March, 2017 - Moms Mabley - Kir Royale 38

Loretta Mary Aiken (Jackie "Moms" Mabley) - March 19, 1894 - May 23, 1975)
A comedy pioneer credited with being the first female standup comedian.  She was born in Brevard, North Carolina and was one of a family of 16 children.  Her father owned and operated several successful businesses, while her mother kept house and took in boarders.  While working as a volunteer fireman in 1909, her father died when a fire engine exploded.  In 1910, after her mother took over their primary business, a general store, her mother was killed after being run over by a truck while returning home from church.  By age 14, Loretta had been rapced twice (at age 11, by an elderly black man, and at age 13, by a white sheriff) and had two children who she was forced to give up for adoption.  At the encouragement of her grandmother, Loretta ran away to Cleveland, Ohio, joining a traveling vaudeville-style minstrel show called Butterbeans and Susie, where she sang and entertained.  She developed an onstage persona as an old woman with a frumpy housedress, funny hat, and toothless gums, years before she was old.  It was an homage to her grandmother.  In character, she was able to be edgy with her routine covering racism and sexual innuendo through double entendres without offending.  Her "bit" was to pretend to be a dirty old lady, lusting after younger men.  She came out as a lesbian at the age of twenty-seven, becoming one of the first openly gay comedians.  During the 1920s and 1930s she appeared in androgynous clothing (as she did in the film version of The Emperor Jones with Paul Robeson) and recorded several of her early "lesbian stand-up" routines.  It wasn't until the 1960s that Mabley was "discovered" by white audiences, even though she had been performing for several decades at that point.  Loretta Aiken took her stage name, Jackie Mabley, from an early boyfriend, commenting to Ebony in a 1970s interview that he had 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 a "Mom" to many other comedians on the circuit in the 1950s and 1960s.  She is the subject of Whoopi Goldberg Presents Moms Mabley, an HBO documentary film in 2013.

The Drink

Kir Royale 38
1 tsp cognac
1 tsp grand marnier
6-8oz champagne
1/2 orange slice for garnish

Drinkability:  4
Drunkability:  4
Taxic Diversity:  3
Accessibility:  3
Priority for Conservation:  5

Comments:  Ratings are a little fuzzy - girls have gotten pretty hilarious themselves.

From "Women in Comedy" themed meeting, hosted by Ball Buster