apparently my dedication to #31writenow is so real that even though i just got home and really should be getting ready for bed b/c omg exhaustion i haz it, i just had to get a blog entry in before midnight. i'm sure we'll all be glad come sunday when this challenge is over and i can go back to my sporadic posting ways. :P
i saw this documentary about moms mabley tonight and i highly recommend it to y'all when it airs on hbo in november. some of you might remember that i played moms mabley in a play i did for one of my classes senior year at northwestern, so yeah, there's a soft spot in my heart for her.
this movie made me laugh and cry - more laughing than crying, i promise - and i definitely learned a few things that i didn't know about moms. i will try to fill in those gaps later when i'm not desperately trying to hit "publish" on this post before midnight. (seriously, though - who have i become?)
eta: as promised, some things i would've written about on thursday if i hadn't been ready to pass all the way out.
--while watching the documentary, i learned that moms enjoyed the company of women. apparently during her tenure at the apollo, she would be "moms" on stage and then when the show was over, she'd don men's apparel and everyone would refer to her as "mr. moms." this was during the late 1920s/early 1930s. i think i need to re-read this book to see if there's any mention of moms' sexual identity. in the movie, whoopi goldberg interviewed a dancer that performed at the apollo during the same time period, who verified the "mr. moms" story and also pointed out that during that time, the labels of "homosexual" or "gay" weren't really used. people were (relatively speaking, obviously) free to define themselves as they chose.
--eddie murphy revealed that the grandma klump character from "the nutty professor" was inspired by moms mabley. i hadn't even thought about it until then, but it makes total sense if you've seen the movie and have seen/heard any of moms' routines.
--this exchange at the grammys with moms and kris kristofferson almost made me fall out of my chair laughing, particularly around the 2:10 or so mark.
moms: "i never could work with my teeth." (removes dentures)
kris: "you're a woman after my own heart."
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