Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

Some time ago, J. and I saw University Theater's production of August Wilson's Ma Rainey's Black Bottom. The play's title refers to a song Rainey recorded in 1927.

Born Gertrude Pritchett in 1886 in Columbus, Georgia, Rainey performed in minstrel and vaudeville shows as a young adult. She first encountered the blues in 1902 at a tent show in Missouri. Rainey heard a girl more moaning than singing about how her man had left her. Prior to this, Rainey had employed a more theatrical singing style.

In 1904, she married William "Pa" Rainey and became known as "Madame Rainey." While touring the country as part of F.S. Wolcott's Rabbit Foot Minstrels and Tolliver's Circus and Musical Extravaganza, she adopted the "Ma" moniker, even though she was well under thirty. The nickname was given for her tendency to mentor younger performers. Her physical looks--short, heavy, dark-skinned, and sporting a mouthful of gold-capped teeth--didn't align with the era's perception of beauty for African American women, which prized thin, light-skinned women. Positioning her as a maternal figure made her more acceptable and less threatening.

In the 1920s, she toured as a solo act with the Theater Owners' Booking Association (T.O.B.A.), the vaudeville company for African Americans in the 1920s and 1930s. She signed a five-year recording contract with Paramount in 1923.

In 1933, she retired from performing to manage two theaters the she'd purchased with her earnings. She died in 1939 at age 53 from heart disease. In 1983, she was inducted into the Blues Foundation's Blues Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990.

We both agreed that the acting was great, although we wished that the play had showcased more of Rainey's music and that the performers had been musicians. (The music was all recorded instead of performed live.)