May Mann was born to a prominent family in Ogden, Utah. As a child, she loved watching films and reading movie magazines. Her first newspaper publication was in 1934 in "The Ogden Standard-Examiner". There she wrote as a society columnist. She met with Hollywood celebrities in Union Station in Ogden. The articles she wrote from these meetings were successful, and movie studios paid for her transportation to and from Hollywood in order for her to continue the good publicity. She started her column, "Going Hollywood," in 1936. Mann was Miss Utah in 1938. She attended many parties in Hollywood and thought of herself as a celebrity. In 1938 she wrote an article about Clark Gable for "Screenland" and one about Wallace Beery in "Movie Mirror". In 1939, she spent several months in New York City writing columns about Broadway during the World's Fair. She spent her vacation time working as a reporter for a New York newspaper. Her columns often featured photos of her with the celebrity she wrote about, which she started when a reader doubted that she had actually met with the celebrity.