She Ignored the Haters to Be an Ice Skater : Mabel Fairbanks Part 1

Hey Hollywood Forever Taphophiles! We're back, and Miss Marissa Rivera is back too!  Thanks so much for giving us the space for some summer fun vacationing. We couldn't wait until Thursday to share this one with you, so here ya go! Let's get into it- 

 Just picture it: It's 1923. A little child sleeps on rooftops, stoops, and eventually a bench in Central Park with nothing but newspaper for warmth and grows up to become one of the most important names in figure skating most people have never heard. We’re telling the beginning of Mabel Fairbanks’ story, and it’s equal parts heartbreaking, infuriating, and weirdly joyful, because Mabel’s love for the ice never stops pulling her forward.

Turns out that the 1920's was a HORRIBLE and very scary time to be a child, especially a black child. Mabel faces racist exclusion at rinks, gets denied opportunities that white skaters take for granted, and still keeps showing up until coaches can’t ignore her. 

Subscribe so you don’t miss part two, and if this story moves you, share the episode and leave a review so more listeners can learn Mabel Fairbanks’ name.

Transcript

Welcome And A Big Personal Update

unknown 0:00

Okay.

Marissa 0:20

Hello and welcome to Dead and Kind of Famous, where we dig into the life stories of dead folks who enjoyed a touch or two of fame in their time.

Courtney 0:29

And now reside permanently in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery.

Marissa 0:33

I am Marissa Rivera, and I know nothing about this episode, but I do know that I am feeling like so many emotions right now surrounding um by the time this comes out, it already will be on YouTube. But I executive produced um and I am the subject of a docuseries produced with in conjunction with the Try Guys of YouTube fame. Um and it has been on the streamer already, all three episodes aired, and it's gone extremely well, and uh in a couple days it'll hit YouTube Gen Pop. So I'm um feeling so many feelings about that, but I am mostly feeling a readiness for it.

Courtney 1:44

Yeah. If you guys, I mean, I've I'm gonna skip over the part of my script where I wrote in to talk about this because I'm also very excited about it. Um this is like the most amazing documentary, and I feel like uh You're a little bit biased. I'm a oh whatever. I'm not, I'm not. I'm not. Honestly, honestly, it's about Marissa's, you know, it's called infertility. It's about Marissa's journey.

Marissa 2:10

Well, actually, I think they're changing the uh title for YouTube.

Courtney 2:14

Oh, what's the title gonna be?

Marissa 2:16

I don't know yet. That's gonna be I I told them to surprise me. Um, but on their streamer second try, it's Marissa Colon in fertility. In in space fertility.

Courtney 2:30

So fertility. Yeah. Um, but it's Marissa's journey through uh to the happy place that she's at right now, I feel like. And um and I was there through uh this I just I was nervous about her doing it. I I texted saying I was so nervous about you doing this, and I am pleasantly surprised. Everybody was yeah. Well, it's just you know, I don't know what you all are like listeners when you're a mess. Um, but I'm not pretty. And so I wouldn't want somebody to be like seeing it, I guess. And so I was nervous, not that I thought you were a mess, but I thought you were going through No, I was a mess. Okay, I'm being kind. No, I'm kidding.

Marissa 3:13

No, I was yeah, you were being extremely kind. I was I was a mess.

Courtney 3:17

Yeah, and it was so it was just made me nervous because yeah, I was worried it was gonna be like your version of hell watching back. You know, I mean a terrible time in your life because that is my version of hell. Honestly, it really is. Um, so yeah, but it it's so amazing and so it's just so great. And I actually feel like everyone, especially if you are a woman, even you know, anybody actually, woman, man, whatever, like these are things we should know about women's health and bodies and fertility and all these things, and like we don't know about it until it's a problem for us, and I think that that's insane. And so it's really, really cool that you're doing this because even though I was there, I still feel like there was stuff where I'm like, oh my God, you told me that, but I did not fully understand until I'm watching this right now. Do you know what I mean?

Marissa 4:05

Yeah, I mean, I experienced it and I didn't fully understand medical stuff is crazy. Is crazy. So it's it's I wanted it to be informative, but also through the lens of someone, a real person. Yeah, you know, not just like medical jargon, which is like, I don't know about you guys, it's really hard for me to uh for that kind of stuff to sink in. Yeah. Um, so I I do think that it strikes a very even balance of personal story and uh actual information, correct, and up-to-date information. Right. Um so yeah, I hope you guys watch and I don't know if enjoy is quite the the word.

Courtney 4:57

No, it's enjoyable. It is enjoyable.

Marissa 5:00

I I think so. Definitely parts are hard because it's it's a hard subject matter, but um I hope you guys watch and enjoy.

AI Tools, Creative Work, And Consent

unknown 5:12

Yeah.

Courtney 5:13

Check it out, check it out. Um, so okay, all right, let's see. Where am I? Um I'm Courtney Blomquist, and I know way too much about what we are going to talk about today. Um but I do not know. I do not, I mean, everyone, I feel like the the most annoying person for even saying this, but I do I was working on an episode for work today, like for another show I'm working on about um a it was like net the show's not about AI, but this episode was about AI and like whether whether to fear it or not and stuff. And um so I found this new feature in Descript because there was it was the the episode was a little disjointed, it needed some um transitional elements. So I was trying to figure out what to do, and it's a little silly, like it I could be a little silly. So I discovered that in Descript now you can um make it like AI generates music, and so which is crazy, and so you could put in like you know, you give it like prompts and stuff about uh like you can't be too specific. If you say Frank's Natra, they're gonna be like, no, no, no, that's not possible. But if you're like lounge singer 1950, it's like crazy. So I just like made it say really stupid things, and it's like brought to you by AI so dumb. But I like I was really enjoying myself because it was so stupid, but then I was like, I actually don't really know how I feel about this because this was like way too easy for me to do, and it's actually freaking me out. And it's funny because the whole episode was about that, but it's like I was like, oh yeah, this is like I've I never really dig deep into AI. I know it's like I know it's there in everything that we're doing and all of that, but like um I don't dig too deep into it. I don't, I'm not a chat GPT girl, I don't do any of that. So it's me neither.

Marissa 7:12

Yeah. I've never chat GPT anything.

Courtney 7:15

Yeah. I have before clotted. No, me either. I mean, I I have used Chat GPT before just because I wanted to see what it could do or if it was, I don't know how it how it did certain things anyway, like like what it even looked like. I just wanted to have some context. And I feel like it's, you know, I wasn't gonna pay for it. And also I used the free version. Then I was like, this is obviously only getting me so far. I mean, what I tried to use it for actually was for this show to be like our show? Yeah, to well, only to say, like, okay, this book, right? Where because you know how I have to write out everything if it's from a written book. It was like, what if I just did give it like a picture of all the text and then it can transcribe it for me? Cause that would be make my life a lot easier. It's save you a lot of time, yeah. But it's not like a creative function. But even that, it was it was okay. It wasn't like great, and so I can't lean on it, I feel like, but to do something dumb and to make sure everyone knows it's AI, like I did enjoy that. But it made me feel really dirty inside.

Marissa 8:24

Yeah. Make make AI be dumb. Um yeah, it was dumb. Yeah, it's really hard, it's really difficult because um you want things like this to make like existing jobs easier for us and not totally like replace us. Yeah. And it's also, you know, extremely unethical on how these AI models came to be. It's basically everything that the AI models have learned from has been pretty much stolen from the case.

Courtney 8:55

I was thinking about that. Like the convoy.

Marissa 8:58

The voice um like or with uh consent that instead of opting into, you have to opt out of. Like, for example, today I did this for Instagram. Your reels uh can be used for AI unless you opt out.

Courtney 9:16

Oh, I did not know that. Mm-hmm. See, that's another thing I did not know.

Marissa 9:24

Ma'am.

Courtney 9:25

Oh, I also like one of the things he mentioned in the episode is another thing I didn't know. I didn't know, and this is not even AI, it's kind, it's like adjacent. I didn't know that stores now, like some of them anyway, let's say you like are at a self-checkout and you forget to pay for something. Okay. But you know, it's like you could walk out with it like on accident or whatever, and then you get to your car and you're like, oh man, I didn't pay for that, I don't think. Or maybe you didn't even realize. But it's like if it's something that you did, it's like the alarm doesn't go off anymore in certain places. They like somehow know your card or something that you just paid with and just charge it back to you. That's what he said. And I don't know if that's true or not. Somebody correct me. Which is really creepy. I don't like it. I mean, I know I'm talking about like just let us steal, but for real, just let us steal. You're a giant star. You're fine, you're fine. I can take this.

Marissa 10:18

It's a you're our corporate overlords.

Courtney 10:21

Give us our pack of Q tips and keep it moving, you know what I mean? Or whatever weird thing Iris like put in her hand that I didn't notice exactly. Jesus Christ. But anyway, um, yeah, don't worry.

Summer Break And Season Plans

Courtney 10:36

The rest of this episode is not based in the hellscape of today. It is, it is in the distant, distant past, which is actually its own hellscape, but you know, it's a it's different from ours, which makes it fun. And, you know, I'll take yesterday's hell to today's. So let's go, let's get into it. Um so yes, I want to say thank you also, listeners, for your patience. We did take, I know I put it in our show notes, but we took a little, a little break, a little summer break for summer fun. I hope you guys are having fun in your summer times. Um I'm back to being Midwest and appreciating it like so much because of the long ass winter I just lived through. Jesus.

Marissa 11:19

It's like it like just got hot here in LA. Really? Oh, yeah. It was almost randomly hot like in October or you know, like in fall or spring, excuse me. That's not right. It was just like randomly hot for like a week, like scorching hot for a week, and then it was like, you know, June gloom, which is a thing here in LA where it's just I always forgot about that. Yeah. Kind of, it's kind of cloudy. It's like, is it humid? Is it gonna rain? Yeah, rain for an entire month. Um, and it's not as hot, uh, which is kind of nice. Not when your birthday is in June like me, and you want to have a pool party or a beach day like I do usually, but it's fine. You're fine. She went to Puerto Rico. I didn't complain. Yeah, I'm not don't complain, bitch.

Courtney 12:09

You went to Puerto Rico, and I also can't complain. I went to Oaxaca we um with my families, and it was it was fun. We had, you know, I think it was good. We got our we got our summer getaways in people. And so thank you for for dealing with the pause. Appreciate it. Um because we couldn't coordinate our vacations at the same time. I know. God, what a life. You just your vacation and mine conflicted with each other, are like, you know, international trips. Um, well, I guess on my part. Anyway, um, okay, so uh yes, I did we mentioned the documentary. I'm gonna skip over that, but it is it is like for real, though. You guys watch this documentary. It is it is beautiful. I'm so proud of my bea's friend and everything that she did. Um Courtney's even in it for like 40 seconds. Yeah, I'm I'm like a I'm like a ethereal voice for a second. Well there's there's a oh I did see that. Yeah, there's a like I'm a there's an image of me. I'm an Easter egg. Look for me.

Marissa 13:11

Courtney's an Easter egg, Easter egg. Yeah.

Courtney 13:15

Yep, yep. Um, so but yeah, definitely

Meet Mabel Fairbanks At The Grave

Courtney 13:19

watch it. So today though, we are we are talking about somebody I think you're I mean, I know you're gonna love her, Marissa. This is so I'm really excited for this. It is gonna be um a multi-parter, actually. Um God, I love a multi-parter. Yes. So today we are talking about Miss Mabel Fairbanks. Marissa, do you know who Mabel Fairbanks is?

Marissa 13:46

I do not.

Courtney 13:47

Okay, okay.

Marissa 13:48

So But what a fun old-timey name. I know, I love it.

Courtney 13:52

It's classy as hail.

Marissa 13:54

Um I feel like the name Mabel is making uh a comeback.

Courtney 13:58

It sure is. It's like it's like Iris. It's kind of in that vein. Yeah, she has a friend named Mabel from school. She sure does. It's very cute. Um okay, so now I've I've got the grave here for you to look at, Marissa. So take a look um and walk us through it. What is it called? A groundstone. Yeah, I I said this last time. It was like a flat with Nora. Like a fl oh God, hold on a minute. Grave that's flat on the ground. It's a flush marker, grass marker, or lawn level marker. Flush, not flush marker. Yeah, flush marker. Flush, flush, flush, like a light, flush light. Like a not a flush light, a flush light.

Marissa 14:45

No, no, no. Like flush the toilet. Yes, like the ceiling, like you know how like it's with the ceiling light in there flush with the ceiling. It sounded like you said flashlight. It sounded like you said flush. I know it did. I know it did.

Courtney 14:56

As soon as I said it, I heard it. A flush, a ceiling light that is flush with the ceiling. Flush like a flushed toilet. Okay. Yes.

Marissa 15:10

So a flush stone. It is a a a dark gray flush stone. A flush marker is what it is. And there it says Skatingly Yours, Mabel Fairbanks, 1915 to 2001, which would make her.

Courtney 15:31

Oh shoot. You know what? I never even figured this out. That would make her uh eighty-five.

Marissa 15:44

And then there's it uh etchings of uh ice skates and a rose. Yes. Okay.

Courtney 15:56

Skatingly yours. Yeah, she's she's kind of giving us, oh, I don't know, uh, pretty strong clues here, I would say. Yeah, I would say. So go ahead, Marissa. Give us your best bullshit. Let's go for it. Tell us tell us the lies we all want to hear.

Marissa 16:21

Hello all. My name is Mabel. Mabel Fairbanks. I was born in 1915 in the great state of Michigan, and our family property butted up against the most beautiful lake in the world, and I spent my childhood during the winters skating on that lake and dreaming big dreams. I wanted to skate professionally since I could remember. And so, with my family's blessing, I pursued skating as a sport. And I was so good that I was actually an Olympian. I don't know, I don't know, I wanted to say Olympian! We haven't had we have I don't know, I don't know, we haven't had an Olympian yet. Maybe she's our first, who knows? I want to believe. And though I was chosen for our Olympic team, I didn't get so far, but the honor, the honor was the gold in my heart that I needed. Because I was so skilled, I wanted to transfer my skill to my second love. The screen. So I became a specifically skating stunt woman in Hollywood in my twenties when my sports career was done. When I was old. When I was too old to compete. And I skated through life, one should say. I could say. I will say, I will say, and I eventually opened up my own skating school of the arts and enjoyed life on the ice until my dying day. Beautiful.

Courtney 18:48

Beautiful. Oh my god. Wonderful. Aren't you guys so glad I didn't give her a southern axe? I like how Nora in her episode's like, I'm not gonna do wait, yeah, I am. Oh, I know.

Marissa 19:03

Oh, I know. Oh, I know. Wait, I am. I'm catching strays and I'm not even in the episode.

Courtney 19:14

Um, but incredible bullshit, really. That was wonderful. Um, so I am gonna dig into the facts.

The Grand Dame Of Black Skating

Courtney 19:22

Like you're not, you're not, I mean, she gave us a lot of clues. You're not so far up. But um, you know, I just want to say that Mabel Fairbanks definitely fits the bill of being a lesser-known person of fame, and that's why we're talking about her. That's what we do. Um, but I'm telling you, it is a crime that this woman is not more well known. Um, she has left behind a true legacy, like with a capital L and overcome unspeakable struggles. And I'm just so excited to share her story today or the first part of it.

Marissa 19:55

Um, I am so excited too.

Courtney 19:58

Yes, it's really good. And also, yeah, so listeners, just I said it before, but this is gonna be a two-parter, I think. It's gonna be the close of our season two. I'm gonna say pretty definitively here. I have coals in the fire first season three, but it's gonna take me, these are the ones that are, you know, it's like a book episode. Do you know what I'm talking about? And that's how we'll, that's how we'll begin. But so we'll take a another break after we get through Mabel. Um, and also uh season three is gonna be coming to you, I would say like late fall, is my guess. Um, just because of everything, you know, going on in life and and how prepared I'd like to be for it. Um and we are also going to be launching, you know, another platform uh with extra episodes um and extra little tidbits, extra stuff. You'll hear more about it before season three, I promise you. So keep it, you know, keep us in your uh in your library of shows and whatnot. Stay subscribed. You will get updates from us before the season even starts about everything that is available. So um, yeah, we're digging in. We're digging in, people. We see you. We hope you like us enough to stick with us through all of this. But it's it's gonna be good stuff. And to stick with people like Mabel, who deserve their flowers. A hundred percent. So yeah, this is one where you're gonna be like, I cannot believe I did not know about this woman. So we're gonna kick off part one. Um Mabel Fairbanks is often referred to as the grand dame by those whose lives she touched.

Marissa 21:46

Wow.

Courtney 21:47

Yes The grand dame of what? Just the grand dame? No, no, no. No. Well, the specifically she was the grand dame of African American figure skating. Hell yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So this is a woman who truly paved the way and kicked the doors down for people of color, of all colors really, to take their rightful place in the world of figure skating. Um, it was like, yeah, we'll get into it. It was a very restrictive sport. I mean, it's still not like, you know, super diverse these days, but it's like it was real restrictive. And so she was just basically like, I feel like she she was there for you if if they weren't there for you, you know? Um so through her own achievements and those of her students, she achieved many, many firsts that have brought fairness and equality to the sport she so loves, and she faced terrible racism in the process.

Marissa 22:43

Of course she did.

Courtney 22:44

Yeah. I found some great sources for this episode, including an oral history interview that Mabel recorded just two years before her death. Um, and that one is, I mean, that's like pretty much what we're using a lot of. That's where a lot of your your uh your bits are coming from, Marissa. Straight from the horse's mouth. So um, this one is going to be a good one, I promise you. So, born in 1915, Mabel emerged into the world without fanfare or record, as she tells it in her oral history session with Sharon Donnen.

Marissa 23:18

I was born in the Florida Everglades with a seminal Indian grandmother and an English grandfather. My father was African. I was in the Everglades until I was about maybe three years old, and naturally, I don't remember anything about it. So I only know that I was born there because an older sister told me that I was. I came out and I lived with my mother and father and all of my sisters and brothers, and then I'm like, Topsy. I wasn't born. I just grew. Who's Topsy? I think that's her sister. Okay. Because when my older sister called and sent an application to Washington, they said that they did not have any record of my birth, which meant that my grandparents did not report my birth. Because my grandmother really brought me into this world. So then I said, Well I guess I'm a very unique person. Yeah, interesting. Interesting. So she's saying that her grandmother, her grandparents Yeah, grandmother, her grandmother brought her up.

unknown 24:32

Okay.

Courtney 24:33

I think she is saying that, but she didn't. It's uh I'm also wondering if what she means by that is like that her grandmother like actually delivered her if she was like the the midwife of sorts. Because I mean, if she there was no record of her birth and she wasn't in a hospital. Do you know what I mean?

Marissa 24:50

But I I feel like, you know, back then, because she was born in 1915, and I feel like like births, her kids weren't really recorded until they were like three.

Courtney 25:02

You're probably Yeah, I mean, that uh this time period is we're gonna I'm shocked by so many things in it, so that would not surprise me. Um yeah, I can't exactly tell what she means. And honestly, this is this whole interview, by the way, it's recorded like two years before she dies. It's her going all the way back to the very beginning of her life. And she even says a few times, she's like, Oh, I remember things, I just don't always remember them in order. And so there's like some stuff where girl, me too.

Marissa 25:32

Me too, girl. So I know that that my great-grandmother, we didn't know how old she was because she was she was like, I was like, Dad, how like because she was like old for as long as I can remember, right? And I asked my dad, it's my dad's stepmother's mother. And I'm like, how old? How old is she? And my dad was like, well, she can be anywhere from I think he said like 98 to 106. She's got three different uh, she had three different um essentially birth certificates. How? So because it was like because she was born in Puerto Rico and it was like one of those things where it was like a really small rural rural town. And like even if you did, you know, survive past a certain age, like things were like eventually recorded, like eventually like got into the system, but it took a while. Also, like kids just fucking died, man. Yeah, and so people didn't bother to do it until they survived. Right. And then apparently, like merging everything with the United States sort of you know, Social Security had like a different thing than like the the common registrar, you know what I mean?

Courtney 26:54

So it was like everything was so we had no idea, and she didn't fucking know. She's like right, and of course not. How would you know? Yeah, and it's just like I don't need an age, it's fine. It's certain it's also a woman.

Marissa 27:04

You're like, I asked her, I asked her one day, and she she was just like, I'm old as dirt, basically.

Courtney 27:10

I'm old as the moon. Yeah. Um, so okay, so Mabel, to your point, everything you said is there's there's some through lines here. So about your grandmother, actually. So my great grandmother. Your great grandmother, I'm sorry, your great grandmother. So apparently Mabel was one of 14 children.

Marissa 27:31

That's what she was. That also sounds about right for that time.

Courtney 27:35

Yeah, that's what she was told anyway, but she actually isn't even sure if that's accurate. And here is why, in her words.

Marissa 27:43

There were so many kids around because my mother took in everybody, every kid off the street and gave them a place to stay and something to eat. So I never knew who were my real sisters and brothers, but my older sister told me that they were 14. So yeah, so and it's what a kind woman, though. Like you need a safe place to lay your head, you need a warm meal, come on in.

Courtney 28:09

Yeah, I mean, I think there's a lot of I've mixed feelings about a lot of the adults in this story. It's like they'll she'll say things like that, but then it's it's a little also, I don't know, you can't be too hard on any woman though who has 14 children. I don't know what kind of like personality that would unleash in me. Um, but good Lord. Um, so in addition to being unsure which of the children around her were siblings or not, Mabel also may have been confused about the exact count of her brothers and sisters because some of them had passed away by the time she came into the world. So some of those details are hazy, but according to her, she had two younger siblings for sure, and several older siblings. And growing up, she remembers specifically having four sisters and two brothers, definitely, who were regularly around. Um, and that's interesting because that leaves literally half of the supposed 14 siblings unaccounted for. Um and another figure who was largely missing from the picture was her father.

Marissa 29:17

Well, my father, I guess he got tired of taking care of such a large family, although there wasn't 14 of them when I came along because some of them had passed on. I guess he got tired of it and he took off. I don't know what state he went to, but he took off and left my mother with the children.

Courtney 29:36

Fucking bastard! I know. They're just like, oh, was it too much for you? I yeah. Was it too many children that you fathered? Yeah, yeah. Nice that you can just walk out the door. Um Mabel had one sister that she described as her protector in school who stood up for her and kept her safe, but the others sounded kind of awful the way she tells it.

Marissa 30:04

So this one sister, every time my mother came home, because she had to work now, because the husband had left, every time my mother came home, she said, She hit me. I would get a spanking. Every day that girl would say I did something. That was a sad part of my life. Everybody did something to me. They said I didn't belong. One brother bit me so hard I still have the scar of it right there. And another brother cut me across the fingers. And another one did what to me? Oh my older sister hit me with a piece of wood. I still have the scar there. So I said, They don't like me, do they? They said, No, we don't like you.

Courtney 30:56

Jerks? What the heck? I feel like I mean maybe they were just all like, maybe this was like a Lord of the Flies situation where there's like so many kids that they're just like, we have to fight for like who's gonna be like literally everything. Yeah,

Losing Family And Fending For Herself

Courtney 31:10

yeah, yeah. Now at the age of eight, Mabel's mother passed away. She does not share how, and from what I can tell, the cause is unknown. It's really not recorded anywhere why she died, but people did just die, like you said back then earlier. Um, she also says that before her mother passed away, she was adopted out for a time and does not specify details of that. But needless to say, although her childhood was already crowded and chaotic, this event seemed to abruptly end it and led to major turbulence and upheaval. From here on out, the way she talks about what she was going through makes it seem as if she was an 18-year-old who just entered the real world, but she was in fact 10 years uh younger than that and very much a child. So she mentions her grandparents so much in her origin story, but they do not get mentioned by her at this point in her saga. Maybe they weren't around anymore, or maybe they were taking care of her two younger siblings. Either way, Mabel doesn't say. But in her case, she went to live with an older sister who quickly again adopted her out. So I feel I don't know what that I feel like that just means go live with these people, and it's nothing is official. Um, but they did that with a school teacher and a principal in somewhere in that area. Um like separately, like a school teacher and then a principal, or a school teacher and principal were like married. I I she doesn't say, but I I believe it was one situation. Um I think that they must have been married. Um but she had older brothers, two of them, who had moved to New York, um, to New York City, and she wrote to them asking if they would send for her, and she promised that she could take care of herself as like, you know, an eight-year-old, which is crazy. So they did. They sent for her and she came to New York City. So at eight years old. At eight years old. So one of her brothers owned a fish market in Harlem with his wife. So Mabel began working in there, weighing and packaging fish and running the register, but her big heart ended up getting her in trouble.

Marissa 33:18

I lived with him for a while and I had to pay for my board and my food. I had to help in the fish market, which was okay. I loved it. The parents, they would come in and bring their children and buy fish. They always picked the least expensive fish, and maybe one fish. I said now how is she going to feed all of those kids, three kids, and herself with one fish? So I always gave her more than what she bought, and then her change. I would always give more than she gave me. That went on for a couple of weeks, and then my brother noticed that I was giving away the fish and the money. So he says, You can come in and still wrap fish, but you can't bother the cash box. So I said, Okay. I still gave people more fish. So finally his wife says, Look, we're going to the poor house if she keeps hanging around. Put her out. So they did. And at sta So they did. And I stayed at the Y, the the YW, which is the women's Y.

Courtney 34:30

Yeah. At eight years old. At eight years old. She's not a woman. She's a she's a girl. She's a child. She's a very much a child. Um, not even in the double digits of being a child. Um, and they're like, yeah, just get get out of here. Like you're you're wasting our resources, get out of here. Um, insane. So yeah, very much a child. She uh started taking typing lessons at this point, which is also crazy to me. Hated it because she couldn't move around, you know. Also, again, because she's a child, probably wants to play, maybe have like recess or, you know, like a childhood. A childhood, yeah. Um, so uh yeah, children don't love shorthand and typing. Uh they never really have, I believe. Um, so this is less of a surprise than the fact that she was able to take the classes at all. Like it just feels like, why are you wanting to take this class? That's clearly aimed at having a career as an adult little girl. Um, in any case, she dropped out and eventually she found another living situation that honestly seemed far less stable than the why, as Mabel tells it.

Marissa 35:37

I got a room and an apartment with a girl I met on the street. Jesus Christ. Okay. I told her about my brother putting me out, so she said, That's okay. Come live with us. So I went to live with her, and my brother gave me five dollars, and her mother and her mother wanted three dollars per month for the rent. So I said, Okay, so I have five, so I'll have two left. I didn't think about eating or anything like that. I just know that I have two dollars left over. And then when the month was up, the mother said, Okay, you owe me three again. Okay, you owe me three dollars again. I said, Well, I don't have three dollars, I only have a dollar because I had spent the rest of it because I had spent the rest of it for food. So she said, Then you can't stay here. So I decided, well, I'll go sleep on the roof. I took some newspaper and went on the roof to sleep. Then the girl came out one day and says, You know, my mother has found us out. She knows you're sleeping on the roof. Because when she goes to work, I would go in and take a shower or a bath or whatever and eat. And then she said, Tonight, she's gonna come up there because she has a big stick, and she's gonna beat your butt until you won't be able to sit or sleep. So I said, Okay. So I left the roof, and then I decided to sleep on the stoop. I slept on the stoop for three or four nights, and then people, you know, they had to walk across me in order to get into the apartment, so finally they said, you know, you can't sleep on the stoop because we have to get in and out of our apartment, so you have to go someplace else. Then I decided, well, I'll take my newspaper and move to Central Park. So I moved over to Central Park. I was there for a few weeks. You know, nobody bothered you during that time, and a lot of people were sleeping in the park. It didn't mean a thing.

Courtney 37:48

I'm so sorry. What what the actual fuck? I that is insane. That is so, so crazy. I'm just the whole time I'm like checking her age, like going back, wait a minute. No, no, no, because she's gotta be like 18 now, right? No, no, eight years old. Um, this she's not even 10 years old. She's sleeping in Central Park with a newspaper to keep her warm and it didn't mean a thing. No way. That's insane. So my God. In case anyone was wondering, 1925 is a uh is a horrible time to be a child. I mean, this was probably what 1923, I guess. Horrible time to be a child, and specifically a black child. It makes sense because Shirley Temple movies like Bright Eyes, which featured our beloved Toto, we talked about it before, and was technically comedy, like it's the one where she sings good chip lollipop and all that. Yes. But actually had like a really sad plot where, like, oh, all the parents died, and you're an orphan twice now because you thought you had an adopted father, but he dies too. Like it was you're just like, what the hell? How is this a comedy? Um and why are we singing? Yeah, and why are we singing? Uh that was 10 years away. That was still 10 years away. So this is like before that. Um, and then, you know, 10 years away from the uh Snow White and you know, the pig heart and the terrifying donkey scene, and Pinocchio is still what, like 15 years away at this point. And those are all like where I'm like, how can we show this to children? This is terrifying and scary and grim. What's happening? Um, and is because apparently the world was already terrible to them, and so why not just show it on screen? Um, insanity. So uh go on, Mabel, about that insanity that should never happen to a child. Go ahead, go on.

A Babysitting Job Changes Everything

Marissa 39:27

Jesus. One day, this lady was passing by with her baby in a carriage, and she said, Why are you sleeping in the park? I said, Because this is the only home I have. She said, Well, you can't sleep out here. She said, You're going to die out here when it becomes winter. So I said, Oh, but I'll get more newspaper to cover up with. She said, That won't do any good because there'll be snow on the ground. So anyway, she said, I'll tell you what, I live right across the street, and you can come work with me and babysit. So I said, Okay, I'll come babysit. Then I was about I was about eight and a half, nine years old now, so I said, Okay. So so I stayed with her and minded the baby, who was a very lovely baby.

Courtney 40:26

Oh yeah. Must mention here, we were also about 13 years away from child labor laws being passed as well. But in any case, the situation proved to make young Mabel stable and exit pure survival mode. So for that, I am grateful to the white lady who thought it was appropriate to hire a nine-year-old child as a nanny, eight-year-old, nine-year-old, whatever. But yeah. Is it was it a white lady? Yes, she does clarify that later. It is a white lady. Okay. Yeah. So anyway, as she was watching the baby and looking out the window one winter day, she saw that the pond in sight from her window was frozen and that people were out ice skating. She had never seen anyone ice skate before, and her interest was piqued. The woman she was working for encouraged her to walk over and take a closer look, and she was even more mesmerized. Mabel wanted to skate. One day she saw that a pawn shop was selling a pair of skates, and Mabel bought them for a dollar. She tried to wear them home and couldn't make it across the street. It's like such a little kid thing to do. That is such a little kid thing to do. Yeah. Plus, they were a couple sizes too big, so uh double obstacle. Um but she had her skates. Perhaps it was time for her to take up a hobby and be a child? Well, not exactly, as Mabel says.

Marissa 41:54

Later the husband said, You know, she should have her own apartment now. She has enough money to have her own room. So take her around and see if you can find a room for her. So she found a room with a friend of hers, and she was a black fellow. They were friends to his family. So she said, Okay. Then we'll see if they have a spare room they can rent you. So I said, Okay. So they rented me a room for I think it was around two dollars. And she but they were they were paying her? That's that's they are paying her. The family? Yeah. Yes. Yes. Okay, because this entire time until now, I was like, wait, how does she have money? Because I thought she was like, in exchange for room and board, you can take care of my kids.

Courtney 42:44

Yeah, I think they were paying her something. They were paying her something. Yeah. Um and she still, though, kept working for this family. So now she has to commute as a child three or four days a week to do her job, her child's job. But on the bright side, she started skating. So even though she had to stuff her two big skates with tissue in order for them to fit her feet. Oh my gosh. I know. One benefit of the move was that it connected her to local events promoter Wally Hunter, who also lived in the building. He told her to call him Uncle Wally, like quote, all the kids do, which honestly, I don't love that. That feels very creepy to me. Yep, creepy, creepy, creepy Uncle Wally.

Marissa 43:31

Don't like it, don't like it, don't like it.

Courtney 43:33

Don't like it at all. Um, and she always did that from day one. But also to any children, uh also if you're a child, don't listen to this. But if you are, you know, don't have anything to do with anyone who's a stranger who's like, call me uncle, whatever. Like, just don't. Like, I feel like that's a probably fair across the board rule. But this is a weird period of time. So um she always called him Uncle Wally from that day on. Um, and he helped her early on getting to rinks and stuff like that, but he'll become Much more important a little bit later. So back to ice skating. Mabel started out at Morningside Park on a small pond where she kept finding herself in the snow. A nearby observer suggested she go to Central Park where the ice was bigger because she just kept like trying to get speed and then ending up in the snow because it wasn't that big of a pond. But Mabel was nervous to go to Central Park for a couple reasons. First of all, she didn't think she was good enough. But the other thing was she would have to cross Eighth Avenue and it was a big street that was very scary to her. And she's a child.

Marissa 44:38

So that makes sense. And once again, she's a child.

Courtney 44:41

She's a child. So she held onto this woman's long overcoat like it was a security blanket and made it across the street. And I don't know if like she told the woman she needed to do that or she just did it, but it's kind of a cute image. Um, and when she got on the ice at Central Park, it turns out that she could go around and around the rink with the best of them without falling down. And she absolutely loved it. But so she had a natural ability, affinity. Yeah, she figured out she could go forwards, she could stay up. Like that's where she was at with it at this moment.

Marissa 45:16

Um but she ice skating is so hard. I cannot for the life of me skate backwards. Like, oh no.

Courtney 45:22

I have never tried to do anything but stay up and go around in a circle. I've never even attempted it. Um yeah. Iris really keeps it. She keeps talking about ice skating. Like, I've I'm kind of like, well, maybe there is like a rink here and all of that. Like, so I'm like, well, you could, you could, you that might be your thing. Whatever. We'll give it a shot. Sure. So we're almost to that place. Wow.

Marissa 45:45

Wow.

Courtney 45:45

Oh, it's so cute. I know. Honestly, yeah. At this age, you just do everything because you're like, you'll look so cute in the little outfit with the little shoes, little thing.

Marissa 45:54

Yeah. And maybe you'll like it. And maybe that you'll like this thing that also makes you tired.

Courtney 45:58

Yeah, I know. Everything. Oh, everything is about whatever makes you tired. Whatever makes you tired in a healthy way. Love that. That's great.

Learning Fast On New White Skates

Courtney 46:07

But so um, Mabel had been watching Sonia Henney, who was a champion level Norwegian figure skater in films. She was like in a lot of at this period of time, she was not that much older than Mabel. So she started competing. I looked it up, she started competing when she was like 11 or something like that, um, really, really young. And uh, and she was in all these kinds of like they they played like little newsreel kind of clips, movie clips that you could go see in theaters and stuff like that at this time. So she was in a lot of stuff like that. Um, so she was seeing some things with her in it, and she had seen her doing, you know, every kind of spin and trick you could imagine, but in white skates. And Mabel had black skates. So at that this time, anyway, like men wore black skates and women wore white skates, and that was like, you know, so she was like, Oh, I have the wrong skates. Like, no, you have the wrong skates because they're two sizes too big, Mabel. That's why they're wrong. The color is not really the issue here. So, but Mabel wanted this all made Mabel want to do two things to go somewhere where all the best skaters are and work on her skills, and then to get a pair of white skates. So these are her goals. So for her 10th birthday, the family she was boarding with got her a pair of white skates that fit her, and those skates seem to have emboldened her even more. So she started showing up at rinks around the city, like the indoor rinks and things like that. And at one point, she went to a rink called Gay Blades, which we love. Wow. On uh 52nd in Broadway. And it's it's also really funny, by the way, that she remembers the addresses to things and she'll like forget how many siblings she had. I think that's hilarious. Well, I mean, she didn't live with them for too long. That's true, I know, but it's just funny. I'm like, how do you remember the address of this like skating rink? But she stood in line to get in with her 50 cent admission, and this is what happened.

Racism At The Rink Meets Pure Grit

Marissa 48:11

When I got to the window, the lady wouldn't take my money. It was 50 cents to skate, and she wouldn't take it. She said, Go back, go back, little girl. Then everybody else would move up, and every time I got to the front, go away, little girl, go away. Finally, everybody was in but me. So I got back up to the window and I says, Hey miss, I'm next. Hey, miss. Hey, miss, I'm next. Go away, go away. Then the manager happened to come about that time. He looked out across the ticket window and says, She has a new pair of skates, let her in. She gonna do any harm. So they let me in, but that was their mistake. From then on, they had to let me in forever. The parents, what's that N-word doing in here? All the parents. We don't want her skating with our children. In fact, we don't even want her on the same ice. So they says, get out of here. So I said, Well, I'll tell you what, I paid my fifty cents, so you go see the manager. What? I love her. I know. I knew you would love her. What gumption? At 10? Yeah. So anyway, they said, You're going to be sorry. I would get on the ice and I would just skate around and around and forward. That's all I could do was go forward. You know, that spin where they hold the foot up in front. I could hold my foot up in front and go forever around the rink like that. And I'd hold it up to the side and go, hold it up to the back and go, and I could pull it all the way over my head like this and go. But that's all I could do, you know. I couldn't even do a two-foot spin. That is way more. She's like, that's all I could do. I'm like, excuse me. That's a lot. Excuse me, little miss. That's a lot. That's a lot. I love how she put my f her foot down with these racist assholes.

Courtney 50:18

Yes. No, I know. It's like this is like where her little battle starts. Her big battle. But it didn't really matter that her one foot spin was the only trick up her sleeve because she did it well enough that the lead instructor at the rink, Howard Nicholson, took notice of her. He was teaching another little girl at that moment who wasn't quite grasping the back crossover move he was teaching her. And much like much like the name implies, it's the ice skating move where you skate backward in a crossover glide that can help you gain power to go quickly into certain backward, you know, uh turning jumps. Um, we've all seen it in the Olympics for sure. Um, but he started to teach her with the little girl. He was like, you do this, little girl, you give it a try. Um and she was catching on super, super quickly. And this other little girl's just like not getting it. He's like, no, no, no. I the one I the girl I just showed how to do the thing that I've been teaching you to do for a while now, like, can you do it like her kind of a thing? You know, so she just had she was very good at this naturally, and then just people teaching her things, she would just get it. So, um, so Mabel had learned a new trick, and now she could skate backwards faster than she could skate forwards. Wow. She became so good at it that a newspaper columnist took notice of her for his stranger of the scene column. The columnist, Mabel remembers him as being named Hicks, asked her to go to the Brooklyn Ice Palace and skate in a race against competitive speed skaters.

Marissa 51:54

They said, Now, you skate backwards, and the speed skaters are going to skate forward. And so I could skate faster than the speed skaters. So then Hicks wrote it up. I think I have a clipping of it still. And he wrote it up that I could skate faster backwards than I could forward. So that was my thing. Skating backwards.

Courtney 52:16

And there's these like little posters of her later on. It's like like Mabel Fairbanks, like the fastest backwards skater. You know, it's like became her little claim to fame. Um so Howard Nicholson continued to coach her unofficially, almost as an experiment, and other instructors seem to follow his lead. Mabel actually thinks that her being black piqued their curiosity about what she might be capable of. As she puts it.

Marissa 52:45

They were surprised to see a black person and how far they could go.

Courtney 52:50

Which makes it like sound not great that they're helping her, but I'm so glad they're helping her, you know? Yeah. I don't love their reasoning if that's what it was. I mean, that's her, that's her speculation anyway. I don't think anyone said that, but she could very well be right at this period of time. So whatever it was that made people notice her, it was helping her learn to be an incredible skater. Even Mirabel Vinson, a master competitive skater who regularly competed against the skating star of the time, Sonia Henney, who had inspired Mabel already, coached Mabel whenever she was in New York. But she also leveled with her.

Secret Lessons And Closed Competitions

Marissa 53:28

She said, Now, this is our secret. Don't tell anyone that I'm working with you, giving you lessons because you're not going anywhere. They're not going to allow you in competition. They're not going to allow you in ice shows because they don't have Negroes in these things, she said. But I'll work with you because you're willing to learn. So I said, Okay. She seems to be like, uh, you know? She l it makes me sad that like terrible, terrible, terrible, and her response is like, okay, and she keeps it moving. I know. But also, like, it is such a it is such a hallmark of a survivor and thriver. That mindset of like sort of accepting your circumstances for what they are and keeping it moving. Yeah. So I see that spirit in her at such a young age, and it's she's so inspiring.

Courtney 54:36

God, I love her. You were right, Courtney. You were right. I love her. She's very lovable. But also, like, I can't even, I feel like this person, the the like competitive skater that's training her, who says all of that. I mean, she's not wrong about any of it. Everything she said is true of the time period. So she's just being like, look, like you're a child. I want to make sure like you understand where things are at. So it's like as horrible as it sounds to us now, you know. She was telling her the truth. She was telling her the truth about the way the world is. Yeah. You know, because that's the way it was at the time. Um, so I feel like she was like a voice of like, okay, this is what the parameters are, just so you know. She was like actually talking to her about it, which I think is, you know, helpful in a way. So Mabel got a lot of unofficial training from very official people in this way. But she also paid for ice dancing lessons at the rink and continued to skate at all the parks around town, too. She just kept her head down and she kept skating and she started to get good, very, very good. And it wasn't long before people started to ask her to teach their children how to do jumps and things. The same parents who were like, get out of here. We don't want you here. Then they're like, Well, actually, you're really good. So can you teach my kids? Like, can you just coach them on the side kind of thing? Um, I hope she charged them. I I feel, yeah, well, she will get you're gonna love that side of her too. That's gonna be in the next episode a little bit more when we talk about that. But yeah. Um, so she didn't know how to do more than three jumps at this point, but she was good enough at all of them that people realized she had something to offer. And I have to imagine at that age, that was probably pretty good. Do you know what I mean? To know how to do three jumps. So, but just as Maribelle Vinson had told her, she was not allowed to compete due to her ethnicity. In fact, judges at the rink, this breaks my heart. Judges at the rink would write down scores for her. They would like actually like they would do that for people to be like, this is kind of where you're at. And they'd write down scores for her, but then rip them up in front of her face without letting you see her see them.

Marissa 56:37

Oh my god!

Courtney 56:41

I know. It's awful.

Marissa 56:43

I am enraged. I know enraged.

Courtney 56:46

I know. Can you imagine? I mean, it's just the idea of doing that to a child. I can't imagine. I just I don't get it. I don't get it. It's crazy.

Marissa 56:53

The cruelty, the cruelty. I that to me, I just saw that in like a movie. Like I know. I just like watched that scene in a movie and it made me, it was, it's one of those things that just makes you want to like jump drank all the person. Yes.

Courtney 57:09

I know.

Shut Out Of Shows And Judged Anyway

Courtney 57:10

Yes, I know, yes. I'm so like the adults in this story, I'm just like, oh my god. So she started trying out for purely entertainment shows since like competition was clearly out. So she's she's trying out for purely entertainment shows like ice volleys was um something that was happening at the time. So just fun. Everybody goes to see a show like it's a stage show on the ice. But she was always told that Negroes weren't allowed. At one point, she met the man who was Sonia Henny's agent, and he recognized her talent and said that he could get her into Sonia's show. But then Sonia said to him, She's Norwegian, right?

Marissa 57:51

Yeah, good luck. I'm so sorry. But none of y'all listening can do a Norwegian accent, so don't at me.

Courtney 58:04

Swedish chef it up.

Marissa 58:09

But then Sonia said to him, Is Mabel Fairbanks as good as people say she is?

Courtney 58:27

He said, This is the agent who's not Norwegian.

Marissa 58:32

Okay, okay, great. If she wasn't, I would not have signed her up for your show. And she said, then if she's that good, she's too good for my show, then she'll st she'll steal it. No, she cannot be in it. But also, like, what a cunt. I know like we're laughing because of what I'm how I'm saying.

Courtney 59:06

But what she's saying is fucking awful. Well, then she's already at this point, like, you know, a star. Like, it's she's but this this character. This she is gross. She was like, there's pictures, there's she like performed for Hitler. She's gross. Um I know.

Marissa 59:23

So Well, I'm glad I made her sound like a fucking idiot.

Courtney 59:27

She deserves it.

Marissa 59:28

She deserves she deserves the chef treatment.

Courtney 59:34

You, the Swedish, you know, honestly, like that's that's more than you deserve as the Swedish chef. The Swedish chef. Who's an angel? Who's an angel? Yeah. So this pattern of Mabel getting better and better and getting denied and denied again from every possible ice skating opportunity went on through the 1930s, which were her teen and barely adult years. So she just kept getting like, no, you can't, no, you can't. And she still keeps taking like whatever, learning whatever she can, getting better and better all the time. She just like did not care. Like, she just kept it.

Marissa 1:00:10

Oh, she did it for the love of it.

Courtney 1:00:11

Yeah, she did it for the love of it. Now, always the realist in her life, as we said, Maribel Vinson piped up again.

Marissa 1:00:19

She said, Mabel, you're not going to get into any show. You have to do your own show. Ooh, I love that. Very good advice. I love that advice. Very good advice. That is the advice that literally anyone in the entertainment industry, like, if you if you watch any interviews, because you know, everybody, well, not everybody, because you know, there's a lot of Nepo babies up in here. But the people who have made it seemingly out of nowhere, it's never from nowhere. And usually, like I would say 99% of the time, it's because they made their own show. They did their own, you know, they showed their own work. They created their if a space wasn't made for them, they create their own space.

Courtney 1:01:12

Right. Right. And that's and we still and that those are always the most exciting things, by the way. It

The Six-By-Six Rink And Her Own Act

Courtney 1:01:19

is. So this is the point where Uncle Wally comes into the picture more and becomes pretty pivotal in Mabel's success. So Uncle Wally crafted her a special six by six foot rink. So six feet by six feet, the length of a man in both directions. And she kept it in her room in New York. It was yeah, it was made of wood with metal channels and a metal top, and they would put dry ice in the channels and pour water on top. And within an hour, she says it became a tiny ice rink. So I know it's crazy.

Marissa 1:01:58

What? Uncle Wally, an engineer. I know.

Courtney 1:02:01

He like an inventor. I know she crafted this for her. So Mabel would practice and choreograph on that ice in her room until she passed out from exhaustion every night. So she's in her bedroom in New York City, which I'm sure is like the tiniest shoebox ever. And she's like, this is yeah, she probably like didn't have a bed, I would imagine. She's just like, the rank is in here and I'll just sleep under it, you know. So with this little rink to use in any location, because it's portable, you know. Um, Uncle Wally. Uncle Wally? I know he began booking gigs for her in clubs all across the city because he's an event promoter. Like, this is what he does. Right. So, and she always got to take home 40% of the door profits at the end of the night. And now in her 20s, this is how Mabel hit her stride and started like making money skating. Um, so these are like, and they're like benefit shows, like just things where whatever they need uh, they need a draw, they need an act, and they she was sought after for that. So in her show, she made the most of her tiny patch of ice. She would do jumps from the floor to the ice and then the ice to the floor. She worked with a roller skater who would circle her on the floor like during her shows and pump up the audience. This sounds like a cirque du sole act. I know, with like the jankiest setup, but like it's yeah. So Mabel recalled.

Marissa 1:03:28

He would say, Miss Fairbanks is going to try this, and I would pretend I can't do it, you know. Then maybe the third time I would do it. And I got the biggest hand of all. It was fun. Lots of fun.

Courtney 1:03:47

So I love her spirit. I know. She's just like, I was having fun. I don't care what all these idiots were saying. I'm having fun.

Marissa 1:03:54

Right.

Courtney 1:03:54

That's like her whole thing. I was just, I loved ice skating, I was having fun. So she was making some money now, turning heads with her talent. She's making money, some real money, some coin. She was she was turning heads with her talent by day in the rinks and parks and by night on her little six by six tank. And people couldn't take their eyes off of her. Newsreels filmed her in the six.

Marissa 1:04:15

Six by six tanks or rinks?

Courtney 1:04:18

That was like she called it her tank, like that um that he made for her. Oh, yeah. Like her little tank. Yeah, like she called it her little, her little tank. Like, because I think that maybe just because it was like almost like you had to fill it out. Like a tank of water. Yeah, yeah. You had to fill it with stuff. And people couldn't take their eyes off of her. Newsreels filmed in the city that played around the country regularly, like we talked about that a little earlier. That's just what they did. But they would film stuff around the city and she was always getting filmed. They filmed her regularly, doing tricks on the ice and in the parks. Like she just was on these newsreels. And then those newsreels made their way to Hollywood.

MGM Calls And Part Two Awaits

Courtney 1:04:55

And that's how Mabel got a telegram from MGM telling her that they wanted to put her in movies. And that's where we'll leave this week. No! Oh my gosh! I know. But it's a ups, it's a it's a up moment. It's an up moment for Mabel. This is like the episode of all the bullshit. So you know where she's coming. And it's honestly there's still more bullshit. Of course there is, but it's it's a lot of good stuff too.

Marissa 1:05:22

And there's no mention of her like getting an education. Like she's not going to school, is she?

Courtney 1:05:28

She that's the thing. I was thinking the same thing. She talks about going to school when she's young and in Florida. But after that, no, she's not going to school. And like, I mean, she's not. And she was living with a teacher and this principal, so I think she was going to school at that point, I would imagine, you know. Um, but then she moved with her brother. And obviously he didn't care about her like at all. So I don't think they were looking for her to go to school or trying to get her to go to school. No, they were she they were working hard. Yeah, she was making her work for free. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Her brothers suck so hard. Can you imagine how? Having a little sister who is a tiny child, I don't care what time period it is, and be like, yeah, go out in the world on your own with five dollars. And I know at the time that was more money, but still, like, no. That's insane. I I do wanna I do want to see because you know I always like to see how much it is. Five dollars and 1923, it would have been that she was eight. Okay, 23, 24, something like that.

Marissa 1:06:25

Uh 97, 99. So about a hundred bucks.

Courtney 1:06:28

That's still, come on.

Marissa 1:06:30

Come on.

Courtney 1:06:32

Yeah, like I think that that was a hundred bucks, though, actually.

Marissa 1:06:36

That that fills your gas tank.

unknown 1:06:40

Yeah.

Courtney 1:06:41

I mean, again, I think that the cost of things was lower. Obviously, like the cost of living has gone up, but still. I mean, so $2 a month then for rent would have been if five dollars is a hundred bucks, that would have been like fifty bucks-ish, forty bucks.

Marissa 1:06:56

Yeah.

Courtney 1:06:57

Something like that, yeah.

Marissa 1:06:59

A month, which that sounds nice.

Courtney 1:07:02

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. So that's what I mean. It's like maybe that was that amount of money at that time, but also like, you know, it wasn't your mu your rent is like $2,000 for this like tiny bedroom. Nothing for nothing. Yeah. So, um, but still, it doesn't matter. Like, in this particular case, does not matter. This is not like a oh my little sister that's turned 18 and I'm showing her tough love or whatever. No. No. No. Tiny, tiny child.

Marissa 1:07:31

So I hate the men in her family.

Courtney 1:07:36

I hate the men in her family too. And again, her like her mother, I'm kind of like, I don't, it's, it's weird. I don't know enough. She had 14 children and a husband who left. She seemed like she was barely keeping it together. Um, understandably. That's what I'm gathering anyway. Um yeah, what a hard period of time. I feel like people who idolize the 20s, it's always like, oh, the great Gatsby and, you know, like F. Scott Fitzgerald. I mean, he wrote the gate. I'm just talking about the same thing now, but yeah. But yeah, it's like, oh, that's that period of time. That's so elegant and glamorous. It's like, yeah, if you were like a rich white person, other than that, no, it was not. It was a horrible time.

Marissa 1:08:21

So I mean, one could say that about today. I know. Today is a horrible time. Today's a horrible time for everyone unless you're rich and white.

Courtney 1:08:31

It's true. I mean, I said I said that at the beginning. I'll take the I'll take the shit sandwich of the past instead of the shit fan sandwich of today, just as like a little, you know, excursion for an hour, because I'm tired of our shit sandwich. Um, but yeah, so I feel you. Guys, that's pretty bad.

Marissa 1:08:50

Thank you for for for joining us over here and um perhaps escaping reality for that's why we're here in reality for a moment.

Courtney 1:08:59

Let's time travel, even if it's another weird warped, you know, time, because it always is gonna be in some way. It's always gonna be imperfect. It's yeah, at least we're at least we're heading somewhere else, which I think is what everyone wants right now. I need a vacation for my mind. Um so, but yes, we will be back with more from Mabel. Um, and yeah, you guys I can't wait.

Marissa 1:09:24

She's so lovable. I just love her so I love her so much. She's so pragmatic and um seemingly does not let the opinions of others sway her. No, she's like, she's got such a thick skin, and and to have that from such a young age is incredible. I mean, like, I have that now. Like, I don't give a fuck what people think about me.

Courtney 1:09:51

Um which I love, always have loved that about you. It took me so long to learn that myself. I'm there now, but I wasn't for a long time.

Marissa 1:09:58

But but I as a child, I was so, so, so, so, so, so sensitive. So me too. Overly sensitive, like really just horrendously so, which is I think why I learned how to be, you know, because I was like, well, I don't like be I don't like feeling every little thing and and caring so much. It's it was it's just too much. It's too exhausting. It it hurts. It does. It does. And and so I cannot imagine like this little survivalist. Yeah, right? Yeah. With so much gumption and natural talent. And she's also like, this is fun, so I'm gonna do it because it's fun. Yeah you know? Yeah. I love that. I love that. I love her.

Courtney 1:10:48

I cannot wait for part two. Yes, no, she is she is so incredible. I was so excited to like start digging into this and then to find her oral history. Oh, it's like, oh my god, yes, she's the perfect person. The perfect person in her own words. Love it.

Marissa 1:11:02

I love it, I love it.

Courtney 1:11:03

So, all right, guys, we will um we will see you next time. Uh, yeah. Thanks for hanging.

unknown 1:11:10

Bye! Bye.

How To Support The Show

Courtney 1:11:13

Thank you so much for listening. Your support and enthusiasm for the show are the reason we keep doing it. So thanks for the kind words. They really mean the world. If you liked the show or have ideas for episodes we could or should do, please drop us a comment in Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube. And if you haven't yet, please follow the show and tell every Cinephile and TAFO Phile, fun fact, that's a person who loves graveyards, about your new favorite niche podcast. And if you want to see transcripts, photos, and sources for our episodes, check out our substack Dead and Kind of Famous. Dead and Kind of Famous is written, produced, and edited by Courtney Blomquist. It is hosted by Marissa Rivera and Courtney Blomquist. And special thanks to Jesse Russell, my husband, for allowing me to yammer on about the episodes before I can spill it all to Marissa. He tends to have some good insights and ideas, so thanks. Until next time, you might not be famous, but you've got a story to tell and you're not dead yet.