Classic Movie Travels: Colleen Moore

Classic Movie Travels: Colleen Moore

Kathleen Morrison, later
known as Colleen Moore, was born in Port Huron, Michigan, to Charles and Agnes
Kelly Morrison on August 19, 1899. Moore’s family moved frequently, residing in
cities like Hillsdale, Michigan; Atlanta, Georgia; Warren, Pennsylvania; and
Tampa, Florida. Additionally, her family would typically spend summers in
Chicago, where Moore’s Aunt Lib and Uncle Walter Howey lived. Howey, in
particular, was well connected, as he was the managing editor of the Chicago Examiner, owned by William Randolph Hearst.

At age 15, Moore already had
dreams of starring in films. Moore kept a scrapbook in which she would paste
various pictures of her favorite actors after clipping them from motion picture
magazines. However, Moore kept a page blank, reserved for when she would one
day become a star. Reportedly, she and her brother began their own stock
company, performing on a stage created from a piano packing crate.
Incidentally, Chicago’s Essanay Studios was located fairly close to the
Howey residence. Moore appeared in the background of several Essanay films, typically
as a face in a crowd. Since film producer D.W. Griffith was in debt to
Howey for helping him get both The Birth of a Nation (1915)
and Intolerance (1916) through the Chicago censorship
board, he was able to secure a screen test for Moore. Her contract with
Griffith’s Triangle-Fine Arts was conditional, as Moore possessed one
brown eye and one blue eye. Her eyes photographed favorably, so Moore left for
Hollywood with her grandmother and her mother as chaperones and began her film
career.

Moore’s first credited role
was in The Bad Boy (1917), for
Triangle Arts. This appearance was followed by An Old Fashioned Young Man (1917) and Hands Up (1917), gradually allowing Moore to develop her career and
become noticed and enjoyed by audiences. She later signed a contract with the
Selig Polyscope Company, appearing in films like A Hoosier Romance (1918) and Little
Orphant Annie (1918), leading her to become popular among moviegoers. Moore
also performed with Fox Film Corporation, Ince Productions—Famous
Players-Lasky, and Universal Film Manufacturing Company, before completing the
next stage of her career with the Christie Film Company.

Moore was married to producer
John McCormick from 1923 until their divorce in 1930.

Moore starred in Flaming Youth (1923), solidifying her
image as a flapper; however, Clara Bow soon became a rival to Moore with a
similar image. Moore continued her film career with appearances in comedies and
dramas. When Moore worked in The Desert
Flower (1925), she injured her neck and spent six weeks in a bod cast.
After her recovery, she finished filming and was able to leave for a publicity
tour throughout Europe.

Two of Moore’s key passions
were dolls and films; each of these interests would become prominent throughout
her life. Though approximately half of her films are now lost, Moore is,
remembered as a delightful silent film actress by film aficionados. Moore’s
films would often feature her as a good girl putting on a bad girl façade, and
always carrying out her roles with panache. Her aunts, however, took care to
indulge her in another great passion, which is the focus of this article: dollhouses.
They frequently brought her miniature furniture from their many trips, with
which she furnished the first of a sequence of dollhouses.

In 1928, Moore enlisted the
help several professionals to help build a massive dollhouse for her growing
collection of miniature furnishings. The professionals included Moore’s father
as chief engineer, set designer Horace Jackson, and interior designer Harold
Grieve. Cameraman Henry Freulich worked on the lighting, which was installed by
an electrician. This dollhouse has an area of nine square feet, with the
tallest tower standing several feet high and the entire structure weighing one
ton. This eventually became known as Colleen Moore’s Fairy Castle.

By 1929, the advent of sound
had taken the film industry by storm, leading Moore to take a hiatus from
acting. She married stockbroker Albert P. Scott in 1932 and they resided in Bel
Air together until their 1934 divorce. Moore’s final film appearance occurred
in that year in The Scarlet Letter (1934). 

In 1937, Moore married
stockbroker Homer P. Hargrave, remaining with him until his passing in 1964.
Hargrave would ultimately provide much of the funding for her dollhouse. Moore
adopted Hargrave’s children, Homer and Judy, to whom she remained devoted
throughout her life. In the 1960s, Moore formed a television production company
with King Vidor and published two books: How
Women Can Make Money in the Stock Market and Silent Star: Colleen Moore Talks About Her Hollywood. She remained
a popular interview subject and frequent quest at various film festivals,
discussion the silent film era.

Moore married for the last
time to builder Paul Magenot. They remained together until her passing on
January 25, 1988, in Paso Robles, California, from cancer. She was 88 years
old.

Moore’s childhood home stands
at 817 Ontario St., Port Huron, Michigan.

Colleen Moore’s Fairy Castle
survives to this day. The dollhouse made its public debut at Macy’s in New York
and traveled throughout the United States, raising approximately one
half-million dollars for children’s charities. The dollhouse showcases ornate
miniature furniture and art as well as the work of beyond 700 different
artisans, and has been a featured exhibit at Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry
since the 1950s. The museum displays the dollhouse in its own exhibit hall,
which features additional miniature items from Moore’s collection, items used
to store and transport pieces for the dollhouse, and information about her film
career. The Museum of Science and Industry is located at 5700 S. DuSable Lake
Shore Dr., Chicago, Illinois.

In 1923, Moore and McCormick
resided at 1231 S. Gramercy Place., Los Angeles, California. The home remains
virtually unchanged on the exterior.

In 1925, Moore and her
husband lived at 530 S. Rossmore Ave., Los Angeles, California. This home also
exists today.

By 1929, Moore and her
husband resided on a three-acre estate at 245 Saint Pierre Rd., Los Angeles,
California. The home remains today.

In 1964, Moore co-founded the
Chicago International Film Festival, which is held annually to this day.

Moore has a star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame, honoring her work in motion pictures. The star is
located at 1549 Vine St., Los Angeles, California.

Moore’s
prints can be found in the forecourt of the TCL Chinese Theatre, located at
6925 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, California.

…

–Annette Bochenek for Classic Movie Hub

Annette Bochenek pens our monthly Classic Movie Travels column. You can read all of Annette’s Classic Movie Travel articles here.

Annette Bochenek of Chicago, Illinois, is a PhD student at Dominican University and an independent scholar of Hollywood’s Golden Age. She manages the Hometowns to Hollywood blog, in which she writes about her trips exploring the legacies and hometowns of Golden Age stars. Annette also hosts the “Hometowns to Hollywood” film series throughout the Chicago area. She has been featured on Turner Classic Movies and is the president of TCM Backlot’s Chicago chapter. In addition to writing for Classic Movie Hub, she also writes for Silent Film Quarterly, Nostalgia Digest, and Chicago Art Deco SocietyMagazine.