“I wrote the story myself. It's about a girl who lost her reputation and never missed it.” - Mae West.

Yes, Mae West, who was born on August 17, 1893, was funny and smart and outrageous. But she was also pretty fearless.

Long before it was fashionable, she was going up against censors who didn’t want – gasp – anything about s-e-x, much less that something that could not speak its name, h-o-m-o-s-e-x-u-a-l-i-t-y, to hurt the supposed sensitivity of American theater-goers. Miss West was for freedom of speech, freedom of adult sexuality and civil rights for all, too.

After performing in vaudeville and in Broadway shows for years, she began writing, directing and starring in her own plays on Broadway. The first (under a pen name), was “Sex,” which opened in 1926. It was controversial enough – she played a happy hooker setting out to marry a rich man.

But Miss West had also written a play, “The Drag,” which tried out in New Jersey, with a gay playboy as the main character.

The powers to be decided they had to stop Mae West’s theatrical success before it went any further. So, although “Sex” had been running for a year and despite the fact, as she noted in her testimony, many New York cops and their wives had attended “Sex,” the entire cast was busted for “indecent public performance,” and hauled to jail.

Miss West’s trial went on month and after month. She was charged with “corrupting the morals of youth,” convicted, and spent ten days in the Welfare Island Prison. She said the inmates were “very interesting” and she kept her sense of humor about the entire affair.

After paying a $500 fine, she was released from jail. “The Drag” eventually made its way to Broadway, but Miss West changed the name to “The Pleasure Man” and made the lead character straight. It didn't matter to the censors. The play opened, ran one night and she was thrown back in jail again.

This time, after two weeks, her trial resulted in a hung jury. Mae West was now a national figure and on her way to Hollywood, using her ability to ridicule social sexual mores with a wink and a double entendre (“Is that a gun in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?”) and her multiple talents as an actress, writer and businesswoman to become a true legend.

I'm sure Miss West would be delighted that her play, "The Drag" opened at Provincetown Theater in Provincetown, Massachusetts in spring of 2022, helmed by the theater's artistic director, the multi-talented David Drake.

“And just like that, it's opening night of MAE WEST'S THE DRAG!” David announced in a Facebook post. “I am so proud to lead this beautiful company into bringing to life a play in which the author sets forth a public conversation about acceptance, understanding and celebration of sexual differences for the first time in these parts of America in nearly 100 YEARS!"

Miss West once said, “You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.”

We think she did it just fine. — Sher.