Moms Mabley
Actress

Moms Mabley Net Worth

Jackie "Moms" Mabley was a pioneering Black comedian who rose to fame in the early 20th century. Born Loretta Mary Aiken in 1894, she adopted her stage name from a boyfriend and began her career at the age of 14. Mabley was known for her quick wit and unconventional routines, often lampooning the psychology of men while wearing bag-lady clothes. She was a success on the Black vaudeville stage, earning $10,000 a week at Harlem's Apollo Theatre, and her career spanned five decades. White audiences did not know of her until the early 1960s, when she played Carnegie Hall and made appearances on variety shows. Mabley was an inspiration for irreverent female comics of the era, including Phyllis Diller, and in her final years she poked fun at the president and other government officials.
Moms Mabley is a member of Actress

Age, Biography and Wiki

Who is it? Actress, Soundtrack
Birth Day March 19, 1894
Birth Place  Brevard, North Carolina, United States
Age 125 YEARS OLD
Died On May 23, 1975(1975-05-23) (aged 81)\nWhite Plains, New York
Birth Sign Aries
Birth name Loretta Mary Aiken
Medium vaudeville, television, stand-up, film
Years active 1919–1975
Genres Social satire

💰 Net worth

Moms Mabley, a renowned actress and soundtrack artist in the United States, is said to have an estimated net worth ranging from $100,000 to $1 million in 2024. Throughout her illustrious career, Moms Mabley established herself as a trailblazing figure in American entertainment, known for her distinctive comedic style and wit. Her contributions to the worlds of film, television, and music have undoubtedly contributed to her substantial net worth. With her incredible talent and enduring legacy, it is no surprise that Moms Mabley has achieved remarkable financial success.

Biography/Timeline

1894

Loretta Mary Aiken was born in Brevard, North Carolina on March 19, 1894 to James Aiken and Mary Smith, who married on May 21, 1891, in Transylvania County, North Carolina. Loretta was one of 16 children.

1909

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. Loretta was 15 years old at the time. In 1910, her mother took over their primary Business, a general store. She was killed after being run over by a truck while returning home from church on Christmas Day.

1920

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.

1960

In the 1960s, she became known to a wider white audience, playing Carnegie Hall in 1962, and making a number of mainstream TV appearances, particularly her multiple appearances on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour when that CBS show was number one on television in the late 1960s, which introduced her to a whole new Boomer audience.

1969

She also added the occasional satirical song to her jokes, and her (completely serious and melancholy) cover version of "Abraham, Martin and John" hit #35 on the Billboard Hot 100 on July 19, 1969. At 75 years old, Mabley became the oldest living person ever to have a US Top 40 hit (Louis Armstrong, who would have been 86 when "What a Wonderful World" became a hit in 1988, is the oldest overall, although Armstrong was younger than Mabley when the record was made).

1970

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.

1975

Mabley had six children: Bonnie, Christine, Charles, and Yvonne Ailey, and two given up for adoption when she was a teenager. She died from heart failure in White Plains, New York on May 23, 1975. She is interred at Ferncliff Cemetery, Hartsdale, New York.

2013

Mabley was the inspiration for the character of Grandma Klump in The Nutty Professor. She is the subject of Whoopi Goldberg Presents Moms Mabley, a documentary film which first aired on HBO on November 18, 2013.

2014

This documentary was nominated for two Creative Arts Emmy Awards at the 66th ceremony held on August 16, 2014, at the Nokia Theatre in Downtown Los Angeles: Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special and Outstanding Narrator for Whoopi Goldberg. In 2015, she was named by Equality Forum as one of their 31 Icons of the 2015 LGBT History Month.

2017

Mabley was featured during the "HerStory" video tribute to notable women on U2's tour in 2017 for the 30th anniversary of The Joshua Tree during a performance of "Ultraviolet (Light My Way)" from the band's 1991 album Achtung Baby.

Some Moms Mabley images

About the author

Lisa Scholfield

As a Senior Writer at Famous Net Worth, I spearhead an exceptional team dedicated to uncovering and sharing the stories of pioneering individuals. My passion for unearthing untold narratives drives me to delve deep into the essence of each subject, bringing forth a unique blend of factual accuracy and narrative allure. In orchestrating the editorial workflow, I am deeply involved in every step—from initial research to the final touches of publishing, ensuring each biography not only informs but also engages and inspires our readership.