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Biography/History:
Ross Henderson Moore, a Millsaps College professor and an actor and director of amateur theatre, was born to James A. and Lily Cox Moore of Jackson, Mississippi, on August 17, 1903. James Moore was head of the department of mathematics and astronomy at Millsaps College, Jackson, Mississippi, from 1895 to 1908. Ross Moore finished his undergraduate degree at Millsaps at the age of nineteen. He began teaching chemistry at Millsaps in 1923. Moore then completed master of science degrees in history and psychology from Millsaps in 1924, and he taught chemistry and history there for several years before specializing in history. He received a master of arts degree in history from the University of Chicago in 1928. Moore was named chairman of the history department at Millsaps in 1930. He received a doctorate in history from Duke University in 1938. Moore pursued additional graduate work at Columbia University and the Institute of International Law at McGill University, Montreal, Canada. He served as chairman of the history department at Millsaps until 1970. Moore accepted emeritus status in 1973, but he continued teaching a senior history seminar until his death. Among his faculty sponsorships were Kappa Alpha Order (social fraternity), Omicron Delta Kappa (leadership honorary), and Alpha Psi Omega (thespian honorary). Moore was a member of Galloway Memorial United Methodist Church in Jackson. He was a member of the Democratic Party. Moore enjoyed many sports, but he concentrated on chess, tennis, and target shooting in later life. He died in Jackson on December 9, 1989, and he was survived by his wife, Alice Sutton Moore, and their son, Willard S. Moore. Ross Moore is buried in Cedar Lawn Cemetery in Jackson.
The theatre was an enduring interest of Ross Moore. He was equally involved with the Millsaps College Players (and other campus theatrical events) and the Jackson Little Theatre. Both groups were inspired by broader theatre movements across America. The American little-theatre movement, an outgrowth of a similar European theatre movement of the 1880s and 1890s, had its genesis in 1911 and 1912 with the formation of theatres in Boston, Chicago, and New York City. Fifty more little theatres had been organized across the country by 1917. This movement reached Jackson in 1924 in the person of Margaret P. Green, recent widow of Dr. S. Gordon Green. She organized the Little Theatre Players of Jackson in 1925. For many years, the mission statement of the Little Theatre was as follows: "a non-profit organization, the purpose of which is to cultivate, advance, and promote education in dramatic literature, dramatic expression, and dramatic art." The new theatre raised funds by advance ticket sales to a limited number of patrons, and to many of those, by invitation only. In the early years, most of the people joining the membership of the Little Theatre shared duties on the board of directors, behind the scenes and on the stage, and as directors of the plays. Casting auditions, however, were not limited to Little Theatre members.
Since the membership of the Little Theatre was by subscription only, the plays that were performed reflected the tastes of that membership. A list of proposed plays would be sent out to all members, and the final selections would be made by committee. Such practical considerations as availability of performance rights for more recent hits also determined the final play list. Most of the seasons were filled with light comedies (The Goose Hangs High by Lewis Beach) or suspense thrillers (Angel Street by Patrick Hamilton), but some experimental or controversial plays (Where the Cross Is Made by Eugene O’Neill and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof by Tennessee Williams) were also selected. The Little Theatre also encouraged playwrights from among their membership. In particular, the Little Theatre enjoyed a close relationship with writer Eudora Welty, who premiered her stage version of The Ponder Heart simultaneously at the Little Theatre and at Le Petite Theatre du Vieux Carre, in association with Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana, between October 17 and 27 of 1956.
Until the Little Theatre built its own playhouse in 1932, plays were performed at different Jackson auditoriums, including the Blind Institute, the Century Theatre (an opera house also used as a motion-picture theatre), and Millsaps College. The group gave frequent benefit performances and staged "road shows" across the state. The name of the organization was shortened from the Little Theatre Players of Jackson to the Jackson Little Theatre in the 1940s. The Little Theatre launched the Mississippi Little Theatre Association in 1956, hosting an annual conference and play competition and publishing a newsletter. The Little Theatre playhouse burned in 1961. Once again, the Little Theatre players used auditoriums at local high schools and at Millsaps College while they began building a new playhouse on the site of the old one. The new brick playhouse was completed in 1963.
Ross Moore was an actor, a director, and a board member of the Little Theatre. His wife, Alice Sutton Moore, assisted with the hospitality committee that served coffee and dessert during intermissions. In addition to their theatrical activities in Jackson, the Moores traveled extensively, attending many plays across the country and in New York City. Many of these plays were later performed by the Little Theatre or by the Millsaps Players.
The activities of Ross Moore with the Little Theatre complemented his work with the Millsaps Players. The Millsaps company was formed in 1910, about the time that George Pierce Baker was organizing the drama programs at Harvard University and Radcliffe College. The idea soon spread to other colleges across the country, so that by 1940 many liberal arts colleges had incorporated drama programs into their curricula. One of the early directors of the Millsaps Players, Dr. Milton Christian White, came to Millsaps in 1920 to chair the English department. Ross Moore assisted Dr. White throughout the 1930s and 1940s. To this succession of directors was added Lance Goss, himself a Millsaps graduate and a student under Moore. After completing a master of fine arts degree at Northwestern University, Goss returned in 1950 to teach drama and speech. Like Moore, Goss directed plays at Millsaps and the Little Theatre, as well as acting in occasional Little Theatre productions. Under Goss, the Millsaps Players presented a wide range of drama, including Renaissance classics (Hamlet by William Shakespeare), avant-garde critical favorites (The Infernal Machine by Jean Cocteau and Marat / Sade by Peter Weiss), Broadway hits (My Fair Lady by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe, one of the first amateur productions in the country), and several plays by Tennessee Williams. Moore and Goss were not the only professors using their talents in both college and community theatre. A survey of programs of the Little Theatre, the Millsaps Players, and later, New Stage Theatre, reveals the names of many Millsaps professors who were active in the operation of the three theatres.
A breakaway group of Little Theatre members formed New Stage Theatre as Mississippi’s first regional professional theatre group in 1965. Across the South, similar groups had founded successful professional theatres: the Arena Theatre in Dallas, Texas; the Alley Theatre in Houston, Texas; the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia; and the Alabama Shakespeare Festival Theatre in Anniston (later moved to Montgomery). While Little Theatre supporters faced rising production costs, even as they were paying off the mortgage of the new playhouse, New Stage supporters streamlined their shows and their production costs by leasing an abandoned church building. New Stage audiences began to grow, while Little Theatre audiences began to shrink. The Little Theatre sold its playhouse and property to New Stage Theatre in 1978, effectively ending a fifty-three-year run. New Stage earned its Actors’ Equity Association membership in 1980. New Stage became Jackson’s link between the amateur little theatre and the regional professional theatre movements.
Scope and Content:
This collection was assembled by Ross Moore, and it reflects his interest in the Little Theatre, Millsaps Players, New Stage Theatre, miscellaneous productions in Jackson and around the state, regional theatres across the country, and New York City theatres. The collection largely consists of theatre programs for plays and musicals; a scrapbook for the 1947-1948 season, with correspondence, photographs, programs, and newsclippings; and such Little Theatre materials as minutes of the board of directors, correspondence, financial records, and membership lists. Some newsclippings and notes are scattered throughout the theatre programs.
The physical presence of such a wide array of theatre and music programs suggests the Moores’ active interest in American cultural trends and their desire to stay abreast of emerging and established theatrical and musical talents, both locally and across the nation.
Series Identification:
This series includes miscellaneous correspondence from the Little Theatre to its members and business contacts and letters from its members. In particular, one letter from Dorothy Cassity (mother of poet Turner Cassity) reveals her frustration with obtaining season tickets.
This series includes annual reports made up of individual committee reports and drafts of reports. The minutes of annual meetings cover the dates of June 3, 1929, and May 5, 1947. The lists of officers are interspersed with the annual reports, drafted on separate sheets, or listed on blank letterhead stationery.
This series contains annual reports of the treasurer and some committees. Details on the purchase of the property for the new playhouse are also included.
This series includes lists of plays performed by the Little Theatre from 1924 to 1961. Some lists are organized by season, some by calendar, and some are undated.
This series consists of membership cards (the equivalent of tickets) for the years 1942 to 1948. There are also membership lists for the 1939-1940, 1946-1947, and 1947-1948 seasons.
This series contains typescripts of two one-act plays: Beatrice Understands by Margaret Henry and Sealed Lips (anonymous).
Box 1This series includes materials from an unfinished scrapbook. The contents consist of newsclippings, correspondence, programs, and photographs collected for the 1947-1948 season.
Box 2This series contains theatre programs representing the seasons from 1925 to 1969. The program for Wallflower in the 1948-1949 season lists the titles of plays performed during the first twenty-five seasons. Programs for the Summer Players are filed first; all other programs are filed chronologically by season. (See Appendices 1 and 2 for play titles, authors, and performance dates.)
Boxes 3-5This series includes newspaper photographs and reviews of Little Theatre plays.
This series includes a draft of an early constitution of the organization and several newsletters.
Box 1This series includes programs for concerts, fraternity and sorority revues, and faculty plays and recitals on the Millsaps College campus.
This series contains programs and advance publicity notices for college theatrical performances, principally under the direction of Dr. Milton C. White, Dr. Ross H. Moore, and Lance Goss. (See Appendices 3 and 4 for play titles, authors, and performance dates.)
Boxes 6-7This series contains programs for ten early New Stage Theatre productions. (See Appendix 5 for play titles, authors, and performance dates.)
This series contains theatre programs from Murrah High School, Provine High School, and Belhaven College; concert programs from venues around Jackson; programs from national touring productions of Broadway plays or popular musical acts that were locally booked by producer Armand Coullet; and programs from various art organizations and events.
This series contains theatre and concert programs from little theatres and college campuses around the state of Mississippi, including a performance of The Ponder Heart at Mississippi State College for Women (now Mississippi University for Women).
Box 8This series contains theatre and concert programs from venues across the United States, including North Carolina, Ohio, and Washington, D.C.
Box 9The majority of this series consists of programs from Broadway shows, both plays and musicals, along with a few film presentations at Radio City Music Hall and other motion-picture theatres.
Box 5