Mae West

Written By:  Andrew Eide

Most of you will not remember the actress, playwright, screenwriter, and sex symbol, Mae West.

Mae West was a famous actress spanning from 1907 to 1978. She was born Mary Jane West on August 17, 1893 in Bushwick, New York. She was 5 feet tall and 121 pounds but she appeared to be taller in her movies. As you can see by her photo posted in this blog she was very shapely and well endowed. She contributed so much to the American entertainment industry that the America Film Institute named Mae West the 15^th among the greatest female stars of all time.

There is another item associated with Mae West and that is the Mae West Life Preserver. I know you are asking how in the world a life preserver could be named after the actress Mae West and that is a very good question.

The common nickname for the first inflatable life preserver, invented in 1928 by Peter Markus, came from the fact that someone wearing the inflated life preserver often appeared to be as physically endowed as the actress Mae West.

A later version of the Mae West Life Preserver, the B-4, was invented by James F. Boyle. This was also an inflatable life preserver but it was khaki in color, made of cotton, and had inflatable rubber bladders.

Okay I have to admit that in today’s world to name a life preserver, which keeps a person afloat, after a woman who has ample breasts, is considered politically incorrect and sexist. Remember, please, that the Mae West Life Preserver obtained the nickname, referring to the well-endowed actress Mae West, a very long time ago when that type of reference was common and accepted.