Educational Media Reviews Online

Doris Payne was born in the coal mining town of Slab Fork, West Virginia in 1930. Her mother was Cherokee and her father an African American who was frequently abusive to his wife. She overcame this unpromising start to travel around the world, rub elbows with those in the highest social standing, and run through more than two million dollars. She accomplished this through a 60-year career as a jewel thief. When the video opens, she is 80 years old and awaiting trial for theft at a Macy’s department store in San Diego.

Doris says she is innocent of these charges, but she freely admits to the many times she has been guilty of theft. Her modus operandi was to read through Town & Country magazine, looking at advertisements for expensive diamonds and other gems and noting the stores that sold them. She would go to the store and exude a manner and clothing that marked her as well-to-do. As she says, “You’ve got to look like you belong.” She would ask to see several items, which would be placed on top of the jewelry case. Then she’d distract the clerk, pocket one or two items, and walk out. She said she was never detained while leaving a store with the jewels.

The idea of stealing jewels was planted in Doris’ head when she was still in school in West Virginia, she says. Her mother said she could buy jewelry as a reward for a good report card. The clerk at first was respectful to Doris, but then saw a white woman come into the store and immediately went to her. Doris was ignored the rest of the time she was there. She said to get back at the clerk’s racism, she wanted to take one of the pieces, then, as she was at the door, turn around and say to the clerk, “You forgot this piece.” She said the first time she fenced a diamond, she gave the money to her mother to escape her abusive husband. “I did not think it was stealing. I thought I’m not giving it back. There’s a difference.”

Doris’ account of her life is supplemented by interviews with her son and daughter, the San Diego police officer handling her case, a screenwriter working on a prospective feature film about Doris, and a literature professor from UCLA. The professor says Doris is an example of the trickster figure in African American culture, one who is able to hold authority figures up to ridicule through his or her actions, and thereby strike a blow for the oppressed.

The video concludes with Doris’ San Diego trial. The verdict is guilty, but the filmmakers are able to talk to her in prison. She gets the last word, and as a coda reveals, the last laugh.

Halle Berry may play Doris in the proposed Hollywood film on her. If it comes to pass, it will be interesting to see just how sympathetically Doris will be portrayed. This documentary shows her charm, but doesn’t let you forget that she is a longtime thief who can’t be trusted around jewels. It’s a recommended purchase for both public and academic libraries.