Moms Mabley

Jackie "Moms" Mabley spent decades on the Black theatre circuit before network television let her in. Widely credited as the first woman comedian to play Harlem's Apollo, she worked in a housecoat and floppy hat as a cheeky old woman with a taste for young men, and slipped pointed remarks about race and politics in between the double entendres. Her first national television appearance is usually dated to A Time for Laughter, Harry Belafonte's 1967 ABC showcase. Recommended recording: Moms Mabley at the Playboy Club (1961), from her run of live albums for Chess, which streams on Apple Music alongside her Geneva Conference set. Her better-known At the "UN" album is harder to find outside vinyl.