Victor Moore

Victor Fred Moore (February 24, 1876 – July 23, 1962) was an American actor, writer, and director born in Hammonton, New Jersey, who built a career spanning stage, screen, radio, and television. A comedian by reputation, he was best known for playing timid, mild-mannered characters, and his Broadway career extended from 1906 to 1957, encompassing 21 productions.

Moore's stage work began with an appearance in Rosemary in 1896, and he returned to Broadway in George M. Cohan's Forty-five Minutes from Broadway, which opened on January 1, 1906, followed by its sequel, The Talk of New York, in 1907. He rose to prominence as a major Broadway star from the late 1920s through the 1930s, taking on roles that became closely associated with his comic persona. Among his most notable credits were Oh, Kay! (1926), in which he played Shorty McGee; Hold Everything! (1928), where he portrayed Nosey Bartlett; and the Gershwin musical Of Thee I Sing (1931), in which he played Vice President Alexander Throttlebottom. He continued with Let 'Em Eat Cake (1933), Cole Porter's Anything Goes (1934) as Moonface Martin, and Irving Berlin's Louisiana Purchase (1940) as Senator Oliver P. Loganberry. Additional Broadway credits included Carousel, On Borrowed Time, Nellie Bly, Hollywood Pinafore, and Keep 'Em Laughing. Moore frequently appeared alongside actor William Gaxton, whose self-assured, slick characters served as a counterpoint to Moore's characteristically anxious ones.

Moore's film career began in 1915, when his talent was first recognized by screenwriter Beatrice deMille. That year he starred in three films, two of them directed by Cecil B. DeMille: Chimmie Fadden and Chimmie Fadden Out West. Over the course of more than 50 films, he worked with a wide range of prominent collaborators. He appeared in Swing Time (1936) alongside Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, Make Way for Tomorrow (1937), The Heat's On with Mae West, Duffy's Tavern (1945), and Ziegfeld Follies (1946), in which he performed the celebrated "Pay the Two Dollars" sketch — a comic escalation in which a minor arrest is compounded by a lawyer's overreach into higher courts, with Edward Arnold filling the role typically played by William Gaxton. Moore worked with Bob Hope twice in film adaptations connected to his stage work, appearing in Louisiana Purchase (1941) and Star Spangled Rhythm (1942). He reunited with Ginger Rogers in We're Not Married (1952), and his final screen appearance came in The Seven Year Itch (1955), in which he played a plumber. Other film credits include On Our Merry Way (1948) and A Kiss in the Dark (1949). Contemporary audiences have encountered Moore primarily through It Happened on 5th Avenue (1947), a Christmas-themed film in which he plays a vagrant who secretly occupies a millionaire's mansion while its owner is away on vacation.

Moore also worked in animation. In 1945 he appeared in the Daffy Duck cartoon Ain't That Ducky, and he was sufficiently pleased with his caricature that he offered to provide his voice at no charge, on the condition that the animators give his likeness more hair. On radio, he made a guest appearance as himself on The Martin and Lewis radio show on August 16, 1949, and served as a regular on The Jimmy Durante Show. His television appearances included The Colgate Comedy Hour and So This Is Hollywood, the latter alongside former child star Mitzi Green.

Beyond his performing career, Moore was a civic presence within the entertainment community. In 1915, while living among an actors' colony in Long Island, New York, he founded a social organization called L.I.G.H.T.S. — the Long Island Good Hearted Thespians Society — based in Freeport. Its membership included John Philip Sousa, Irving Berlin, Al Jolson, Will Rogers, and the Ringling Brothers. Recognizing that performers often worked through the Christmas season, Moore established annual "Christmas in July" celebrations for actors. He also campaigned for Republican presidential candidate Thomas E. Dewey during the 1944 election. In 1941, the Victor Moore Bus Terminal and business arcade at the New York City Subway's Roosevelt Avenue/74th Street station in Jackson Heights, Queens was named in his honor; the arcade was replaced by an Intermodal Transportation Complex in 2005.

Moore was married twice. His first marriage, to actress Emma Littlefield, began on June 23, 1903, and lasted until her death on June 23, 1934. Together they had three children: an adopted son, Victor Jr., and two biological children, Ora Victora and Robert Emmett. On January 16, 1942, Moore married Shirley Paige; he was 65 at the time and she was 20, and the marriage was not publicly announced for more than a year. They remained together until his death. Moore died of a heart attack on July 23, 1962, at the age of 86, and is interred at Cypress Hills Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York.