The Mae West Life Preserver

[The Sailor]

Mae West Life Preserver


Dimensions / Weight
Dimensions: 27.5" H x 12.75" W x 1.25" D

Physical Description
khaki cotton with inflatable rubber bladders

Specific History
Type B-4 life preserver, commonly referred to as a “Mae West.”

General History
Mae West was a veteran of vaudeville and Broadway. She made her first movie and immediately became a national sex symbol when she was nearly 40. With her hourglass figure, saucy double-entendres, and sinful saunter on five-inch heels, she was a natural bombshell. During World War II, Allied soldiers called their inflatable life jackets "Mae West" in honor of West's famously buxom figure.

Many sailors and airmen owed their lives to their Mae Wests.


When choosing between two evils, I always like to try the one I've never tried before."
- Mae West 1945

[herakles]

You gotta be getting over the hill to know who Mae West was!

[The Sailor]

I guess if I was bobbing around in one of them waiting to be rescued, thinking about those legs might have helped.

In fact I thought the life jacket was named for famous other er assets Mae was famous for. Never knew about the legs before.

[herakles]

I'm sure that legs never entered into it!

[The Sailor]

In fact, Andrew Toti related that his mother was the inspiration for the invention of the Mae West life vest. He had bought a boat, and his mother was worried because he couldn't swim. He designed a personal life preserver filled with duck feathers. However, that was too bulky and heavy, so he used air. Toti sold the rights of the Mae West life vest to the US War Department in 1936 for US$1,600.