Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Florence Moore
Florence Moore (1886 - March 23, 1935) was an American vaudeville, Broadway performer, and actress in silent films.
Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Moore began singing in the choir of St. Clement's Protestant Episcopal Church at the age of 13. She began touring with the stock company of her brother Frank Moore. Florence got her first opportunity in Moscow, Idaho, when a male member of the cast failed to appear. Thereafter she was a regular with the company, playing the role of a Chinese without pay.
Her first Broadway appearance came in 1912, as Clorinda Scribblem in Hanky Panky. During the next twenty years she participated in numerous productions. As a comedian she performed in musical comedies, revues on Broadway, and headlined as a vaudeville actress while touring America. Together with William Montgomery, her first husband, Miss Moore was part of a popular vaudeville team. She divorced Montgomery and married John O. Kerner. Later she was separated from Kerner.
To theatregoers in New York, New York Florence is perhaps best known for her performance in Parlor, Bedroom and Bath. The production debuted in New York and played for two years on the road. Her final appearance on the New York stage came in 1932, in a revival of Cradle Snatchers. She starred in the role of Mary Boland which had been created seven years earlier.
As a motion picture actress Moore had a brief career. Films in which she appeared are The Old Melody (1913) opposite King Baggot, The Weakness of Strength (1916), and The Secret of Eve (1917) opposite Olga Petrova. She belonged to the Actor's Equity Association and the Twelfth Night Club.
Florence Moore died in the Fitzgerald Mercy Hospital in Darby, Pennsylvania in 1935. Death followed an operation for cancer. She was 49 years of age.