Jackie “Moms” Mabley: The Early YearsPioneering African American comedienne Jackie &ldqu
Jackie “Moms” Mabley: The Early YearsPioneering African American comedienne Jackie “Moms” Mabley (1894-1975) is the subject of a new documentary airing November 18th on HBO, Whoopi Goldberg Presents Moms Mabley. While Mabley reportedly “came out as a lesbian” at the age of 79, she was known for her gender-bending appearance during her early years in black vaudeville as well. Within the entertainment industry of the early 20th century, her romantic interest in women was common knowledge, but such behavior was also ubiquitous, as other performers such as Bessie Smith, Ethel Waters, Alberta Hunter and Mabel Hampton also engaged in sexual and romantic relationships with women. During this era, Mabley was a central figure in the Harlem social world of queer black performers. Mabel Hampton remembered that Mabley used to throw parties that “all the girls in the show would go” to in the 1920s.In 1934, the New York Age newspaper reported that Mabley and talented pianist and singer Gladys Bentley – who was also known for her bulldagger swagger – shared the stage at Harlem’s Log Cabin Grill. The New York Age had frequently noted that the Log Cabin Grill was a popular hangout for “lady lovers” with their “boyish bobs.” They also printed a gossip item noting, “That versatile lady, J.M.” was seen “strolling the avenue” with another young woman. Women who loved women were becoming so visible on the streets of Harlem that the same journalists advised, “The fellows better keep their eyes open and watch their women,” lest they lose them to a “sophisticated lady” like Jackie Mabley. Mabley went on to become a nationally renown comedienne: she performed regularly at the Apollo Theater, appeared at Carnegie Hall in 1962, which introduced her to a white audience, and then went on to make many television appearances. While her persona was by then that of an eccentrically dressed older woman who tackled taboo social subjects through her humor, off-stage she enjoyed wearing tailored suits, which was clearly a lifelong preference since her early years on the vaudeville stage. -Cookie -- source link