Sixth Day of Women's History Month: Jackie "Moms" Mabley

I feel I need to post 2 photos of "Moms" Mabley--she was a striking woman, but when she was in costume, you wouldn't necessarily know that. 






"Moms" Mabley was born in 1894; one of 16 children.  Her parents died when she was young, and by the age of 14, Mabley had been raped twice, and gave birth to two children as a result of each of those attacks. If it had been me (or I daresay any of us), I would have decided my life was over.  Entertaining others, and making them laugh, would have been the furthest thing from my mind.
But I'm not Moms Mabley.  While still in her teens, she joined the African-American vaudeville circuit as a comedienne.  Fellow performer Jack Mabley became her boyfriend for a short time, and she took on his name, becoming Jackie Mabley (as she later told Ebony Magazine, "Jack was my first boyfriend...He took a lot off me and the least I could do was take his name.'"), with "Moms" coming from her eventual reputation as a mentoring, mothering spirit to other comediennes.  By the early 1930's, she and Butterbeans & Susie became regulars at the Cotton Club, and by the late 1930's, she became the first female comedienne at the Apollo--she later went on to appear at the Apollo more than any other entertainer (at the height of her career, she earned $10,000 a week for her appearances there). She played in Carnegie Hall in 1962, and began to be seen by white audiences, with appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show, The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, and The Bill Cosby Show.  One source describes her act like this:  "Mabley's standup routines were riotous affairs augmented by the aesthetic she presented as being an older, housedress-clad figure who provided sly commentary on racial bigotry to African-American audiences. Her jokes also pointed towards a lusty zest for younger men. Yet, belying that persona, offstage she had a glamorous, chic look and was known to be a lesbian."
Indeed, Moms could, and did, say things like this:
"Colored fellow down home died. Pulled up to the gate. St. Peter look at him, say, 'What do you want?' 'Hey man, you know me. I'm old Sam Jones.' He looked in his book. 'Sam Jones?' he say, 'no, no you ain't here, no Sam Jones.' He said, 'Oh, man, yes, I am. You know me. I'm the cat that married that white girl on the capitol steps of Jackson, Mississippi.' He said, 'How long ago has that been?' He said, 'About five minutes ago."

 She recorded numerous comedy albums, but is probably best known for her rendition of  the song, "Abraham, Martin, and John", which she recorded at the age of 75 (she's the oldest person to have a US Top 40 hit).  

I learned about Moms Mabley when I was a young kid; my dad loved comediennes, and loved to play their records for me (and yes, my mom DID give him a bad time for playing the more "X Rated" stuff for me, as I would often repeat those jokes to her!).  I hadn't thought of her in years, until  I heard Whoopi Goldberg was going to do a documentary about Moms.  I highly recommend this documentary--here's a preview:

Trailer