When I'm Bad, I'm Better: Mae West, Sex, and American Entertainment

Rating:
Summary: NASTY, INNACURATE "FICTION!"
Review: Atrocious is the word for this horribly researched, terribly written piece of "fiction." This book in no way reflects anything very accurate about the true Mae West. It is totally unfair, and amounts to a vicious attack designed to assassinate the character of the legendary film star Mae West. No fan should read this disastrous hodge-podge of disinformation, and for that matter, no one should read such an unfair book at all. Having known Mae West and knowing a tremendous amount of information about her career and her life, I found this diatribe completely without any kind of merit. The "author" (if that is what one would call this nasty writer) has no sense of balance at all. This is one of the most unfair, one-sided, pathetic excuses for a "biography" I have ever had the displeasure of reading. It is no wonder than when this piece of crap was released it was stillborn. It was and is a colossal failure both in sales and in what it set out to do.

Very early in West's career in this book, the author loses all credibility by her constant and horrendous assault (and that is exactly what it is) on West. The whole second part of the book is nothing but an angry, bitter attack against West, which leaves out so much about West, but delves up nothing but one constant, angry attack after the other. It is NEGATIVE beyond comprehension!

When I finished reading this mess, I felt like I had been assaulted myself, and was ashamed that I even read anything so negative to the extreme. The "author" attacks West on ALL levels, for any and ALL reasons, and guesses at alleged "facts" rather than revealing anything new here. The entire book is just a simple-minded rehash of other previously published material and ALMOST entirely in the negative. No fair-minded person could give any credibility to a "work" so vicious, so obviously full of just plain hate! I was offended to the 9th degree. Never have I read a book full of such venom, untruths, and consistently inaccurate information. Anyone could have performed better research than this 4th rate writer. This mockery of an autobiographical account is submerged by the bitter, twisted and demented mind of the pathetic excuse for an author (not to mention human being). A TRULY, uncompassionate, possibly insane witch wrote this nasty piece of crap!!!

You won't find out anything that is true or accurate about the great Mae West here, but you will find distortions, countless information about other plays and actors (that have nothing to do with West) and an appalling lack of feeling and humanity. One of the LOWEST, CHEAPEST pieces of trash ever written, and one of the most UNSUCCESSFUL too!!!

Rating:
Summary: "When I'm Bad, I'm Better" by Marybeth Hamilton
Review: My recent interest in Mae West started while viewing the play "Dirty Blonde" It led to watching her films, listening to her archival music, reading her autobiography, her "Wit and Wisdom" and her rewritten version of "Pleasure Man". From childhood I had viewed "Myra Breckinridge" and "Sextette" as well as listened to her albums "Way Out West" and "Wild Christmas". Marybeth Hamilton Ph.D. in history from Princeton University, has written the missing link in the West saga. Describing in accurate detail the origins and influence of a well known and well loved pioneer. "Her sheer inventiveness with materials makes her a percursor of the likes of Madonna and a forerunner of comic performers like Bette Midler and Sandra Bernhardt, women who deliberately manipulate camp humor rather than remaining naive objects of it. West rewrote her past in the service of her marketability and reputation. Crafted and recrafted by a shrewd judge of audiences who knew what she was doing at every step." This is a brilliant historical study, well researched and informative. Hamilton deserves honors for bringing Mae West and her career into the film history and gender studies perspective. Highly recomended!

Rating:
Summary: Early Mae
Review: This book uncovers every detail of Mae Wests early career. Though Hamilton seems to accent on the negative, those who love Mae West will relish in the new details and great photos. The author is the exact opposite of Mae West, one can easlily surmise, so every triumpth of West's is quickly dashed with a failure, indicating an almost peciliar jealousy on behalf of the author towards her subject! THAT is what makes this book so interesting.