 0:21:01.765 people's control, how about instead we create our own regulatory 0:21:01.845 --> 0:21:05.965 board called the Theater Supervisory Board, and then we review 0:21:05.965 --> 0:21:08.205 all the scripts to make sure none of these nasty 0:21:08.245 --> 0:21:11.925 May West type shows reached the stage. But may West 0:21:12.005 --> 0:21:14.685 was like, I'm doing whatever the fuck I want, you Pusseys, 0:21:15.125 --> 0:21:18.005 I released my own theater, the Dowley, so you literally 0:21:18.045 --> 0:21:21.885 can't stop me. But unfortunately for may she literally did 0:21:21.925 --> 0:21:25.365 get stopped, and she brought several other productions with her. 0:21:31.685 --> 0:21:35.285 On February ninth, nineteen twenty seven, after the curtain came 0:21:35.365 --> 0:21:38.525 down on another packed out night of Sex, May was 0:21:38.605 --> 0:21:42.565 backstage and suddenly saw a bunch of police officers rounding 0:21:42.645 --> 0:21:44.005 up the cast of her play. 0:21:45.485 --> 0:21:46.485 The police who were. 0:21:46.325 --> 0:21:49.445 There were the officers from the New York Police Department's 0:21:49.645 --> 0:21:53.445 Municipal Vice Squad and had been sent by the mayor 0:21:53.565 --> 0:21:57.965 on charges of public obscenity. May West was probably like, 0:21:58.285 --> 0:22:01.685 this is not the encore I expected. But then the 0:22:01.685 --> 0:22:04.445 police grabbed her as well and shoved her and her 0:22:04.525 --> 0:22:10.525 cast into the back of a police ban. May was pissed, 0:22:10.965 --> 0:22:13.885 and the Sex cast and crew weren't alone. The police 0:22:13.965 --> 0:22:17.725 raided a couple other theaters that were producing indecent plays, 0:22:18.925 --> 0:22:21.045 so May had to use half of her profits from 0:22:21.085 --> 0:22:24.765 the drag to get everyone out of jail fourteen thousand 0:22:24.845 --> 0:22:29.245 to bail out all of her actors and crew. After that, 0:22:29.365 --> 0:22:31.445 she had to go to court to deal with the charges, 0:22:32.165 --> 0:22:33.125 but she was going to do it. 0:22:33.085 --> 0:22:34.085 In May West style. 0:22:34.725 --> 0:22:37.645 For example, when she entered the courtroom, the judge was 0:22:37.685 --> 0:22:40.645 like are you May West? And she was like, don't 0:22:40.685 --> 0:22:45.285 you read the newspapers? See this didn't really seem that 0:22:45.285 --> 0:22:48.645 it was getting made down. She saw this as an opportunity. 0:22:50.285 --> 0:22:52.565 One journalist at the court asked her what she thought 0:22:52.645 --> 0:22:54.245 was going to happen, and she was like. 0:22:54.885 --> 0:22:56.885 I expect this will be the making of me. 0:22:58.725 --> 0:23:02.805 Despite the arrest, May refused to shut down sex at first. 0:23:03.365 --> 0:23:07.165 It did finally close in March nineteen twenty s and 0:23:07.205 --> 0:23:10.005 then in April May was sentenced to ten days in 0:23:10.005 --> 0:23:17.645 prison for corrupting the morals of the youth. She was 0:23:17.685 --> 0:23:21.125 sent to the women's reformatory on Welfare Island now called 0:23:21.205 --> 0:23:26.925 Roosevelt Island to serve her ten days, and she seemed to. 0:23:26.925 --> 0:23:28.405 Have a really horrible time. 0:23:28.925 --> 0:23:31.805 For example, she wasn't allowed to wear her silk underwear, 0:23:31.845 --> 0:23:33.605 she had to wear cotton underwear. 0:23:33.685 --> 0:23:35.125 Ah, and also. 0:23:34.925 --> 0:23:37.285 She had to eat dinner with a warden every night, 0:23:37.325 --> 0:23:40.405 which I'm sure was a huge burden. And then she 0:23:40.445 --> 0:23:43.685 got released eight days later. Yeah, she got two days 0:23:43.725 --> 0:23:49.805 off for good behavior. And May she never did stage 0:23:49.845 --> 0:23:54.565 the drag in New York City. Technically, what she did 0:23:54.565 --> 0:23:57.845 instead was rewrite the play, name it The Pleasure Man, 0:23:58.165 --> 0:24:01.005 made the main character Raley straight, but then kept some 0:24:01.045 --> 0:24:03.085 of the gay stuff in, like The Drag Ball at 0:24:03.085 --> 0:24:05.765 the End that started running on New York City ages 0:24:05.805 --> 0:24:09.285 in nineteen twenty eight, and again the theater was rated 0:24:09.485 --> 0:24:13.325 fifty five. Actors, actresses, and musicians along with May were arrested. 0:24:14.165 --> 0:24:14.885 Once they were out of. 0:24:14.925 --> 0:24:18.085 Jail, the next day, May made some cuts to the production, 0:24:18.285 --> 0:24:20.885 you know, took out some of the more obscene parts, 0:24:22.245 --> 0:24:25.085 and they staged the play again, but this time she 0:24:25.125 --> 0:24:31.045 and the cast were arrested during the show. Two years later, 0:24:31.245 --> 0:24:34.365 she and the cast were on trial, but the jury 0:24:34.485 --> 0:24:36.885 was unable to make a final decision. 0:24:36.605 --> 0:24:38.285 So all charges were dropped. 0:24:38.805 --> 0:24:45.565 Oh I'm sure, but at this point May West was 0:24:45.605 --> 0:24:49.685 becoming an undeniable star. All of this laid the groundwork 0:24:49.725 --> 0:24:52.925 for her future productions and launched her onto a bigger 0:24:53.125 --> 0:24:58.245 national platform. People were like, damn, this May westchick is crazy. 0:24:58.645 --> 0:25:01.885 We got to pay attention to her along with a 0:25:01.885 --> 0:25:05.165 pleasure man. During this time, she wrote Diamond Lil, another 0:25:05.205 --> 0:25:08.445 story about a prostitute. It was staged on Broadway in 0:25:08.525 --> 0:25:14.125 nineteen twenty eight and brought her mass appeal. A few 0:25:14.165 --> 0:25:17.445 years later, she signed a contract with Paramount and headed 0:25:17.485 --> 0:25:22.445