10 Things you need to know about Jackie Moms Mabley- the 1st woman stand up comedian
1. Who was Moms Mabley? To answer in her own words as she introduced herself during her show “ for the benefit of the children who don’t know Mom” — “that the name Mom: M-O-M forward M-O-M Backward, upside down W-O-W ( wow! That’s what defines her ).
2. Real name — She was born as Loretta Mary Aiken in North Carolina on March 19, 1894. She adopted the name of jack Mabley who was her boyfriend for a short period of time and became Jackie Mabley and later became Jackie “Moms” Mabley because of her onstage persona.
3. Traumatic childhood: Her firefighter father was killed when she was just 11 and her mother was hit and killed by a car on Christmas day. She had been raped twice during her teens: once by an older black man and once by a white town sheriff.
4. The discourse of dressing: Dressing played an important role in this famous persona. On stage, she would were a hat that drooped over her ears and a housecoat ( in the later years of her career she had no teeth which made her look like a typical grandmother), and outside the stage, she dressed like a man ( Norman Miller, a fellow comedian said “ … she was Moms on stage but she walked off that stage as Mr. Moms ” ). Probably her androgynous look and her not-so-typical voice had played a great role in the longevity of her career (along with her talent of course ) in the male-dominated world of comedy. Whoopi Goldberg has aptly said, “… she was a woman among men and who was equal to those men”.
5. Sexuality: Her biographers have noted that reports of her relationship with men and women date back to the 1920s, indicating she may have been bisexual. ( which was quite unusual for a time when Americans were still grappling with issues like moral values and homosexuality )
Marc Power, theatre director, told in an interview that Mabley socialized with a circle of lesbian and gay friends in Washington in the 1940s. On one such occasion during that period, she organized a gay party at a nearby nightclub that was raided by police.
6. Taboo topics: She dared to crack jokes on such taboo topics as women’s sexuality, male sexual incompetence, ethnicity, homosexuality, cultural tropes of aging, older women-younger men relation, etc. She often mentioned her attraction to young men. She told her audience “ The only thing that an old man can do for me is tell me where to find a young one” ( LOL )
7.The African American issue: Mabley along with comedians like Dick Gregory used their humor as a comment on the dark period of American struggle with the issue of equality and civil liberties for Blacks and the society’s double standards for gender roles. “At a time when simply speaking to or maintaining eye contact with a white woman could be used as grounds for lynching”, she was performing jokes like “ A congo man walked up to the desk in Little Rock and said, “I,d like to reserve a room please.” The man said, “ We don’t cater to your kind”. He says, “No, you misunderstood me. I don’t want it for myself. I want it for my wife. She’s your kind” (She had guts I must say ). This aptly presents the normalization of their own race by the Whites while everyone else is segregated as the “Other”. It is important to note here that she performed before a predominantly African American audience until the 1950s and 1960s.
8. Smoker: She had a habit of smoking ( which is evident in the few video interviews available online )
9. What I didn’t like about her: She also fell prey to the image of Africans as barbarians as widely accepted by the Whites as well as the Black Americans During that time. For example, in one instance she talked about being on the plane with an African representative to the UN. When the flight attendant asks the African Diplomat what he would like for dinner, he replies “ Bring me the passenger list” ( which obviously portrays an image of Africans as cannibals ).
10. Some of her most quoted punch lines (which are my favorites) :
“They say you shouldn’t say nothing about the dead unless it’s good. He’s dead. Good !”
“Never lose your head, not even for a minute- you need your head. Your brain’s in it.”
“Be careful, children- don’t speed on the highway. Play with your wife , not your life”
She was a groundbreaker. In her career of almost six decades, she has been a revolutionary comedian and a social satirist. She died on May 23 in 1975 but her witticism and sass will live forever. Happy Birthday dear witty lady.
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