Norma Jean Darden

speaker

93 appearances 1 recordings 1 series first heard Aug 2026 last heard 4 Aug

Norma Jean Darden’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.

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recordings per month · last 12 months

Recordings per month over the last 12 months — 1 in all, peaking in Aug 2026 with 1.

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The Moth · All Dressed Up: The Moth Radio Hour · 4 Aug 2026 podcast

I was a fashion model for many years, and I got this dream when I was very young.

My father used to give fashion shows in our backyard to raise money for the NAACP.

And he was quite a character.

He managed to get Sammy Davis Jr.

to come be the emcee.

And I was a teenager, and I got to see these gorgeous creatures in our guest room.

on sheets, and they had paint, they painted their bodies, they had false eyelashes, I'd never even seen these things.

And I got this idea that I would love to be a model, and I told my mother, but I was a bit of an ugly duckling, I was so tall, I was taller than everyone in the class, the boys included, and I wasn't exactly a raving beauty.

So she said, no, you're going to college, that's what you're doing.

And I went to college, and I did finish, and my teachers noticed that I was as happy with my outfits as I was with my books.

And so they decided to get me to represent our college, Sarah Lawrence, at Mademoiselle Magazine.

So, this is in the 60s, so I had my little shoes to match my bag, my hat to match my gloves, a suit, and a red boucle coat with a cape, and I was very dramatic.

So I dashed into Conti Nash, went up in my little high-heeled patent leather shoes, and I got to the receptionist.

And she said to me, what are you doing here?

Why didn't you use the delivery entrance?

And I said, well, I'm here to represent my college.

And she said, there must be some mistake.

We only use white models here.

and I was so stunned and really flabbergasted, so I called my college, and our person who had sent me was a southern white person, and he became outraged, and he carried on, and he finally got them the next year to use a black model, but it wasn't me.

So I came to New York after I graduated with the idea of being an actress, but there again I was looming over the leading men, and I was always too something.

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