Remembering the Fruitcake Lady on her 100th birthday

Marie Rudisill (1911-2006), aka The Fruitcake Lady, was born 100 years ago this Sunday. You may remember her from her appearances on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Maybe you learned about her last fall when Beth blogged about the Fruitcake Festival and announced our new edition of Rudisill’s cookbook, Fruitcake. As we head off to the weekend, we leave you with this clip of the sharp-tongued, sassy Fruitcake Lady, as Jay Leno remembered her upon news of her death five years ago.

(Warning and/or promise, depending on your perspective: contains adult jokes and appearances by a couple of celebrities *coughmelgibsoncough* *coughtomcruisecough* who just aren’t as fun to watch today as they might have been back then, if you know what I mean. But it’s worth it just to see Marie. Plus, all the other videos on YouTube were way dirtier, and we’re trying to run a classy joint up in here while still letting our hair down every now and then.)

Happy birthday, Marie.