An ongoing illustrative history study
This piece originally posted 8/24/2020
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"The teenagers aren't all bad. I love 'em if nobody else does. There ain't nothing wrong with young people. Jus' quit lyin' to 'em."
Standup comic Moms Mabley (neé Loretta Mary Aiken) managed to break free of a difficult --even tragic-- childhood, and ran away to join a traveling minstrel show (mainly at the urging of her grandmother, upon whom she would model her later stage persona). In the late 19th century/early 20th century there was a popular collection of performing troupes for African Americans known informally as the Chitlin' Circuit, in which Aiken found her comedic rhythm. More specifically, she started out performing vaudevillean style theater with the segregated Theater Owners Booking Association. T.O.B.A. (or, as she once remarked, the "Tough On Black Asses Circuit"). She came out as a lesbian in the 1930's --certainly a brave act in and of itself.
Over time she shaped and perfected her stage persona of a busybody grandmother offering unasked-for advice, which resonated with audiences. Complete with a floppy hat and a disheveled appearance, she delivered scathing satire and hilarious storytelling (often playing up the innate humor of an older woman getting romantically involved with a much younger man). She eventually emerged from black-only entertainment venues (such as the Apollo Theater), and edged into the so-called "mainstream" by the end of the 1960's, appearing on the Ed Sullivan Show, Carnegie Hall, and several times on the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour.
Easy homework assignment, this time. Go to YouTube and search on Moms Mabley. Cue up some of her standup clips, sit back, and laugh. There is also a documentary about her life hosted by Whoopi Goldberg that is eminently findable on HBO --worth a viewing. Oh, and: see if you can dig out a 1974 television clip where she flirts with a (very!) young Kris Kristofferson before co-presenting an award to Gladys Knight and the Pips --comedy gold.
Next page - Lesson 33: Ida B. Wells