My Little Chickadee

It’s probably no surprise that I absolutely adore Mae West, author of some of the best one-liners ever penned or spoken on this earth. I learned about My Little Chickadee in undergrad, when I was in the English department chatting with Cowboy Mike, our lit-to-film guru, and he told me sbout it, told me that Mae West and W.C. Fields wrote their own dialogue for this 84-minute gem. But that’s not strictly true: they wrote the entire screenplay, not just their own dialogue.

My Little Chickadee opens on a stagecoach, where Flowe Belle Lee (West) and Margaret Hamilton are among the passengers on a stagecoach that’s robbed, and Flower Belle is abducted by the masked bandit. She returns to her aunt and uncle alone, commenting, “Yes, Aunt Lou, I was in a tight spot, but I managed to wiggle out of it.”

Later, we see Flower Belle in the courtroom, being run out of town, not to return until she’s respectable and married. When the judge asks if she’s trying to show contempt for the court, her response is, “No, I’m tryin’ to hide it.”

On the train, before they’re attacked (by Hollywood stereotype Indians shooting arrows), Margaret Hamilton’s character tells Fields’s that she can’t say anything good about Flower Belle. He responds, “I can see what’s good. Tell me the rest.”

After the attack, fended off mainly by crack shot Flower Belle, she and Cuthbert Twillie (Fields), a con artist, are married (she may have been attracted to the contents of his carpetbag).

Twillie rises quickly in the town (saloon), becoming sheriff, and we learn a little about how perilous local politics are in Greasewood City. We’re also treated to a performance by Flower Belle in the saloon (of course she goes to the saloon) a short while after she delivers one of my favorite lines, “Every man I meet wants to protect me. I can’t figure out what from.”

I’ll leave the rest for you to discover for yourself, but this is Mae West at her best, especially the scene where she substitute teaches (her famous arithmetic quotes are from this scene).

There may be some line stealing in the final scene, so pop some popcorn, grab your flask, and enjoy.