Her lips remained sealed as to which particular production it was though, leading to speculations that it was a burlesque show, of which he was rather fond. He was eight years older than Marion, whom he first saw onstage. He had a young daughter but she didn’t live with him, very probably, apart from anything else, because he had very little income and lived with his mother. Edward Estlin Cummings, know as Estlin to his friends, was dissipated poet with two failed marriages behind him. She was with him for over thirty years, though they never married. In 1932 she began a relationship with the great love of her life, e.e. Vogue started to bill her in photos: “Two mink trimmed bias panels fall from this gown of green and gold lame – a gown of great elegance and richness obtained by its gleaming fabric and intricate cut: posed by Marion Moorehouse.” She modelled for the magazines for about eight years, becoming a new kind of celebrity in the process: the model girl. Marion Moorehouse didn’t win the competition, but Edward Steichen saw her potential instead. Image Nikolas Murray, photo via Pinterest. But it wasn’t a job, and if you weren’t a princess or a baroness your name would not be appearing in the caption either. Sure, the portraits of titled ladies appeared in magazines, and some even put on the gowns of a celebrated designer to do so. The competition is notable because it marks a turning point in the modelling industry: up till then, modelling, like being an actress, was a rather dingy occupation. The winner would become a house model for the designer in Paris. On the occasion of a visit to New York by the French couturier Jean Patou Condé Nast decided that the magazine should run a competition to prove that the American girls were just as beautiful as the French. She also claimed to have been in a film or two, and the legend is that when she appeared on set everybody stopped what they were doing to watch her. She definitely worked as a showgirl like her sister, although her height and long legs made her stand out a bit too much on the chorus line. There is also speculation that she, and maybe her sister, was in the famous Zeigfield Follies. At least one production was co-starring with Marion herself.įrom 1923 Marion Morehouse appeared in at least five Broadway productions, some of which ran to hundreds of performances. Lillian was an actress and appeared in many productions, some respectable and heavyweight and others more in the Zeigfield Follies burlesque style. There were also a few periods of separation (though not divorce) for Marion’s parents.īoth Marion’s younger sister, Lillian, and her brother Benjamin worked in the theatre too. They were not married when Marion was born, and though they got hitched a year later, they had to do so in another state owing to the fact that Isaac had already been married and divorced, a fact that could cause legal complications and great delays at the time. Her mother, Annie Shortell Morehouse, did not come from elevated circumstances either. His name was Benjamin Isaac Morehouse, known as Isaac. She was the daughter of a showman and actor who also, circumstances dictating, took jobs as a carpenter, odd job man, janitor and whatever else came his way. Which says a lot about Marion’s skills as an actress. The aim of models at this time was to be grand ladies, and Marion Morehouse, with her particularly personal ways of twisting her neck, her fingers and feet, was at home in the grandest circumstances.” But when she put on the clothes that were to be photographed, she transformed herself into a woman who really would wear that gown or that riding habit or whatever the outfit.”Ĭecil Beaton, as ever, has something to say about her too: “It was not until Miss Marion Morehouse was discovered by Steichen that photographic models became so well known that they exerted an influence on the public. He called Marion Morehouse “the greatest fashion model I ever shot,”and that “Miss Morehouse was no more interested in fashions as fashions than I was. Edward Steichen was one of Vogue’s star photographers who superseded Adolf de Meyer as their favourite in fashion photography.
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