Tim Moore (comedian) - Biography - Broadway Comedian

Broadway Comedian

In June 1925, Tim Moore made his Broadway debut as the star of Lucky Sambo (based on "Aces and Queens'). However, the show closed after only a few performances. He was a success in 1926 with the hit show Rarin' to Go, followed in 1927 with The Southland Revue. Moore wrote all of his own material and also did some writing for other performers; a Moore skit called, Not a Fit Night for Man nor Beast, was bought by W.C. Fields. He also did some writing for the radio show of the Two Black Crows comedy team. Moore was brought to New York to sign a writing contract but before this was done, Charles Mack of the team was killed in an auto accident, thus ending the act. Moore wrote sketches which became part of Lew Leslie's "Blackbirds" revues as well.

In 1928, Moore took time off from his vaudeville bookings to try his luck once more on the Great White Way Broadway. This time he met with enormous success as the star comedian of Lew Leslie's hit musical comedy revue, the Blackbirds of 1928. Moore's co-stars were singers Adelaide Hall and Aida Ward and renowned tap dancer Bill "Bojangles" Robinson. The hit musical scored high in Paris and London as well as on the road throughout the states. In 1931, Moore and his then vaudeville straight man, Andrew Tribble, performed one of their funniest routines in Oscar Micheaux's first talking picture, The Darktown Revue. After a disagreement with Lew Leslie, Moore starred in two unsuccessful Broadway revues, Fast and Furious (1931), and The Blackberries of 1932. In the former, Moore wrote some of the skits along with his friend and co-star Zora Neale Hurston. Moore and fellow comedian "Morton" (i.e., Mantan Moreland) left the show in April 1932, refusing to perform what were termed "dirty lines". Needing each other, he and Leslie patched up their differences and Moore resumed his position as star comedian in the Blackbirds revues of 1934, 1935, 1936, 1937, and 1939. Politics played a role in the demise of the 1936 edition of the Blackbirds, causing the London run to be shut down. At the time the troupe was booked in the United Kingdom, King Edward VIII had just abdicated the British throne for love of American Wallis Simpson. There was a wave of anti-Americanism, with women picketing performances of the Blackbirds, carrying signs disparaging American women. In this last of the Blackbirds (1939), the principal singing star was Lena Horne. Moore's last Broadway show was Harlem Cavalcade (1942), produced by Ed Sullivan and Noble Sissle. During the late 1930s and early 1940s, Moore was one of the top comedians headlining at the Apollo Theater in Harlem. He also performed on radio as a dramatic actor.

In 1946, he starred as Bumpsie in the musical comedy film, Boy! What a Girl!. He made some appearances on Ed Sullivan's television show, Toast of the Town, and at the Apollo Theater; Moore then retired from show business. His wife Gertrude having died in 1934, Moore settled down with his third wife, Benzonia Davis Moore (1889–1956), in his home town of Rock Island, working the night shift at the Servus Rubber company, where boots and shoes were made. The couple was married in 1941 and initially made their home in Baltimore.