The sex symbol of a hectic age

This was first published in 1959, when Mae West still had 20 odd years to live. She was born in Brooklyn, of English, Irish and German descent, and seems to have been close always to her mother (the book is dedicated to her) and to have rather disliked her rowdy, heavy handed father. Learning her trade the hard way from the age of seven, mainly in small vaudeville theatres, she became the sex symbol of the age and was even imprisoned briefly for obscenity after her play Sex became a Broadway success in 1926. The broad facts of her career are familiar by now, and recent biographies have filled in the background; but there is a kind of level toned, laid back vitality about her writing style which suggests that this book was Mae's own creation, not some ghost writer's.