Track Listings
1. Old Men
2. Soul Food
3. Children
4. Hip to Be Square
5. Backhanded in Church
6. Talkin' About Men
7. Hellen Hunt
8. Everybody's Crazy
9. Good Old Days
10. Friends
11. Air Plane Trip
12. White House Lawn
13. Fortune Teller
MOMS MABLEY BIOGRAPHY
Jackie "Moms" Mabley (born 19 March 1894, Brevard,
North Carolina died 23 May 1975, White Plains, New York)
was an African American comedian.
Born Loretta Mary Aiken, Mabley was one of the most successful
entertainers of the black vaudeville stage ("Chitlin'
Circuit"), earning $10,000 a week at Harlem's Apollo
Theater at the height of her career. In the 1960s, she become
known to a wider white audience, playing Carnegie Hall in
1962, and making a number of mainstream TV appearances in
the 1960s.
She was billed as "The Funniest Woman in the World,"
and she tackled topics too edgy for many other comics of
the time, including racism. She got away with it courtesy
of her persona: onstage she appeared to be a small, bedraggled
woman in a housedress and a funny hat, a 1950's version
of a "bag-lady" persona. She added the occasional
satirical song to her jokes, and had a minor song hit in
the 1960s with a serious plea for peace, "Everything's
Gonna Be Alright."
One of her regular themes was her romantic preference for
handsome young men rather than old, "washed-up geezers"
(as witness one of her album titles: Young Men, Sí
- Old Men, No). Her aged and bedraggled appearance, including
performing with no teeth, made her stated aspirations all
the funnier. (In fact, her lack of many apparent feminine
characteristics—plus her cackling, scratchy voice—led
to assorted rumors that she was actually a man.)
She took her stage name, Jackie Mabley, from an early boyfriend,
commenting to Ebony magazine in a 1970s interview that he'd
taken so much from her, it was the least she could do to
take his name. Later she became known as "Moms"
because she was indeed "Mom" to many other comedians
on the circuit in the 1950s and 60s. She was one of the
top women doing standup in her heyday, and recorded more
than 20 albums of comedy routines. She appeared in movies,
on television, and in clubs.
She is buried in Ferncliff Cemetery, Westchester County,
NY.
