She Knew Her Worth: Mabel Fairbanks Pt 2

Welcome back, taphophiles! On this episode, we follow Mabel as studios circle, deals fall apart over shady money splits, and she learns how to play the game without losing herself. 

Along the way, we get the wild details that make her life feel bigger than fiction: a Warner Brothers gig in Cuba, wealthy admirers serenading her under the window, and a Mexico booking that includes revolutions, floods, and Mabel somehow keeping her cool through all of it. We also talk through what her negotiations reveal about power, labor, and racism in classic Hollywood and mid-century ice shows, including the pressure to keep her pay secret and the constant attempt to treat her brilliance like an inconvenience. 

If you love untold history, figure skating history, and stories about refusing to be managed out of your own life, hit play. Subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave us a review, then tell us what moment made you respect Mabel even more?

Transcript

Moving Dust And Birthday Banter

Marissa 0:18

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 and now reside permanently in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. I'm Marissa Rivera, and I know nothing, but I do know that moving ain't for the weak of heart, for the faint of heart, and pizza is the only thing that is suitable for moving. For moving? Oh, a hundred percent. Yeah. I know it's such a cliche, but like that's literally all I want every night. Yep. Pizza.

Courtney 1:01

So just to clarify, you are not moving. You have people moving in. That's right. Special people. Special people. So it's special people. So it's it's you know, you're more like moving your stuff to accommodate for other stuff.

Marissa 1:22

Yes. And the amount of dust. I washed my face three times today. You can't tell. You can't tell. I was like, I'm just like, why do my eyes hurt so bad? Oh, it's the dust. I've literally washed my face three times.

Courtney 1:38

Um just from like nooks and crannies you had forgotten.

Marissa 1:42

Oh, oh yeah. Like literally every corner of my house has been upended. And I, you know, there's just bags and bags and bags and bags of stuff to donate and to, you know, uh garage sale stuff, and to move upstairs and to move downstairs. It's just like a constant reshuffling of life, which I'm so happy about. Yeah, I'm ecstatic about, but I'm so exhausted. Yeah, I I get it. I get it. So if I'm a little low energy, I apologize. I did have a little bit of a soda at 8 p.m. my time. Perfect. So I hope that doesn't um screw me up for sleep. Yeah. But yeah, that's that's what I know. What do you that's uh what do you not know? That's what I not know, yeah. Um, okay.

Courtney 2:41

Introduce yourself to people. I'm Courtney Blomquist, and I know way too much about who we're talking about, which, you know, spoiler alert alert, spoiler alert is Maple Fairbanks. Um, because this is episode two. This is episode two of a two-parter. So if you didn't listen to episode one, where do you want to go? Go back, go back, go back. Yes, but anyway, so um I don't know why, because I don't know science, right? And this is like child science. But I don't know why when you take like the slime stuff, you know, that they play with, and then you and then they also have Play-Doh, why when you put them together, it because they do stuff like that, you know, children, it becomes so unmanageably sticky that it's like getting it, I have it all over me right now, and it's not I can tell it's not gonna come out. And like and I feel like it was, I don't know, it was getting everywhere, and then and then the other mystery, okay. So it's like it took me forever to like just wipe it, just to just roll it, kind of just chafe it off her hands. Um, because that was the only way, because water was just nothing. Um, and and I and then the other mystery is that like so a lot of it was falling on the ground. So I'm like going around taking the big blob of the sticky slime and trying to pick up the other little chunks of sticky slime as one does it. And yes. And then the floor, and I try I try to clean it afterwards too. It is so slippery, it's very odd. I don't understand. I mean, it's to the point where I'm like, I feel like I'm gonna fall sometimes. I'm like, why is this? It's just a complete and total mystery.

Marissa 4:34

Don't break, don't break a hip birthday girl. It's it's Courtney's birthday week, ladies and gents.

Courtney 4:41

It is it is. I yeah, it was a big birthday. It was a big birthday. It's the big, should I say it? I mean, it I yeah, I've entered my fourth decade of life, right? Yes. Fourth. Yes. Fourth.

SPEAKER_00 5:00

You're 40, not 50.

Courtney 5:01

Well, I know, but you know how sometimes when you're like a year, when you're like uh, you know, um like not you're not a year old like you're zero, but you're I don't know. Never mind. I don't know what I'm talking about. Seems like I'm not the only one who's exhausted. Yeah, I mean, always I've been exhausted for like three years, but I uh yeah, so um that happened. It was fun. We I did spa services, uh exfoliated my body, and they did a wrap thing that made me feel like a baked potato, and I also I gotta say your skin, you're glowing. Why thank you? I did a facial gorgeous.

Marissa 5:48

You look gorgeous. And I Marissa sent me God. If you ever post a video of this particular recording, I'll kill you.

Courtney 5:59

Sorry, everybody, it's not gonna happen.

Marissa 6:02

No one wants to see a visual of this. Okay, that is a lie. Courtney looks gorgeous.

Courtney 6:07

That is a lie. You always look gorgeous, and you uh you're probably not even wearing any makeup right now. Of course not. I'm wearing a layer of dust. But it doesn't look like that. That's what's so annoying. That's what's so annoying.

Marissa 6:20

The filters on.

Courtney 6:21

No, you're actually well. Okay. All right. The filters on. I I put like some sort of filter on and I didn't realize I had it on for my calls, and people are like, oh, why does it like, you know, you look so fresh? Did you put a filter on? I was like, no. And I did. I did. I lied about it. And I'll also lie about my age to people who I feel like it'll matter for. I don't know. Maybe I'll do I I I make no guarantees. I will say whatever I want when someone asks me how old I am, and it's gonna depend on the day.

Marissa 6:54

So but you will tell the truth as as much as you know it to hear Mabel, Mabel Fairbanks. Oh, yes, yes, yes.

Courtney 7:04

Yes, absolutely. And that's why I've told you all the truth. You all deserve the truth if you're listening to this podcast. But you know, a stranger. No, I'm 34. So, anyway. So

MGM Offer Collapses Over Three Checks

Courtney 7:22

when we last left, Mabel Fairbanks, Hollywood had given her that golden ring on the telephone. Or sent a ring, or sent a majestic telegram. Mabel can't actually remember exactly. She was, as a reminder, quite old at the point that she gave this interview, which you know shows itself sometimes. But the point is they summoned her somehow, somehow. And that Norwegian bitch, Sonia Henny, was working for 20th Century Fox and doing the skating thing for them. And now MGM was calling Mabel to get her to do some skating tricks for them over at their studio. But Mabel wasn't interested.

Marissa 8:12

I said, I don't want to go, really. I'm having so much fun working on the six by six, so let's just do that. And you're always on radio or something like that where they interviewed you, so I said, That's fun. I wasn't making any money other than my six by six tank, but the other things, you know, it was fun doing them. Anyway, a woman called from Los Angeles and she was in New York or something like that, and she had heard of me. Somehow she and Wally got together. I don't know how they got together, but the next thing I knew, we came to Los Angeles. We lived with her in the Alvarado Hotel. We stayed there for only two or three nights when she said the manager said that, you know, I can't have anyone staying in my apartment. Because they didn't have blacks in those apartments at that time. So you have to move, but you can go live at the New Morris Hotel while the entertainers live.

Courtney 9:18

Side note, Sammy Davis Jr. was also staying at the New Morris Hotel, and Mabel claims to have befriended him while she was staying there, because she did go there, and convinced him to become a solo act. That's what she said.

Marissa 9:36

Love her. Yep. You know what? I believe her.

Courtney 9:39

I believe her too. I she's just uh I've yeah, I feel like it all connects. It does. That's so that story as she tells it, um, is it's slightly convoluted, but basically Mabel was saying she wasn't interested in the offer, but Uncle Wally and this unnamed woman with Hollywood ties convinced her to go out there and go for it. Mabel does clarify that there may have been a specific film they were interested in her for, but the opportunity was for a general contract to be in films as a skater, which is, you know, being a contract player is just the way that they did things at the time. So this was pretty common. But I kind of feel like, and obviously that would have its drawbacks and everything, but for somebody like her, that would have been like that would have been a big deal because it's like huge because you get more opportunities than just one film. Like when you're a contract player, they they're finding stuff for you to do all the time. So I mean that's how I understand.

Marissa 10:36

Also, I love that her nemesis, who she could give two flying fucks about, but I'm saying like her nemesis, Mitch Sonia Henny, was at 20th Century Fox and MGM was the one who was calling up Mabel.

Courtney 10:54

Yeah, yeah. No, it's it's it's interesting. I yeah, it's interesting. They were like, we need to compete, but we but what's our edge? What's right, what's what how do we make it different? And she doesn't remember the exact movie either, like so. It's like I don't even know what the opportunity exactly was and what they were thinking with it. And she might not have been the star of it or whatever, but like it still would have been something.

Marissa 11:19

And and the other computer more than her six by six little ice box.

Courtney 11:24

Right, right. And the other thing too about Sonia Henney, I'm just gonna say this, is like she's kind of like the more you look her up, the more she's you know, she definitely is like this trailblazer in ice skating, and so there's contradicting things sometimes between what you know what Mabel says and what other people say of people. It's interesting. I'm just gonna throw that out there for people to go peruse their own rabbit holes.

Marissa 11:48

Maybe she's the type of person who treated different people differently, people different.

Courtney 11:53

Well, yes, I know, but it's just like it's weird, you know what I mean? I'm just don't want anyone coming after me. Like I'm telling Mabel's story right now and her perspective on things. So, you know, whatever.

Marissa 12:03

This isn't about that bitch, Sonia.

Courtney 12:05

This isn't about that bitch, Sonia Henny, okay? That bitch, that sweetest chef bitch.

Marissa 12:14

Sorry, not sorry. Yeah. I do, I do love that she's like, no, I was having fun. She truly for the love for the love of it.

Courtney 12:23

Yeah. And I think like, I wonder if there's I I don't want to like psychoanalyze her, but it's hard not to sometimes. I've I wonder if there was like a fear of trying sometimes, or like trying for big opportunities, because she was like always told she couldn't do stuff. I mean, she did keep trying, but it's like sometimes when she's like, Oh, I wasn't interested, it's like I can't care about this because I've been disappointed so many times. Do you know what I mean? I wonder if there's like some level of that, like in her, like, oh, I just didn't care. I don't know, maybe not, but just a thought. But maybe. But maybe it's speculation entirely. So okay. So anyway, despite their influence, this this woman and Uncle Wally, um, in convincing her to go for it, it's largely because of Uncle Wally and this Hollywood lady that Mabel didn't get the contract.

Marissa 13:16

In the end, I didn't get the job for the movies because Wally and this lady were fighting over how the money would be divided. They called the studios and said, You write out three checks. One for Mabel, one for me, and one for Wally. They said, We don't do business like that. We're hiring Mabel, and she gets the check. Now, what she wants to do with it, that's her business. She might not give us any of it, they said. Well, that's still your problem, but don't bring it to us. So anyway, they fought and fought about it. Must be three checks. So I said, Okay, I'll tell you what, to cure the whole thing, I won't do the movie. So let's pull it that way.

SPEAKER_02 14:11

Damn.

Marissa 14:12

Okay. They didn't care because they weren't gonna have a three-way split. They rather not have me pay them than to have a say. They had to be the boss. Interesting. Yes. Okay, okay, so so so let's. She was like, I will not be controlled. And you know what? Kudos to the studio for being like, no, we're paying the person who we we're contracted with.

Courtney 14:41

Well, yeah, and that's what I was gonna ask you. Like, I know that these are different times, there's contract players, there's all these things that are different than there than it is today. However, tell us how a manager is supposed to be paid.

Marissa 14:53

Um, it depends how you set it up. Okay the money always is going to first go to the whoever is being contracted. So what whether it's me personally or if I'm contracted under my um my business, um it goes to me first. Unless I specify in my contract at the time of being hired, that 10% goes to the manager, the rest goes to me. Or if you're real dumb, you can say, Hey, or you can pay my manager, you know, the money. Basically, you set up at the very beginning where the money goes to. But the money, unless you specify the money always goes to the performer first.

Courtney 15:53

Okay. Yeah. So so that's just been, it sounds like the way that it's been forever, unless you go outside the box and go out of your way to the street.

Marissa 16:02

It's also like, why would you as a studio, what like why would you as a business like pay for a service and be like, we're paying for a service, but we're actually not gonna pay for the person who's providing the service?

Courtney 16:14

Yeah, that probably messes up their like thinking that they're doing tax stuff.

Marissa 16:18

Yeah, and that person can be like, I never got paid and can go after, you know.

Courtney 16:24

Yeah. So there's all kinds of reasons why that's messy and stupid. But also they're like, they want to do like a three-way split. Is that what they said? Well, I guess they just said they parties involved. But but but Wally did have it'll, you know, we she talks about it later, but like he did have like 50, a 50-50 thing with her for a long time, which is like bad. But she was like, and that's when she's like, Oh, I'm so happy doing this. I don't care, I don't care about the money. Like that was like that stage for her. Um so but that's gonna change. So anyway. Good.

Studio Lots And Warner Brothers Leads

Courtney 16:58

So by this time, Mabel had moved into a housing situation with some printer friends of Uncle Wally's. Printing was another interest of Wally, in addition to all his promoting and managing. So she stuck around LA and made a new home away from home at a local rink. Because if Mabel had a rink to skate at, Mabel was happy. That's really all she needed.

SPEAKER_00 17:20

I love her.

Courtney 17:21

But it didn't take long for another studio, this time Warner Brothers, to come sniffing around.

Marissa 17:27

I wanna, I wanna, I wanna say, I love Warner Brothers. I just want to say it. It's my favorite lot to film. Okay, it is can't don't they and Universal because when I first moved to LA and I went to Universal just like for fun. And if you don't know, if you like you've never been to Universal here, it's not like Universal in Florida, where Universal in Florida is like literally just a theme park. Here in LA, part of it's a theme park, but most of it is a studio, an actual working studio. And so, and there's it's kind of like the park is kind of built in the mountain, kind of like. Yeah, sort of like above it. Yeah, so above it, and then there's two basically levels to the uh park, and when you go down to the bottom level, you ride these escalators for an eternity, but the whole time you're riding, you look out over the whole studio lot and you see movies and commercials, you see the business being done and movies being made, and you see it happening in real time. And I remember first moving here and being like going down those escalators and being like, uh, one day I'm gonna w work on that lot, I'm gonna film on that lot. And the day that I did, I was just so thrilled. It was thrilling. And it wasn't my first, it wasn't my first lot that I'd worked on, but it was like when I worked on the on that lot on the on that lot specifically. It was just uh it was thrilling.

Courtney 19:09

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I experienced that lot as well in a completely different way because I was a tour guide there for a minute. I don't know if we've talked about that on this show. We might have. We might have, but yes. Um, but that was like for the back lot tour ride.

Marissa 19:25

Yes. So it's like you do. You have to be really funny and high energy and good.

Courtney 19:31

You take people. You take them through all the because it's it's it's a weird situation because there are all these like sound stages and stuff around, again, for anyone who hasn't been there, and you're passing by everybody who is working, like Marissa, like you know, on the lot, and then you're also like, and then there's that working studio, and now we're just gonna drive into this like empty-looking cave where you'll get a King Kong simulation or whatever. Do you know what I mean? It's like these weird, it's like definitely like theme park elements within a working studio. It's very odd, it's very strange. So, um, but anyway, fun, but really fun. But it's it's like a whole, it's like a it's it's an alternate universe. So

Cuba Gig And Under The Table Pay

Courtney 20:10

anyway, they were doing a live show in Cuba, and because this is Warner Brothers, right? Um, and and because Cuba was a quote dark country, Mabel's words, not mine, they needed a quote dark skater. Um, and obviously, Mabel fit the bill. She's been she's been being told that that's the problem the whole time, and now they're like, that's exactly what we wanted. So they found her at her rink and offered her the job. And as Mabel tells it, it was a man named Leroy Prince who was working on the choreography for the show, and he said to her, We're going to do a show in Cuba and we need a black skater.

Marissa 20:55

Would you be interested in going? I said, Yeah. The amount of times she said yeah, and okay. Yeah. Very, very zen. So I said, but I want seven hundred and fifty dollars a week. You better work, manable. You better work. Yes. Yes. Um I said, but I want $750 a week. And they said, okay. What? Yeah. Wow, yes. But the cast was only getting around $150 a week. So Bob Turk, who was doing the choreography on the ice, because Leroy Prince was putting it on the floor and he had to put it on the ice for us, he said, Nobody's getting that kind of money. Why are you going to give her that kind of money? So naturally, they reneged on it because of that. I said, I don't think I'll be going. They said, I'll tell you what. We'll pay you under the table, and don't you let anybody know how much you're getting. They don't want you to get that kind of money.

SPEAKER_00 22:20

Well, hot da hot dandy dog.

Courtney 22:23

I know.

SPEAKER_02 22:24

She's like, well, wait a, wait a fucking get him.

Courtney 22:28

So you better get him, mate. I know. It's just like she's just like out the gate, like so ballsy. And she could have. Yeah, so it seems.

Marissa 22:37

You know why? You know why? Because they needed her and she did not need them. That's right. I mean, she didn't.

Courtney 22:45

She was just like she had she held all the cards. Damn.

Marissa 22:50

She likes to be able to do that.

Courtney 22:51

But even to realize one day, but even to realize that, do you know what I mean? She's been like she's been shot down so many times. Like, oh, it seems as if Mabel knew her worth, obviously, right? And it also seemed that at this moment in time, she may have been better off managing herself than letting Uncle Wally drive the car, just saying, like that was a pretty good negotiation, if I do say so myself. So Mabel was jetted off to Cuba, making five times as much as the other performers. That is crazy. And I just want it. I just want to point out, again, this is a self-esteem and self-belief that could easily have been diminished at this point. Squashed. Totally. And in some ways it was. She'd been turned away from so many shows simply because she was black. When asked of the about the creators of the Ice Follies and Ice Capades, um, they were a duo named Shipstads and Johnson, Maple said.

Marissa 23:53

None of them liked me, of course, because I was black. None of the producers of the shows. They didn't even want to see me around. Nobody seemed to have liked me. Maybe I didn't like myself. I don't know. They say you have to love yourself for other people to love you. So maybe I didn't love myself.

Courtney 24:14

Maybe there's like these little like there's these little like heart-wrenching moments where she seems so strong, but I like that's kind of what I mean. I feel like she has to put on this like armor all the time. And I think that like you get a little bit of that, just like it's so hurtful, you know? So I know I'm about to start my period.

Marissa 24:35

That almost made me cry. I know, I feel like I'm wondering about you.

Courtney 24:40

So, and yet she negotiated Quintupple, the pay of the other skaters, despite those heavy, shitty feelings. But back to Cuba. At that time, Cuba was a popular vacation spot with a fair amount of wealth, extravagance, and political turmoil. The winning combination. The trifecta! Yes. Mabel regularly got offers of marriage from several wealthy and attractive Cubans while she was down there. And although she enjoyed their wooing, she always opted out.

Marissa 25:17

There was one who used to have the singers serenading me under my window. Every morning they'd come with their banjo or whatever it was they played and serenaded me. It was so lovely. I really enjoyed it. I would stick my head out the window and really enjoy it. But that's as far as it got. I said, I don't want to marry any Cubans because they're all gonna say the same thing. Don't go to the States. And then they were fighting over there politically about who was gonna be the next leader. You know, Batista, who's gonna be next? Castro, we're gonna put Batista out. They were fighting over that. I said, Well, since they're up in their political thing, I'd better forget the whole thing. And I've got to go home.

Courtney 26:03

She's like, I don't have time for this revolution or whatever the hell is happening here.

SPEAKER_02 26:10

Batista Castro.

Courtney 26:12

I don't know who these men are. I don't know why you're talking about them. I don't get it. Like, no, no. But um, you know, it was mostly it was more than that. It was more than that, like that she was like, no, I'm not gonna do that.

Marissa 26:23

Um I love that she was like, these men are gonna try to control me and keep me from going back to the stage. That's right. That was keep me from working.

Courtney 26:31

That's right. Goodbye. Right. She didn't she she recognized that that could get in her way. And although she had long-term relationships that were soon to come her way, most notably with a tall Danish director and writer named Neil Larsen. Um, and she was with him for several years, but very much a footnote in the way she tells her story. But yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:53

Um Mabel, you better work.

Courtney 26:57

Mabel continued to refuse proposals of marriage.

Marissa 27:00

In her words, I'm not burying anybody. I'm married to my skating. That's right.

Marriage Proposals And Revolutions Abroad

Courtney 27:10

So, but shortly after returning to Los Angeles from Cuba, Mabel was booked for another show in Mexico at a club called The Follies Burg Bergere. I don't know if I'm saying that right. Bergere?

Marissa 27:26

B-E-R-G-E with a tilde, but backwards.

Courtney 27:31

It's not a tilde though, it's like a it's like an accent, like a backwards accent.

Marissa 27:37

Isn't that what a tilde is? Tilde? No, isn't a tilde like the little squiggle above an N. I might have to get my Puerto Rican card revoked. It is Folly's Berger Berger B-E-R-G-E with a backwards tilde R-E. For six weeks. Yep.

Courtney 28:06

She did that for six weeks. Um she said that she loved it, but it actually sounds like terrifying to me. Um this is her account. This is what she said.

Marissa 28:20

We played there. Lovely. Then they decided to have a revolution.

SPEAKER_02 28:27

She keeps going playing, oh she can't escape the revolution. So funny.

Marissa 28:41

Machetes. Oh my god. And they said they cut off one kid's head. I didn't see it, so I don't know.

unknown 28:52

What?

Marissa 28:55

We all had to run to get out. And we got out of the theater and we were able to go to our hotel. And another time we were there at the theater. We had a flooding. You could see these bathtubs and things going down the street.

SPEAKER_00 29:11

I had so much fun in that place.

unknown 29:17

What?

Marissa 29:22

So I said, How are we gonna get out of the theater? Because we have to come back here tonight for the show. This was in the morning. So finally, our the fellow who was our interpreter who we had, Mario, he came out and he said, Okay, guys, you want to go to your hotel? We said, Yeah. He said, Okay, I've rented a tub. So we all get into this bathtub and went row, row, row your boat down the street.

Courtney 30:08

Okay, that part thought it's kind of fun. But she's just like, there's machetes, they cut off some kid's head. I don't know. Um I didn't see it. I don't know. I don't know. This is this is just like her sleeping in Central Park. She's like, it was nothing. I was fine. Insanity. So, but in that show, Mabel was treated like a star. Hell yeah.

Marissa 30:32

They had built for me a dome, and out of this dome was fire, and I had to leap out of this fire to come out to do my jungle dance. They had seen me dance. They said she needs some more background for it.

SPEAKER_00 30:45

It was a gorgeous background. I loved it.

Courtney 30:53

So Mabel continued to be booked despite the overt racism in these shows. She was busy. That's right. And even in the US, she did. She started to get booked more and more.

Frosty Frolics And Racism On Ice

Courtney 31:05

She did a televised show called Frosty Frolics that, in many ways, according to her, what's her idea? She had, yep, she had met the future producer of the show, Klaus Landsberg. Klaus was the pioneering manager of the Los Angeles television station KTLA.

Marissa 31:26

And he was involved in the Still here today, to this day. Mm-hmm.

Courtney 31:30

And he was involved in rehearsals for Showboat for the station at a theater on Melrose. So Mabel just walked in the way she tells the story and struck up a conversation.

Marissa 31:40

I said to him, Why don't you put skating in there? Because I'm an ice skater. Could you put skating in there? And he said, Oh, God, Klaus. What is your what is your accent, Klaus?

Courtney 31:54

I don't know anything about Klaus. He was in America for a long time. I feel like you can do whatever you want, but obviously he's German.

Marissa 31:59

No, no. No, no. Go for the German. Klaus. Klaus needs an accent.

Courtney 32:07

Zer's no like with a Z, right?

Marissa 32:10

Zer Sno. Yeah. Okay, good. Okay. He said Zer's no skating in Showboat. So I said, put me in anyway. He said no, that wouldn't be right. So he said, Be patient. I'm sinking. Maybe I can give you a show. I can do a show for you. I said okay. So that's when he came up with the idea of frosty frolics.

unknown 32:43

Okay.

Marissa 32:44

And true to his word. He was he was like, he's literally like, there's no ice skating in this show, but I can make a whole other show for you.

Courtney 32:52

Seriously, the way she tells the story, it feels like she walked in off the street, interrupted his rehearsal, and was just like, hey, can you put ice skating in your show? Because I'm an ice skater, so I don't know. Like, that's such a crazy thing to do. Yeah. Like, can you imagine? Um that's a crazy thing to do.

Marissa 33:08

I love it. I love it. I hope that is what happened.

Courtney 33:11

I mean, how else would it have happened? I don't know. I don't know. So, um, and true to his word, Klaus did start a show called Frosty Frolics at the nearby Polar Palace on Melrose. It was a KTLA show that was the first weekly television skating-themed program in America, combining figure skating, live music, and dance as a kind of variety hour. So a totally fresh thing. And when Mabel got back from Mexico, they had already started rehearsing for the show without her included, and it was helmed by choreographer Bob Turk. Who we've met previously. Who've met previously?

Marissa 33:53

I just thought I was just automatically in because it was because of me that the show was going on. But all the kids fought to keep me out. They said she can't come in because the only thing she knows how to do is ballet. So I didn't tell them when I did shows because I always had to do shows in dark countries, that I had to do some of everything, you know? And I just had to create my own stuff as they played the music.

SPEAKER_00 34:20

So they said, She's gonna have to learn how to do the cakewalk. She's gonna have to learn how to do the boogie woogie. She's gonna have to learn how to do tap. She's gonna have to learn how to jungle dance.

Marissa 34:33

And this and that. I think it was about five dances they said I had to know how to do. There was this fellow, Willie Coven, he taught for Warner Brothers. He taught the dancers. So I went over to his studio and I told him I have to learn to do a tap number and a boogie and a rhythm skating, and I had to do the jungle, anything that a black person is supposed to do. So he said, Okay. I said, They gave me two weeks to learn how to do all those dances. Don't worry, you can do them. He said to just be in here at such and such a time in the morning, bring your lunch with you because you'll be here all day long, every day. So she was just like, All right, now I'm committed. Now I'm gonna learn all this. He's like, you'll learn is gonna take all day, every day. Yeah. You'll learn. We're gonna get it.

Courtney 35:23

We're gonna get it. We got two weeks. Let's go. So Bob Turk had originally told Mabel that she would have two weeks to learn all the new choreography. So Mabel rehearsed for five days straight with Willie all day with her lunch, her sack lunch or whatever, you know. Um, with him tapping out the rhythm for her with his cane and keeping her on beat. That's literally what she describes. And like such a classic dance teacher.

Marissa 35:50

Um I mean, totally. Yes. Sitting sitting in a chair, just hitting your cane on the one, two, three, four. What is it? Five, six, seven, eight.

Courtney 36:01

Yep.

Marissa 36:02

One, two, your hands in the air. Yep. Three, four, stop slouching straight away. Exactly. Yelling criticisms in time.

Courtney 36:14

Yep, exactly. So, um, I know, I feel like you just took me back to like ballet classes for my childhood. Anyway. Um, so they had originally told her that she had two weeks to learn the choreography, but then Bob Turk called and he said, This show, the show has got to go on, and we have to take back the two weeks.

Marissa 36:39

You don't have two weeks to learn them, so I guess you're not in the show.

Courtney 36:44

So Willie, who had been teaching her for the last five days, cleared his schedule, you know. He called to make time for this, called Klaus Landsberg and asked when they needed her for rehearsals. And he said, tonight. So Willie promised she'd be there that night. So Willie and Mabel showed up and she executed all five dances perfectly. Chef's kiss.

Marissa 37:11

Yes, girl. And I just went through whatever they wanted me to do. Then Klaus says, Okay, she's in. So all these skaters were mad, and they said, How did you learn all these dances that fast?

SPEAKER_00 37:26

We said that you had to be here in five days, and that wasn't enough time to learn one dance.

Marissa 37:31

How could you come up with five dances? And I said, Because God is on my side and I'm on his side. Motherfucker. No, yes. I said that. I said that to be fair. I said that. Mabel didn't say that. I said that.

Courtney 37:46

It's hard not to add these little zingers.

Marissa 37:50

Yeah.

Courtney 37:51

But Bob Turk was not a fan of having Mabel in the show, and he had her dress as a maid for the show, which feels uh kind of like the ultimate racist way of making sure that she didn't attract too many eyes, you know? So he sent Mabel to Western costumes.

Marissa 38:11

And also the most like unimaginative.

Courtney 38:16

Oh, of course. Well, I think it's just like you know what I mean. Yeah, it's like, I don't know what to, and he kind of, yeah, he'll get we'll he'll get there, but he's he basically says this later. Like, I don't know what to do with her. It's like, yeah, so I'll just do what everybody does. Make her a mate. Um so anyway, he tells her that she has to go to Western costumes to find a maid outfit. He made he sends her off to do it herself. And Mabel turned down all of the costumes they brought out until they showed her a maid costume that had once been worn by star Betty Grable. And because Mabel knew she was a star, that is the outfit she chose.

Marissa 38:59

I did a rhythm number that night. I'm telling you, it wasn't myself out there doing that number. God took over, and it was just fantastic. I'm telling you, I was just in seventh heaven doing it, and everybody in the audience stood up applauding, so I stole the show, of course. And then they were angry because I stole the show.

SPEAKER_00 39:23

Get off the stage! You get off the stage, get out here, get back here behind the curtain.

Marissa 39:30

But the people wouldn't let me off. They were still applauding, and the more they applauded, the more I did. We're gonna cut we're gonna cut most of this out. I said, You're not the one taping it. KTLA is filming it. I said, they'll show whatever they want to show.

SPEAKER_00 39:53

They were mad. Don't you ever do that again. Or you're not going to be in the show. I'll find some way to get you out.

Marissa 40:03

So anyway, the show went on, and every number I did, I was just fantastic.

Courtney 40:15

Just tell it like it is. I love it. I love like her confidence is the best, the best ever. It really is. It's the best ever. So, but Bob Turk still fought to kick her out of the show. He went to Klaus and said, What did what was the the voice I used for Bob?

Marissa 40:33

I don't know. You know something. It doesn't matter. You know something? I can't think of something every week for Mabel to do. She can't skate the show every week. Maybe every other week or other three or four weeks, I can't create anything for her to do. After all, she's black, you know, and it's hard creating things for black people. Landsberg said. Who's that? Klaus. Klaus. Klaus, I'll just say that. Klaus said just use her in the show. No. No, that's rock. That's my name is Klaus. Just use her in the show as you do for everybody else. Just use her in the show as you do for anybody else. Don't think of her as being black. Turk shot back with Oh no. The cast wouldn't like that. And Klaus said Well, she's in this show anyway.

Courtney 41:49

But yay for Klaus, right? But uh Klaus. He's like He's like, do your job. Fuck you, she's in the show. Do your job. She's in the show, do your job. So a few weeks later, Klaus, as much as we love him, suddenly passed away. And the show just suddenly died. She's just like, yeah, he died. Um when she's telling the story. And the show was fully canceled by KTLA as a result. I think they were like, this was this guy's crazy idea, even though it was doing really well. I don't know. Like they they just, I think it was a big production, and so they canceled it. But Mabel had proven once again that she was a show stopper, even if her castmates and choreographers were trying to stop her from being in the show out of sheer racism. Now, as a counterpoint to this story, what's really confusing is that other sources describe Bob Turk as being a champion of Mabel, fearlessly casting her when segregation was at its strongest. There's also stories of the cast.

Marissa 43:02

You know what this is giving? You know what this is giving? This is giving. Okay, you remember, did you ever see Hidden Figures? Yes. Yes. Okay, you remember Jim Parsons was in it. Jim Parsons was the guy who played uh Sheldon in Big Bang Theory. Yes. And you know how the whole time he was like super racist and like at the end, sort of like begrudgingly like respected her and worked alongside her. That's what that is giving. Right. It's forced, it's forced the entire time to tolerate. To t yeah, to tolerate and be smashed in the face with her brilliance until he accepted it. And maybe he did go outside to eat with her every once in a while, but I don't know. It's like I don't believe it.

Courtney 43:58

I don't know. This is just I believe Mabel too. And she even says she she doesn't tell anybody. Believe women! Believe women in their oral histories. Um she did know him before this. She doesn't like she said that they had been friendly at a certain point because like he was taking her to dance classes and stuff and would even give her a ride. And that was, I think, before that they worked together. It's hard to piece together timelines from her accounts sometimes, but that's the kind of the way she's telling. So she's just like, I think it was hurtful on another level because she's like, I thought that we were good, you know? But I honestly feel like what I'm getting from him is like he couldn't stand up to the racism of everybody else, you know, had his own, I'm sure, but also like didn't stand up for her if every but if everybody in the cast, what she is saying was like, we don't want you here. We're gonna make it as hard as possible for you to be here. And he's just like, okay, I'll go along with you guys. Do you know what I mean? Don't you feel like it seems like that? It's such a bitch move.

Marissa 45:07

It is. It's a super bitch move. So it's a super bitch move. It's like, oh, I just want to be liked by the majority of cowardly of races of racism, you know. It's right, it's like the people who stay silent in the face of racism or sexism, whatever is them, you know, and the people who stay silent about it are worse.

Courtney 45:31

Well, and he was in charge. It's not even just saying silent, it's like it's like setting the tone, you know. So yeah. Um, but uh so anyway, she was like, whatever, like they canceled the whole show. Like the way she phrased it was he got his come up ins. And she's just like, they the the universe handled that, you know? Um so but this is like okay, yeah, that's the way she tells the story. I believe her, right.

Sexism On Tour And Pittsburgh Stranding

Courtney 46:01

The next show Mabel did was a touring show called Rhythm on Ice that was run by a man called George Arnold. Once again, she was the only black skater in the cast, and once again, she secretly negotiated her rate to be $750 something. Yep. And if yep, and if racism hadn't been enough of an obstacle for Mabel, now she was dealing with sexism from George, which was a little surprising as George himself was gay.

Marissa 46:35

Well, you know, gay men can hate women too.

Courtney 46:39

Straight men hate women, gay men can't especially when they're hiding themselves, and at this time you know that he was.

Marissa 46:45

Yes. God, I'm exhausted by the patriarchy. George had a way of always pulling the girls' dresses up, you know, over their heads. It could be in the streets, he doesn't care. To him, it did not mean anything because he was gay, and that meant nothing to him. So I said, George, don't ever do that to me. So he said, Oh no. But he did anyway. I would murder. I would murder. I would straight up knife him in the streets.

Courtney 47:22

Yep, yep, yep. So after touring through Palm Springs and around the country, they brought the show to Pittsburgh, and that's when George decided to mess with Mabel's draft.

Marissa 47:35

We stopped at a gas station to get the car filled up, and there was a fellow there sweeping up the garage. It was at night, but this fellow was the only one there. He pumped the gas also. All of us in one car, there were seven in the cast, everybody in one car. So George decided that he was going to show the fellow while I was with the show that I was a play toy. So he takes my dress and pulls it up, and I hauled off and slapped his face so hard I said, Don't you ever do that again. I said, You can play with the rest of the cast, but you don't do that to me. He was so embarrassed because of the kids in the car. If we had been alone, it wouldn't have bothered him.

SPEAKER_00 48:23

But for the rest of the cast, they said, You're not gonna let her get away with that, are you, George?

Marissa 48:29

He was embarrassed. And he apologized to me in front of the cast so they can know that everything is okay. I said, George, I will never apologize to you because you're not gonna do that to me again.

Courtney 48:45

It's like you're right, you do owe me an apology, but I'm will not apologize for slapping you. Yeah.

Marissa 48:51

Right.

Courtney 48:52

No, thank you.

Marissa 48:53

No, no, thank you. No, thank you.

Courtney 48:56

But this was not the end of it. Mabel had humiliated George in front of the cast, basically. I mean, very much rightfully so. So he cut her out of the show and stranded her in Pittsburgh, and the show left the town without her.

Marissa 49:15

They took off and left me there stranded, they thought. But you see, I was saving my money. Every time I got a check, it went to New York at Chase and Manhattan Bank, and I had a checking account there, so all I had to do was write a check for a ticket to go any place I wanted to go. So they couldn't strand me. The rest of the cast they could strand because they only got $75 a week, and he took that back from them. They were just so happy to be in the show. She's like, That's why I asked you. You better work. See, this is this is why you always, always have to be financially independent.

Courtney 49:56

That's true.

Marissa 49:57

You can write yourself a check out of a pickle.

Courtney 50:01

There you go. That's right. But, you know, Mabel, she could have done that. She had options, but she did actually stay in Pittsburgh for a few nights anyway, because she knew that Ella Fitzgerald was in town singing in a show.

Marissa 50:15

She's like, well, now that I'm here, yeah, catch a show.

Courtney 50:19

Well, not even that. She's like, she walked over and explained the situation that predicament that she was in and asked Ella for a dance spot. So shit. So she did that for a few nights.

Marissa 50:30

Just a few nights. I love her. Oh my God.

Courtney 50:36

And then again, proving what a star she is, if that wasn't enough, um, Uncle Wally called and said, You have to get back to LA because they wanted to do a story with her and Josephine Baker. So do we need a breath after all of that name dropping? Honestly. Oh. Breathe, people, breathe. Just she reminds me a lot of Josephine Baker because they're basically both dancers and like, and you know, and these like powerful black women at the time, like defying all the odds that are against them.

Marissa 51:09

So stacked, stacked odds.

Courtney 51:13

Yes. Um, so anyway, Mabel returned to LA and met with Josephine as soon as her plane landed at the airport. And the press took photos of them right there. They just were like, we we'll coordinate the flights and get off and do that. And I tried to find this photo, and for the life of me, I could not. But Mabel said it happened, and I believe Mabel.

Marissa 51:35

Okay.

Courtney 51:36

Yeah. So Believe women. Believe me. These are also like really, really old. It's there's just, you know, there's the things that survive and the things that don't. So I'm gonna put all the pictures that I do have, though, by the way, on her sub stack. So head over there. But speaking of name dropping, Mabel also befriended other stars demonstrating black excellence in LA, like, as we previously mentioned, Sammy Davis Jr. and gone with the wind star Hattie McDaniel, who would later become Mabel's neighbor in tribute form at Hollywood Forever. Yeah, and it was it was in tribute form because she had wanted to be buried there, Hattie McDaniel, but at the time no black dead folks were allowed. Racism to the grave. But I digress. Between shows and tours, Mabel taught, and she had been doing that since the moment she arrived in LA.

Marissa 52:37

I started teaching as soon as I came here. People would ask me to help them, you know. I said, then why shouldn't I charge you also? You know, when I came out here, they were only charging around two or two fifty a lesson. Excuse me, that's two dollars or two dollars and fifty cents a lesson.

Courtney 52:57

Yeah, the way you say that now totally changes it.

Marissa 52:59

It's true. Yeah, yeah. They had an instructor, Eugene Mickler. He was charging five dollars a lesson. And I said, Well, I feel I know as much as he does, so I'll charge five dollars. They said nobody is gonna pay you five dollars when they can get it for $2.50. So I said, Well, I think I can because I'll teach them how to do it when they do it, where to do it, and this and that.

Courtney 53:27

She's like, No, actually, I have a lot to offer.

Marissa 53:29

So Yeah, actually, so it's five dollars.

Courtney 53:32

Yeah, that is that is the price. Um, so once again, Mabel knew her worth. And I said it sooner than this in the script, pretty much at the beginning, but she really, you know, had gotten to the point where she did not need Uncle Wally anymore. Especially because the split between them was totally unfair and he blocked her from opportunities by making everything about money.

Marissa 53:56

Uncle Wally, he made me sign this contract for seven years that we would split 50-50. I said, Wally, you can have all the money. I just want to skate. I don't care about the money, just let me skate. But he didn't believe me, so he made me sign a contract. The last two years of that contract, because I had missed out on so many shows I wanted to do because he wouldn't let me do them because they didn't include him in it. I don't know why no one would believe me that I wouldn't give them the money, but I said, Well, the only way to do this is to not skate in any shows. So the last two years I would not skate shows until the contract was up. When it was up, I said, Okay. I said, I'm not renewing my contract, Wally. So he said, I guess that's that then. I said, Yeah, that's that. You didn't believe I would just give you the money. That's strange because whenever I would tour, you would send me all of these checks and say sign them and you wrote any amount you wanted in them. I said, That's strange that you did that, but yet when I'm here, you don't trust that I would give you the money. So then I said, Well, if that's the way you feel about it, no sense in our being partners anymore, or you being my manager. You know, when I wanted to go to Japan or to Europe or any place like that, he always put such a stumbling block there that I couldn't go because he was not included. But people are like that when it comes down to money. It's so true. He's shady as hell. Yeah, yeah, but all of that is been he's been skimming money from her.

Courtney 55:36

Also seven years for 50-50. That's crazy. Like all of those numbers are crazy. So crazy. So crazy. Um, it was time to end the Uncle Wally chapter.

Marissa 55:48

Past time.

Courtney 55:50

Yep, yep, we're done. So uh, but she still stayed close to him. Like she still cared about him for a long time. Like she even took care of him when he was ailing at one point. So the business relationship ended, but the human relationship really never did. She she just she's like such a beautiful person. I feel like she's just like stands up for herself, but it's also like, I'm not, I'm not gonna let everything ruin, you know, people for me. I don't know. Like, yeah.

Marissa 56:20

Um and and I'm sure because he, you know, he helped her when she was a child. Like, I'm sure he held a very, very, very special place in her heart. Right. Of course, because he did not have to do that, especially you know, at the very beginning, what was he getting out of that at the beginning?

Courtney 56:38

Nothing right, and he made her that little rank. She was making money at these like clubs, and that was the first time she was really making money skating. I mean, like, there's a lot of gratitude there, I'm sure. It's like that's just like, oh, like for her, I'm sure that was when she realized I can make money doing this, you know.

Marissa 56:52

Um, so he was I feel like he was just either skimming money from her, you know, and thinking that she would do the same to him, or he just didn't trust other people with his money, which I get. I don't trust other people with my money.

Courtney 57:09

Well, yeah, especially and he probably in the back of his head he knew that the deal wasn't fair and that he didn't deserve it. That's the other thing. Do you know what I mean? I think he's probably trying to take whatever he could get while he could get it. That's kind of, you know, just looking out for himself, honestly. SCSI manager behavior. It is, it is. But um,

Breaking With Uncle Wally For Good

Courtney 57:28

okay, so but around this time for Mabel, teaching became more of a calling for her than a way to earn a buck. And that's when she became convinced that it was God's will for her to train and champion black skaters. We talked before um on this show about, I think in the Herb Jeffries episodes, about leaving the door open when someone holds it open for you. But in Mabel's case, she wanted to knock down the doors that had been closed to her. She wanted to do it not for her own gain, but on behalf of every other black child out there who had dreamed of becoming a skater and been told that there was no future in it for them. In fact, the skating rinks themselves tried to close the door on Mabel even when it came to teaching. Even though kids used to make a circle around Mabel and watch her skate, and the parents would offer to pay her money for their lessons before she'd even advertised them. The rinks did not want her to teach. And they told her that it was because she was black. They didn't even hide it. They're like, you can't teach, other people can, you can't because you're black.

SPEAKER_00 58:34

So you know what? You know what? That you know what? That just goes to show you racism costs you.

Marissa 58:42

Okay, it costs you, and not only costs you, you know, the moral cost, but these businesses with their racism, it costs you why why if there's a demand, the people want this. The people want this, the people want this. Like you have to be. I mean, I think racism is really stupid, but it is really uh for me. I'm a data, I'm a data person, I'm a numbers person. If you take emotion out of it and it's just data and numbers, racism is a stupid decision. And it is especially especially as a business.

Courtney 59:21

Oh my god.

Marissa 59:22

Yes.

Courtney 59:23

Super, yeah, super, super stupid. That's not to minimize the moral, you know, what it costs. Right. No, no, no, everything. Right, but right, you know, no, I've I don't think you were minimizing it. It's just like that's yeah. Um they they didn't hide it. They're like, you're black, you can't do it. So Mabel did something about it, something really big and really ballsy and really impress I don't know. I'm just I'm I'm this amazes me. So go on.

Marissa 59:52

Okay. If that's gonna be the case, if they're gonna discriminate against me and tell me that I cannot teach because I'm black, no matter how much knowledge I have of skating, then I must do something about it. Go to school and get an education again because you didn't learn anything when you went to high school and got that diploma. You didn't learn anything, now go to college. So I decided to go to LACC and I decided to study law. I said, if I study law and I know the law, then they can't do anything about it, and I can stand up for myself. So I did. It took me about four years. Yeah.

Courtney 1:00:37

Oh my I know God. I love her. This is like the best way of thinking about things. It's like she's just like, she really did have like a vision of being like, I there are I know there's gonna be obstacles, and I am going to make sure I figure out how to get past them. And that's what I'm doing.

Marissa 1:00:55

God, I love I love this woman. I know I love this woman. This I know like speaks to my soul. I know. It's such it's so inspiring. She's she's just like so just determined. She's like, Well, I'm gonna do this, so I'm gonna do it. Right. No, I know. It's amazing. It's amazing. And that's that's how I kind of live my life.

Courtney 1:01:13

Yeah, yeah. But like also, just as a side note, like when when did you go to high school, Mabel? Because I missed that part of the story. Completely missed that part. She doesn't mention it. It's not, it doesn't feel like she had time. I'm just, I don't know when that happened. Um, that's a that's a lost mystery, but apparently she went and got a diploma somewhere in her shuffle of things. So yeah, when did she go to school at all? I don't know.

Marissa 1:01:39

I was I was thinking like when I was reading that, I was like, is this the type of like the whole thing? I was like, did she go to okay? Yeah. But she went all she did law school. I thought, I thought when she said she was gonna go to college, I thought she was going to like to learn business and she was gonna like open up her own rink and maybe like go her own way. That's what I thought. Yeah, and go her own way. That's what I thought she was gonna do.

Courtney 1:02:01

But this is well, way cooler. It's way cooler. And and honestly, she already had I I should have put this in because I just found it out. It's like again, it's like a hard timeline of things here with all of her shows and her like resume, but she did have that business side of her too because she did put on a show that had like an interracial um skating cast and everything, like that uh I think she called it. Wait, I wrote this down as a note to bring up.

Marissa 1:02:25

Yeah, she has like a natural business mind.

Courtney 1:02:28

She does, she does, and she negotiates for herself. She's she's working very much as her own manager. She could have, yeah, like she's she's good at that.

Marissa 1:02:34

So probably she didn't need that degree. I could see, I could see why she was like, let me go for law. I could see that.

Courtney 1:02:39

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So um, her own show, by the way, it was called Ice America, and it was billed as the world's only interracial ice and stage show. Um, yeah, so she did that. But anyway, so she she was like already like she already figured out and she already did her own thing too with her like six by six thing. I mean, she had Uncle Wally's help a little bit there, but she's like, Yeah, I'm doing this my own way because everybody's closing doors to me. So she always did figure that out. So yeah, now she's like, Okay, I'm gonna play the big game now, and I'm gonna know the law, and your racism isn't gonna beat it, basically. So, anyway, she had a mission. Um, she had a serious mission.

Marissa 1:03:19

God had chosen me to put black skating on the map. The only way you can do it is to teach some black kids to skate. You know, Maribel Vinson told me the same thing. She said, Mabel, there are never gonna be black kids in competitions or even ice shows unless you do something about it. So you're the first one. So now you train them and get them into competition and get them into shows. And she said that same thing. So I said, Well, that's what I'm put here for. That's what I'll do. And I've always been so happy about it. No problem. It took everything I earned, but I enjoyed doing it. I never thought about the money. You see, black skaters didn't have any money to get in, so I had to spend all of my money on them to get them in. Buy them car, cry. Buy their costumes and rink admissions, and buy their skates and things like that to keep them in it because the parents say we can't afford it. But this way it was like everything was for free, and they were good hard workers. Those black kids really became such good skaters. I felt nobody could outskate them really. When I started teaching skating, and when I had to stand up for what is right, then I came out of my shell. I knew that I was very, very important. So I said, Who are they to say that I'm this and that? I'm as important or even more important than they are. Yep.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:10

And we will write Mabel! I know.

Marissa 1:05:15

This is like screech into the microphone, sorry.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:20

Mabel!

Courtney 1:05:21

Mabel, Mabel, yep, we're cheering your name from the stands of the competition that you should have been allowed to compete in. But it's like this is this is what she's doing. This is like the big picture for her, and this is like the dream in her head coming to life, sort of. Um and it and it does, you know, and we'll get into like more of the specifics of how and her and her actual like teaching career that she really became known for, and all of the people that she championed in the way we're describing.

Law School And A Teaching Mission

Marissa 1:05:55

In the last and final episode. Oh my gosh. You absolute queen. I know. I love that. I love that she was like skating, it was always like she was she it was she was naturally talented, she was inclined gli gifted, like it was her natural gift, but her calling was teaching. And I love that I love that because she felt truly, truly, well and truly called to it. And to be like all of it, it's not just like her time and efforts and expertise, it's her money and everything she earned and to just oh God, I love her. And she was so much.

Courtney 1:06:43

And she was doing, she was doing like there's so many parts of this that you know I can't include every part of her oral history. It's it's long, but she just she says that um there was one point when like she was in Los Angeles already, and somebody in New York called to have her do a show out there, and she was like, I can't do it, but I trained this like Venezuelan girl when I was there. I like helped train her, and she's she's great, and you should hire her, but you have to pay her my rate. And they were like, Well, what's your rate? And she was like $750 a week, and they're like, That's a lot of money. And she was like, Yeah, well, like that, I think she's worth it. That's my recommendation. And then they hired her, and she was like, in her words, she was like, She's been doing well ever since.

Marissa 1:07:30

Hell yes! Yes! Oh, I fucking love this. I love that so much. Yeah, yes, Mabel.

Courtney 1:07:36

So she was already like, before even she had the true calling, she was already like, I'm gonna, I'm gonna show you my ways, I'm gonna help you out. She was already teaching, she was teaching this whole time, but it was just, and I think she just like had those little moments where it was like, Oh no, like you deserve this, you should do this. And it was kind of lifting people up, but then it became like, oh no, I have to do this in a way where I'm really focused on it, you know, to make the changes that I need to see happen. And Maribel Vincent, again, the one who's like, you have to be the one to do this. I feel like she was like her, the one training her, you know. And I also read in a different place, like just this last week, that Maribel Vinson and the teacher at that ice rink that we talked about last time that were helping coach Mabel and everything, they had to do that at night a lot of times because like they like that's what the source I read said, like because they couldn't do it when other people were around.

Marissa 1:08:28

Yeah. And I bet just like she did just like Mabel did for her students, Maribel probably, you know, got her the skates, you know, and like made sure. Mm-hmm. Yeah, made sure she was okay.

Courtney 1:08:42

Like she was okay, yeah. And that she was ready to do it, prepared. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, it's it's it's a beautiful, it's a beautiful thing. And it's like I I just think this is like really an interesting story because you don't I don't expect these stories, these kinds of stories to come out of the people that we usually choose for this show, just because it's kind of like, I mean, she's Mabel's an underdog for sure, but we get a lot of like underdogs, people who get forgotten, maybe their career went sideways, maybe whatever, you know what I mean? Like that's kind of what I've come to expect. And this is this, it almost makes me mad that more people don't know about her because I'm like, you're this is literally a person who changed the world for people. Like she changed the world for like these athletes. She changed a sport. Like those are she changed the world. So you don't, yeah, it's kind of incredible. So I've more people need to know this woman's name. Mabel Fairbanks.

Marissa 1:09:38

Yep. Episode three. Final episode coming in a few weeks.

Courtney 1:09:45

Yep, and that'll be the last episode of season two, and then we'll be back again in you know, in a few months with uh with some more goodies and some more stories and some extras, and it's gonna be um good stuff. Delicious delicious stuff. I'm already prepping for it, but um, yeah, need a need a second to get it together for all that. So um, but yeah, this will be a great one to end on. This is like an inspiring as hail story, so and we need it. And we need it.

Marissa 1:10:15

We always need a good hearted underdog story with a good, happy ending. Dear God, please. Yeah, we need it. Yeah, for sure. All right, we'll see you guys soon. Or you'll hear us soon. You'll hear us soon.

Courtney 1:10:30

Yes. I can't show Marissa has vetoed the idea of showing any clips from this episode because she thinks that she is dusty, is what I heard.

Marissa 1:10:40

Dusty and musty.

Courtney 1:10:43

Perfect. Well, I'm sweating.

Marissa 1:10:45

You can hear it in my voice. I'm like so stuffed up from all the dust.

Courtney 1:10:49

Well, that I can't edit out. That I can't edit out, but we'll your sniffles and your dust voice stay, but your face stays out of it. All right, we'll see you guys next time or here. You'll we'll whatever. You know what I mean. Bye. Bye. Thank

Season Finale Tease And Listener Requests

Courtney 1:11:09

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 Tafophile 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.