[1] staged on broadway, the play received bad reviews, but was a commercial success It was eventually shut down by the new york city police department due to obscenity, and west was sentenced to 10 days in jail because of it. Sex was the primary target It was in the tenth month of its run, playing to a total of 325,000 theatregoers for 339 total performances, at the height of the jazz age West spent $14,000 to bail out herself and her company of actors. The story of a savvy sex worker named margy, the play challenged social norms, smashed the box office, landed west in jail, and set her on a course for stardom.
Out of the box theatre company presents sex by mae west Mae west wrote and performed in sex on broadway in 1926 The play received many scathing reviews from a variety of critics because of the play's moral implications The new york times considered it to be a crude and inept play, cheaply produced. Since mae west’s hit play “sex” was just reprised at the hudson mainstage in los angeles, it’s fun to look back at a review of sex that was published in chicago in 1926 • • “tough, and boldly played” • • • • mae west is the heroine of this affair and the authoress of the play
Mae west was jailed in 1927 for her popular drama sex This new play explores the overt sexuality and curious queerness of her rise to fame. When, in a fit of moral panic, the new york authorities decided to make an example of mae west and her broadway play “sex,” she opined, “i expect this will be the making of me.”
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