1 00:00:02,640 --> 00:00:06,000 Speaker 1: Happy Saturday. Coming up this week, we have an episode 2 00:00:06,040 --> 00:00:08,719 Speaker 1: on Somebody who is going to get a name drop 3 00:00:08,720 --> 00:00:12,959 Speaker 1: in Today's Classic. We will leave that upcoming episode who 4 00:00:13,000 --> 00:00:16,000 Speaker 1: it's about as a surprise, but today's classic is on 5 00:00:16,120 --> 00:00:20,480 Speaker 1: Moms Mabley. This originally came out on February ninth, twenty 6 00:00:20,520 --> 00:00:26,960 Speaker 1: twenty two. Enjoy Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, 7 00:00:27,200 --> 00:00:37,160 Speaker 1: a production of iHeartRadio. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. 8 00:00:37,200 --> 00:00:41,280 Speaker 1: I'm Tracy V. Wilson and I'm Holly Frye. I really 9 00:00:41,360 --> 00:00:45,600 Speaker 1: enjoy the TV show The Marvelous Missus Masel. If you 10 00:00:45,720 --> 00:00:48,320 Speaker 1: are not familiar with this show, it is about a 11 00:00:48,360 --> 00:00:51,320 Speaker 1: Jewish woman named Midge Masel who tries to build a 12 00:00:51,360 --> 00:00:53,840 Speaker 1: career as a comedian starting at the end of the 13 00:00:53,920 --> 00:00:59,840 Speaker 1: nineteen fifties. There are various performers who appear as characters 14 00:01:00,080 --> 00:01:03,920 Speaker 1: on this show. Some of them have real world inspirations, 15 00:01:03,960 --> 00:01:07,160 Speaker 1: but they're fictional characters, and there are other ones, like 16 00:01:07,280 --> 00:01:13,640 Speaker 1: Lenny Bruce, who are fictionalized representations of a real person. Uh. 17 00:01:13,720 --> 00:01:17,160 Speaker 1: In an episode from the show's third season, Missus Mazl 18 00:01:17,240 --> 00:01:21,039 Speaker 1: performs at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, and ahead of 19 00:01:21,040 --> 00:01:25,400 Speaker 1: her on stage is Mom's Mablie, who was played wonderfully 20 00:01:25,760 --> 00:01:30,200 Speaker 1: by Wanda Sykes. If my own age and background were 21 00:01:30,240 --> 00:01:33,280 Speaker 1: a little different, or maybe if I had grown up 22 00:01:33,520 --> 00:01:36,480 Speaker 1: watching reruns of old variety shows, I would have already 23 00:01:36,560 --> 00:01:39,120 Speaker 1: known who this was. But I did not. So I 24 00:01:39,120 --> 00:01:41,520 Speaker 1: did what I always do when a new performer shows 25 00:01:41,600 --> 00:01:44,399 Speaker 1: up on The Marvelous Missus Masel, and I googled so 26 00:01:45,400 --> 00:01:48,760 Speaker 1: Mom's Maybey. Yes, was a real person, but I had 27 00:01:48,800 --> 00:01:51,400 Speaker 1: some doubts about being able to do this episode. Because 28 00:01:51,440 --> 00:01:56,920 Speaker 1: her career lasted more than six decades, she was hugely influential. 29 00:01:57,520 --> 00:02:00,960 Speaker 1: She inspired so many comedians and other performers who came 30 00:02:01,040 --> 00:02:04,160 Speaker 1: after her. She's really one of the founders of stand 31 00:02:04,200 --> 00:02:07,560 Speaker 1: up comedy in the United States. But outside of her work, 32 00:02:07,640 --> 00:02:09,920 Speaker 1: a lot of the details of her life are kind 33 00:02:09,960 --> 00:02:13,760 Speaker 1: of a mystery, and there are some contradictory accounts of 34 00:02:13,800 --> 00:02:17,800 Speaker 1: a particularly traumatic part of her early life. Heads up 35 00:02:17,880 --> 00:02:20,720 Speaker 1: that talking about those contradictions is that's going to involve 36 00:02:20,760 --> 00:02:24,160 Speaker 1: some discussion of rape and other trauma. And I also 37 00:02:24,240 --> 00:02:27,320 Speaker 1: think if I were part of an adoption triad, there's 38 00:02:27,360 --> 00:02:29,760 Speaker 1: some part of this that I would probably also find 39 00:02:29,880 --> 00:02:34,760 Speaker 1: particularly troubling. Moms mabley was born Loretta Mary Aiken on 40 00:02:34,840 --> 00:02:40,360 Speaker 1: March nineteenth, probably eighteen ninety seven. In the nineteen hundred census, 41 00:02:40,400 --> 00:02:43,400 Speaker 1: her age is given as three, but in the earliest 42 00:02:43,480 --> 00:02:45,880 Speaker 1: years of her career, when people might have thought she 43 00:02:45,960 --> 00:02:48,280 Speaker 1: was too young to be out on her own, she 44 00:02:48,440 --> 00:02:52,520 Speaker 1: gave her birth years eighteen ninety four. Later in her 45 00:02:52,560 --> 00:02:55,520 Speaker 1: life she was not forthcoming about her age at all, 46 00:02:55,680 --> 00:02:59,400 Speaker 1: and to add another layer of confusion, her grave marker 47 00:02:59,440 --> 00:03:03,839 Speaker 1: lists her day of births March nineteenth, eighteen ninety nine. 48 00:03:03,919 --> 00:03:08,840 Speaker 1: Loretta's parents were James and Mary Magdalen Smith Aiken. James, 49 00:03:08,840 --> 00:03:11,160 Speaker 1: who was known as Jim, was the son of Jane 50 00:03:11,200 --> 00:03:15,880 Speaker 1: Aiken Hall, and his father was her enslaver. Jim was 51 00:03:15,880 --> 00:03:19,080 Speaker 1: born in eighteen sixty one, and normally that would have 52 00:03:19,160 --> 00:03:22,200 Speaker 1: meant he was considered enslaved from his birth, but it 53 00:03:22,320 --> 00:03:26,000 Speaker 1: seems that his father considered him to be free. According 54 00:03:26,040 --> 00:03:29,760 Speaker 1: to moms Mabley's later accounts, his mother made a particular 55 00:03:29,880 --> 00:03:33,320 Speaker 1: point of telling both him and Loretta that they had 56 00:03:33,400 --> 00:03:38,360 Speaker 1: been born free. Loretta also had a great grandmother, Harriet Smith, 57 00:03:38,400 --> 00:03:41,120 Speaker 1: who she described as Cherokee, who was a big part 58 00:03:41,160 --> 00:03:43,640 Speaker 1: of her early life and a big influence on her 59 00:03:44,560 --> 00:03:47,800 Speaker 1: The family lived in Brevard, North Carolina, which is southwest 60 00:03:47,840 --> 00:03:50,240 Speaker 1: of Asheville on the edge of what is now Pisga 61 00:03:50,360 --> 00:03:54,440 Speaker 1: National Forest. In nineteen hundred, it had a population of 62 00:03:54,520 --> 00:03:58,040 Speaker 1: under six hundred people. It is easy to imagine that 63 00:03:58,080 --> 00:04:00,400 Speaker 1: a black family in a small town is the North 64 00:04:00,440 --> 00:04:04,000 Speaker 1: Carolina Mountains in the early twentieth century was living in 65 00:04:04,040 --> 00:04:07,480 Speaker 1: severe poverty, and a lot of current descriptions of Moms 66 00:04:07,560 --> 00:04:11,200 Speaker 1: Maybley's imply that her early childhood was one of extreme 67 00:04:11,280 --> 00:04:14,880 Speaker 1: hardship and that she fled Brevard and never looked back. 68 00:04:15,680 --> 00:04:18,880 Speaker 1: But in interviews later in her life, mably talked about 69 00:04:18,960 --> 00:04:24,280 Speaker 1: western North Carolina with just enormous fondness. Stud's Turkle recorded 70 00:04:24,320 --> 00:04:27,280 Speaker 1: an oral history with her in nineteen sixty one, and 71 00:04:27,360 --> 00:04:29,479 Speaker 1: she did joke that you had to take a buggy 72 00:04:29,480 --> 00:04:32,400 Speaker 1: from Asheville to get to Brevard, but she also called 73 00:04:32,440 --> 00:04:35,640 Speaker 1: it one of the greatest and healthiest places on earth. 74 00:04:36,240 --> 00:04:39,400 Speaker 1: She spoke of her grandmother and her great grandmother with deep, 75 00:04:39,560 --> 00:04:43,920 Speaker 1: deep love and respect. Interviews that other people gave after 76 00:04:43,960 --> 00:04:47,920 Speaker 1: her death also described her making frequent visits home and 77 00:04:48,000 --> 00:04:51,919 Speaker 1: maintaining her connection to the North Carolina Mountains. She also 78 00:04:52,000 --> 00:04:55,640 Speaker 1: described her father Jim Aiken as a great man. He 79 00:04:55,800 --> 00:04:59,360 Speaker 1: was a successful businessman who had started out selling gingerbread 80 00:04:59,360 --> 00:05:01,800 Speaker 1: and cier and worked his way up to owning a 81 00:05:01,839 --> 00:05:05,360 Speaker 1: store along with a bakery, slash cafe, and a barber 82 00:05:05,360 --> 00:05:08,720 Speaker 1: shop that catered to white customers. He also ran a 83 00:05:08,839 --> 00:05:12,520 Speaker 1: dre service which carried both passengers and freight, along with 84 00:05:12,640 --> 00:05:16,800 Speaker 1: carrying the mail into and out of town. Although Mabley's 85 00:05:16,920 --> 00:05:21,120 Speaker 1: oral testimony describes Brevard as not being segregated, it did 86 00:05:21,240 --> 00:05:25,240 Speaker 1: have segregated schools. Her father was a big part of 87 00:05:25,240 --> 00:05:28,800 Speaker 1: getting a new school for black children established in Brevard 88 00:05:28,920 --> 00:05:32,599 Speaker 1: in early nineteen oh nine, and a newspaper article about 89 00:05:32,640 --> 00:05:35,800 Speaker 1: that effort noted his involvement and then said, quote, what 90 00:05:36,080 --> 00:05:42,000 Speaker 1: Jim undertakes generally goes. I love that quote. Tragically, though, 91 00:05:42,120 --> 00:05:45,719 Speaker 1: Jim Acin died when Loretta was about twelve. In addition 92 00:05:45,800 --> 00:05:48,960 Speaker 1: to everything we just mentioned, he was a volunteer firefighter. 93 00:05:49,600 --> 00:05:53,000 Speaker 1: At this point, most fire trucks were chemical engines. They 94 00:05:53,040 --> 00:05:56,320 Speaker 1: carried tanks of bicarbonate of soda and acid, which were 95 00:05:56,320 --> 00:05:59,000 Speaker 1: added to water on the scene to produce a stream 96 00:05:59,040 --> 00:06:03,159 Speaker 1: of fire suppress. Something went wrong while Aiken was responding 97 00:06:03,160 --> 00:06:05,279 Speaker 1: to a call in nineteen oh nine and the tank 98 00:06:05,360 --> 00:06:09,200 Speaker 1: exploded while he was tried to attach the hose. Jim 99 00:06:09,279 --> 00:06:13,320 Speaker 1: was killed instantly and multiple other firefighters were seriously injured. 100 00:06:14,440 --> 00:06:18,159 Speaker 1: Jim Aikin's death was a profound loss for the entire 101 00:06:18,279 --> 00:06:22,040 Speaker 1: community of Brevard. His funeral was held at the White 102 00:06:22,080 --> 00:06:24,880 Speaker 1: First Baptist Church because that was the biggest church in 103 00:06:24,920 --> 00:06:28,920 Speaker 1: the area. An editorial in the French broad Hustler described 104 00:06:29,000 --> 00:06:31,719 Speaker 1: him as quote one colored man who left the world 105 00:06:31,760 --> 00:06:35,640 Speaker 1: better than he found it. The Brevard News wrote, quote, 106 00:06:35,680 --> 00:06:38,600 Speaker 1: the death of James P. Aikin is a distinct loss 107 00:06:38,640 --> 00:06:41,919 Speaker 1: to our town. He was the most widely known colored 108 00:06:41,960 --> 00:06:45,440 Speaker 1: man in western North Carolina. He was a successful and 109 00:06:45,600 --> 00:06:49,520 Speaker 1: enterprising businessman whose store on Main Street is well patronized. 110 00:06:50,040 --> 00:06:52,320 Speaker 1: He was a member of the Baptist Church in several 111 00:06:52,400 --> 00:06:55,960 Speaker 1: benevolent societies. Was a member of the fire department, where 112 00:06:55,960 --> 00:06:59,679 Speaker 1: William E. Breest Junior was chief, and was always among 113 00:06:59,680 --> 00:07:02,200 Speaker 1: the first to respond to the call of the fire bell, 114 00:07:02,320 --> 00:07:05,359 Speaker 1: and one of the hardest workers at every fire in 115 00:07:05,440 --> 00:07:08,599 Speaker 1: the history of the town. He was in every way 116 00:07:08,720 --> 00:07:14,160 Speaker 1: a responsible Negro, honest, energetic, industrious, and reliable. He had 117 00:07:14,200 --> 00:07:17,520 Speaker 1: a wide influence among the colored race in this mountain section, 118 00:07:18,040 --> 00:07:21,440 Speaker 1: besides having many friends among the white people, all of 119 00:07:21,480 --> 00:07:25,320 Speaker 1: whom will be shocked to learn of his sudden death. Obviously, 120 00:07:25,840 --> 00:07:28,680 Speaker 1: racism is threaded through both of these quotes with the 121 00:07:28,720 --> 00:07:33,080 Speaker 1: idea that Jim Aiken was exceptional considering his race, but 122 00:07:33,120 --> 00:07:35,720 Speaker 1: they do also speak to how prominent he was within 123 00:07:35,760 --> 00:07:39,880 Speaker 1: the community. Loretta's mother, Mary, was the executor of her 124 00:07:39,960 --> 00:07:43,560 Speaker 1: late husband's estate. She also took over the store while 125 00:07:43,600 --> 00:07:46,600 Speaker 1: Loretta's grandmother helps to take care of her and her siblings. 126 00:07:47,080 --> 00:07:48,880 Speaker 1: They did have a big family. She was one of 127 00:07:48,920 --> 00:07:52,680 Speaker 1: at least nine children. Mary eventually got married again to 128 00:07:52,760 --> 00:07:55,800 Speaker 1: a man named George Parton, and from that point her 129 00:07:55,920 --> 00:07:59,560 Speaker 1: name appeared in advertisements for the store as Mary aikin Parton. 130 00:08:00,520 --> 00:08:03,160 Speaker 1: It appears that she kept the store going until nineteen 131 00:08:03,200 --> 00:08:06,400 Speaker 1: twelve or nineteen thirteen, at which point she sold the 132 00:08:06,440 --> 00:08:09,560 Speaker 1: building to Parton and the couple moved away from Brevard, 133 00:08:10,040 --> 00:08:13,680 Speaker 1: first to Washington, d c. And then to Cleveland, Ohio. 134 00:08:14,000 --> 00:08:17,480 Speaker 1: A lot of more recent articles about moms maybly say 135 00:08:17,520 --> 00:08:19,559 Speaker 1: that her mother was killed just a couple of years 136 00:08:19,560 --> 00:08:22,800 Speaker 1: after her father, after being hit by a truck while 137 00:08:22,800 --> 00:08:26,960 Speaker 1: crossing the street on Christmas Day. That's all very sensational, 138 00:08:27,000 --> 00:08:29,640 Speaker 1: but it does not seem to be correct. Mary and 139 00:08:29,720 --> 00:08:32,760 Speaker 1: George are listed in the nineteen forty census as living 140 00:08:32,800 --> 00:08:36,160 Speaker 1: in Cleveland, with George's occupation at the time listed as waiter. 141 00:08:37,160 --> 00:08:40,160 Speaker 1: It is possible that Mary was killed after being hit 142 00:08:40,200 --> 00:08:42,800 Speaker 1: by a truck. Tracy was not able to confirm her 143 00:08:42,840 --> 00:08:45,600 Speaker 1: cause of death, but if she was, that happened in 144 00:08:45,679 --> 00:08:48,640 Speaker 1: nineteen forty six or nineteen forty seven, and not when 145 00:08:48,679 --> 00:08:52,800 Speaker 1: Loretta was still a young girl. However, in addition to 146 00:08:52,840 --> 00:08:56,559 Speaker 1: her father's death, Loretta's life took a traumatic turn when 147 00:08:56,600 --> 00:09:00,320 Speaker 1: she was still quite young. Multiple sources say that she 148 00:09:00,400 --> 00:09:03,440 Speaker 1: was raped by two different men before she turned fourteen, 149 00:09:03,880 --> 00:09:07,119 Speaker 1: and that both times she became pregnant and arranged adoptions 150 00:09:07,120 --> 00:09:10,360 Speaker 1: for her children or someone arranged those adoptions for her. 151 00:09:11,280 --> 00:09:14,760 Speaker 1: Other accounts, though, say that it wasn't really the arrangement 152 00:09:14,840 --> 00:09:18,000 Speaker 1: of a formal adoption. That Loretta had left her children 153 00:09:18,120 --> 00:09:20,920 Speaker 1: in the care of two women who later moved away 154 00:09:21,000 --> 00:09:23,360 Speaker 1: and disappeared, and she didn't get to see her children 155 00:09:23,360 --> 00:09:27,040 Speaker 1: again until they were adults. Yet, other accounts say that 156 00:09:27,120 --> 00:09:31,120 Speaker 1: Loretta's father or stepfather either forced her to marry a 157 00:09:31,200 --> 00:09:34,240 Speaker 1: much older man or pressured her to do so and 158 00:09:34,280 --> 00:09:37,080 Speaker 1: that is why she left home as a teen. But 159 00:09:37,120 --> 00:09:40,240 Speaker 1: there's no documentation of a marriage, although there is some 160 00:09:40,320 --> 00:09:43,480 Speaker 1: reporting in Brevard News about a court case in nineteen 161 00:09:43,559 --> 00:09:48,400 Speaker 1: thirteen that was State versus Bunyan Mills. This was a 162 00:09:48,520 --> 00:09:52,000 Speaker 1: seduction under promise of marriage case in which the prosecuting 163 00:09:52,040 --> 00:09:56,640 Speaker 1: witness was named Loretta Aiken. This case was introduced in August, 164 00:09:56,800 --> 00:09:59,400 Speaker 1: but dismissed in September when it was found that there 165 00:09:59,440 --> 00:10:04,040 Speaker 1: had been no formal marriage contract. In her conversation with Studs, 166 00:10:04,120 --> 00:10:07,720 Speaker 1: Turkle Mom's Mayble also talked about working as a wet 167 00:10:07,800 --> 00:10:11,600 Speaker 1: nurse in Asheville at the age of just fourteen and 168 00:10:11,720 --> 00:10:14,320 Speaker 1: having to deprive her own child of milk so that 169 00:10:14,360 --> 00:10:16,280 Speaker 1: she would have enough to feed the baby that she 170 00:10:16,400 --> 00:10:22,040 Speaker 1: was nursing. This recording is truly heartbreaking, with Maybe talking 171 00:10:22,080 --> 00:10:25,200 Speaker 1: about telling her baby daughter, who she calls Lucretia, not 172 00:10:25,320 --> 00:10:28,520 Speaker 1: to cry because she was stronger than baby Lois, who 173 00:10:28,559 --> 00:10:30,959 Speaker 1: she was being paid to care for, so Lois needed 174 00:10:30,960 --> 00:10:34,600 Speaker 1: more to eat. Maybee talked about loving Lois like her 175 00:10:34,679 --> 00:10:37,560 Speaker 1: own baby and how much it hurt not to know 176 00:10:37,600 --> 00:10:41,240 Speaker 1: what happened to her after her employment had ended. This 177 00:10:41,520 --> 00:10:46,040 Speaker 1: interview stresses that Lois started to feel like her own child, 178 00:10:46,160 --> 00:10:48,520 Speaker 1: But at least to me, it doesn't seem to imply 179 00:10:48,640 --> 00:10:52,360 Speaker 1: that she had also lost contact with her daughter. Lucretia 180 00:10:53,280 --> 00:10:56,880 Speaker 1: maybe also talked in multiple interviews about being pregnant and 181 00:10:56,960 --> 00:10:59,560 Speaker 1: having her baby with her at the start of her career. 182 00:11:00,200 --> 00:11:04,560 Speaker 1: But when Moms Mabley died in nineteen seventy five, obituaries 183 00:11:04,559 --> 00:11:09,040 Speaker 1: and memorials listed four children among her survivors, but none 184 00:11:09,080 --> 00:11:12,080 Speaker 1: of them are named as Lucretia or are old enough 185 00:11:12,120 --> 00:11:15,880 Speaker 1: to have been born when Moms was fourteen. Yvonne, the 186 00:11:15,960 --> 00:11:18,640 Speaker 1: oldest daughter, is described as fifty eight at the time 187 00:11:18,679 --> 00:11:21,000 Speaker 1: of her mother's death. That means that her mother would 188 00:11:21,040 --> 00:11:24,520 Speaker 1: have been about eighteen when she was born. Yvonne's younger 189 00:11:24,559 --> 00:11:28,520 Speaker 1: siblings were listed as Christine, Bonnie, and Charles, with some 190 00:11:28,600 --> 00:11:32,119 Speaker 1: sources noting that Charles was her brother's child who she adopted. 191 00:11:32,880 --> 00:11:35,959 Speaker 1: So some accounts conclude that Yvonne and Christine were the 192 00:11:36,040 --> 00:11:39,680 Speaker 1: children who were reunited with mably as adults, and others 193 00:11:39,679 --> 00:11:42,760 Speaker 1: conclude that those were just two different people. Yeah. There 194 00:11:42,760 --> 00:11:47,720 Speaker 1: are also a bunch of family trees that list Christine's 195 00:11:47,720 --> 00:11:53,400 Speaker 1: middle name as Lucheria, which is not the same as Lucretia, 196 00:11:53,440 --> 00:11:56,280 Speaker 1: but is close enough that has made people wonder, like, 197 00:11:56,400 --> 00:11:58,840 Speaker 1: was was this the same baby? Was she calling the 198 00:11:58,840 --> 00:12:01,360 Speaker 1: baby by a middle name? And like the spelling has 199 00:12:01,400 --> 00:12:04,040 Speaker 1: gotten garbled somewhere. If so, that means the years are 200 00:12:04,080 --> 00:12:09,600 Speaker 1: also garbled. There's a bunch that's unclear, but whatever the 201 00:12:09,640 --> 00:12:14,240 Speaker 1: exact circumstances are, the young Loretta Mary Aiken left home 202 00:12:14,440 --> 00:12:16,719 Speaker 1: at the encouragement of her grandmother, who thought that she 203 00:12:16,760 --> 00:12:19,679 Speaker 1: should see the world beyond Brevard. And we will get 204 00:12:19,679 --> 00:12:31,400 Speaker 1: to that after a sponsor break. In that nineteen sixty 205 00:12:31,440 --> 00:12:35,120 Speaker 1: one oral history with Stud's Turkle, Mom's Mabley talked about 206 00:12:35,280 --> 00:12:39,840 Speaker 1: her family's deep religious faith. When her grandmother sometimes this 207 00:12:39,960 --> 00:12:42,200 Speaker 1: is also she says, it was her great grandmother, it's 208 00:12:42,200 --> 00:12:46,400 Speaker 1: a little blurred, encouraged her to leave Brevard. She told 209 00:12:46,440 --> 00:12:49,240 Speaker 1: her to quote, put God in front and go ahead, 210 00:12:49,640 --> 00:12:53,160 Speaker 1: and this became a motto for Mom's Mabley's life. The 211 00:12:53,280 --> 00:12:56,160 Speaker 1: timeline for that life is tricky to piece together, though, 212 00:12:56,160 --> 00:12:59,880 Speaker 1: because there are plenty of things like advertisements for her performances, 213 00:13:00,080 --> 00:13:02,320 Speaker 1: but otherwise a lot of the time there's not a 214 00:13:02,360 --> 00:13:07,120 Speaker 1: lot of concrete documentation. Sometimes Mabley's interviews contradict each other 215 00:13:07,480 --> 00:13:10,800 Speaker 1: or they contradict the documentation that does exist, so these 216 00:13:10,840 --> 00:13:13,640 Speaker 1: like census records. To be clear, I'm not suggesting that 217 00:13:13,679 --> 00:13:17,520 Speaker 1: she was intentionally deceptive with any of this. She gave 218 00:13:17,559 --> 00:13:19,800 Speaker 1: a lot of these interviews in the last couple of 219 00:13:19,840 --> 00:13:23,160 Speaker 1: decades of her life, and I know, I don't remember 220 00:13:23,280 --> 00:13:27,720 Speaker 1: exactly when things happened in my childhood versus other events, 221 00:13:27,920 --> 00:13:34,400 Speaker 1: so who knows. It does seem that after her mother 222 00:13:34,520 --> 00:13:37,200 Speaker 1: moved to Cleveland, Moms Maybley, still known at that time 223 00:13:37,240 --> 00:13:41,200 Speaker 1: as Loretta Aiken, went there to join her. She was 224 00:13:41,280 --> 00:13:43,800 Speaker 1: pregnant at that time as the result of a rape, 225 00:13:43,800 --> 00:13:46,280 Speaker 1: and she had planned to go from Cleveland to Detroit 226 00:13:46,640 --> 00:13:50,560 Speaker 1: to terminate that pregnancy, but something told her not to. 227 00:13:51,559 --> 00:13:54,440 Speaker 1: She told Studs Turkle that when she was fifteen, trying 228 00:13:54,480 --> 00:13:57,160 Speaker 1: to work out a way to support herself and her child, 229 00:13:57,559 --> 00:14:00,880 Speaker 1: she prayed for guidance and heard of voice that said 230 00:14:01,040 --> 00:14:06,080 Speaker 1: quote go on the stage. In Cleveland, Loretta lived with 231 00:14:06,080 --> 00:14:08,960 Speaker 1: a pastor and his family, and the house next door 232 00:14:09,080 --> 00:14:11,000 Speaker 1: was a boarding house that was home to a lot 233 00:14:11,040 --> 00:14:14,920 Speaker 1: of performers, one of them, Bonnie Bell Drew helped her 234 00:14:15,040 --> 00:14:18,640 Speaker 1: get a start in show business. Mabley's daughter, Bonnie, who 235 00:14:18,679 --> 00:14:21,680 Speaker 1: was born in nineteen twenty, was named Bonnie after Bonnie 236 00:14:21,680 --> 00:14:25,040 Speaker 1: Bell Drew. Loretta Aiken got a job with the Theater 237 00:14:25,160 --> 00:14:28,520 Speaker 1: Owner's Booking Association, which was a vaudeville circuit for black 238 00:14:28,520 --> 00:14:32,200 Speaker 1: performers that was established in the nineteen twenties with venues 239 00:14:32,240 --> 00:14:36,280 Speaker 1: primarily in the southern and Midwestern states. Its performers gave 240 00:14:36,320 --> 00:14:40,000 Speaker 1: it nicknames like Tough on Black actors. The schedules were 241 00:14:40,080 --> 00:14:43,360 Speaker 1: very grueling the pay was low, but Mably later said 242 00:14:43,400 --> 00:14:45,560 Speaker 1: that anyone who got to the end of the circuit 243 00:14:45,600 --> 00:14:50,560 Speaker 1: had a solid foundation in all kinds of fundamentals, including singing, dancing, 244 00:14:50,640 --> 00:14:54,640 Speaker 1: and comedy. This was in part because every performer had 245 00:14:54,680 --> 00:14:58,120 Speaker 1: to learn every part in case somebody got sick or injured, 246 00:14:58,400 --> 00:15:01,680 Speaker 1: or just dropped out of the show. Other performers who 247 00:15:01,680 --> 00:15:04,880 Speaker 1: got their start on this circuit included Gertrude ma Rainey, 248 00:15:05,320 --> 00:15:08,440 Speaker 1: Josephine Baker, and Sammy Davis Junior when he was still 249 00:15:08,440 --> 00:15:12,160 Speaker 1: a child. In her later life, Moms Mabley told a 250 00:15:12,200 --> 00:15:15,960 Speaker 1: story about being sick while working this circuit and an 251 00:15:16,000 --> 00:15:19,240 Speaker 1: older fellow performer named Leroy came into her room to 252 00:15:19,360 --> 00:15:23,800 Speaker 1: check on her. Police raided the hotel after an unrelated 253 00:15:23,840 --> 00:15:27,160 Speaker 1: altercation and searched all of the rooms, and when Leroy 254 00:15:27,280 --> 00:15:30,120 Speaker 1: was found in the room of the teenage Loretta Achin, 255 00:15:30,400 --> 00:15:33,480 Speaker 1: they were forced to get married, but according to Mabley, 256 00:15:33,560 --> 00:15:37,400 Speaker 1: there was no marriage license, no formal paperwork associated with 257 00:15:37,440 --> 00:15:40,280 Speaker 1: this marriage, and Leroy was more like a father figure 258 00:15:40,320 --> 00:15:44,440 Speaker 1: to her than a spouse. Loretta was traveling through deeply 259 00:15:44,480 --> 00:15:47,440 Speaker 1: segregated parts of the US, many of which were also 260 00:15:47,680 --> 00:15:51,360 Speaker 1: well known for racist violence. She was earning only about 261 00:15:51,400 --> 00:15:53,960 Speaker 1: fourteen dollars a week, which was not enough to support 262 00:15:53,960 --> 00:15:57,120 Speaker 1: herself and her child, so her mother was sending money 263 00:15:57,160 --> 00:16:00,320 Speaker 1: to help with food and lodging. But then another of 264 00:16:00,360 --> 00:16:03,120 Speaker 1: black performers took notice of her and helped her move 265 00:16:03,240 --> 00:16:07,240 Speaker 1: into higher paying gigs. Those were Jody and Susie Edwards 266 00:16:07,280 --> 00:16:11,680 Speaker 1: aka Butterbeans and Susie, who were a song and dance duo. 267 00:16:11,960 --> 00:16:15,320 Speaker 1: Their act was very comedic with a lot of double entendre. 268 00:16:15,760 --> 00:16:18,440 Speaker 1: Their best known song was I Want a Hot Dog 269 00:16:18,560 --> 00:16:24,520 Speaker 1: for My Role. You can find recordings of this from 270 00:16:24,520 --> 00:16:32,000 Speaker 1: the internet if you want. Honestly, if you've never heard 271 00:16:32,000 --> 00:16:34,880 Speaker 1: any of Moms Maybley's comedy. Just pause this and go 272 00:16:34,920 --> 00:16:40,000 Speaker 1: to YouTube. It's so funny. It's extremely funny. At multiple 273 00:16:40,040 --> 00:16:42,480 Speaker 1: points while doing research, I stopped what I was doing 274 00:16:42,520 --> 00:16:47,080 Speaker 1: and watched some Moms Mayby anyway, Loretta moved from the 275 00:16:47,080 --> 00:16:50,400 Speaker 1: Theater Owners Booking Association, where most of the venues were 276 00:16:50,400 --> 00:16:53,400 Speaker 1: white owned, to the Chitlin Circuit, which was kind of 277 00:16:53,440 --> 00:16:57,119 Speaker 1: its successor. Those theaters were primarily black owned and operated, 278 00:16:57,720 --> 00:17:01,440 Speaker 1: and sometime during this period she started performing under the 279 00:17:01,520 --> 00:17:06,680 Speaker 1: name of Jackie Mabley. Mabley herself told multiple stories about 280 00:17:06,720 --> 00:17:10,119 Speaker 1: where this name came from. One was that jack Mabley 281 00:17:10,200 --> 00:17:12,679 Speaker 1: had been a boyfriend and that quote he took a 282 00:17:12,680 --> 00:17:14,600 Speaker 1: lot off me, and the least I could do was 283 00:17:14,680 --> 00:17:18,240 Speaker 1: take his name. Another was that the Jackie part was 284 00:17:18,280 --> 00:17:20,720 Speaker 1: her own invention, but Mayblee was the last name of 285 00:17:20,800 --> 00:17:23,320 Speaker 1: a young man she had been engaged to, but that 286 00:17:23,359 --> 00:17:25,880 Speaker 1: didn't work out because he was a Canadian and neither 287 00:17:25,960 --> 00:17:29,600 Speaker 1: of them wanted to move to the other country. Regardless, 288 00:17:29,920 --> 00:17:33,040 Speaker 1: her motivation for changing her name seems to have been 289 00:17:33,080 --> 00:17:36,720 Speaker 1: that her oldest brother thought her stage career was disgracing 290 00:17:36,800 --> 00:17:40,320 Speaker 1: the family. Not all of her family shared that opinion, 291 00:17:40,400 --> 00:17:43,240 Speaker 1: though she had a younger brother Eddie Parton, who helped 292 00:17:43,240 --> 00:17:46,119 Speaker 1: write some of her material. She was being billed as 293 00:17:46,240 --> 00:17:49,359 Speaker 1: Jackie Mabley by nineteen twenty five, and she had established 294 00:17:49,440 --> 00:17:53,160 Speaker 1: Jackie as an on stage character. She was in her twenties, 295 00:17:53,200 --> 00:17:56,520 Speaker 1: but she imagined this character as in her sixties, patterned 296 00:17:56,560 --> 00:18:01,080 Speaker 1: after her grandmother Jane. As Jackie Mablee, she would sing, dance, 297 00:18:01,119 --> 00:18:04,400 Speaker 1: and tell jokes and stories. She eventually made her way 298 00:18:04,400 --> 00:18:06,880 Speaker 1: to New York, where she was featured at Connie's Inn 299 00:18:07,000 --> 00:18:10,480 Speaker 1: in Harlem after it opened in nineteen twenty three. Like 300 00:18:10,520 --> 00:18:13,359 Speaker 1: the Cotton Club, where Mabley also went on to perform, 301 00:18:13,480 --> 00:18:16,879 Speaker 1: Connie's Inn featured black performers for an all white audience. 302 00:18:17,800 --> 00:18:20,880 Speaker 1: As her reputation grew, Maybley kept getting better and more 303 00:18:20,920 --> 00:18:25,000 Speaker 1: lucrative bookings. She also claimed that she discovered Pearl Bailey 304 00:18:25,160 --> 00:18:27,679 Speaker 1: during these years. She said it in a nineteen seventy 305 00:18:27,720 --> 00:18:31,280 Speaker 1: four interview quote, I taught Pearl Bailey everything she knows. 306 00:18:31,400 --> 00:18:33,840 Speaker 1: She was a blues singer, and I said, girl, you're funny. 307 00:18:34,359 --> 00:18:38,600 Speaker 1: You should be a comedian. While Maybley's stage career initially 308 00:18:38,640 --> 00:18:42,480 Speaker 1: included a mix of singing, dancing in comedy, over time 309 00:18:42,640 --> 00:18:45,480 Speaker 1: she was focused more and more on stand up before 310 00:18:45,520 --> 00:18:49,119 Speaker 1: that term was even coined. In her stage persona of 311 00:18:49,200 --> 00:18:52,760 Speaker 1: Jackie Mabley, she helped establish the conventions of stand up 312 00:18:52,760 --> 00:18:56,200 Speaker 1: comedy as an art form. She was billed as Jackie 313 00:18:56,200 --> 00:18:59,639 Speaker 1: Mabley for several years before other performers gave her the 314 00:18:59,760 --> 00:19:03,640 Speaker 1: name of Moms. In her own words quote, even though 315 00:19:03,680 --> 00:19:06,199 Speaker 1: I was young, they would always bring their problems to 316 00:19:06,200 --> 00:19:09,199 Speaker 1: me to settle. She was a mothering presence. She was 317 00:19:09,240 --> 00:19:12,480 Speaker 1: someone that other performers could turn to for support and 318 00:19:12,520 --> 00:19:14,919 Speaker 1: who would help people get money for rant or a 319 00:19:14,960 --> 00:19:18,959 Speaker 1: ticket home when they needed it. Moms mably blurred a 320 00:19:19,000 --> 00:19:21,760 Speaker 1: lot of lines with her gender and sexuality, both on 321 00:19:21,840 --> 00:19:25,400 Speaker 1: and off stage. In her on stage persona, she wore 322 00:19:25,480 --> 00:19:29,600 Speaker 1: a baggy house dress, sagging socks, slippers or beat up 323 00:19:29,640 --> 00:19:34,240 Speaker 1: house shoes, and a floppy hat. Often these clothes aggressively 324 00:19:34,320 --> 00:19:37,439 Speaker 1: did not go together. She had a stooped posture on 325 00:19:37,480 --> 00:19:40,480 Speaker 1: the stage, and as she got older and started wearing dentures, 326 00:19:40,880 --> 00:19:44,600 Speaker 1: she would perform with her teeth out. This persona wasn't 327 00:19:44,680 --> 00:19:48,880 Speaker 1: exactly androgynous. The character was a woman who went by Moms, 328 00:19:49,359 --> 00:19:52,400 Speaker 1: but it was blurry enough that various people wrote into 329 00:19:52,480 --> 00:19:55,320 Speaker 1: newspaper question and answer columns over the course of her 330 00:19:55,359 --> 00:19:58,280 Speaker 1: career to ask if Mom's Mayby was a man or 331 00:19:58,280 --> 00:20:02,240 Speaker 1: a woman. As far as her appearance and her demeanor went, 332 00:20:02,520 --> 00:20:06,640 Speaker 1: Moms Maybley's stage persona could come off as almost sexless, 333 00:20:07,280 --> 00:20:11,120 Speaker 1: but at the same time her comedy could be very 334 00:20:11,240 --> 00:20:16,200 Speaker 1: risk gay. She did not swear. Nothing was sexually graphic 335 00:20:16,480 --> 00:20:19,360 Speaker 1: in a way that if somebody said, that's really risk 336 00:20:19,359 --> 00:20:23,120 Speaker 1: guy like today, you would imagine something quite different. There 337 00:20:23,200 --> 00:20:25,520 Speaker 1: was a lot of double entendre, though, and one of 338 00:20:25,560 --> 00:20:29,680 Speaker 1: Mom's running themes was about her attraction to young men 339 00:20:30,280 --> 00:20:34,000 Speaker 1: and the uselessness of old men unless an old man 340 00:20:34,160 --> 00:20:37,760 Speaker 1: was bringing her a message from a young man off stage. 341 00:20:37,880 --> 00:20:41,240 Speaker 1: People who performed with Mayby have talked about her openly 342 00:20:41,359 --> 00:20:45,359 Speaker 1: having relationships with other women. In some photos, she's shown 343 00:20:45,480 --> 00:20:48,960 Speaker 1: as elegantly attired in address and pearls, and in others 344 00:20:49,320 --> 00:20:52,520 Speaker 1: she's in handsome suits that are more androgynous, are almost 345 00:20:52,520 --> 00:20:57,680 Speaker 1: aggressively masculine. In the twenty thirteen documentary Whoopee Goldberg Presents 346 00:20:57,760 --> 00:21:01,480 Speaker 1: Moms Maybly, dancer and comedian and Norma Miller said quote, 347 00:21:01,960 --> 00:21:05,760 Speaker 1: we never called Moms a homosexual. That word never fit her. 348 00:21:06,320 --> 00:21:10,360 Speaker 1: We never called her gay. We called her mister Moms. 349 00:21:10,840 --> 00:21:13,479 Speaker 1: That's carried over to her comedy and to the venues 350 00:21:13,480 --> 00:21:17,000 Speaker 1: where she performed as well. For example, in April of 351 00:21:17,080 --> 00:21:19,959 Speaker 1: nineteen thirty four, the U Bangy Club opened on the 352 00:21:20,000 --> 00:21:24,200 Speaker 1: former site of Connie's Inn. One of its frequent headline 353 00:21:24,320 --> 00:21:27,960 Speaker 1: acts was Gladys Bentley, who was an openly lesbian performer 354 00:21:28,000 --> 00:21:30,639 Speaker 1: who wore men's attire and was sometimes backed up by 355 00:21:30,720 --> 00:21:35,320 Speaker 1: drag queens. The Ubangy Club became known for both performers 356 00:21:35,400 --> 00:21:39,480 Speaker 1: and clientell who we would probably describe as LGBTQ today, 357 00:21:39,960 --> 00:21:44,040 Speaker 1: and one of its performers was Mom's Maybley. We will 358 00:21:44,040 --> 00:21:47,040 Speaker 1: get into Moms Maybley's later career after we paused for 359 00:21:47,040 --> 00:21:59,439 Speaker 1: a sponsor break. A lot of Moms Mabley's comedy career 360 00:21:59,520 --> 00:22:03,280 Speaker 1: was really unique for the time. Most women working in 361 00:22:03,320 --> 00:22:06,280 Speaker 1: comedy or on the stage at all were as part 362 00:22:06,359 --> 00:22:09,399 Speaker 1: of a duo with a man, but Mably was a 363 00:22:09,440 --> 00:22:12,919 Speaker 1: solo act. In nineteen thirty nine, she became the first 364 00:22:12,960 --> 00:22:17,159 Speaker 1: woman's headline at the Apollo Theater as a solo comedian. 365 00:22:18,080 --> 00:22:21,720 Speaker 1: For decades, she was really the only black woman doing 366 00:22:21,800 --> 00:22:25,920 Speaker 1: solo stand up, and again this started before that term 367 00:22:26,000 --> 00:22:29,800 Speaker 1: was even coined. She was also appearing on Broadway in 368 00:22:29,840 --> 00:22:32,640 Speaker 1: the nineteen thirties, at the height of the Harlem Renaissance. 369 00:22:33,320 --> 00:22:36,080 Speaker 1: At this point, there were several Broadway productions with all 370 00:22:36,119 --> 00:22:39,520 Speaker 1: black casts, but they often had white directors and producers, 371 00:22:39,880 --> 00:22:42,680 Speaker 1: and they were tailored for a white audience. But the 372 00:22:42,720 --> 00:22:46,200 Speaker 1: shows Mably appeared in were developed and directed by black people, 373 00:22:46,400 --> 00:22:50,679 Speaker 1: or they were otherwise focused on the black experience. In general, 374 00:22:50,760 --> 00:22:53,520 Speaker 1: these shows did not run for long. They're often described 375 00:22:53,520 --> 00:22:57,600 Speaker 1: as not appealing to white audiences and critics. In nineteen 376 00:22:57,680 --> 00:23:00,840 Speaker 1: thirty one, she was in Fast and Fury, a colored 377 00:23:00,880 --> 00:23:03,840 Speaker 1: review in thirty seven scenes at the New Yorker Theater. 378 00:23:04,640 --> 00:23:07,439 Speaker 1: In addition to being part of the cast, Maybly worked 379 00:23:07,440 --> 00:23:10,879 Speaker 1: with author and anthropologist Zorneil Hurston to develop some of 380 00:23:10,880 --> 00:23:13,760 Speaker 1: the sketches, and Hurston appeared in this show as well. 381 00:23:14,480 --> 00:23:18,520 Speaker 1: Then she was in Max Rudnick's Blackberries of nineteen thirty two, 382 00:23:18,720 --> 00:23:23,200 Speaker 1: a Sepia musical review. This ran at Liberty Theater west 383 00:23:23,200 --> 00:23:25,480 Speaker 1: of Broadway on forty second Street and it ran for 384 00:23:25,480 --> 00:23:29,639 Speaker 1: twenty five performances. Then there was Swing in the Dream 385 00:23:29,760 --> 00:23:34,280 Speaker 1: in nineteen thirty nine, which I am just desperately curious about. 386 00:23:34,400 --> 00:23:38,440 Speaker 1: This was a swing musical adaptation of A Midsummer Night's Dream, 387 00:23:38,880 --> 00:23:42,240 Speaker 1: with a cast that included Butterfly McQueen and Louis Armstrong. 388 00:23:43,280 --> 00:23:48,760 Speaker 1: It ran for thirteen performances. Reviews of it were not great. 389 00:23:48,760 --> 00:23:51,560 Speaker 1: And I cannot imagine why this sounds incredible to me. 390 00:23:52,600 --> 00:23:55,400 Speaker 1: I mean, I can't imagine why. The answer why is racism. 391 00:23:55,440 --> 00:23:59,800 Speaker 1: But I'm still right, this sounds incredible to me. Most 392 00:23:59,840 --> 00:24:01,760 Speaker 1: of the script has been lost, which is one of 393 00:24:01,760 --> 00:24:05,320 Speaker 1: the reasons I'm just desperately curious about it. We'll put 394 00:24:05,359 --> 00:24:07,399 Speaker 1: it on the time machine list. It's one of the 395 00:24:07,520 --> 00:24:11,840 Speaker 1: stops we'll make. Mainly had some small film roles during 396 00:24:11,840 --> 00:24:14,840 Speaker 1: these same years. Like her Broadway roles, these were in 397 00:24:14,920 --> 00:24:17,560 Speaker 1: films that were made by and four black people, a 398 00:24:17,680 --> 00:24:21,000 Speaker 1: genre that became known as race films. One of these 399 00:24:21,080 --> 00:24:23,720 Speaker 1: was Emperor Jones, which came out in nineteen thirty three, 400 00:24:23,840 --> 00:24:28,560 Speaker 1: starring musician, actor, and activist Paul Robison. Her film work 401 00:24:28,600 --> 00:24:32,440 Speaker 1: continued into the nineteen forties, including playing her comedic persona 402 00:24:32,520 --> 00:24:35,080 Speaker 1: in Killer Diller, which came out in nineteen forty seven. 403 00:24:35,720 --> 00:24:38,360 Speaker 1: In nineteen forty eight, she played a boarding house matron 404 00:24:38,440 --> 00:24:41,960 Speaker 1: in Boarding House Blues. In which the boarding house's residents, 405 00:24:42,000 --> 00:24:44,760 Speaker 1: who are all performers, put on a show to save 406 00:24:44,880 --> 00:24:48,919 Speaker 1: Moms and her boarding house from bankruptcy. The thing that 407 00:24:48,960 --> 00:24:52,359 Speaker 1: she became the most known for during these years was 408 00:24:52,359 --> 00:24:56,560 Speaker 1: her comedy on stage. She booked longer and longer contracts 409 00:24:56,600 --> 00:25:00,280 Speaker 1: at the Apollo, ultimately appearing there more than any other 410 00:25:00,440 --> 00:25:03,639 Speaker 1: entertainer and earning as much as ten thousand dollars a week. 411 00:25:04,160 --> 00:25:07,040 Speaker 1: She constantly changed up her acts that would continue to 412 00:25:07,119 --> 00:25:09,919 Speaker 1: appeal to returning members of the audience, and soon she 413 00:25:10,040 --> 00:25:13,280 Speaker 1: was nicknamed the funniest woman in the world. As the 414 00:25:13,280 --> 00:25:16,440 Speaker 1: civil rights movement evolved in the nineteen fifties and sixties, 415 00:25:16,640 --> 00:25:20,119 Speaker 1: Mabley's comedy started to include more and more social satire 416 00:25:20,440 --> 00:25:25,800 Speaker 1: and commentary about racism, sexism, and politics. This continued as 417 00:25:25,840 --> 00:25:28,720 Speaker 1: white audiences became more aware of her with the evolution 418 00:25:28,840 --> 00:25:33,479 Speaker 1: of comedy albums. Mabley recorded her first album, Funniest Woman Alive, 419 00:25:33,600 --> 00:25:36,919 Speaker 1: before a live audience in Chicago in nineteen sixty, and 420 00:25:37,000 --> 00:25:39,680 Speaker 1: it was released by Chess Records. It was a hit, 421 00:25:40,080 --> 00:25:42,879 Speaker 1: and she went on to record nineteen more comedy albums 422 00:25:42,960 --> 00:25:46,920 Speaker 1: during her career, many of which made the Billboard two hundred. 423 00:25:47,359 --> 00:25:50,880 Speaker 1: Her nineteen sixty one, Moms Mable at the un hit 424 00:25:50,960 --> 00:25:54,280 Speaker 1: number sixteen on the Billboard charts, which was the highest 425 00:25:54,359 --> 00:25:57,200 Speaker 1: ranking comedy album by a woman, and that record stood 426 00:25:57,200 --> 00:26:01,000 Speaker 1: for the next decade. As Mably became more well known 427 00:26:01,080 --> 00:26:05,439 Speaker 1: to white audiences, she used her disarming stage persona to 428 00:26:05,480 --> 00:26:08,800 Speaker 1: make social and political commentary that probably would have been 429 00:26:08,880 --> 00:26:14,040 Speaker 1: impossible without it. Her sets included fictional conversations with world 430 00:26:14,200 --> 00:26:17,919 Speaker 1: leaders where she set them straight on various wrongs. She 431 00:26:18,040 --> 00:26:22,320 Speaker 1: made pointed observations about the realities of racism and segregation. 432 00:26:23,200 --> 00:26:26,160 Speaker 1: For example, on her nineteen sixty three album I Got 433 00:26:26,200 --> 00:26:28,359 Speaker 1: Something to tell You, she said, quote, you know the 434 00:26:28,400 --> 00:26:30,560 Speaker 1: first thing I would do if I was president, I 435 00:26:30,600 --> 00:26:34,160 Speaker 1: would give a certain Southern governor a job as ambassador 436 00:26:34,160 --> 00:26:36,359 Speaker 1: to the Congo and let him go crazy looking for 437 00:26:36,440 --> 00:26:39,920 Speaker 1: a men's restroom with white on it. Throughout the nineteen 438 00:26:39,960 --> 00:26:43,239 Speaker 1: sixty she also did benefit performances to raise money for 439 00:26:43,320 --> 00:26:46,879 Speaker 1: causes like Southern Students Freedom Fund, which provided aid for 440 00:26:46,960 --> 00:26:49,880 Speaker 1: students who had been arrested for their civil rights activism. 441 00:26:50,680 --> 00:26:52,800 Speaker 1: She did a show at the Apollo Theater to raise 442 00:26:52,840 --> 00:26:55,719 Speaker 1: money for the March on Washington, and she sold photographs 443 00:26:55,800 --> 00:26:58,240 Speaker 1: during some of her shows to raise money for the 444 00:26:58,320 --> 00:27:01,760 Speaker 1: Selma to Montgomery March. She was also a member of 445 00:27:01,760 --> 00:27:04,840 Speaker 1: the NAACP, and she attended the White House Conference on 446 00:27:04,880 --> 00:27:09,119 Speaker 1: Civil Rights in nineteen sixty six that inspired her album 447 00:27:09,240 --> 00:27:12,640 Speaker 1: Mom's Mayblely at the White House. She also gave multiple 448 00:27:12,680 --> 00:27:16,040 Speaker 1: performances at prisons all over New York, including Sing Sing 449 00:27:16,200 --> 00:27:21,000 Speaker 1: and Riker's Island. Maybley's television debut was also connected to 450 00:27:21,080 --> 00:27:24,840 Speaker 1: all of this. In nineteen sixty seven, Harry Belafonte produced 451 00:27:24,880 --> 00:27:28,080 Speaker 1: A Time for Laughter, a look at Negro humor in America. 452 00:27:28,600 --> 00:27:32,600 Speaker 1: Bellafonte described this as an effort to both demonstrate black 453 00:27:32,600 --> 00:27:36,600 Speaker 1: people's humanity for the white world and to inspire joy 454 00:27:36,680 --> 00:27:39,720 Speaker 1: and laughter within the black community. That was the first 455 00:27:39,720 --> 00:27:43,679 Speaker 1: time Mom's Mabley was on TV. Mayblee had long talked 456 00:27:43,680 --> 00:27:47,000 Speaker 1: about seeing her audiences as her children, and when she 457 00:27:47,040 --> 00:27:50,199 Speaker 1: started doing television, she said, quote, the only difference I 458 00:27:50,240 --> 00:27:52,840 Speaker 1: found when I started doing TV was that instead of 459 00:27:52,880 --> 00:27:55,600 Speaker 1: looking at the audience as my children, I looked at 460 00:27:55,600 --> 00:27:59,240 Speaker 1: the world as my children. She appeared on multiple televised 461 00:27:59,240 --> 00:28:03,480 Speaker 1: comedy programs and variety shows, including The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, 462 00:28:03,760 --> 00:28:06,800 Speaker 1: The Carol Burnett Show, The Ed Sullivan Show and The 463 00:28:06,840 --> 00:28:11,119 Speaker 1: Flip Wilson Show. These television appearances introduced her to a 464 00:28:11,200 --> 00:28:14,560 Speaker 1: larger white audience than her albums had, and that fed 465 00:28:14,600 --> 00:28:17,800 Speaker 1: into bookings at venues like the Kennedy Center. But at 466 00:28:17,800 --> 00:28:21,760 Speaker 1: that point she'd been performing and famous among black audiences 467 00:28:22,119 --> 00:28:26,960 Speaker 1: for fifty years. In nineteen sixty nine, Moms Mabley's cover 468 00:28:27,119 --> 00:28:30,000 Speaker 1: of Abraham, Martin and John, which is the song about 469 00:28:30,000 --> 00:28:34,359 Speaker 1: the assassinations of Abraham Lincoln Martin, Luther King Junior, John F. Kennedy, 470 00:28:34,400 --> 00:28:37,919 Speaker 1: and Bobby Kennedy, hit number thirty five on the Billboard Charts. 471 00:28:38,360 --> 00:28:41,040 Speaker 1: She performed this song as Mom's, but it was a 472 00:28:41,120 --> 00:28:46,400 Speaker 1: completely serious and audibly grief stricken performance. In the nineteen seventies, 473 00:28:46,480 --> 00:28:50,240 Speaker 1: Mabley's comedy included her opposition to US involvement in the 474 00:28:50,320 --> 00:28:53,720 Speaker 1: Vietnam War, and in a nineteen seventy two interview, she 475 00:28:53,760 --> 00:28:56,600 Speaker 1: said quote, I've shed many a tear over those boys. 476 00:28:56,840 --> 00:28:59,000 Speaker 1: I wanted to go over there, but the government said 477 00:28:59,040 --> 00:29:01,600 Speaker 1: I was too old. But if I'd gone over there, 478 00:29:01,640 --> 00:29:05,160 Speaker 1: I'd have said, come on, children, let's go home. Also 479 00:29:05,240 --> 00:29:09,040 Speaker 1: in nineteen seventy two, she supported past podcast subject Shirley 480 00:29:09,120 --> 00:29:14,040 Speaker 1: Chisholm's election campaign and appeared at a Stars for Shirley fundraiser. 481 00:29:14,880 --> 00:29:18,320 Speaker 1: In nineteen seventy four, Moms Maybly made her last TV 482 00:29:18,440 --> 00:29:22,000 Speaker 1: appearance as a presenter at the Grammy Awards with Christofferson. 483 00:29:22,720 --> 00:29:25,360 Speaker 1: At the time, Christofferson was thirty eight, and the two 484 00:29:25,400 --> 00:29:28,719 Speaker 1: of them played up Mom's attraction to young men. Mayby 485 00:29:28,800 --> 00:29:30,600 Speaker 1: asked him the name of the song he wrote, and 486 00:29:30,680 --> 00:29:33,280 Speaker 1: after he replied, help me make it through the night, 487 00:29:33,760 --> 00:29:36,520 Speaker 1: answering quote, if you can make it for half an hour, 488 00:29:36,560 --> 00:29:39,440 Speaker 1: it'll be all right with me. Their banter went on 489 00:29:39,560 --> 00:29:42,280 Speaker 1: for a full five minutes before announcing the award that 490 00:29:42,320 --> 00:29:45,040 Speaker 1: went to Gladys Knight in the Pips and Maybely took 491 00:29:45,080 --> 00:29:47,840 Speaker 1: her teeth out in the middle of it. It's amazing. 492 00:29:47,920 --> 00:29:51,640 Speaker 1: You can see this on YouTube, also so good. Also 493 00:29:51,720 --> 00:29:54,480 Speaker 1: in nineteen seventy four, Maybly had her first lead in 494 00:29:54,520 --> 00:29:58,040 Speaker 1: a feature film. This was called Amazing Grace, and she 495 00:29:58,160 --> 00:30:01,240 Speaker 1: played Grace Teesdale Grimes. It's about a woman who goes 496 00:30:01,320 --> 00:30:05,640 Speaker 1: up against a corrupt politician, and its posters read quote 497 00:30:05,720 --> 00:30:09,080 Speaker 1: Who's coming to put an end to dirty tricks crooked politicians? 498 00:30:09,160 --> 00:30:14,600 Speaker 1: And Lyon Mayers who America's most glamorous, sexiest female superstar, 499 00:30:15,040 --> 00:30:19,360 Speaker 1: Mom's Mayby. It's About Time. Mably had a heart attack 500 00:30:19,480 --> 00:30:22,440 Speaker 1: during the production for this film. She returned to the 501 00:30:22,480 --> 00:30:26,240 Speaker 1: set after having a pacemaker implanted. She used her publicity 502 00:30:26,280 --> 00:30:29,280 Speaker 1: for the film to promote voting, but this was her 503 00:30:29,360 --> 00:30:32,520 Speaker 1: last appearance on screen. She died on May twenty third, 504 00:30:32,640 --> 00:30:35,200 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy five, in White Plains, New York, at the 505 00:30:35,240 --> 00:30:39,960 Speaker 1: age of about seventy eight. She was survived by four children, 506 00:30:40,320 --> 00:30:44,440 Speaker 1: five grandchildren, two sisters, and three brothers, including her brother 507 00:30:44,640 --> 00:30:47,240 Speaker 1: Eddie Parton, who had helped write some of her material. 508 00:30:47,920 --> 00:30:51,520 Speaker 1: She had spent her last years living with her daughter Bonnie. 509 00:30:51,680 --> 00:30:55,040 Speaker 1: At least five hundred people attended her funeral, and the 510 00:30:55,080 --> 00:30:58,200 Speaker 1: marquis at the Apollo Theater was changed to read Harlem 511 00:30:58,320 --> 00:31:02,440 Speaker 1: Morn's Mom's Maybly. Comedian Dick Gregory gave a eulogy in 512 00:31:02,480 --> 00:31:04,480 Speaker 1: which he said that if she had been white, she'd 513 00:31:04,480 --> 00:31:08,760 Speaker 1: have been known fifty years before today. Moms Mabley is 514 00:31:08,840 --> 00:31:11,760 Speaker 1: known as one of the founders of American stand up comedy. 515 00:31:12,440 --> 00:31:15,640 Speaker 1: A lot of later comedians have cited her as an inspiration, 516 00:31:16,000 --> 00:31:20,040 Speaker 1: including Eddie Murphy, Richard Pryor Wanda Sykes, Arsenio Hall, and 517 00:31:20,080 --> 00:31:23,760 Speaker 1: Whoopi Goldberg, who, as we said, made a documentary about 518 00:31:23,760 --> 00:31:27,040 Speaker 1: Moms in twenty thirteen, originally called I Got Something to 519 00:31:27,080 --> 00:31:30,760 Speaker 1: tell You, before it was picked up by HBO. In 520 00:31:30,800 --> 00:31:34,520 Speaker 1: the nineteen eighties, Clari's Taylor worked with playwright Alice Childress 521 00:31:34,760 --> 00:31:37,240 Speaker 1: to write a play called Moms, which debuted at the 522 00:31:37,280 --> 00:31:41,000 Speaker 1: Astor Place Theater in nineteen eighty seven. The character of 523 00:31:41,080 --> 00:31:44,400 Speaker 1: Granny Clump in Eddie Murphy's The Nutty Professor is also 524 00:31:44,440 --> 00:31:47,960 Speaker 1: a tribute to her man in Moms. Maybley's own words, 525 00:31:48,080 --> 00:31:51,480 Speaker 1: her influence was more pervasive than all of that quote, 526 00:31:51,720 --> 00:31:54,360 Speaker 1: there's not a comedian in show business that hasn't stole 527 00:31:54,440 --> 00:31:57,840 Speaker 1: material from moms, not white or black, as fast as 528 00:31:57,880 --> 00:32:02,320 Speaker 1: they steal him. God gives me some more. I love 529 00:32:02,360 --> 00:32:07,000 Speaker 1: her genius, and as I said, I had multiple times 530 00:32:07,040 --> 00:32:10,800 Speaker 1: just stopped what I was doing and watched some I 531 00:32:10,880 --> 00:32:13,920 Speaker 1: watched Mom's mably on YouTube, and I also watched Wanda 532 00:32:14,000 --> 00:32:18,040 Speaker 1: Syke's appearance as her on Marvelous Missus Maisel. I watched 533 00:32:18,080 --> 00:32:21,240 Speaker 1: that three or four additional more times, potworking on it. 534 00:32:22,320 --> 00:32:27,760 Speaker 1: So yeah, I think a lot of her comedy definitely 535 00:32:27,800 --> 00:32:31,080 Speaker 1: holds up. I have not listened every to every single 536 00:32:31,120 --> 00:32:33,200 Speaker 1: album she has ever done, so I don't think I 537 00:32:33,240 --> 00:32:36,600 Speaker 1: can make a blanket statement that every mom's mable joke 538 00:32:37,240 --> 00:32:42,080 Speaker 1: has weathered the year's well, but a lot of it 539 00:32:42,120 --> 00:32:50,320 Speaker 1: is still hilarious. Thanks so much for joining us on 540 00:32:50,360 --> 00:32:52,800 Speaker 1: this Saturday. If you'd like to send us a note, 541 00:32:52,840 --> 00:32:57,600 Speaker 1: our email addresses History Podcast at iHeartRadio dot com, and 542 00:32:57,800 --> 00:33:00,320 Speaker 1: you can subscribe to the show on the iHeartRadio app, 543 00:33:00,440 --> 00:33:03,760 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.