"Beulah, Peel Me a Grape!" Trivia Quiz

Answer: I'm No Angel

Mae West wrote the screenplay for "I'm No Angel" (1933) and asked rising star Cary Grant to portray her love interest. The movie's many double entendres, as found in most of Mae West's films, worried censors but delighted audiences.

Answer: "Goodness had nothing to do with it, dearie."

Mae West asked to write her own lines for her appearance in "Night After Night", and after years of experience on stage, she knew what she was doing. Director George Raft said, "She stole everything but the cameras." The exchange about the diamonds was her first spoken line in any film.

Answer: "...the life in your men."

The line comes from "I'm No Angel" (1933), a film packed with memorable quips and one-liners and released when Mae West was at the height of her box-office popularity. More stringent enforcement of Hollywood censorship had not yet begun, so she could sneak more past the censors than in later films. Mae West's character, Tira, says the line near the end of the film, after questioning a series of former male acquaintances in a courtroom trial and demolishing their testimony against her.

Afterwards, a reporter asks her, "Why did you admit knowing so many men in your life?" and Tira responds with the quoted line.

Answer: My Little Chickadee

The quote has been improved in many sources to "One and one is two; two and two is four..." but the version in the question is transcribed straight from the movie. Mae West takes advantage of the comedic contrast between her character and the country schoolroom.

When asked about arithmetic, she comments that she "was pretty good with figures myself" as she slinks to the blackboard, showing off her own figure. She and Fields wrote the screenplay for the 1940 movie.

Answer: "Come up and see me sometime."

In "She Done Him Wrong", an adaptation of her Broadway play "Diamond Lil", Mae West said: "I always did like a man in a uniform. That one fits you grand. Why don't you come up sometime and see me? I'm home every evening." In "I'm No Angel", she uttered the same sentiment in its more familiar form.

After successfully cross-examining witnesses and winning a courtroom trial, Tira (Mae West's character) receives flowers from juror number four, as well as a phone call from him congratulating her. She thanks him and adds, "And don't forget. Come up and see me sometime."

Answer: "...two in the street."

"Belle of the Nineties" (1934) had to get past the Hollywood censors, so Mae West's role was cleaned up after their suggested changes. Cast as Ruby Carter, she portrayed a tough and self-confident former burlesque dancer now involved with a crooked gambling hall and an up-and-coming boxer. Any implication about her former involvement with men was removed as much as possible. Still, when she spoke the line, Ruby Carter's character had never enjoyed the security of a man in the house--one whom she could be married to and whom she could trust to take care of her.

Her line parodied the familiar aphorism "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush".

Answer: "...I'm better."

"I'm No Angel" was released in 1933. Mae West speaks the line to Cary Grant, after he compliments her on being "especially wonderful tonight". In real life, she bragged about being the first to notice the unknown Cary Grant and offering him a starring role, although he had already been in the hit "Blonde Venus" with Marlene Dietrich the year before.

Her claim about discovering him annoyed Grant and caused a rift between them for years.

Answer: Klondike Annie

The quote appears with many variations, but the one in the question is taken from the movie. "Klondike Annie" (1936) upset censors as well as newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst, with its racy scenes and religious theme. While evading the law, a kept woman, Rose Carlton (Mae West), befriends a missionary, Sister Annie Alden.

A scene deleted by the censors was one in which Rose dresses Sister Annie as a prostitute, while disguising herself as a missionary to evade the sheriff. Mae West says the line while discussing two potential lovers with a girlfriend. One of the lovers is a young police inspector and the other is a ship captain.

Her friend asks, "Do you have to pick either one?" and when Mae West says yes, the friend adds, "Maybe you'll get lucky and they'll kill each other." But Mae West has to choose one to avoid either prosecution or the captain's jealousy, and she concludes the conversation with the famous quip, eventually choosing the captain.

Answer: "Yeah, and what they propose is nobody's business."

"Sextette" was panned by critics and made little at the box office. Many of Mae West's real life fans felt it was an unfortunate choice to end her career, not least because it simply ignored her advanced senior citizen status and cast her as the new bride of a man less than half her age. But it still contained her one-liners, as well as cameos by many stars of the '70s.

Answer: "I don't like work either."

William B. Davidson played the admirer, Ernest Brown. After he displays an expensive ring, Tira plans to seduce him and get some money out of him. Their conversation in his hotel room leads to the fact he's from Dallas, which inspires Tira to put on a record, "No One Loves Me Like That Dallas Man". The music gives Mae West a chance to show off her dance moves.