Mother Lode Documentary | Women’s Liberation, Motherhood 1970s America

Mother Lode

A documentary film by Patty Mooney

In 1974, two women in a Detroit diner talked openly about marriage, motherhood and women’s liberation, and a cassette recorder caught every word.

Magi Mooney, a Catholic mother of six, and Phyllis Lublin, a Jewish journalist, met over coffee and sandwiches. The tape was left behind and forgotten. Nearly five decades later it turned up again: an unguarded record of what two women said to each other, off the record, in years of enormous change.

Magi’s eldest daughter, the poet and documentarian Patty Mooney, set the conversation against family home movies, photographs and period footage, so you hear the two voices inside the world they were talking about.

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Two women at the table

They came from different faiths and different lives, and they agreed on what mattered: women deserve autonomy, dignity and freedom beyond the roles handed to them.

Magi Mooney

Catholic mother of six

Patty’s mother. In the 1970s she wore her convictions on her shirt.

Phyllis Lublin

Journalist

A Jewish writer, Magi’s companion at the table that day, and the other voice on the tape.

What they talked about

Nearly fifty years on, very little of it sounds dated.

What husbands and society expected of womenThe limits set by family, marriage and the people around them.
Being confined to the homeThe emotional toll of days spent inside the house.
Depression and suicideSpoken about plainly, over lunch.
Identity versus obligationWho a woman is, apart from what she owes her husband and children.
Faith and freedomA Catholic and a Jew finding that they want the same things.

How little — and how much — has changed.

Patty Mooney, on what the tape reveals

Magi’s life, from the family album

Mother Lode is built from pictures like these and the family’s home movies. They show the woman behind the voice on the tape, from her graduation portrait to a sunny morning in San Diego.

Before the wedding

A young woman with shoulder-length dark hair in a graduation cap and gown — Graduation

A glamour portrait from above of a young woman with dark curls spread on a pillow, her hands resting in her hair — 1944

A small portrait of a young woman in a dark blouse, inscribed Margie, Feb. 21, 1945 — Feb. 21, 1945

An oval portrait of a young woman in a white nurse’s cap and uniform — In her nurse’s cap

A studio portrait of a woman with blonde pin curls, dark lipstick and a jeweled earring — Studio portrait

A seated studio portrait of a woman with blonde pin curls in a dark lace dress — From the same sitting

Marriage and six children

In a round mirror, an older woman in glasses fastens a veil on a young bride — Wedding day, 1954

A bride and groom walk out of a brick church as guests throw rice — Leaving the church

A young woman in a light blouse and dark skirt stands on the front walk of a brick bungalow — On the front walk

A colorized photo of a smiling young woman in front of the brick steps of house number 5437 — The same steps, colorized

A studio portrait of five young children, two boys in ties, two girls and a baby — Five of the six

Five children gather around a crib with a newborn baby — Six, with the new baby, 1965

A smiling red-haired woman in a patterned dress holds up a gold gift box at a party — Kansas City, 1964

The 1970s

A red-haired woman stands against a brick wall with an arm around each of two young girls — Summer, 1970

A man and a woman in blue shirts hold a decorated anniversary cake outdoors — Anniversary cake

A man in plaid trousers and a woman in white relax in folding lawn chairs on a patio — Lawn chairs

A Polaroid of a couple sitting close together under a blue flowered patio umbrella — Under the patio umbrella

1980

A woman in a robe sits at an outdoor wooden table with two coffee cups in the morning sun — San Diego, 1980

A red-haired woman in a turtleneck stands behind a white-haired older woman in glasses — With Magi Kuhn, 1980

Why it matters

Mother Lode keeps a rare, unscripted exchange between women speaking honestly about their own lives at a turning point in American social history. By rescuing a forgotten cassette, it treats women’s voices as lived experience, not slogans or manifestos.

It’s an intimate family excavation and a cultural document at once. What it uncovers is a mother lode: a rich seam of truth that still speaks to the present.

Also by Patty Mooney: My Choice: March for Women’s Lives 2004.

About the film

Recorded: Detroit, Michigan, 1974 (audio)
Built from: The original cassette, family home movies, photographs and period stock footage
Voices: Magi Mooney and Phyllis Lublin
Themes: Women’s liberation, motherhood, faith and social expectation
Genre: Documentary, cultural film, women’s history
Created and directed by: Patty Mooney
Produced by: Crystal Pyramid Productions®
Distributed by: New & Unique Videos®

Watch the full film for $5. It’s also available for classrooms, libraries and women’s studies programs. Contact us about educational use and licensing.

Watch the full film

Patty Mooney and Mark Schulze are San Diego filmmakers and the co-founders of New & Unique Videos, making independent films since 1985.