Hays Office a complete rewrite of the original stage version and a cleaned-up, san- itized film version, not just of the play but of the West persona, as well. After changing the project's name to
She Done Him Wrong,
the film was added to the fall production schedule. George Raft, originally cast by Zukor as the love interest, was at Schulberg's directive replaced by Cary Grant, who had always been the producer's first choice to play opposite West.
One of the most erroneous yet persistent myths about Cary Grant is that he was discovered by Mae West while both were strolling the Paramount backlot, that she took one look at him and said, “If that guy can talk, I'll take him—he's the only one who could do justice to the role of ‘The Hawk.'” Several versions of this “moment of discovery” exist; the most popular comes from West's own memoirs. * Here she recalls visiting the Paramount lot one day in 1932 prior to signing on to film
Diamond Lil
and seeing “a sensational- looking man walking along the studio street… the best thing I'd seen outthere.” According to West, she then insisted that Grant be her costar or there wouldn't be a film. *
Grant himself flatly denied the story many times, always claiming, “It wasn't true. Mae West didn't discover me. I'd already made four pictures before I met her.” † In an interview he gave to
Screen Book
in December 1933, he gave this version of the story: “I had met Miss West one night at the [American] Legion [Friday night] fights at the Hollywood American stadium. I understand that she had already seen me and asked for me to play ‘The Hawk’ in her picture. It seems that during her search for a suitable leading man, she had seen me getting out of my studio car and decided I was the type to play opposite her. I suppose it was because she is blond and I am dark and we make a suitable contrast. Another factor in my getting the role in
She Done Him Wrong
was that Lowell Sherman, the director, had liked my work with Miss Dietrich in
Blonde Venus.
”
In fact, both West's and Grant's version were likely made up, and for good reason. Grant and West had appeared on Broadway at the same time for sev- eral seasons and became quite well acquainted during this period. As it hap- pens, while West was developing her sex goddess stage image, she was also running a highly successful male escort service. One stresses that there is no smoking gun, but because of how perfectly the timings mesh (West was run- ning her service before, during, and after the two-year period when Grant “disappeared”), it is tantalizing to wonder if Grant worked for her, and if she was, in fact, the otherwise unknown, unidentified “Marks.”
Because of the studio's financial difficulties, the film was given an eighteen-day shooting schedule (instead of the fifteen to twenty weeks nor- mally allotted a “big” picture). Filming began on November 21, after the full seven-day rehearsal period that West had insisted upon. Set in a Bowery bar at the turn of the twentieth century, the sanitized but still raunchy story cen- ters on Lady Lou, the proprietor of the Dance Hall (a standard euphemismfor a house of prostitution), corun by West's husband (Noah Beery Sr.), which sells beer to the boys while also dealing in a little white sexual slavery on the side. Captain Cummings, aka “The Hawk” (Grant), is an undercover cop running a nearby missionary and is bent on “saving” her. One of the most famous (and often misquoted) lines in all of film history is uttered in
She Done Him Wrong
with a moistness hard to misinterpret, when Lil meets Cummings for the first time and says, “Why don't you come up sometime, see me. I'll tell your fortune.” By the end of the film, after a series of bizarre plot twists, love changes and redeems them both. In the final scene, Cummings leads her away, with the strong suggestion he is going to reform her first, then marry her. They get into a cab and Grant removes
She Done Him Wrong,
the film was added to the fall production schedule. George Raft, originally cast by Zukor as the love interest, was at Schulberg's directive replaced by Cary Grant, who had always been the producer's first choice to play opposite West.
One of the most erroneous yet persistent myths about Cary Grant is that he was discovered by Mae West while both were strolling the Paramount backlot, that she took one look at him and said, “If that guy can talk, I'll take him—he's the only one who could do justice to the role of ‘The Hawk.'” Several versions of this “moment of discovery” exist; the most popular comes from West's own memoirs. * Here she recalls visiting the Paramount lot one day in 1932 prior to signing on to film
Diamond Lil
and seeing “a sensational- looking man walking along the studio street… the best thing I'd seen outthere.” According to West, she then insisted that Grant be her costar or there wouldn't be a film. *
Grant himself flatly denied the story many times, always claiming, “It wasn't true. Mae West didn't discover me. I'd already made four pictures before I met her.” † In an interview he gave to
Screen Book
in December 1933, he gave this version of the story: “I had met Miss West one night at the [American] Legion [Friday night] fights at the Hollywood American stadium. I understand that she had already seen me and asked for me to play ‘The Hawk’ in her picture. It seems that during her search for a suitable leading man, she had seen me getting out of my studio car and decided I was the type to play opposite her. I suppose it was because she is blond and I am dark and we make a suitable contrast. Another factor in my getting the role in
She Done Him Wrong
was that Lowell Sherman, the director, had liked my work with Miss Dietrich in
Blonde Venus.
”
In fact, both West's and Grant's version were likely made up, and for good reason. Grant and West had appeared on Broadway at the same time for sev- eral seasons and became quite well acquainted during this period. As it hap- pens, while West was developing her sex goddess stage image, she was also running a highly successful male escort service. One stresses that there is no smoking gun, but because of how perfectly the timings mesh (West was run- ning her service before, during, and after the two-year period when Grant “disappeared”), it is tantalizing to wonder if Grant worked for her, and if she was, in fact, the otherwise unknown, unidentified “Marks.”
Because of the studio's financial difficulties, the film was given an eighteen-day shooting schedule (instead of the fifteen to twenty weeks nor- mally allotted a “big” picture). Filming began on November 21, after the full seven-day rehearsal period that West had insisted upon. Set in a Bowery bar at the turn of the twentieth century, the sanitized but still raunchy story cen- ters on Lady Lou, the proprietor of the Dance Hall (a standard euphemismfor a house of prostitution), corun by West's husband (Noah Beery Sr.), which sells beer to the boys while also dealing in a little white sexual slavery on the side. Captain Cummings, aka “The Hawk” (Grant), is an undercover cop running a nearby missionary and is bent on “saving” her. One of the most famous (and often misquoted) lines in all of film history is uttered in
She Done Him Wrong
with a moistness hard to misinterpret, when Lil meets Cummings for the first time and says, “Why don't you come up sometime, see me. I'll tell your fortune.” By the end of the film, after a series of bizarre plot twists, love changes and redeems them both. In the final scene, Cummings leads her away, with the strong suggestion he is going to reform her first, then marry her. They get into a cab and Grant removes
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