“Why don’t you come up and see me sometime?” (Mae West)
“Come up and see me sometime” was a signature line of Brooklyn-born actress, singer, playwright, screenwriter, comedian, and sex symbol Mae West (1893-1980). THe line was probably influenced by the 1922 song “He May Be Your Man, But He Comes To See Me Sometimes.”
“Why don’t you come up some time?” was the line in Mae West’s play Diamond Lil (1928). “Why don’t you come up some time and see me?” was in the screen version of the play, titled She Done Him Wrong (1933).
“Come up and see me sometime” was in the Mae West movie I’m No Angel (1933).
Wikiquote: Mae West
Mary Jane West (August 17, 1893 – November 22, 1980) was an American actress and playwright, most commonly known as “Mae” West.
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Why don’t you come up sometime and see me? … Come on up, I’ll tell your fortune.
. She Done Him Wrong (1933); this statement has become widely misquoted with the paraphrase: “Why don’t you come up and see me sometime?”
Wikipedia: She Done Him Wrong
She Done Him Wrong is a 1933 pre-Code American crime/comedy film starring Mae West and Cary Grant. The plot includes melodramatic and musical elements, with a supporting cast featuring Owen Moore, Gilbert Roland, Noah Beery Sr., Rochelle Hudson, and Louise Beavers. It was directed by Lowell Sherman, and produced by William LeBaron. The film is famous for West’s many double entendres and quips, including her best-known (and frequently misquoted), “Why don’t you come up sometime and see me?”
The film was adapted from the successful Broadway play Diamond Lil by Mae West. The Hays Code declared the play banned from the screen and repeatedly demanded changes to remove associations with or elements from the play, including suggested titles with the word “diamond”. The adaption was finally allowed under the condition that the play not be referred to in publicity or advertising.
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The script was adapted by Harvey F. Thew and John Bright. Original music was composed by Ralph Rainger, John Leipold and Stephan Pasternacki.
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Notes
West’s famous line to Cary Grant is “Why don’t you come up some time and see me?” in She Done Him Wrong. She changed it to “Come up and see me sometime” in her next movie, I’m No Angel, which was released the same year and also co-starred Grant.
OCLC WorldCat record
Call and see me sometimes
Author: Harry Wenburn; Flo Banks
Publisher: London : Francis, Day & Hunter, ©1907.
Edition/Format: Musical score : English
OCLC WorldCat record
He may be your man but he comes to see me sometimes : fox trot
Author: Lemuel Fowler; Phil Napoleon; Frank Signorelli; Cotton Pickers.
Publisher: United States : Brunswick, [1922]
15 May 1922, The Billboard (Cincinnati, OH), pg. 45, col. 4:
Lemuel Fowler, a Western writer, has emphasized his arrival in New York with (Pg. 63, col. 3—ed.) the release of a number, called “He May Be Your Man, But He Comes To See Me Sometimes”. It is a Perry Bradford publication and is recorded on the Arto by Lucille Hegeman.
IMDb (The Internet Movie Database)
She Done Him Wrong (1933)
Quotes
Lady Lou: Why don’t you come up some time and see me?
YouTube
She Done Him Wrong - Trailer
YouTube Movies
Published on Dec 22, 2011
“Why don’t you come up sometime and see me?” Screen legends Mae West and Cary Grant heat up the screen in the racy comedy She Done Him Wrong! Nominated for the Best Picture Academy Award®, this classic from the pre-code Hollywood era follows a brash saloon singer (West) with a
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“Why don’t you come up some time and see me? I’m home every evenin’.”
28 March 1933, Variety, “Accident Saves Bettie Davis From Being Just Another Good Girl” by Cecilia Ager, pg. 6, col. 1:
Mae West who says ‘come up and see me some time’ and no more—who gets over her point with all her clothes on.
12 May 1933, Dallas (TX) Morning News, “Notes on The Passing Show,” pg. 14, col. 1:
Mae West’s Slangology.—Mae West needed just one picture to add to the collection of slang phrases that the “talkies” have contributed to the English language.
“You can be had,” and “Come up and see me sometime,” are national bywords as the result of “She Done Him Wrong.”
31 July 1933, Daily News (New York, NY), “Behind the News” by Sidney Skolsky, pg. 26, col. 2:
As soon as the sound men really return to work and stop halting production I’ll begin acting with Mae West in “I Am No Angel.” They ought to reach my scene this week. My opening line is “I’m the thing you come up to see sometime.”
5 August 1933, Daily News (New York, NY), “Behind the News” by Sidney Skolsky, pg. 20, col. 1:
This is the catch line of “I Am No Angel.” The same as “Come up an’ see me, some time, any time,” was the catch line of “She Done Him Wrong.”
IMDb (The Internet Movie Database)
I’m No Angel (1933)
Quotes
Tira: [Answers phone] Hello? Oh, Juror #4. Yes, I remember you. You were the one with the nice kind face. Mmm hmm. Oh, I know you were for me. Mmm hmm. I want to thank you for those beautiful flowers. They were lovely. And don’t forget - come up and see me sometime.
[Jack Claton walks in]
Tira: Mmm hmm. Oh, ah, yes. Yes. Alright, good-bye.
OCLC WorldCat record
Come up and see me sometime : fox trot, from the musical picture “Take a chance”
Author: Louis Alter; Arthur Swanstrom; Walter Paul
Publisher: New York : Harms Inc., ©1933.
Edition/Format: Musical score : English
a April 1938, Minneapolis (MN) Star, “Mae West Comes to Town” by Robert E. Murphy, pg. 17, col. 5:
She settled the frequently heard controversy about the famous “Come up and see me” line. It’s not “Come up some time ‘n see me,” but “Come up and see me some time.”
OCLC WorldCat record
Come up and see me sometime : an uncensored biography of Mae West
Author: David Hanna
Publisher: New York : Belmont Tower Books, ©1976.
Edition/Format: Print book : Biography : English
Google Books
The Quote Verifier:
Who Said What, Where, and When
By Ralph Keyes
New York, NY: St. Martin’s Press
2006
Pg. 34:
“Why don’t you COME up and see me some time?” What Mae West actually said to Cary Grant in She Done Him Wrong (1933) was “Why don’t you come up sometime, see me?” This provocative suggestion caught the public’s fancy in its revised form. West herself used the popular version in her next movie, I’m No Angel. That movie was based on the 1928 play Diamond Lil, which included the line “Why don’t you come up some time?” Six years before that, in 1922, an African-American blues song was published called “He May Be Your Man, but He Comes to See Me Sometimes,” a song with which West was said to be familiar. She herself thought the line probably dated back to Delilah.
Verdict: Various sources, including the public’s editing ear, gave Mae West her signature line—one rooted in African-American vernacular.
YouTube
Mae West: “Come up and see me sometime!”
vinyl45s4ever
Published on May 15, 2013
The most famous “one-liner” Mae West has ever created easily turned into her signature song: Come Up And See Me Sometime! - With clips from the 1934 Comedy Classic “She Done Him Wrong” co-starring Mae West’s discovery Cary Grant.