But before he was one of America’s most successful entertainers, Perry was a star in black America. Over 15 years, Perry has written, directed, acted in and produced more than 20 films of his own and has appeared in other people’s, too 1 (that’s him as Colin Powell in “Vice”). Depending on how often your hair needs tending and who’s tending it, Madea could be a regular, involuntary part of your life, like secondhand smoke or traffic. Her name is Mabel Simmons, although most people know her as Madea, the elderly vulgarian synonymous with Tyler Perry, who since 1999 has been wearing her gray wig and flowery housedresses. It can entail some waiting and, perhaps, a few old Ebony magazines or some televised ambience: sports news, one of those Saturday-afternoon cooking shows or, maybe most entertaining, a bootleg DVD of a stage play in which a broad-shouldered, square-jawed 6-foot-6 linebacker of a woman counsels, threatens, mocks and manhandles strangers, neighbors and kin.
Getting your hair done, cut or installed is a routine event.
