With most absolutely not but fans of Black Cinema and of Oscar Micheaux know her face but don't know Ethel Moses. In the 1930s winsome Ethel Moses went from being called the most beautiful and shapely chorus girl in America to popular stage dancer to becoming movie audiences most favorite actress of Oscar Micheaux, becoming one of Black Cinema's most lovable and recognized actress.
Ethel Moses was born into a big family. 3 sisters and 3 brothers in Virginia and grew up in Philadelphia and as a teenager her family move to New York. She always wanted to be an actress. Movies was one of her favorite hobbies. All the beautiful Moses girls Ethel, Lucia, and Julia went into show business against their father's wishes. Their father was a preacher and being in show business at that time was considered "going to the devil." Will Marion Cook gave the beautiful Ethel and Lucia their start and taught them their first steps which landed them in "Dixie to Broadway," starring Florence Mills. Will Vodery saw them in the vechile and took them in charge. From then on Ethel and Lucia went no where but up in the world of Show Business. It was easy-going for both from then on out.
Ethel's sister Lucia Moses was the first to strike fame by starring in Oscar Micheaux's legendary "Scar of Shame" which is still being shown to this day and Lucia was a popular dancer at The Plantation Club in Harlem. The Plantation Club was one of many hotspots in Harlem. All the Moses sisters danced at the Cotton Club together. Ethel and Lucia had some sibling rivalry. Whenever their was a poll judging who was the prettiest and shapeliest, Ethel always won. In 1929, Ethel was voted by citizens and critics of the stage as New York's most shapely chorus girl. Ethel's sister Lucia came in 2nd place. Ethel was acclaimed many times throughout the 1930s as one of the most beautiful women on the American stage becase of her angelic beauty and mysterious yet inviting personality.
Ethel struck fame fast and surpassed her younger sister Lucia's fame. Ethel was a gorgeous woman with a soft, angelic feminine beauty and a likable persona that drew people to her. Ethel had "something" special. She never had to do much but always could draw people to her. She had a special magnetism. You just couldn't keep your eyes off of her. She had sex appeal but an innocent sexiness. She always left something to your imagination. Ethel became popular being a stage dancer dancing at all the popular hotspots of Harlem such as the famous Cotton Club, Connie's Inn, and Ubangi Club ... performed and traveled with such bands like Cab Calloway and Lucky Millander which took her around the globe to places like Monte Carlo, Nice, Cannes, Naples, and Paris among other places. Ethel was in most of all the hit Black stage shows like "Blackbirds" "Showboat" and "Keep Shuffling." There was even a rumor that Ethel Moses was considered for the role of Julia in "Showboat." The role of Julia, the mulatto in the legendary play of stage and screen were played by white women, never a black woman. Ethel would have fit that role perfectly as fragile Julia.
Around 1936, Ethel said in the New York Amsterdam News she was tried of "showing her legs." She wanted to become an serious actress. She had brief appearances in shorts featuring her as a dancer but you could miss her. Ethel got her start through Oscar Micheaux and he was happy to have her. Ethel was a popular Harlem performer. Most of the people Micheaux used in his films were not well-known but Ethel was and Micheaux knew her "name value" would draw many to his movies.
Ethel became of age in Michaux films. She matured as a performer through his films. Acting wasn't so much more different then dancing, only, she had to express herself through words from her heart, mind and soul then with her feet. Ethel's first movie with Micheaux was "Temptation" from 1936. Which was her starring role and her most popular role which made her into a movie star. In "Temptation" Ethel plays Helen Ware a beautiful artist model called "The Brown Venus" who is misunderstood. When her young male friends learn that in posing she is often required to do so in the nude, they want to become unduly familiar or run from her in disgust - result: The gullible, naive, beautiful girl with the figure of a goddess, finds herself with a lover who leads her down a downward path though no fault of her own, she innocently becomes involved with a mob of gangsters and smugglers and is eventually accused of murder which she did not commit. Ethel played the part as if she was telling her own story and that's what made the movie one of Micheaux's few good movies because Ethel added the natural, soft touch to the role. She played the role of a innocent young lady yet always in trouble, no matter what she does you wish for her to have a happy ending this was a familiar theme with Ethel movies.
"Underworld" was Ethel next role made in 1937 where she played a college student who happens to become the "other" woman by accident but even though she was the other woman, she was the right woman for a man who was being led into a destructive life and Ethel Moses stands by his side and fights with him to prove he's innocent and helps him gain back his good reputation. Again, you sympathize with Ethel in this role, though, she's the "other" woman, she actually makes you see she's the right one and you sustain from being angry with her.
Ethel usually played the understanding woman in movies; the backbone and encouragement of the man. She was like the "perfect wife or girlfriend" like Myrna Loy. Ethel also perfectly played girl-next-door types and good girls always in trouble types. Which is funny because Ethel Moses was billed in Micheaux films as "The Black Harlow" after Jean Harlow. But Ethel and Jean couldn't have been more different in their screen images. Harlow was spunky, incorrigible, sexy, the femme fatale, the ruin of a man and Ethel in movies and onstage was demure, classy, aloof, innocent, sophisticated and sweet. It's surprisingly that a "Hot Harlem girl" could be the good girl type on screen. It was rare to see a black actress in that type of role in Hollywood or Black Cinema films. Ethel was gorgeous and curvaceous, you would think, actresses like her always played the femme fatales, vixens, vamps and sex symbols. Ethel was also in her 30's at the time she was appearing in films, which was too old to be playing good girl types but only she could have hit it off. Ethel was versatile, she could play the role of a good girl or bad girl and make it believable. She took care of herself, so, naturally, she looked like she was in her mid-20's. Another part of Ethel's image was her aloofness and her unspoken feelings. You couldn't help but know what she felt and was thinking by looking at her face and eyes which seem to tell the story of what she was thinking and dreaming. Ethel was great when it came to timing. She always had the right facial expression when the camera did a close-up, in any situation whether it be sad or happy, her face told the story without saying a word. Ethel was aloof and mysterious like the great Greta Garbo and like Garbo, Ethel kept you wanting to know more. Ethel was sexy but never blatantly sexual. She was actually the type of woman that you had so much respect for you wouldn't dare think sexual of but wanted as a wife. Jean Harlow on the other hand was a full fledged sex symbol. Also, Ethel and Jean Harlow resembled each other in many ways ... in the lips, eyes, face shape. Ethel gain fame and popularity before Jean. Jean should have been called "The White Ethel Moses."
Ethel Moses next film with Micheaux was "God's Stepchildren" from 1937 which was a controversial movie with Blacks. The movie had two movie stories in one, themes from "Imitation of Life" and "These Three" were used in this one. Ethel had a double role as a school teacher, Mrs. Cushinberry, and then the daughter of the school teacher. In this movie a girl named "Naomi" is a hell-raiser and acts as though she's the child of the devil. At a young age, she's ashamed of being black and it's the reason she's acting out. She gets Ms. Cushinberry (the role Ethel Moses plays) into trouble by spreading nasty rumors because Ms. Cushinberry spanks her for spitting in her face and taunting the black school mates. Naomi is sent to an all-girls Catholic school for many years. She comes back as an adult and trouble is still with her, she falls in love with her foster brother Jimmy who's in love with Eva (the other role Ethel plays). Eva knows deep down in her heart Naomi wants her man but Eva denies it subconsciously and does anything she can to be kind to Naomi. After many tries, Naomi fails to win over Jimmy even though their not real brother and sister. So since she can't get what she wants, she passes for white in hoping to achieve happiness on the "other side" but she learns passing for white won't solve her problems within. All the wrong she did to others paid her back, she met her deserved fate in committing suicide. This particular film takes Ethel on a emotional rollercoaster. Through the film, she steps outside of her sweet disposition and let Naomi have it quite a few times. As the teacher, Ethel had all the wholesome mannerisms a teacher should have. Ethel proves her talent as an actress by playing dual roles.
Ethel's next and last role with Micheaux was "Birthright" in 1939. Ethel played Sissy ... who everyone thinks is the town's hussy, Sissy is a naive, misunderstood sweetheart who only wants love, happiness, respect and understanding but trouble seems to follow her shadow. First, she's caught in the middle of two men ... one who's good for nothing ... and the other, Peter(Carman Newsome), who's educated but a simpleton who everyone think is too good for Sissy, trouble seems to follow him also. Sissy and Peter naturally grow together trying to help one another's problems but their being together creates more problems which results in thievery and racism, which has Sissy on the run from the law but she and Pete ends up getting what they want ... each other and freedom. In "Birthright" Ethel passionately tugs at your heart strings as she struggles to find her way in the world.
Ethel was in many other films. 2 Cab Calloway's musical shorts. Her first screen appearance was in "Cab Calloway's Hi-De-Ho from 1934 filmed at The Cotton Club. Ethel has no words just is one of the beauties Cab sings to in "The Lady with the Fan." Ethel demonstrates in that film her mysterious, alluring beauty with an face of an angel that leaves you wanting more. Then Ethel appeared in "Cab Calloway's Jitterbug Party" from 1935. Ethel was also in a short called "HarlemMania" from 1938 which featured Count Basie and His Band and Jimmy Baskette. Ethel was also in "Policy Man" from 1938 which also featured Count Basie. Ethel's last film apperance was in a movie called "Gone Harlem" from 1939. The movie was about "Passion, Swing, Rhythm, and crime behind locked doors of an artist studio."
The Black press couldn't get enough of raving about Ethel. Even some whites put aside their prejudices to commend Ethel on her beauty and talent.
One thing about Ethel Moses was she never exaggerated her roles. You would never see her act arrogant, pushing, controlling or have to shout to get her point across. Watchers of her movies and watchers of her stage performances never could put their finger on what Ethel had but she had that "something" that kept them coming back for more. Ethel was irresistibly likable and natural on stage and offstage. That certain "something" is still winning admirers to this day. What audiences saw in Ethel Moses and that special "something" she had was her sincere and heartfelt output in anything she did. Anything Ethel did, she did with complete sincerity and wanted her audience to know everything she did she did from the heart and audience surely took it to their hearts.
Ethel's only bad publicity was on February 20, 1939 when the German Bund Meeting was at the Madison Square Garden, Ethel and others were escorted out by police because of their protesting against the Nazis gathering. But Ethel could never do wrong in her fan's eyes just like her character.
Ethel was married to Benny Payne who was a pianist with Cab Calloway's band. She left Show Business around the early 1940s. She lived a quiet life in New Jersey until her last days. Before her passing many seeked her out who had interest in Black Cinema and the Golden Era of Harlem and her interviews and stories were recorded and are in libraries.
Ethel was one of the reasons Harlem was such a exciting place in the 1930's. She was apart of the Golden Era of Harlem...The Greatest Era of Black Entertainment. Her name is still known whenever Black Cinema and Oscar Micheaux name is brought up. If you research Harlem, you will know who Ethel Moses is. Ethel may not have appeared in Hollywood films because of partiality towards Blacks, but she still was important, Ethel played roles that Hollywood wouldn't dare let her play and Hollywood certainly wouldn't have gave her the freedom she had to create her own image like in Black Cinema. Ethel Moses was as big of a movie star and dancing star in her race as Jean Harlow was of her race.
In a poster where Ethel's reclining on a silk chaise, looking very sulky, and covered only by a peacock feather explains her beauty and image... inviting but mysterious and aloof, leaving you wanting more, which was the image that claimed her fame and is the most popular and known photo of her which is shown everytime there is Black film festival or exhibition. Ethel is truly unforgettable!
