[Ads-l] Mae West (life jacket)

[James Landau]

two different etymologies for "Mae West" meaning life jacket:
https://books.google.com/books?id=yu9H0Hv4Ot4C&printsec=frontcover&dq=operation+mincemeat&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjepPSm0PeHAxU0FFkFHSJ3IQIQ6AF6BAgMEAI#v=onepage&q=rhyming%20slang&f=false

Ben Macintyre _Operation Mincemeat_ New York: Harmony Books, 2010 ISBN 978-0-307-45327-3, page 168
"The yellow military [life] jackets were known as "Mae Wests," from rhyming slang for "breasts."  When fully inflated, the rubber jacket gave the wearer a distinctly busty look reminiscent, if you happened to be a sex-starved soldier, of the curvaceous film star."
Which etymology is correct, rhyming slang or the film star?
James Landau
jjjrlandau at netscape.com

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