Editing Grace Moore (section)

==Controversies==
She was widely criticized in December 1938 when she [[curtsy|curtsied]] to the [[Wallis, Duchess of Windsor|Duchess of Windsor]], in [[Cannes]]. Upon her return to the United States after six months and ten days in Europe ("to save money in income tax"), Moore defended her curtsy, saying:
<blockquote>
She would have been a royal duchess long ago if she had not been an American. After all, she gave happiness and the courage of his convictions to one man, which is more than most women can do. She deserves a curtsy for that alone.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20081214200850/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,771398,00.html "People."] ''Time''. January 16, 1939.</ref>
</blockquote>

According to [[Joe Laurie Jr.]], vaudeville performer and historian, Grace Moore would not perform on vaudeville bills that included black performers.<ref>{{cite book|last=Laurie|first=Joe Jr. |author-link=Joe Laurie, Jr.|title=Vaudeville: From The Honky Tonks To The Palace|url=https://archive.org/details/vaudevillefromth013372mbp|year=1953|publisher=Henry Holt and Company|page=[https://archive.org/details/vaudevillefromth013372mbp/page/n219 202]}}</ref>

However, this is at odds with some comments by Moore herself in her autobiography.

"All along I felt that all people were born to equal opportunity because that is the way my mother and father lived their lives. And I don't mean opportunity handed out on a silver platter, but opportunity that was there without social or racial strings for anyone who had the initiative to reach and hold."<ref>{{cite book|last=Moore|first=Grace |author-link=autobiography |title=You're Only Human Once - The Autobiography of Grace Moore |publisher=Latimer House Ltd, London|year=1947|page=26}}</ref>

She also mentions being baptised in a creek at an African American Baptist church ceremony at Newcomb, Tennessee during her adolescence;<ref>{{cite book|last=Moore|first=Grace |author-link=autobiography |title=You're Only Human Once - The Autobiography of Grace Moore  |publisher=Latimer House Ltd, London|year=1947|page=30}}</ref> and that the popular African American vocal and piano duo of Turner Layton and Clarence Johnstone (ie [[Layton & Johnstone]]) performed at parties in her own flat in New York along with other showbiz connections during her early days of stardom.<ref>{{cite book|last=Moore|first=Grace |author-link=autobiography |title=You're Only Human Once - The Autobiography of Grace Moore |publisher=Latimer House Ltd, London|year=1947|page=87}}</ref>

Furthermore, the alleged incident quoted by Joe Laurie Jr.<ref>{{cite book|last=Laurie|first=Joe Jr. |author-link=Joe Laurie, Jr.|title=Vaudeville: From The Honky Tonks To The Palace|url=https://archive.org/details/vaudevillefromth013372mbp|year=1953|publisher=Henry Holt and Company|page=[https://archive.org/details/vaudevillefromth013372mbp/page/n219 202]}}</ref> about Loew's Capitol Theatre on Broadway, New York allegedly calling off a booking for Grace Moore, due to her supposed response to [[Mary Garden]] sharing a bill there with the [[Mills Brothers]], does not appear to be entirely correct. Theatre listings in the New York Times show that Mary Garden and the Mills Brothers appeared at the Capitol on 6 nights from 27th January to 1st February 1933. On those dates Grace Moore was already fully committed to a long-running stage show called 'The Dubarry' at another theatre in New York, which ran from 22nd November 1932 to 3rd February 1933, after which the production was scheduled to go on tour. A few weeks later on 31st March 1933 Grace Moore did start a 2 week booking at Loew's Capitol Theatre in New York.