"Red-Hot Mamma" - a cultural reference?
In a TV show about Lenny Bruce, someone says about his mother "Sally Marr, boy, she's the last of the red-hot mammas."
Of course, I tried googling for "red-hot mam(m)a". Most links either don't contain anything in the way of explanation or point to (a) a 1936 cartoon, or (b) a broadway show.
The title of the cartoon seems to be a pun on an already well-known expression. The broadway show deals with life of a Broadway singer. So, apparently, "red-hot mamma" can be used to refer to a certain type, or a certain generation, of female performers. Probably Jewish ones (there are some indications of that). So much I was able to gather.
However, I am still struggling with finding an idiomatic translation of this expression. Which means I don't understand it well enough :).
Obviously, literal translation won't work, since it will communicate exactly nothing to a general Russian TV viewer not exposed to Amercan culture.
So, what does the sentence I quoted at the beginning of this post communicate to an American? "Sally Marr is the last of _______ " ?
