Etiquette Director

Do have an earliest childhood memory?$$Yes. We went to church. My aunt [Mary James Lloyd] made wine. She made the grape juice for the church, and she made about four different types of wine. Excuse me. I remember they would be in barrels. And she was the great baker. Like, today you might serve someone that's visiting you food or a cocktail. And my aunt would serve you wine, and she baked a three-layer jelly cake, a three-layer coconut cake, a three-layer chocolate cake. So whenever you came to our home, you would get a glass of wine and also a piece of cake, whether you wanted it or not. She called that hospitality, anyone that came over our threshold. And then the minister--she served the--made the, as I said before, the grape juice for the church. And then the minister would come to our house several times to eat. And I hated to see him coming because my aunt--I loved the thigh of the chicken. And he would eat up--she would cook--she liked to go to the poultry and have the chicken killed so that they would be first, and she wanted them to be two and a half pounds after they were dressed. And she'd cook about three. And that minister would eat every one of those thighs. And I hated to see him coming (laughter). But my aunt, her teaching was, anyone that came over our threshold, no matter how they act or how rude they were or whatever, we had to treat them with due respect. And if we felt that they were people that you did not want to associate with or they were destructive in any way, then you didn't allow them in. But once they came in, you had to treat them with respect. Well, I found from that, I learned discipline.$$Okay.$$See, she was always teaching. I learned discipline.$So you mounted two one-woman shows. Can you think of the name of any, of either one?$$Well, it was just 'An Evening with Maxine Powell.'$$Okay, good. Okay--$$Yeah, and then I--and if I pantomimed I was telling a story. I was--I had a job where I worked in an office somewhere. But I had a little girl--I guess it was a little girl. And when I came home in the evening, I would greet her. Well, all this is--I'm pantomiming. And I would greet her and then this one particular evening, I--she evidently was sick, and I came and picked her up and kissed her and was throwing her up in the air and playing with her and whatnot, and all of a sudden, I could see something was wrong with her. And then I began to get very concerned and call 911 or call somebody--I don't know it was the 911, but whatever you did in that day for an emergency or whatnot. And I know I was performing for a group. And they went and got a doll, you see, and tried to hand it to me, and I wouldn't take it, because I wouldn't be doing my job if you couldn't follow me. I wouldn't have to have a doll, 'cause then you would know it was a baby or whatever, you see. So I always wanted to do what I was supposed to do and master it. And I didn't feel bad if I didn't master it. I figured it'd do something else, you know, because I figured I think everybody is qualified and everybody is--can be great. We're born to be great in some way. Some people--and everybody is somebody, see. Because I don't care how much money you have or what color you are or where you're from, everybody came into the world helpless and innocent--couldn't walk, couldn't talk, couldn't take care of your toilet where, toilet, or any kind of way, see, regardless of who you were.$$Now--$$See, and then I always thought that, as I said today, allow me to help you unmask and discover what a beautiful, unique human being you are, because is somebody and everybody was born to be great in some way.$$Okay.$$Some people live a lifetime and never find out who they are or who great they can be. You don't have to be number one, you can be two, three, or four, long as you're great in your field in whatever you do and you master it, not among your race, but around the world with anybody. That's what I teach today.