"No secret. I go to bed early. I meditate. I eat all the correct foods, I don't smoke or drink, and I believe with a passion in myself. You can only beat nature when you show the bitch who's boss "

Leonard Maltin in his Foreword says, "Mae West was an absolute-and resolute-original. There has never been anyone else quite like her. Her reputation has survived the decades. Young people might not know of her, but she is still widely quoted and referred to in articles and books. How many other show business personalities who flourished in the 1920s and '30s can say the same in the first decade of the 21st century?"

Clive Hirschhorn is the author of the best-selling The Hollywood Musical, as well as Gene Kelly: A Biography, The Films of James Mason, The Warner Bros. Story, The Universal Story, and The Columbia Story.