Peel me a grape.
Genuine
Yes. In I’m No Angel (1933), Tira’s instruction to Beulah after an offer to buy her off; approximately 00:48:25 in the copy indexed by Clip.Cafe, said by Tira. These are the character’s words, not a statement in West’s own voice.
Checked against I’m No Angel (Paramount Pictures, 1933), Mae West as Tira; English caption track of the three-second grape scene hosted by Clip.Cafe, Host HTML transcript 00:01.000–00:02.200; downloadable WEBVTT cue 00:01.500–00:02.700; host’s movie offset 00:48:25, in the recording’s automatic captions only.
- Work
- I’m No Angel, 1933
- Where
- Tira’s instruction to Beulah after an offer to buy her off; approximately 00:48:25 in the copy indexed by Clip.Cafe
- Source
- I’m No Angel (Paramount Pictures, 1933), Mae West as Tira; English caption track of the three-second grape scene hosted by Clip.Cafe, Host HTML transcript 00:01.000–00:02.200; downloadable WEBVTT cue 00:01.500–00:02.700; host’s movie offset 00:48:25
- Checked
- In the recording’s automatic captions only
Researched by AI. Entry updated 22 October 2026. Editorial review: pending. How we check
About this quote
The scene
A man offers to buy Tira off so that she will leave Kirk alone. Instead of naming a price, she calls her maid Beulah and asks for a grape to be peeled. The ostentatiously trivial instruction dismisses the man’s attempt to control her.
What it means
She is sufficiently untroubled by the offer to occupy herself with an absurdly small luxury instead of answering it.
Often misread
Often used simply as a demand for pampering. In its scene it also functions as an insult to the man trying to buy her off; it is Tira’s line, not an interview remark by West.
Also shared as
- Two passages run togetherBeulah, peel me a grape. The hosting page’s editorial wording joins Tira’s preceding call to Beulah with the imperative. The longer subtitle transcription separates them with Beulah’s reply, and the actual clip caption contains only the imperative. Where it was seen
Topics
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Sources
Cite it
Mae West, I’m No Angel (1933), Tira’s instruction to Beulah after an offer to buy her off; approximately 00:48:25 in the copy indexed by Clip.Cafe. Spoken by Tira. Checked at Quotogeny, https://quotogeny.com/q/peel-me-a-grape/ (22 October 2026).
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Checked by people
People who checked this entry against its source, under their own names. Their checks do not change the verdict: an editor reviews every entry.
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