It was like a parallel world: Hundreds of Black performers
who were denied the opportunity to perform for white audiences traveled
throughout the southern and eastern United States, learning and perfecting
their acts in a series of vaudeville theatres known as the "Chitlin' Circuit." As hard as it might be to believe today, such
artists as Duke Ellington, Ray Charles,
and even Jimi Hendrix
weren't able to perform
in mainstream (read "white") theatres, so their only alternative
was the Circuit, the queen of which was Jackie "Moms" Mabley, whose 114th birthday we note today.
"Moms," who was billed as "The Funniest Woman in the
World," was a pioneer for both African-American and female comics. At
her peak, she was making $10,000 a week to take out her dentures, put on a baggy housedress and hat,
and tackle such subjects as racism and sex at a time when no other comedians,
male or female, were talking about them. Offstage, she lived up to her
nickname, becoming a mother figure to such then-upcoming comedians as Richard Pryor
and Flip Wilson.
As racial barriers fell in the 1960s, she was finally able to cross over, appearing
at Carnegie Hall in 1962,
and performing stand-up with Johnny Carson, Ed Sullivan,
and the Smothers Brothers. At her funeral
in 1975, Dick Gregory
gave her eulogy, "Had she been white, she'd have been known fifty years
ago."
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