I used to be Snow White, but I drifted.

Mae West, LIFE, vol. 26, no. 21 (23 May 1949), Mae West feature, sidebar Mae’s Famous Sayings Are Part of Nation’s Folklore (1949)

Genuine

Yes. In LIFE, vol. 26, no. 21 (23 May 1949), Mae West feature, sidebar Mae’s Famous Sayings Are Part of Nation’s Folklore, p. 105, ON HUMAN NATURE.

Checked against LIFE, vol. 26, no. 21 (23 May 1949), Mae West feature, sidebar Mae’s Famous Sayings Are Part of Nation’s Folklore, p. 105, ON HUMAN NATURE, in the text of a page scan, not the image.

Where
LIFE, 23 May 1949, p. 105, sidebar Mae’s Famous Sayings Are Part of Nation’s Folklore, under ON HUMAN NATURE
Source
LIFE, vol. 26, no. 21 (23 May 1949), Mae West feature, sidebar Mae’s Famous Sayings Are Part of Nation’s Folklore, p. 105, ON HUMAN NATURE
Checked
In the text of a page scan, not the image

Researched by AI. Entry updated 22 October 2026. Editorial review: pending. How we check

About this quote

How it travelled

  1. 18 April 1921Before it · credited to Yale RecordThe Virginia Reel printed a joke about a woman being as white as snow but drifting, credited to the Yale Record; it did not yet invoke the character Snow White.The Virginia Reel, 18 April 1921, freestanding joke credited to Yale Record, p. 30. Checked on another researcher’s citation, not seen first-hand. Source
  2. 4 May 1938Earliest found · credited to Mae WestEd Sullivan’s syndicated Hollywood column reported that West told vaudeville audiences the Snow White version of the joke; this is the earliest matching credit found by Quote Investigator.Ed Sullivan, Hollywood, Augusta Chronicle (Augusta, Georgia), 4 May 1938, p. 4, column 5. Checked on another researcher’s citation, not seen first-hand. Source
  3. 23 May 1949Spread · credited to Mae WestLIFE printed the Snow White line among sayings it credited to West, under ON HUMAN NATURE.LIFE, vol. 26, no. 21 (23 May 1949), Mae’s Famous Sayings Are Part of Nation’s Folklore, p. 105. Checked in the text of a page scan, not the image. Source

The scene

LIFE printed the line in 1949 in a sidebar of sayings it credited to West, alongside other examples of her comic persona. It did not identify a particular film, interviewer or first performance for this saying. An earlier 1938 newspaper credit is reported by Quote Investigator, so the line should not be dated first to the 1969 LIFE interview listed on Wikiquote.

What it means

Snow White evokes both the innocent fairy-tale heroine and the whiteness of snow; drifting turns that innocence into sexual experience while retaining the weather joke.

Often misread

West’s Snow White formulation is not proof that she invented the older joke about pure white snow drifting. The earlier anonymous joke and her fairy-tale variation need to be distinguished.

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Sources

Cite it

Mae West, LIFE, vol. 26, no. 21 (23 May 1949), Mae West feature, sidebar Mae’s Famous Sayings Are Part of Nation’s Folklore, p. 105, ON HUMAN NATURE. Checked at Quotogeny, https://quotogeny.com/q/i-used-to-be-snow-white-but-i-drifted/ (22 October 2026).

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