There is a special pantheon of Olympian celebrities who are famous only because they’re famous: Donald Trump and Paris Hilton aren’t going to win talent shows anytime soon, and when was the last time even Mickey Mouse made a movie?
Mae West is one of these icons; instantly recognizable for no modern reason. Her movies show a one-joke, sniggering, swaggering, thick-set singer whose voice can most charitably be described as “effective.” Her most famous co- star, W.C. Fields, called her “a plumber’s idea of Cleopatra.”