Episode 97: Phyllis - That Hair, That Laugh and Husband Fang!

Profiles in Positivity!

This Week-

Profiles in Positivity: Phyllis Diller

Power Word for the Week: Cackle

Train Your Brain Thought for the Week:

Phyllis - That Hair, That Laugh and Husband Fang!

This week we talk about one of my favorite female stand up comics, Phyllis Diller.

A trailblazer in the industry that was then male dominated, Phyllis was the first lady comic to launch her career - as a 37 year old mother of 5. She made us laugh and made history - thanks Phyllis!

#WomenEmpowerment, #WomenSupportingWomen,

 #EmpowerWomen, #FemaleEntrepreneur, #MeToo

Thanks for joining me!

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There are 2 essential elements you need to change your life:
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As a Life Transformation Expert, I provide both of these. Email me at coachlyndi@lyndihutchinson.com and we can schedule 30 minute free consultation to see how I can serve you. And visit my website: https://lyndihutchinson.com. 

See You Next Week!

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

It's always gratifying to find somebody who made our life easier, especially someone we didn't even know. We've been talking about suffragettes and men and women who have made our life better because of the stand or position that they took in their career. In um episode 89, we talked about Marlo Thomas and how in her early days uh she started a show called That Girl, and she was a trailblazer because at the time women on TV were married, and she was in a show where she was a career lady and she was engaged, and that was back in the 60s, and that was uh pretty shocking. Uh, fortunately, Marlowe Thomas uh had a very uh famous uh and well-off dad who had Danny Thomas, and she had some clout, so she did the show her way, and it showed her as a single lady who was not married and living on her own and pursuing her acting career. And then we talked about in episode 88, we talked about Mary Tyler Moore, who also was a trailblazer, because she was actually kind of a well, kind of a middle-aged lady, a more mature lady, who apparently had no big plans to get married, and she had a very active social life, and meaning she probably wasn't a virgin, and yet um there was no big rush to get married, and that was shocking. But same thing at the time, Mary Tyler Moore was married to Grant Tinker, who was um one of the big wigs of the um network. So these ladies used their clout and their ingenuity to create a better life for you and I, because all of the actresses, the sitcoms, all the different, even broadcasters, women on TV, had the ability to expand their horizons, so to speak, because they weren't always married and they didn't have to be in the stereotype. Well, there is another lady that we're talking about today, and she is a trailblazer, and she was a trailblazer most notably for stand-up comedians, and her name was Phyllis Diller. And Phyllis Diller was someone that I loved watching as a kid. She passed away in 2012 at the ripe and very wonderful age of 95. So a little bit about Phyllis, and I'm using Wikipedia as well as some other notes, but I want to thank Wikipedia. Uh Phyllis Diller, she was born in 1917 in Ohio, and then uh she passed in LA at 95 in 2012. She became the mother of six children. Uh, one passed uh in infancy. But she was actually uh an only child of her in her family, and she became, I didn't know this, she was trained as a concert pianist. And that changed when she met and married her first husband, and that's when she had her six children. So it said that she kind of put on the back burner any thought of a career. Well, she ended up working in 1952 for a radio station in Oakland, California, and she started doing these little 15-minute episodes that she called Phyllis Dillis, the Homely Friend Maker. And so she had really ridiculous advice. Um funny, very funny advice uh on this radio program. And her husband is the one who was encouraging her to get out and start pursuing a uh a comedian, being a comedian. And at first, it's like, no, it's one thing to be funny with her friends and family, but not on her own. Well, actually, at the age of 37, which back then that was considered old, in 1955, in San Francisco, in a place called the Purple Onion. And it's a San Francisco uh basement club. She made her debut as a stand-up comic. And originally they were going to give her two weeks to see how she did, and it stretched out to 89 consecutive weeks. So apparently it went really, really well. She had never seen another woman in the comedy circuit, so she didn't know how to model herself. At the time, there were legends like Milton Burrell and Jonathan Winters and Sid Caesar. These are were going way back, but these were funny guys, and so she kind of mimicked some of the stuff that they did, but she thought she'd kind of get wild and crazy with it, so she developed her cackle, her signature laugh, and uh she started uh with the cigarette with the the long uh holder, the long cigarette holder, and then she wore really outrageous wigs. If you're not familiar with Phyllis Diller, be sure to look her up on YouTube, it's hilarious. And uh she did not do blue humor or off-color humor, uh, she was just really corny and very, very funny. She ended up uh writing a couple best-selling books. She was in all kinds of movies and TV shows, but she was most definitely a trailblazer, and many, many female comics after her said they used her as inspiration and a guide. So she pioneered the way for female comics. This week, the power word that I'm using is cackle because she had that outrageous laugh. Something I found very touching is that as she got older and she didn't perform as much, she would go through some of the letters and cards that she saved. And apparently she was uh amazed at the volume of correspondence she received of women who tribute uh attributed her to saving their life. It's because a lot of women were going through the very serious side of domestic problems and survival. And they would watch Phyllis Diller, who was always making jokes about being married and taking care of the kids and her husband Fang, which was way too funny. In fact, they said that she talked about Fang so readily and comfortably, a lot of people thought her husband she was married to a guy named Fang. But she was she was able to make light the hardships of life, and she made jokes, uh very self-deprecating jokes, and um she was very relatable, and she was very, very brave. And that's something that you and I can think about is that we may think that well, you know, my being nice or my being funny or my reaching out to encourage or help someone, what difference does it make? It makes a lot of difference because like I've I've seen it more and more that you don't know what where someone is on their journey and you don't know what they've been through. So in this case, with Miss Phyllis Diller, she was funny and she made jokes about raising kids and being married and housework and all that, and her light-heartedness lightened the load of a lot of people, mostly women, who were enduring some pretty tough times. So you and I can make a big difference, even if it's just a friendly hello, or helping somebody with their the groceries, um, maybe put them in the car at the supermarket, or maybe reaching out to a friend. You never know. You never know who we're helping. But Phyllis Stiller, she touched many, many, many people. And I'm glad to know that, especially towards the end of her life when things were winding down and her health began to fail, that she could go back and look at how many, especially women, appreciated what she did. And I most certainly am one of those women. Phyllis Diller, the hair, the laugh, and her husband Fang. And a little tidbit from our hey, that's funny file from Phyllis Diller. I'm on the 14th year of a 10-day beauty plan. Thank you, Phyllis. So, my friend, remember what you do, what you say, how you act is impactful, even if it's your family, a neighbor, and even yourself. What we say and do affects others. So remember, you are important and you have a right to live the way you want to live and create a life that you love. Okay. So have a great week, and I look forward to seeing you again very soon.