1883-1955
Thomas J. Moore, silent movie star and director, was born on this day in Fordstown Crossroads, County Meath in Ireland. He, along with his siblings, immigrated to the United States in 1896. Two of his brothers, Owen and Matt, also had successful careers in films starting in the silent era. The family at first settled in the Toledo, Ohio area. Eventually the two eldest brothers (of which Tom was the oldest) landed debut roles in film. In Tom's case this came in the D.W. Griffith short The Test Of Friendship that starred Griffith's wife at the time in 1908. This is when Griffith was still working for American Mutoscope and still making films in New Jersey. He continued to work for Griffith through 1909, but by 1912 he was with Kalem, with the shot on location The Belle Of New Orleans being his first film for them. He made his directorial debut in 1914, where he directed himself in The Mad Mountaineer. Though directing would prove not be his thing, he did direct 17 short films in 1914 and 1915, the last of which was The Legacy Of Folly, in which he also appeared. All of these films were for Kalem. His first confirmed full length film appearance came in 1917 in the western The Jaguar's Claw. By this time he was working for the Jesse L. Lasky Feature Play Company. In 1921, he was voted by a trade magazine as one of the top 15 male lead actors in Hollywood. The first sound film that he appeared was Side Street in 1929, his two actor brothers appeared along side him. It was a full mono sound production, with sound by RCA Photophone System. He did manage to make the sound transition, but his star was beginning to fade by the early 1930's, so he quit acting in 1936, and would not be back for ten years. Because he was forced to seek work with various small film production companies in the 1930's, he was one of the silent era's only super stars to be adversely affected by the depression, when many of these companies went out of business. He returned to acting in late 1946 and would continue to make film appearances until his death in 1955. He made his television debut in 1953 on the series Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok, in an episode entitled The Avenging Gunman. His last film appearance came in The Human Jungle in 1954. His final filmed appearance came in the television series The Human Jungle in the episode Your Favorite Story. During his lifetime, he was married three times; two of those marriage were to silent film actresses. He was first married to Alice Joyce, with whom he had a daughter Alice, who had a brief acting career in the 1930's. His second marriage was to French sensation Renée Adorée. He was even the subject of a This Is Your Life episode in 1954. Moore died on the 12th of February in Santa Monica, after battling cancer. Although there are currently no photos, Tom was buried in Catholic Calvary Cemetery in East Los Angeles along with at least two of his brothers, Owen and Matt.
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1810-1849
Frédéric François Chopin (birth name Fryderyk Franzcisek) was born on this day in Zelazowa Wola, Poland--then part of the Russian Empire. The region that he was born in, had been established by Napoleon and his father was from the Lorraine region of France. His mother was a Polish Countess. His baptismal record (under the Latinized name of Fridericus Franciscus) states that his birthday was actually the 22nd of February, but his family always strictly maintained that he was, in fact, born on March 1st. He was the second of 4 children and the only son of the couple. Six months after his birth, the family relocated to Warsaw. Both of his parents were musically inclined, with his father proficient on both the flute and violin, and his mother on piano. In fact, she gave lessons on that instrument. So, he was exposed to music from the time of his birth. In 1816, he began formal training on the piano with musician Wojciech Zywny. Young Frédéric, along with his older sister studied with him, until 1821. He and his sister would frequently play duets together. His talent on the instrument, however, far out-shown hers, and he was quickly declared a child prodigy, though he was always predisposed to illnesses, even as a very young boy, he showed great energy in the field of music. By 1817, he had already begun to give public performances and had composed his first piece of music. The earliest surviving musical composition of his dates from 1821. In 1823, he began attending the Warsaw Lyceum, where studied under musician Wilhelm Würfel
on the organ. Leaving in 1826, he then began a three year stint at the Warsaw Conservatory under Silesian
composer Józef
Elsner
. During this time, he came to the attention of Tsar
Alexander I, who invited him to play before him on a trip to Warsaw--this earned Chopin his first real success. Between 1824 and 1828, family retreats to various locals in Poland exposed him to Polish folk music. During this time, his parents ran a boarding house; through this, he was exposed to a whole set of young Polish men from various walks of life, some of which would go on to be life-long friends of his. In 1828, he made his first trip to Berlin, delighting in the music scene there and regularly attending opera. When back in Warsaw, he was able to attend of performance of composer Paganini, who performed his own music on the violin. By the spring of 1830, he had become a well known composer in his own right. In the fall of 1830, he and a friend became stranded in Austria, while traveling to Italy, when an uprising broke out; as a result of this, Chopin headed for France. It would be here that his compositions would become internationally known and would make him world famous. He also won the admiration of several of his well known fellow composers. By 1842, his health was in serious decline; and though, his official cause of death at the young age of 39 was Pulmonary Tuberculosis, he is thought to have suffered a lifelong problem with temporal lobe epilepsy, among other illnesses; his actual cause of death is still hotly debated. He did during this time, however, manage a tour of England and Scotland in 1848; giving his last public performance in London's Guildhall. He returned to Paris, where he succumbed to illness on the 17th of October 1849. His funeral was held on the 30 of October with an over-flow crowd of more than 3,000 (many from foreign countries) in Paris. Upon his request, Mozart's Requiem was performed. He is buried in Pére
Lachaise
. In regards to film, his compositions have be used in literally hundreds of soundtracks; but the first film to feature his work actually was a late silent film featuring a pressed vinyl disc or record showing his name printed on it; the disc spins on a record player. The film Disque 957, was a short (6 minutes) and was directed by French film artist and feminist Germain Dulac. The first film to actually feature his music in sound, came in 1929 with another short (10 minutes) Trixie Friganza in My Bag o' Trix, featuring vaudevillian Trixie Friganza, utilizing Vitaphone
sound on a Western Electric Apparatus. The first full length film to feature his music also came in 1929 with Side Street, featuring the The Moore Brothers. The first film in the 1930's to feature his compositions was a Basil Rathbone
film entitled The Bishop Murder Case (1930). The latest feature of his work will come in the Canadian pilot for the horror television series The Fantasmagori this year.
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