real estate, detective agency) and an immigrant mother: "I am of English, Irish and German extraction, which means the usual European intermixture of many unknown genes that keeps people lively" (West 2). It was, apparently, a robust relationship between John and Matilda West, complete with physical brawls to win Matilda's heart from jealous suitors. Younger siblings were produced: the young Mae had no difficulty in understanding how they came to be. It was not a reticent Victorian atmosphere.
Although she remained close to her mother all of her life, Mae West's father was apparently the one responsible for her irrepressible exhibitionism. By the age of five "Baby Mae" was performing in amateur nights, with her publicity-prone father's encouragement. At age eight she was a professional in a stock theatrical company. All of this was possible within a family setting: New York at the turn-of-the-century had more stage activity than the
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