Honey Bruce

**Honey Bruce** is a minor character on *Amazon Prime* show, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. She is the ex-wife of Lenny Bruce and the mother of their daughter, Kitty. She is based on her real-life counterpart.

## Character History

### In *The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel*:

The fictional **Honey Bruce** is based on her real-life counterpart.

### Real-Life History:

**Honey Bruce** *(August 15, 1927–September 12, 2005)*, was the daughter of unmarried teenage parents, Mabel Layson and Murl Jolliff. She never knew her father, who died in a tuberculosis sanitarium. She was named after her paternal grandmother, Harriett Joliff (1877–1941).

Her mother, Mabel, moved her and her sister in search of work. Finding work at nightclubs, Mabel married a local hustler who often was in trouble with the law. While ostensibly owning a bookshop, in reality he was operating an illegal business from their attic.

Her mother and stepfather enforced strict Catholic rules on her, and reportedly the home was an abusive environment. Harriet dreamed of leaving home for a career in show business, and she intently studied Hollywood movie stars like Lana Turner and Rita Hayworth.

Honey's unstable home life led to rebellion, and she started skipping school and staying away from home. Eventually she ran away from home with a female friend and two boys. The boys hot-wired cars to steal transportation, and soon they arrived in Miami where they rented a room. To earn money to support themselves, the girls answered an ad in the paper for showgirls; Honey was hired to be a topless dancer, but her friend was deemed not pretty enough and so was given a job as a cigarette girl.

Once Honey had earned enough money for the group to continue on their journey, she quit the dancing job, and the group planned to move from Miami Beach to Palm Beach. The two boys she was with had enlisted in the army and were "sowing some oats" before heading to basic training for World War II. Honey's friend left the group and went home to Detroit.

With Honey and the two boys in need of more money, they decided to break into a vending machine. They broke out the glass and managed to get cigarettes, candy, and cash into their pockets and escaped on foot into a nearby orange grove, but were caught by police. Once in custody, it was established that the group was responsible for several cars being stolen in addition to the theft, and Honey was sentenced to one year incarceration at Florida State Prison.

After her release, she worked as a successful stripper in Miami under the name Hot Honey Harlow.

On June 15, 1951, she married comedian Lenny Bruce after meeting him in Baltimore. Bruce tried to become her manager and make her a legitimate star, but she fought against this. She sometimes performed with her husband on stage.

As an actress she appeared in the 1953 indie film, Dance Hall Racket, which also starred Lenny Bruce.

They divorced on January 21, 1957, after having a daughter, Kitty.

She died on September 12, 2005, in Honolulu.

## Quotes

* *Pilot*
	+ **Honey:** *Sorry. I went to the Varick station instead.* / **Lenny:** *Why the hell would you do that?* / **Honey:** *Cause you like Varick better.* / **Lenny:** *Jesus, Honey, you don't get to pick.*