A Little Song and Dance

How do we measure cuteness in a child?
Is it by height?
By size of their smile?
The graceful gambol of little feet?

These three young girls definitely have it,
but in different proportions I think.

They are

The Moore Sisters
The Little Song & Dance
ARTISTS.

The three girls, ages 6, 8, and 10, I think, wear costumes that are short dresses hardly appropriate for school clothes or even Sunday best.  The dresses of the older two have embroidered flowers, while the youngest girl's dress is tiered ruffles with lace. All have ribbons tied to their shoulders and fancy jewelry, pearl chokers, rings, and coin bracelets. Crossing their ankles the girls strike a balletic theatrical line that gives us a sense of their terpsichorean act. Oddly the painted backdrop is a dirt road receding toward a distant lake or river.

The photographer was J. A. Boston of Durango, Colorado. He was active in Durango and Silverton, CO from 1885 through the 1890s.

My research on the Moore sisters surprisingly turned up several possibilities. From 1879 to 1885 a variety show act called the Moore Sisters performed at theatres in Hartford, Buffalo, Indianapolis, Grand Rapids, San Fransisco, and Denver. But they were advertised as a vocal duo, Eunice and Laura Moore, and tragically Eunice died in April 1885 after arriving in Denver with pneumonia. A report said her body was taken east by her mother and sister. Another group called the Moore Sisters played Boston and other east coast theaters from 1899 to 1904, but they were promoted as two soubrettes who performed flirtatious skits and cabaret songs.

My photo however is clearly three youthful sisters, and Mr. Boston, the photographer, produced a cabinet card more like those of the 1890s than the 1880s or 1900s. So I think they are the Moore Sisters who played the vaudeville theatres of 1891.

Little Rock AR Daily Arkansan Gazette
02 January 1891

In the last week of December 1890, Mortimer's Comique of Little Rock, Arkansas advertised a Special Engagement of the Talented Moore Sisters, The Little Lord Fauntleroys of America with their brilliant company of Star Artists 15–Fifteen in Number–15. 

By February 1891, the Moore Sisters appeared at the Dime Musee in Lincoln, Nebraska along with the Hanley Comedy Co. in the funniest of all Musical Comedies, "A Wild Goose Chase," You Laugh You Roar, You Scream; A.J. Grush, the Iowa Shadow, age 44 years, height 5 feet 10 inches, weight 45 pounds; Mdme Moran, the Great Unfolder of the Hidden, the only true and thorough transmitter of hidden thought; and Little Eddie, the Phenomenal Child Artist. Admission was 10¢, chairs 5¢ and 10¢.

Lincoln NE Journal Star
28 February 1891

In the following week the Lincoln newspaper ran a short review that said it was a good show for the money. The living skeleton was a rare specimen of manhood, and the work of the Moore sisters, two little girls, in clog dancing and song, was A. 1.  The boy vocalist attracted all, and his winning ways on the stage and fine make-up, and singing was equal to that of the old stage celebrities, while the balance of the stage above and below afforded amusement to all.

The next week would bring Mlle. Schiller, the ossified woman, the Holtes Pantomine company, and the McComber Sisters Vaudeville company.

Lincoln NE Journal Star
08 March 1891

In March 1891, the Moore Sisters shared the bill at the Wonderland theater in Salt Lake City with Ella Ewing, Missouri's Big Girl, 8-Eight-8 Feet Tall. Admission was 10¢. Friday was Ladies' Souvenir Day. Saturday was Children's Day.  No objectionable characters admitted.

Salt Lake City Tribune
25 March 1891

The Moore Sisters returned to the Wonderland later that year in December and the Salt Lake City Herald posted a brief review.

Salt Lake City Herald
01 December 1891

There are but two days more of the present engagement at Wonderland, and as there are many things of interest and genuine merit, those who have not been fortunate enough to enjoy seeing them should accept the opportunity at once. Herr Orloff, for instance, the greatest of all studies for scientists, the so-called transparent man, is a deep, interesting, absorbing study, and his lecture on himself is full of many intelligent points. In the theatorium the Moore sisters, little things, bright and full of music, good sweet, clear tones. The coming bill, commencing Thursday, is one replete with the brightest talent in the profession. The famous snake charmer, and the wonderful iron-jawed woman will also positively appear.




It seems that in 1891 there may have been only two Moore sisters on the vaudeville stage but by 1893 there were three. The great amusement park Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio advertised in August 1893

The Moore Sisters, 
Rosa, Babe, Emma
in their celebrated and original creation, entitled
The Dance of the Seraphs!
Introducing Songs, Dances, Changes,
Wing and Skirt Dancing.

Sandusky OH Daily Register
30 August 1893

How long the Moore sisters continued touring the theater circuits of America is difficult to say. They stopped showing up in newspaper reviews or advertisements after 1893. As expected, the stage light career of child entertainers is usually very time limited. Cuteness fades in the taciturn teenage years and it seems these three charming girls, Rosa, Babe, and Emma moved on to other activities unknown.But for a short time they were very fetchingly cute.

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday
where everything is back to normal.