There’s an incredible courtroom scene in the 1933 film “I’m No Angel,” written by Mae West, which she starred in with Cary Grant. West’s character, Tira, tells her lawyer she wants to cross-examine all the witnesses herself. She brings her quick-quip banter to the proceedings, seductively eyes the judge, and charms not only the jury but the defendant she’s suing (played by Grant), who sheepishly agrees to pay up what she says he owes her.

West knew a thing or two about courtrooms, after getting mixed up in a number of legal cases. Most famously, she was sentenced, along with James A. Timony, her manager and legal counsel, and Clarence William Morganstern, a theatrical producer, to 10 days in jail for “corrupting the morals of youth” with West’s play, “Sex,” in 1927. They were also fined $

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