Talk:Grace Moore

Announcement:
I am collecting miscellaneous information about Moore at User:Orlady/Grace_Moore --orlady 16:59, 26 November 2006 (UTC)
 * Now done with my contributions, I will delete that page. --orlady 04:19, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

I took these pictures at the cemetery where Grace is buried in the family plot, FOREST HILLS CEMETERY CHATTANOOGA, TN. You are welcome to use them if you have the need http://picasaweb.google.com/IRINASDUDE/GRACEMOOREPARERAMOOREFAMILYPLOT20090914?feat=directlink   (yoyohooyo)  —Preceding unsigned comment added by Yoyohooyo (talk • contribs) 17:19, 17 July 2010 (UTC)

Details of geography and dates
I question the factual basis for the statement that she grew up in Chattanooga. All sources indicate that she grew up in Jellico, Tennessee, which claims her as its most famous citizen. For example, see http://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/imagegallery.php?EntryID=M119, http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0601254/bio , and http://www.gracemoore.net/biography.php. This fact was added by User:ZekeMacNeil, who I have contacted. --orlady 18:16, 25 November 2006 (UTC)
 * I deleted the statement that she moved to Chattanooga as a child, since I found zero support for it. --orlady 23:30, 2 December 2006 (UTC)
 * However, the Zepp article in the Tennessean says her parents lived in Chattanooga as of 1928. --orlady 00:12, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

There is also some reason to question details about her birth. Some sources (including http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9125884/Grace-Moore ) give her birth date as 1901, not 1898. Apparently the 1901 birthdate appeared in Who's Who during her lifetime. I decided the best way to handle this is to use the 1898 date, but mention the other date in parentheses.

Birthplace is usually given as "Slabtown", but sometimes Del Rio is the place named. A couple of sources say "Nough, Tennessee." http://www.cockecounty.com/About.html says: "In Del Rio you will find many interesting stops including the Grace Moore birthplace," but there is no other information about the location of this birthplace. Slabtown no longer seem to be recognized as a community. However, I found a few genealogical query pages with references to "Slab Town" as a place near Del Rio. Also, there seems to have been a Slab Town School. --orlady 23:30, 2 December 2006 (UTC)

Parents' names
A picture caption in the Tennessean article "Opera star trained at Ward-Belmont" identifies her mother as Tessie Jane Moore (not "Jane Moore", as given in current version of article based on Jellico history source. I think it's reasonable to assume that Jane is the same person as Tessie Jane. --orlady 00:12, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

Other questionable statements
I also wonder if there is a factual basis for the statement "She reportedly made racist comments and refused to appear on the same stage as an African-American performer." --orlady 18:30, 25 November 2006 (UTC)
 * Statement deleted. --orlady 16:59, 26 November 2006 (UTC)

I deleted the statement "She was at one time chosen by Florenz Ziegfeld as one of the most beautiful women in the world." It seems that Ziegfeld said that about many women. Since she apparently was never a Ziegfeld Girl, the statement has little significance here. --orlady 19:04, 2 December 2006 (UTC)

Uncited potential source
http://www.maurice-abravanel.com/moore_grace_.html is interesting, but I think it may have errors. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Orlady (talk • contribs) 04:15, 8 December 2006 (UTC).

Major Cleanup
I just spent a few hours doing a major cleanup of this article. If there's something I've missed please fix it. NewYork1956 07:55, 5 March 2007 (UTC)

Infobox and Grace Moore as an opera singer
I removed the infobox from this article because they're not used for opera singers, as per Opera Project guidelines (WikiProject_Opera). User:Orlady then restored the box, noting on my Talk Page that "Grace Moore . . . was clearly a movie star and pop singer, not "just" an opera singer". I don't agree with this. IMO Moore was primarily an opera singer and her adventures in Hollywood were only typical of those of Met singers in that period. AFAIK she never sang pop songs (though the term may be anachronistic anyway).

Here is a list of her films and comments from The Internet Movie Database (IMDb):


 * New Moon (1930): . . . "operetta outing, although half the music is cut from the original score . . . Opera fans still thrill to see Lawrence Tibbett and Grace Moore in the leads, though the general public today has forgotten them, as they were supplanted in the mid-30s by the more marketable Nelson Eddy and Jeannette MacDonald, who made their own New Moon by 1940. Though Tibbett and Moore had greater voices, neither was conventionally sexy . . . ."
 * A Lady's Morals (1930) and Jenny Lind (1931/I): Grace Moore as Jenny Lind, "The acting by Moore and her leading man . . . is way over the top . . . still she does have some nice arias and opera fans will tolerate the melodrama to hear them.
 * One Night of Love (1934): "In addition to the title song and several arias, Moore also sings Ciribiribin which was a favorite song always requested at concerts and even at encores of her operatic performances."
 * Love Me Forever (1935): "Moore is quite fine as the opera singer (she sings six arias gloriously including the entire first act finale duet from LA BOHEME) . . . ."
 * The King Steps Out (1936): Romantic operetta (music by Fritz Kreisler) with Moore as Princess Elizabeth aka Cissy.
 * I'll Take Romance (1937); "Moore performs some lovely arias in full costume including the gavotte from Manon"
 * When You're in Love (1937): "many piecing musical numbers that seem to exist only to pad out the film's runtime and serve as a defacto showcase for Moore's shrill voice"
 * Louise (1939): film of the opera by G Charpentier made in Paris.

It's clear from all these quotes that she was a singer not an actress.

The article states she made "her operatic debut at the Metropolitan Opera . . . on 7 February 1928. This is not true. She made her debut as Mimi at the Opéra-Comique, (see Max De Schauensee in New Grove). The article gives almost no information at all about her international career. It doesn't give her roles - as normal with WP articles on singers. It doesn't list her recordings - Beecham used her for ( a possibly complete?) Louise, She is also in a Met L'amore dei tre re and probably lots more.

I am not going to indluge in a edit war over this, but I hope to see the article improved and balanced. At the moment it treats Moore as a celebrity. I don't think she would have liked that. She deserves to be regarded seriously as a singer. -- Kleinzach 12:09, 18 June 2007 (UTC)


 * Sorry that you see so many shortcomings in the article. I hope you will work to improve it with the sources you have (although submitted comments at IMDB are not very authoritative). Regarding "AFAIK she never sang pop songs (though the term may be anachronistic anyway)," I suggest that you read the article. She started out doing musical theatre on Broadway, and she sang pop songs ("Minnie the Moocher") in at least one of her movies.--orlady 12:16, 18 June 2007 (UTC)


 * I used IMDB precisely because it wasn't an opera source. Thank you for your suggestion about reading, I have already read quite a lot about Moore and I have seen one of her films. I think it's your turn to do so some work if you want to retain an interest in this page. Or are you just going to revert other editors' attempts at improvement? -- Kleinzach 12:40, 18 June 2007 (UTC)


 * If we can remove this infobox on Mario Lanza's page for this reason, we can surely do it for Grace Moore. NewYork1956 19:57, 1 December 2007 (UTC)

Death
The plane - a KLM DC-3 originated in Amsterdam en route to Stockholm via Copenhagen. After take-off in Copenhagen the plane came down. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.239.13.202 (talk) 11:54, 3 October 2008 (UTC)

Controversy
Could someone add to the controversy section why Moore curtsying offended the British public/press? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.192.25.176 (talk) 04:44, 21 March 2009 (UTC)


 * Info added. --Orlady (talk) 04:58, 21 March 2009 (UTC)

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External links modified
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External links modified
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