She was an inspiration for irreverent female comics of that era, including Phyllis Diller and, in her final years, Mabley poked fun at the president and other government officials. For licensing inquiries please contact Historic Films Archive(info@historicfilms.com / http://www.historicfilms.com) If owner has objection to this YouTube video, please inform and it will be removed. "Had she been white," comedian Dick Gregory (1932 - 2017) said at her funeral, "she'd have been known fifty years ago." Known for her warmth, witty social commentary, and her less-than subtle references to sex, Mabley set the stage for other female comics, such as Phyllis Diller and . Moms Mabley (1894-1975) Actress Soundtrack IMDbPro Starmeter See rank One the most successful entertainers of the Black vaudeville stage, also known as the Chitlin Circuit, was Jackie "Moms" Mabley, born Loretta Mary Aiken in 1894. ''I would like people to know Moms as I have become acquainted with her, and to love her as much as I do,'' she said, and then added softly, ''and to know it wasn't easy. by Kim Wilson May 4, 2000. During her career Moms had several small parts in movies, including Boarding House Blues and Emperor Jones. welfare, and inebriation. Since Loretta was boarding with a clergyman and his wife, she felt that she could not tell them that she was going into show business, so she threw her bag over the back fence where Bonnie Drew was waiting with her car. However, he would not live in the United States and she would not live in Canada, so they never married. She was very successful in her roleshe "didn't make a mistake or nothing"and continued her career after the birth of her child. As if that wasn't horrific enough, she was raped again at the age of 13 by the town's sheriff. Mabley played Carnegie Hall in 1962. Mabley later recorded comedy albums and appeared in films and on television programs including The Ed Sullivan Show and The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour.[2]. Her comedy routines quickly became a hit on the black concert circuit, and on one occasion she noted that every comedian except Jack Benny came to see her perform and to steal her material. Who directed the documentary on Moms Mableys life? [7] She made her New York City debut at Connie's Inn in Harlem. Her cover version of "Abraham, Martin and John" hit #35 . All Rights Reserved. But most of her jokes at the beginning were 'in' jokes. She was raped,. Mabley, for many years the only female African American comic, was sometimes underestimated because of her standard jokes about old men and her use of sexual innuendo. Hope you enjoy this 1968 album titled, The Best of Mom's Mabley. While making the film she suffered a heart attack, and the filming had to be postponed until she had a pacemaker implanted. During the early 1930s, Mabley established herself as a stage performer. comedians of the era, white or Black, such as infidelity, poverty, At the start of her career, she changed her name to Jackie Mabley in response to her brothers despise of her choice of work. Her father died when she was 11 years old. "Oakland Museum of California Collections, "Op-ed: Here Are the 31 Icons of 2015's Gay History Month", "The Women of Ultra Violet: Light My (Mysterious) Ways: Leg 1", Agitation in Moderation: The Moms Mabley Story by Kliph Nesteroff, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Moms_Mabley&oldid=1142354265, This page was last edited on 1 March 2023, at 23:21. Her firefighter father was killed in an explosion when she was 11 and her mother was later hit and killed by a truck on Christmas Day. After a brother objected to her career choice, she took a stage name, borrowing that of a boyfriend and fellow entertainer, Jack Mabley. She was also a sly and astute social commentator, as she revealed in comments such as There aint nothing wrong with young people. She died in New York on May 23, 1975. As the film's director, she wanted to pay tribute to Moms and introduce her to an audience who never knew of her. Since then Ms. Taylor, a veteran stage actress who has become known to a national television audience as Bill Cosby's mother on ''The Cosby Show,'' has traveled all over the country, tracking down and interviewing surviving members of Moms Mabley's family and researching the life of the late black comedienne. How dare you not know who Moms Mabley is?' Jus' quit lyin' to 'em. Once a favorite at the Cotton Club in Harlem and the Club Harlem in Atlantic City, where she performed with such legendary figures as Count Basie, Duke Ellington and Cab Calloway, Moms in her later years went on to appear on national television with Merv Griffin, Johnny Carson, Flip Wilson, Mike Douglas, the Smothers Brothers and Bill Cosby, and to play Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center and the Copacabana. comedian Moms Mabley Jackie "Moms" Mabley (March 19, 1894 - May 23, 1975), born Loretta Mary Aiken, was an American standup comedian and a pioneer of the so-called "Chitlin' Circuit" of African-American vaudeville. She was also a master at double-entendres when delivering her sexual jokes. '', As the civil-rights movement wrought the changes necessary to enable her to gain national exposure, her humor proved universal. Go to channel Playlist \u0026 check out more of Moms Mabley!Don't forget to subscribe, thumbs up, and comment! A successful comedian herself, she's now also an influential talk show host on "The View" offering her unfiltered opinions about social, entertainment, and political issues. Her sketches catered to the Black community and revolved around stories about White people. At the age of 11, she was raped by an older man. Two years later, a White town sheriff raped her too. The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional". She returned to the big screen as well with The Big Timers (1945), Boarding House Blues (1948), and the musical revue Killer Diller (1948), which featured Nat King Cole and Butterfly McQueen. One the most successful entertainers of the Black vaudeville stage, also known as the Chitlin Circuit, was Jackie "Moms" Mabley, born Loretta Mary Aiken in 1894. ''I knew her from sitting in the audience at the Apollo Theater falling out of my seat laughing at her. But as she made a living making people laugh, there was, in fact, another dimension to her, a past so heartbreaking, its difficult to imagine she survived. The great-granddaughter of a slave, she was born Loretta Mary Aiken in North Carolina in 1894, one of 16 children. [31][32] The documentary was nominated for two Creative Arts Emmy Awards at the 66th ceremony held on August 16, 2014, at the Nokia Theatre in Downtown Los Angeles: Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special and Outstanding Narrator for Whoopi Goldberg. Mabley also credited the name to her grandmother, who had been a driving force in the pursuit of her dreams. Later that year, she, Richard Pryor, and Redd Foxx were inducted into the Apollo Walk of Fame, marking the first time non-musical artists were bestowed with the honor. '', Above all, Ms. Taylor hopes to answer the question first asked her by an uninformed friend. Subsequent albums like Moms Mabley at the Playboy Club, Moms Mabley at the UN and Young Men, Si - Old Men, No continued to broaden Mabley's reach (she ultimately recorded many albums). Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet. ''Once I got started on this, I felt like I was on the end of a comet,'' she said. Best Known For: Moms Mabley was a trailblazing African American 20th century comedian known for warm yet raunchy stand-up routines and hit albums. All Rights Reserved. We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back. By the early 1960s, she began to build a white audience with her 1962 performance at Carnegie Hall, then a series of appearances on mainstream television shows including The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour and The Ed Sullivan Show.. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. There she was first exposed to performers and their lives, and she soon chose show business as a career and entered the chitlin circuit of venues that catered to African American audiences. Mabley relocated to Cleveland, Ohio, at age fourteen and joined the black vaudeville scene as an all-around entertainer. She starred in several films, became a headliner at the. Apart from being good at her business of making people laugh, she also did excellent at rising above her tragedies and reaching for the stars. By age 15 she had borne two children. circuit to perform comedy without a male counterpart. Her humor leaned toward the sly double-entendre rather than the straightforward use of obscenity that would become popular with such later black comedians as Richard Pryor. At 11, an older man sexually abused her, and only two years later, a white town sheriff did the same. Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. I was real uptight with him and he certainly was real uptight with me; you'd better believe. That information proved hard to come by, but with persistence and time she managed to track down Moms's brother, her adopted son, her daughter and her half-brother. Moms Mabley was one of 16 children, and by the time she'd turned 11, her life tragically changed as a result of being raped by an older man. Updates? In 2015 Mabley was named one of the thirty-one icons by Equality Forum. We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. [33], Mabley was the inspiration for the character of Grandma Klump in the 1996 movie The Nutty Professor. This article is from the Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, 6 volumes, edited by William S. Powell. ''When I saw her, it never dawned on me to even think whether she was ever married, whether she had children, whether she ever cried,'' Ms. Taylor said. Mabley entered the world of film and stage as well, working with writer Zora Neale Hurston on the 1931 Broadway show Fast and Furious: A Colored Revue in 37 Scenes and taking on a featured role in Paul Robeson's Emperor Jones (1933). Life would have been harder for Richard Pryor, Whoopi Goldberg, and . Whoopi Goldberg, who did a one-woman show about Mabley decades ago, aims to fix that, with "Moms Mabley," her new documentary on HBOand, as it happens, her project has a news peg. Although it is unclear whether she was ever legally married, she bore another daughter later on, only to see her become a drug addict. More than 20 years later, fellow comedian Whoopi Goldberg made her directorial debut with the documentary Moms Mabley: I Got Somethin' to Tell You, which was presented at the Tribeca Film Festival and HBO. circuit to perform comedy without a male counterpart. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. Moms Mabley was a trailblazing African American 20th century comedian known for warm yet raunchy stand-up routines and hit albums. Mabley focused on conventional topics such as family and others not normally covered by comedians of the era, white or Black, such as infidelity, poverty, welfare, and inebriation.Billed as the Funniest Woman in the World, she adopted her original stage name from a boyfriend, Jackie Mabley, and began her career at 14. To escape a despised stepfather, she moved to Cleveland, Ohio. Very little is known about her early years. At the apex of her long career, she was earning $10,000 a week at Harlem's Apollo Theatre. Richard Pryor will be honored the same night the legendary theater kicks Portrait of American comedienne 'Moms' Mabley as she reclines on a pile of pillows inside an oversized picture frame, New York, New York, 1968. . After arriving in Pittsburgh, Pa., Loretta Aiken made her debut in the play, The Rich Aunt from Utah. Astrological Sign: Pisces, Death Year: 1975, Death date: May 23, 1975, Death State: New York, Death City: White Plains, Death Country: United States, Article Title: Moms Mabley Biography, Author: Biography.com Editors, Website Name: The Biography.com website, Url: https://www.biography.com/actors/moms-mabley, Publisher: A&E; Television Networks, Last Updated: August 13, 2020, Original Published Date: April 2, 2014. Loretta Mary Aiken was born in Brevard, North Carolina, on March 19, 1894. They persuaded her to join another acting association, and by 1923 Moms was playing in Harlem's best playhouses such as Connie's Inn and the Cotton Club. 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