She used the alias "Jane Mast" early in her career. Her trademark walk was said to have been inspired or influenced by female impersonators Bert Savoy and Julian Eltinge, who were famous during the Pansy Craze. Her first appearance in a Broadway show was in a 1911 revue "A La Broadway" put on by her former dancing teacher, Ned Wayburn. The show folded after eight performances, but at age 18, West was singled out and discovered by "The New York Times". "The Times" reviewer wrote that a "girl named Mae West, hitherto unknown, pleased by her grotesquerie and snappy way of singing and dancing". West next appeared in a show called "Vera Violetta", whose cast featured Al Jolson. In 1912, she appeared in the opening performance of "A Winsome Widow" as a "baby vamp" named La Petite Daffy.