Moms Mabley

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" height=169 style=" border-bottom: 1px solid #CCCCCC;" BGCOLOR="#111111" TEXT="#F7F7FF" bgproperties="fixed" background="017a0ad1dyxtip.jpg"> <bR> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="698" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="VOID" RULES="NONE" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=CENTER HEIGHT= 111 ><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="00d69690.jpg" border=0 width="105" height="105" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=CENTER><NOBR><div> Waxahachie Independant School District    <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#00FF00" FACE="Comic Sans MS" >               Waxahachie, Texas</FONT></div> <div> <B>Waxahachie High School Alumni 1962</B></div> <div> <B>WHS Seniors '62</B></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" height=268 BGCOLOR="#111111" TEXT="#F7F7FF" bgproperties="fixed" background="01f9b9c3.jpg"> <div>                                                   </div> <div> <B><SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript">  </SCRIPT> </B></div> <div> <B> <TABLE BORDER="5" CELLPADDING="20" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="560" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#00FF00" BORDERCOLORDARK="#00FF00" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#000000 > <tR> <tD VALIGN=CENTER COLSPAN=2 HEIGHT= 915 WIDTH="466"><div> <I><B> <TABLE BORDER="3" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="163" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#FFFFFF" BORDERCOLORDARK="#FFFFFF" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" ALIGN="LEFT" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=CENTER HEIGHT= 178 ><NOBR><div> <B><IMG SRC="1da87aa0.jpg" border=0 width="135" height="170" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></B></I></div> <div> <B>Moms Mabley</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Forgotten where you picked up these sweet phrases??...</B></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>His shadow weighed more than he did. He was so old Santa Claus looked like his son. Why he was so old that when his sister died and we went to the funeral, the minister walked over, tapped him on the back and asked: 'How old are you pops?'...'Ninety-one,' he replied,which prompted the preacher to add: 'No need of you going home then.' </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>And ugly--my, that man was ugly. He was so ugly he hurt my feelings. He had to tip up on a glass of water to get a drink of water. He had a job in a doctor's office standing by the door making people sick. And if you want to make me sick, just show me an old man!"</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Jackie "Moms" Mabley (1894-1975) was born Loretta Mary Aiken and changed her name after her brother was embarrased to have a sister in show business. The name Jackie Mabley came from her first boyfriend </B></div> <div> <B>whom she said took so much from her that the least she could do was take his name. This example showcases her skill of comically inverting structures: whereas nowadays for a woman to take a man's last name in marriage is often viewed as a sacrifice of her identity, Moms's move is more like a theft; she is driven by one man to appropriate another man's identity and make it notorious in the showbusiness world. Moms grew adept at adapting the hardships of her life into comic routines. After her father forced her to marry a much older man whom she hated, she created her signature joke cycle of putting down </B><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Comic Sans MS" ><B></B></FONT><B>older men. She also remakes </B><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Comic Sans MS" ><B> <A NAME="fairy_tales"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></B></FONT><B>fairy tales, claiming that she is helping children. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Other themes of her comedy include </B><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Comic Sans MS" ><B> <A NAME="black_white_relations"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></B></FONT><B>black-white relations and political commentating--Moms casts herself as advisor to President Johnson on civil rights issues. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Her physical presence was absurd, and she played off of it. She looked frumpy onstage, yet she belittled old men and boasted of dates with young ones (at least one of which actually took place). As Trudier Harris observes, "On stage, she played out the romantic side of Mom, not the realistic; the adventurous, not the settled" (768). The disparity between her appearance and the content of her jokes epitomizes Malcolm Muggeridge's definition of humor as "the enormous disparity between human aspirations and human performances." </B></div> <div> <B>Moms's peformances include appearances at Carnegie Hall, the Apollo Theater and the Cotton Club. She recorded nine very popular albums for Chess Records.</B></div> <bR> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></B></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="laughter_3.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Laughter 3"><B>Back</B></A></div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" height=42 style=" border-top: 1px solid #CCCCCC;" BGCOLOR="#111111" TEXT="#F7F7FF" bgproperties="fixed" background="0182a2f1dyxtip.jpg"> <div> <A HREF="http://whs62.net" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://whs62.net">Home</A>     <A HREF="http://whs62.net/Roll" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://whs62.net/Roll">Roll Call</A>    <A HREF="http://whs62.net/In_Memory" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://whs62.net/In_Memory">In Memory</A>   <A HREF="http://whs62.net/Long_Ago" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://whs62.net/Long_Ago">Long Ago</A>    <A HREF="http://www.whs62.net/Our_50s/" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.whs62.net/Our_50s/">Our 50's</A>   <A HREF="http://whs62.net/Reunions" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://whs62.net/Reunions">Reunions</A>   <A HREF="http://whs62.net/Today" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://whs62.net/Today">Today</A>    <A HREF="http://whs62.net/Contacts" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://whs62.net/Contacts">Contacts</A>    <A HREF="http://whs62.net/Links" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://whs62.net/Links">Links</A></div> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>