On this day in 1927 Mae West was sentenced to 10 days in jail and fined $500 for obscenity. Her Play Sex was a critical failure but a box office smash. There were 375 performances and more than 325,000 people saw the play before it was shut down by a blue-nose grand jury. She was offered a deal to avoid arrest if she closed it but the publicity generated was solid gold. She later took it on tour throughout the Midwest before being discovered by Hollywood. Her over the top persona was her imitation of the many female impersonators she worked with. Find out more in New York Magazine.
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