Margaret West

Margaret West was born in San Antonio, Texas, the daughter of George Washington West (1879-1956), the man who in 1913 built George West, Texas, and Robbie Bedell (1880-1959).

West became a vaudeville performer and sung Western songs dressed as a cowgirl.[1] In 1948 she was a retired radio personality with homes on Santa Monica beach and in Bel-Air.[1] Pola Negri moved in with her and they became notorious party hostesses, at the same time building up a collection of artworks.[2]

At the death of West's father in 1956, West and Negri moved to San Antonio and, after a period spent in an hotel, moved on Olmos Drive,[3] where they lived until West's death on July 29, 1963.[4] Negri was the chief beneficiary to West's estate, receiving $1,250 a month ($10,439 in 2019 dollars) and the use of West's home and ownership of all furniture and art objects in the house.[5] In her autobiography, talking about West, Negri said, "It was difficult for some of the so-called sophisticates to understand that there had not been... the slightest tinge of the sexual to what we shared together."[6][1]