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Gertie Brown

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Gertie Brown
A black man in a suit smiles and holds the hand of a black woman, who looks at the camera and smiles. Both are dressed in clothes from 1898.
Saint Suttle(left) and Brown (right) in a still from the 1898 silent filmSomething Good – Negro Kiss.
Born
Gilberta Gertrude Chevalier

August 23, 1878
Washington,Guernsey County,Ohio,U.S.
DiedFebruary 24, 1934 (aged 55)
New York City,New York,U.S.
Other namesGertie Brown, Gertie Brown Moore, Gertie Moore, Gertrude Brown, Gertrude Brown Moore, Gertrude Moore
OccupationActress
Spouse
​
(m.1915)​

Gertie Brown Moore(bornGilberta Gertrude Chevalier,August 23, 1878 – February 24, 1934) was avaudevilleperformer and one of the first African-American film actresses. Brown is most famous for her part in the 1898 silent filmSomething Good – Negro Kiss,whichwent viralin 2018.

Biography

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According to the 1900 United States federal census, Gertie Brown, then aged 22, was born in 1878. According to her obituary, she began her career on the stage at the age of nine.[1]In the 1890s, she performed alongside well-known composer and entertainerSaint Suttle(1870-1932) in vaudeville andminstrel showsin the Chicago area and nationally.[2][3][4][5]Suttle, Brown, and John and Maud Brewster performed as a group called "The Rag-Time Four"that was responsible for popularizing a variation of thecakewalkdance.[4]In 1899, Suttle and Brown were billed in vaudeville as "Two Real Ragtime Coons."[6]From about 1906 to 1915, Gertie Brown was one of the stock players at Chicago'sPekin Theatre.[7]Her performances there included such roles as "an Indian" in the showCoffey and Girls of All Nationsin 1915.

Brown married comedian and actorTim Moorein September 1915, and he introduced her to a new career which took her throughout the country and abroad. Billed as Tim & Gertie Moore, the couple toured vaudeville circuits across the United States, New Zealand, the Hawaiian Islands,[8]and Australia and received acclaim as an "exceptionally clever" pair.[9][10]From 1920 to 1924, they toured theDudleyandT.O.B.A.vaudeville circuits in their own stock company,The Chicago Follies.In 1923, they acted in the lost silent filmHis Great Chance.[11]

With Tim Moore as the star, Gertie, appeared with him on Broadway in the musical comedyLucky Samboin 1925.[12][13]From 1925 to 1927, they toured theColumbia Burlesque Wheelin Edward E. Daly's hit show,Rarin' to Go.[14]In 1927, she also appeared with himThe Southland Revue,and, early in 1928, in his show,Bronze Buddies.After her husband was engaged as the star comedian of Lew Leslie'sBlackbirds of 1928,Gertie only occasionally appeared on the stage. She devoted much of her time to her home and helped organize charitable assistance to theatre folk who lost their jobs during the early years of the Great Depression, which included the setting up of a home for destitute actors.

She died in 1934 ofdouble pneumoniaatHarlem Hospital.[1]

Something Good – Negro Kiss

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Rediscovered in 2017,Something Good – Negro Kissstars an African-American couple embracing, kissing, and dancing. Research by scholar Allyson Nadia Field identified the actors as Suttle and Brown.[5]Film historians believe thatSomething Goodwas an impromptu film shot in Chicago's South Loop district, possibly while Suttle and Brown were atWilliam Selig's film studio to film a cakewalk dance.[3][4]In 2022 it was included in the exhibitionRegeneration: Black Cinema 1898 - 1971at theAcademy Museum of Motion Picturesin Los Angeles, USA.[15]

References

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  1. ^ab"Gertie Moore Passes Away: Comedian's Wife Dies of Pneumonia Attack," p. 1,New York Amsterdam News,Feb. 28, 1934
  2. ^"Saint Suttle and Gertie Brown",Saint Louis Post-Dispatch,Oct. 8, 1899,https:// newspapers /clip/63602175/st-louis-post-dispatch/
  3. ^abBowean, Lolly."Tracing Chicago origins of 'Something Good,' a recently discovered film clip depicting first onscreen kiss between two African-Americans".chicagotribune.Retrieved2020-07-24.
  4. ^abc"Library Of Congress Honors Groundbreaking 1898 Film Depicting Black Joy: Lulu Garcia-Navarro interviews Allyson Nadia Field".National Public Radio.December 16, 2018.Retrieved2020-07-24.
  5. ^abWang, Jack (Jun 10, 2019)."Academy honors UChicago scholar who identified historic on-screen kiss".University of Chicago News.Retrieved2020-07-24.
  6. ^"Columbia Continuous Vaudeville,"St. Louis Post-Dispatch,Oct. 8, 1899,https:// newspapers /image/137659663/?terms=%22Ragtime%20Coons%22&match=1
  7. ^The Pekin: The Rise and Fall of Chicago's First Black-Owned TheatreThomas Bauman, University of Illinois Press, 2014
  8. ^"Vaudeville Show Featuring Gertie and Tim Moore,"Honolulu Star-Bulletin,Jan. 3, 1918,https:// newspapers /clip/14712231/honolulu-star-bulletin/
  9. ^"Tim Moore, Comic in Blackbirds".The New York Age.1928-07-14. p. 6.Retrieved2020-07-24.
  10. ^"His Majesty's Theater".Papers Past.May 28, 1917.Retrieved2020-07-24.
  11. ^Albright, Alex (1993)."Micheaux, Vaudeville & Black Cast Film"(PDF).Black Film Review.7: 4:8.
  12. ^"Lucky Sambo".Internet Broadway Database.RetrievedJuly 23,2020.
  13. ^Sampson, Henry T. (2013-10-30).Blacks in Blackface: A Sourcebook on Early Black Musical Shows.Scarecrow Press. p. 378.ISBN978-0-8108-8351-2.
  14. ^"Coming to the Gayety,"The Pittsburgh Courier,April 17, 1926,https:// newspapers /clip/2002845/the-pittsburgh-courier/
  15. ^Deng, Jireh (2022-08-19)."Exhibit reveals role of Black Americans in shaping film industry: 'This history has never been shown'".the Guardian.Retrieved2022-08-19.
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