Whenever a Mae West film was coming up for scrutiny with the Hays Office's Production Code Administration, the censors could be heard blocks away sharpening their pencils and scissors. Her February 1936 "Klondike Annie" was especially confounding when the PCA cut an early crucial scene of a murder which would explain the subsequent actions of West's character. In those early days of unmitigating censorship, however, nothing was more paramount in the eyes of the censors than protecting young viewers witnessing an unjustifiable killing.
Mae West and the censors have had an ongoing battle for years, beginning from her early days on the New York City stage in the 1920s. After her helicon early successes with a much relaxed film production code, the actress was testing the limits in "Klondike Annie" under head censor Joseph Breen. West's character is a kept woman who murders her boyfriend, Chan Lo, in a scene that hit the cutting room floor. Eight minutes in total were chunked out of West's latest effort, and the viewer remained in the dark as to why she's on a steamer headed for Nome, Alaska. Loosely adapted from her 1921 play, 'Frisco Kate,' "Klondike Annie" has been both praised as one of her best films, her magnum opus as film reviewers labeled it, while others saw the movie as an excuse to mix religion, hypocrisy and West's double entendres all into one motion picture. Newspaper publisher William Hearst, upset at Mae's off-handed unflattering remarks about his mistress, actress Marion Davies, was especially critical of the film, directing his editors, "That Mae West picture Klondike Annie is a filthy picture. We should have editorials roasting that picture, Mae West, and Paramount. DO NOT ACCEPT ANY ADVERTISING OF THIS PICTURE." In public Hearst lambasted the film, asking "Isn't it time Congress did something about the Mae West menace?"
Another source of outrage came from religious groups, who insisted censors ban the movie entirely. On the steamer, captained by Bull Brackett (Victor McLaglen), the boat takes on Sister Annie of The Salvation Army, who died en route to her mission in Nome. To get away from the law, West as The Frisco Doll applies make-up to the deceased Sister Annie to make her look like a hooker so she could take her place. Individual states, such as Georgia, as well as several communities, outright prohibited "Klondike Annie." Where the film was permitted to play, West was able to say lines such as "When caught between two evils, I generally like to take the one I never tried" that the Hays' censors allowed in the film.
West made a habit of reporting to the studio late every morning during the shoot, causing the director, Raoul Walsh, to tear his hair out. Ernst Lubitsch, Paramount Pictures' head of production, took West aside to inform her she must arrive on time. The order triggered Mae so much she took a nearby mirror and smacked Lubitsch with it. And she continued to come in late, holding the film crew and the other actors waiting.
Despite the cuts and drama behind the scenes, "Klondike Annie" remains one of Mae West's more popular films. Reviewer Karl Dahlke writes that even though the slices impair the movie, "What remains, however, is still a compelling story, with enough of West's trademark licentiousness, bravado, and coyly lacerating humor to please fans."
