Moms Mabley

August 26, 2007 3:05 PM

As complete a history of comedian, civil rights activist, and cross-over superstar Moms Mabley as you're likely to find anywhere , including audio, from Beware of Blog.
posted by serazin (7 comments total)

Awesome. I've always been a huge fan. It's a tragedy she has been looked over.
posted by Gnostic Novelist at 3:25 PM on August 26, 2007

Moms Mabley rules, and this is a great resource. It seems a little quick to conclude that she definitely wasn't gay, though-- I'd like to see some debate as to why, if false, it seemed to be so commonly known.
posted by Pallas Athena at 4:31 PM on August 26, 2007

Even though much of her material dealt with current events, she had an uncanny knack of presenting it in a way that gave it a timeless quality that would hold up very well today (except that her delivery might be a bit pedestrian for kids of the text-messaging generation with MTV attention spans). Maybe she was different live on stage, but on TV she tended to avoid dated references; comments on specific people and incidents. Yet, when she sat back in her chair and spun a tale about her latest travails, it was evident she was often commenting on significant social issues by anaology. The audience could connect the dots.

That took genius.
posted by RavinDave at 4:42 PM on August 26, 2007

The gag I remember:
(Speaking about her deceased husband, 750 ms pauses between paragraphs)

They say you should only speak good of the dead.

He's dead.

Good.
posted by hexatron at 5:20 PM on August 26, 2007

I was turned on to Moms at a young age by my Grandfather, who was a gigantic fan.

For Fathers Day one year in the 80's, Dad and I transferred his record collection onto cassette, so he could listen in his car and motor home. He actually got a bit misty, the only time I ever saw him do so in my entire life.

Found out years later that my Grandmother was really pissed about it, they drove that RV all around the country, and apparently, they mostly listened to old Moms Mabley tapes. I think after she died, that could've been all he listened to.

I sure do miss you Grandpa.
posted by Sphinx at 7:22 PM on August 26, 2007 [1 favorite]

Youtube.
posted by miss lynnster at 7:25 PM on August 26, 2007

I love me some Moms Mabley. She did a goofy cover of 'Abraham, Martin & John,' but the b-side, a song called 'It's Alright,' that never fails to make me feel positive.
posted by jonmc at 9:49 AM on August 27, 2007