This postcard features a portrait of American film actress, Colleen Moore (1899-1988). She began her career in the silent film era. She was a fashionista and one of the highest paid stars of her time. She is also noted for popularizing the “dutchboy bobbed haircut”. Like many silent film stars, she was unable to adapt to “talkies” and decided to retire after just making a few sound films. Upon retirement, Moore focused on investing, and was quite talented in that realm. She became a partner at Merrill Lynch and wrote a book about how to invest in the stock market. One of her hobbies involved dollhouses. In the early 1950’s, she helped design and curate “The Colleen Moore Dollhouse” which is still exhibited at the Museum of Science and Industry, in Chicago, Illinois. The dollhouse is 9 square feet and worth millions of dollars and has been seen by millions of museum goers. Moore was born in Michigan and her family relocated to Atlanta around 1908.They then moved on to Pennsylvania and finally, Tampa, Florida. At fifteen years of age, Moore had a screen test with director D. W. Griffith. Griffith owed a debt to Moore’s uncle, a successful newspaper man in Chicago. Moore must have done well on the screen test since she soon found herself playing heroines in Westerns. She signed a contract with Triangle-Fine Arts and for the first few years she appeared in minor supporting roles. When the Triangle Company folded she signed with Selig Polyscope. She appeared in “A Hoosier Romance” and “Little Orphant Annie”. They were popular films and Moore achieved some celebrity. When Selig closed their doors, Moore went to work on films from various companies. Her star kept rising. In 1922, Moore was named a WAMPAS Baby Star (honor for actresses on the threshold of fame). The IMDb credits Moore with 65 film appearances between 1918 and 1934. At the height of her career, she was earning over twelve thousand dollars a week. This vintage portrait postcard features Colleen Moore with her trademark dutch boy bobbed haircut. The card was published by Ross Verlag. Note the logo for First National Pictures in the lower right hand corner of the image. The card has a 1926 postmark. Moore was about 27 years old when the photograph was taken. SOLD
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