American operatic soprano and actress (1898?1947)
Mary Willie Grace Moore
(December 5, 1898
[1]
– January 26, 1947) was an American
operatic
lyric soprano
and actress in
musical theatre
and film.
[2]
She was nicknamed the "Tennessee Nightingale." Her films helped to popularize opera by bringing it to a larger audience. She was nominated for the
Academy Award for Best Actress
for her performance in
One Night of Love
.
In 1947, Moore died in a
plane crash
at the age of 48. She published an
autobiography
in 1944 titled
You're Only Human Once
. In 1953, a film about her life was released titled
So This Is Love
starring
Kathryn Grayson
.
Early life
[
edit
]
Moore was born Mary Willie Grace Moore, the daughter of Tessa Jane (
nee
Stokely) and Richard Lawson Moore. She was born in the community of Slabtown (now considered part of
Del Rio
) in
Cocke County, Tennessee
. By the time she was two years old, her family had relocated to
Knoxville
, a move Moore later described as traumatic. She found urban life distasteful at the time.
[3]
After several years in Knoxville, the family again relocated to
Jellico, Tennessee
, where Moore spent her adolescence. After high school in Jellico, she studied briefly at
Ward-Belmont College
in
Nashville
[4]
before moving to
Washington
, D.C., and New York City to continue her musical training and begin her career.
[4]
The Black Cat Cafe in Greenwich Village was where she landed her first professional singing gig.
[3]
She relocated to New York in 1919 to pursue her singing career and performed there in nightclubs to help pay for singing classes.
[5]
Career
[
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]
Musical theater
[
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]
Grace Moore's first
Broadway
appearance was in 1920 in the musical
Hitchy-Koo
, by
Jerome Kern
. In 1922 and 1923 she appeared in the second and third of
Irving Berlin
's series of four
Music Box
Revues
. In the 1923 edition she and
John Steel
introduced Berlin's song "
What'll I Do
". When Moore sang "An Orange Grove in California", orange blossom perfume was wafted through the theater.
[6]
In 1932 she appeared on Broadway in the short-lived
operetta
The DuBarry
by
Karl Millocker
.
Opera
[
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]
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After training in France, Moore made her operatic debut at the
Metropolitan Opera
in New York City on February 7, 1928, singing the role of Mimi in
Giacomo Puccini
's
La boheme
. She debuted at the
Opera-Comique
in Paris on September 29, 1928 in the same role, which she also performed in a Royal Command Performance at
Covent Garden
in London on June 6, 1935. During her sixteen seasons with the Metropolitan Opera, she sang in several Italian and French operas as well as the title roles in
Tosca
,
Manon
, and
Louise
.
Louise
was her favorite opera and is widely considered to have been her greatest role.
In the 1930s and 1940s she gave concert performances throughout the United States and Europe, performing a repertoire of operatic selections and other songs in German, French, Italian, Spanish, and English. During
World War II
, she was active in the
USO
, entertaining American troops abroad.
[7]
In 1945 she sang Mimi to
Nino Martini
's Rodolfo in
La boheme
for the inaugural performance of the
San Antonio Grand Opera Festival
.
[8]
She also performed during and after WWII in support of Allied Forces. From the personal memoire of Lt. Gen.
John C. H. Lee
, on 24 July 1945: "After an early dinner drove in convoy to the Paris Opera House for the gala performance entitled "Pacifique 45" given by the French for the benefit of the families of French war veterans. The program laid particular emphasis on the war in Japan and included the showing of two films - "Fighting Lady" and "Iwo Jima" and the rendition of several songs and the French and American national anthems by Grace Moore. Seated in the box of honor were General
Alphonse Juin
, the French Minister of Information
Jacques Soustelle
, and a number of important American and French officers. It seemed to be a great success and was particularly appreciated by the crowd of some 20,000 gathered in the square outside the Opera House."
Film
[
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]
Attracted to
Hollywood
in the early years of
talking pictures
, Moore had her first screen role as
Jenny Lind
in the 1930 film
A Lady's Morals
, produced for
MGM
by
Irving Thalberg
and directed by
Sidney Franklin
.
[9]
Later that same year she starred with the Metropolitan Opera singer
Lawrence Tibbett
in
New Moon
, also produced by MGM, the first screen version of
Sigmund Romberg
's operetta
The New Moon
.
After a hiatus of several years, Moore returned to Hollywood under contract to
Columbia Pictures
, for whom she made six films. In the 1934 film
One Night of Love
, her first film for Columbia, she portrayed a small-town girl who aspires to sing opera. For that role she was nominated for the
Academy Award for Best Actress
in 1935. She starred in 1936 as
Empress Elisabeth of Austria
in
Josef von Sternberg
's production
The King Steps Out
.
By this time, she was so popular that MGM was able to insist on equal billing for Moore in a projected film with
Maurice Chevalier
, who had always enjoyed solo star billing up until then. Chevalier felt so deeply about this blow to his status that he quit Hollywood and the film was never made.
[10]
A memorable highlight of
When You're in Love
(1937) was a comic scene in which Moore donned flannel shirt and trousers and joined a 5-man band for a flamboyant rendition of
Cab Calloway
's "
Minnie the Moocher
", complete with gestures and "hi-de-ho's", but with the lyrics slightly altered to conform with Hollywood sensibilities.
[11]
Also, she performed the popular
Madama Butterfly
duet "Vogliatemi bene" with American tenor
Frank Forest
in the 1937 film
I'll Take Romance
.
The last film that Moore made was
Louise
(1939), an abridged version of
Gustave Charpentier
's opera of the same name, with spoken dialog in place of some of the original opera's music. The composer participated in the production, authorizing the cuts and changes to the
libretto
, coaching Moore, and advising director
Abel Gance
. This production also featured two renowned French singers: dramatic tenor
Georges Thill
and basse cantante
Andre Pernet
.
[12]
Controversies
[
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]
She was widely criticized in December 1938 when she
curtsied
to the
Duchess of Windsor
, in
Cannes
. Upon her return to the United States after six months and ten days in Europe ("to save money in income tax"), Moore defended her curtsy, saying:
She would have been a royal duchess long ago if she had not been an American. After all, she gave happiness and the courage of his convictions to one man, which is more than most women can do. She deserves a curtsy for that alone.
[13]
According to
Joe Laurie Jr.
, vaudeville performer and historian, Grace Moore would not perform on vaudeville bills that included black performers.
[14]
Honors
[
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]
In 1935 Moore received the gold medal award of the Society of Arts and Sciences for "conspicuous achievement in raising the standard of cinema entertainment." In 1936 King
Christian X of Denmark
awarded her his country's medal of 'Ingenito et Arti.' In 1937, she was commissioned as a colonel (an honorary position) on the staff of the governor of
Tennessee
, and was also made a life member of the Tennessee State Society of Washington, D.C. She was decorated as a chevalier of the French
Legion d'honneur
in 1939.
[7]
Moore was also a member of the
Peabody Awards
Board of Jurors
from 1940 to 1942.
[15]
Personal life
[
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]
Moore married
Valentin Parera
, a Spanish movie actor, in Cannes, on July 15, 1931. They had no children. During the 1930s they maintained homes in
Hollywood
,
Cannes
, and
Connecticut
.
[16]
Death
[
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]
Grace Moore died at the age of 48, along with 21 other people, including the crown prince of Sweden, in
a plane crash
near
Copenhagen Airport
on January 26, 1947. Moore is buried in Forest Hills Cemetery in
Chattanooga
.
[17]
Filmography
[
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]
References
[
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]
- ^
John Shearer,
The Fabulous Grace Moore Collection In Knoxville
.
The Chattanoogan
, 22 July 2006. Retrieved: 28 July 2010. While Moore's year of birth is often given as 1901, including on her gravestone, census records and other records confirm she was born in 1898.
- ^
Obituary
Variety
, January 29, 1947, page 48.
- ^
a
b
Jack Neely, "Grace Under Pressure."
From the Shadow Side
(Oak Ridge, Tenn.: Tellico Books, 2003), pp. 167?174.
- ^
a
b
Zepp, George.
Opera star trained at Ward-Belmont
The Tennessean
, April 26, 2006.
- ^
"Grace Moore"
. 24 April 2024.
- ^
New World Records,
Follies, Scandals & Other Diversions: From Ziegfeld to the Shuberts
, New World NW 215, liner notes
Archived
2007-07-11 at the
Wayback Machine
.
- ^
a
b
Frank H. McClung Museum,
"Grace Moore Concert Gown"
. Archived from
the original
on February 11, 2007
. Retrieved
2006-11-25
.
. University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
- ^
Laurie E. Jasinski (2012).
Handbook of Texas Music
.
Texas A&M University Press
.
ISBN
9780876112977
.
- ^
New York Times
, "
A Lady's Morals a.k.a Jenny Lind
" and Mordant Hall, "
The Swedish Nightingale
Archived
2017-05-10 at the
Wayback Machine
",
New York Times
, November 8, 1930.
- ^
With Love, the Autobiography of Maurice Chevalier
(Cassell, 1960), P214.
- ^
Frank S. Nugent,
"'When You're in Love' Opens at the Music Hall"
[
permanent dead link
]
,
New York Times
, February 19, 1937.
- ^
Bel Canto Society,
"
Louise
(DVD & VHS)"
. Archived from
the original
on 9 February 2007.
- ^
"People."
Time
. January 16, 1939.
- ^
Laurie, Joe Jr.
(1953).
Vaudeville: From The Honky Tonks To The Palace
. Henry Holt and Company. p.
202
.
- ^
"George Foster Peabody Awards Board Members"
.
Peabodyawards.com
. Archived from
the original
on 1 November 2019
. Retrieved
9 December
2018
.
- ^
"Grace Moore To Build Here".
Evening Outlook
. November 21, 1936. p. 7.
- ^
"Prince and opera star killed in plane crash"
.
Ottawa Citizen
.
Associated Press
. 24 Jan 1947
. Retrieved
31 May
2021
.
Sources
[
edit
]
- Binnicker, Charles M.
"Grace Moore" entry in
Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture
- Kenrick, John.
Who's Who in Musicals
- New World Records,
Follies, Scandals & Other Diversions: From Ziegfeld to the Shuberts
, New World NW 215, liner notes
Archived
2007-07-11 at the
Wayback Machine
- New World Records,
The Vintage Irving Berlin
, New World NW 238, liner notes
Archived
2019-04-12 at the
Wayback Machine
- Siler, James Hayden.
The History of Jellico
. Unpublished manuscript, 1938.
Further reading
[
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]
- Farrar, Rowena Rutherford.
Grace Moore and Her Many Worlds
. New York: Cornwall Books, 1982.
ISBN
0-8453-4723-3
- James, Janet Wilson. "Moore, Grace." In:
Notable American Women.
Vol. III. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1971.
- Moore, Grace.
You're Only Human Once
. 1977 (c. 1944).
ISBN
0-405-09698-4
- Rasponi, Lanfranco.
The Last Prima Donnas
. Alfred A Knopf, 1982.
ISBN
0-394-52153-6
- Parish, James Robert, and Michael R. Pitts.
Hollywood Songsters.
New York: Garland Publishing, 1991.
ISBN
0-415-94334-5
External links
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]
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