Advanced search
- TITLES
- NAMES
- COLLABORATIONS
Search filters
Enter full date
to
or just enter yyyy, or yyyy-mm below
to
Only includes names with the selected topics
to
or just enter yyyy, or yyyy-mm below
to
1-3 of 3
- Actress
- Soundtrack
One the most successful entertainers of the Black vaudeville stage, also known as the Chitlin Circuit, was Jackie "Moms" Mabley, born Loretta Mary Aiken in 1894. At the apex of her long career, she was earning $10,000 a week at Harlem's Apollo Theatre. Mabley focused on conventional topics such as family and others not normally covered by comedians of the era, white or Black, such as infidelity, poverty, welfare, and inebriation.
Billed as the Funniest Woman in the World, she adopted her original stage name from a boyfriend, Jackie Mabley, and began her career at 14. A teenage runaway, she joined the Negro troupe of Henry Bowman and Tim Moore and, in a short time, became a success. Quick-witted and quick-tongued, Mabley's unorthodox, self-assured routines as an outspoken grandma while wearing bag-lady clothes--old-fashioned print dresses and floppy hats--was a favorite with Black female audiences, particularly when she was lampooning the psychology of men. Her career spanned five decades, although white audiences did not know of her until the early 1960s. Mabley played Carnegie Hall in 1962. Mainstream TV appearances in the 1960s included variety appearances on shows hosted by Flip Wilson, Mike Douglas, Merv Griffin, The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour (1967), and Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In (1967). She was an inspiration for irreverent female comics of that era, including Phyllis Diller and, in her final years, Mabley poked fun at the president and other government officials.- Make-Up Department
- Actor
Web Overlander was born on 20 February 1902 in Connecticut, USA. He was an actor, known for The Searchers (1956), The High and the Mighty (1954) and The Horse Soldiers (1959). He died on 23 May 1975 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Production Designer
- Art Director
- Set Decorator
Ottavio Scotti was born on 23 February 1904 in Umago, Istria, Italy [now Umag, Istria, Croatia]. He was a production designer and art director, known for Il padrone sono me (1955), My Son, the Hero (1962) and Ivan, Son of the White Devil (1953). He died on 23 May 1975 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.