Mabel's Dream -- King Oliver's Jazz Band 1923
This a track from the famous Oliver/Armstrong recordings. The band plays Mabel's Dream. A famous movie star in those years was Mabel Normand.
Could this composition and it's name have had anything to do with her popularity? Maybe, or maybe not. Who is there still to ask?
WHO WAS MABEL NORMAND?
Mabel Normand was known as the female Chaplin and the undisputed queen of comedy. It was Mabel who is credited with throwing the first custard pie as a gag on screen. She helped get Charlie Chaplin his start in movies, even directing him in his first films. She ranked with Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd. It might be said that Charlie was a male Mabel.
Mabel told people that she was born on November 10, 1893, in New Brighton, Staten Island, New York. Mabel was a natural athlete and a breathtaking beauty.
At the time of her death in February 1930 she left behind a world full of broken hearts that mourned her carefree innocence and brilliant comic style. Sadly, the screen has never again seen the likes of darling, dainty, dashing Mabel with the curly locks. Always happy and gay; that's her way!
Of all the comediennes of the silent film era, none was more talented and touching, more original and funny than Mabel Normand. As well as being one of early film comedy's most notable stars, she was also one of its most innovative and creative pioneers.