Moms Mabley
Do I Look Like a Lady? (Comedians and Singers) presents a dynamic checkerboard of moving image footage featuring African-American actors and singers from across the 20th century: from Jackie “Moms” Mabley to Eartha Kitt, Whoopi Goldberg, Whitney Houston, and several others. The video focuses on their individual voices as they express heartbreaking roles, pointed lyrics, sharp jokes, and strong statements of resistance to the dominant culture. The work is a powerful, and often riotous, reflection on the roles of black women in the United States.
Acclaimed actress/comedienne Whoopi Goldberg directs and appears in this feature documentary about Jackie "Moms" Mabley, an African-American stand-up comic and show-biz pioneer who emerged from the Chitlin' Circuit of African-American Vaudeville to become a mainstream star. Once billed as "The Funniest Woman in the World," Mabley pushed the boundaries of comedy by tackling topics such as gender, sex, and racism and performed up until her death in 1975. The film includes vintage clips and recordings of Mabley, as well as recent interviews with some of the world's top comedians, including Eddie Murphy, Joan Rivers, Kathy Griffin, Robert Klein, Bill Cosby, and Goldberg - each of whom is a huge Mabley fan. A true passion project for first-time director Goldberg, the documentary shows Mabley's historical significance and profound influence as a performer vastly ahead of her time.
Amazing Grace is a 1974 light comedy featuring black comedienne Moms Mabley as a widow who tries to influence the local mayoral election in Baltimore, Maryland, after she discovers that a black candidate is being used by the incumbent mayor to further his own reelection efforts. Mabley appeared in the film, along with veteran actors Butterfly McQueen and Stepin Fetchit, only a year before her death at the age of 81. The film does not deal with the popular Christian hymn (with words by John Newton) but is a play on Mabley's character, who happens to be named Grace. It has been released on home video.
Unscrupulously ambitious, Brutus Jones escapes from jail after killing a guard and through bluff and bravado he finds himself the emperor of a Caribbean island.
