Ethel Moses (April 29, 1904 – June 1982) was an American stage and film actress, and dancer. She was billed as "the black

Jean Harlow Jean Harlow (born Harlean Harlow Carpenter; March 3, 1911 – June 7, 1937) was an American actress. Known for her portrayal of "bad girl" characters, she was the leading sex symbol of the early 1930s and one of the defining figures of the ...

". Moses is best known for working in films by

Oscar Micheaux Oscar Devereaux Micheaux (; January 2, 1884 – March 25, 1951) was an author, film director and independent producer of more than 44 films. Although the short-lived Lincoln Motion Picture Company was the first movie company owned and controlled ...

Early life

Ethel Moses was born on April 29, 1904, in

Staunton, Virginia Staunton ( ) is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 25,750. In Virginia, independent cities a ...

, the daughter of William Henry Moses and Julia Trent Moses. She raised in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

. Her sisters Lucia and Julia also became performers; their brother Bill taught at

Hampton Institute Hampton University is a private, historically black, research university in Hampton, Virginia. Founded in 1868 as Hampton Agricultural and Industrial School, it was established by Black and White leaders of the American Missionary Association aft ...

. Their father was a prominent Baptist preacher in New York who disapproved of (but did not prevent) his daughters' stage careers.Laura Visser-Maessen
''Robert Parris Moses: A Life in Civil Rights and Leadership at the Grassroots''
(University of North Carolina Press 2016): 11-15. Ethel attended the

Nannie Helen Burroughs School The Nannie Helen Burroughs School, formerly known as National Training School for Women and Girls, was a private coeducational elementary school at 601 50th Street NE in Washington, D.C. The school was founded in 1909 by Nannie Helen Burroughs as ...

in the

District of Columbia ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

. Her aunt, Lena Trent Gordon, was a Philadelphia-area political organizer who served on a national committee with Burroughs.

Career

In 1924 she made her stage debut as a dancer in a show called ''Dixie to Broadway''. She won a beauty contest at the

Savoy Hotel The Savoy Hotel is a luxury hotel located in the Strand in the City of Westminster in central London, England. Built by the impresario Richard D'Oyly Carte with profits from his Gilbert and Sullivan opera productions, it opened on 6 August 188 ...

in 1926. In 1929 Ethel Moses was voted the "Shapeliest Chorus Girl" on the New York stage; her sister Lucia placed second in the same poll. She was in the company of a Broadway revival of ''Showboat'' in 1932. She danced at the

Cotton Club The Cotton Club was a New York City nightclub from 1923 to 1940. It was located on 142nd Street and Lenox Avenue (1923–1936), then briefly in the midtown Theater District (1936–1940).Elizabeth Winter"Cotton Club of Harlem (1923- )" Blac ...

, and toured Europe with the

Cab Calloway Cabell Calloway III (December 25, 1907 – November 18, 1994) was an American singer, songwriter, bandleader, conductor and dancer. He was associated with the Cotton Club in Harlem, where he was a regular performer and became a popular vocalist ...

band.Bob McCann, ed
''Encyclopedia of African American Actresses in Film and Television''
(McFarland 2009): 241. In the mid-1930s, she began working with filmmaker Oscar Micheaux; her first film role was as "The Bronze Venus", an artist's model who is seen nearly nude on screen, in Micheaux's ''

Temptation Temptation is a desire to engage in short-term urges for enjoyment that threatens long-term goals.Webb, J.R. (Sep 2014). Incorporating Spirituality into Psychology of temptation: Conceptualization, measurement, and clinical implications. Sp ...

'' (1936). The pair followed that success with ''

Underworld The underworld, also known as the netherworld or hell, is the supernatural world of the dead in various religious traditions and myths, located below the world of the living. Chthonic is the technical adjective for things of the underworld. ...

'' (1937), in which Moses plays a college student, and ''

God's Step Children ''God's Step Children'' is a 1938 American drama film directed by Oscar Micheaux and starring Jacqueline Lewis. The film is inspired by a combination of elements shared from two previously released Hollywood (film industry), Hollywood production ...

'' (also 1937), in which she played two characters. Finally she was in a remake of Micheaux's silent picture, ''Birthright'' (remade in 1938). Moses also appeared in several musical shorts, including ''

Cab Calloway's Jitterbug Party ''Cab Calloway's Jitterbug Party'' is a 1935 American musical short film which was released by Paramount Pictures (later sold to U.M. & M. TV Corporation). In 2001, the film was reissued by Kino International in the DVD collection ''Hollywood ...

'' (1935). Ethel Moses left show business by early 1940.

Personal life

Ethel Moses married Benny Payne, a pianist in Cab Calloway's band. They eventually divorced, and in the 1940s Ethel was remarried to a factory worker, Frank Ryan; they lived in

Jamaica, Queens Jamaica is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. It is mainly composed of a large commercial and retail area, though part of the neighborhood is also residential. Jamaica is bordered by Hollis to the east; St. Albans, Springfi ...

.Betty Granger
"On the Island: Town and Country"
''New York Age'' (December 18, 1948): 7. via

Newspapers.com Ancestry.com LLC is an American genealogy company based in Lehi, Utah. The largest for-profit genealogy company in the world, it operates a network of genealogical, historical records, and related genetic genealogy websites. In November 2018, ...

She died in 1982, in Brooklyn, aged 78 years. Her nephew is

Bob Moses Robert Moses (1888–1981) was an American city planner. Robert Moses may also refer to: * Bob Moses (activist) (1935–2021), American educator and civil rights activist * Bob Moses, American football player in the 1962 Cotton Bowl Classic * Bob M ...

, a civil rights activist and educator.

Stage shows

* ''Keep Shuffling'' (1928) * ''

Show Boat ''Show Boat'' is a musical with music by Jerome Kern and book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. It is based on Edna Ferber's best-selling 1926 novel of the same name. The musical follows the lives of the performers, stagehands and dock worke ...

'' (1932) * ''Black Birds of 1935'' (1935)

Filmography

* ''

Birthright Birthright is the concept of things being due to a person upon or by fact of their birth, or due to the order of their birth. These may include rights of citizenship based on the place where the person was born or the citizenship of their paren ...

'' (1924) * ''

Cab Calloway's Hi-De-Ho ''Cab Calloway's Hi-De-Ho'' (also known as ''Hi-De-Ho'') is an American musical short film directed by Fred Waller and released by Paramount Pictures in 1934. The film stars jazz bandleader Cab Calloway and actress Fredi Washington. In 2001, th ...

'' (1934) * ''

'' (1935) * ''

'' (1936) * ''

'' (1937) * ''

'' (1937) * '' Harlemania'' (1938) * '' Policy Man'' (1938) * ''Birthright'' (1938; remake) * '' Gone Harlem'' (1939)

References

External links

*
Ethel Moses listing
at IBDB.
Ethel Moses listing
at BFI. {{DEFAULTSORT:Moses, Ethel 1904 births 1982 deaths 20th-century American actresses People from Staunton, Virginia Actresses from Virginia Actresses from Philadelphia American film actresses African-American actresses 20th-century African-American women 20th-century African-American people American female dancers Dancers from Virginia Dancers from Pennsylvania 20th-century American dancers African-American female dancers