Editing Colleen Moore (section)

===Early years===
[[Essanay Studios]] was within walking distance of the Northwestern [[Chicago 'L'|L]], which ran right past the Howey residence. (They occupied at least two residences between 1910 and 1916: 4161 Sheridan and 4942 Sheridan.) In interviews later in her silent film career, Moore claimed she had appeared in the background of several Essanay films, usually as a face in a crowd. One story has it that she got into the Essanay studios and waited in line to be an extra with [[Helen Ferguson]]: in an interview with [[Kevin Brownlow]] many years later, Ferguson told a story that substantially confirmed many details of the claim, though it is not certain whether she was referring to Moore's stints as a background extra (if she really was one) or to her film test there prior to her departure for [[Hollywood, Los Angeles|Hollywood]] in November 1917. Film producer D. W. Griffith was in debt to Howey, who had helped him to get both ''[[The Birth of a Nation]]'' and ''[[Intolerance (film)|Intolerance]]'' through the Chicago censorship board:<ref>Moore interviewed by Jennifer Small, ''[[The Pittsburgh Press]]'', August 23, 1976</ref>

{{quote|text=I was being sent to Hollywood—not because anybody out there thought I was any good, but simply to pay off a favor.<ref>Moore, Colleen, ''Silent Star''. Doubleday & Company, Inc, Garden City, NY, 1968</ref>}}

The contract to Griffith's [[Triangle Film Corporation|Triangle-Fine Arts]] was conditional on passing a film test to ensure that her [[heterochromia]] (she had one brown eye, one blue eye)<ref name=fowler>{{cite news |last=Fowler |first=Glenn |title=Colleen Moore, Star of 'Flapper' Films, Dies at 85 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/01/26/obituaries/colleen-moore-star-of-flapper-films-dies-at-85.html |url-status=live |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=January 26, 1988 |access-date=December 29, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121109020006/http://www.nytimes.com/1988/01/26/obituaries/colleen-moore-star-of-flapper-films-dies-at-85.html |archive-date=November 9, 2012}}</ref> would not be a distraction in close-up shots. Her eyes passed the test, so she left for Hollywood with her grandmother and her mother as chaperones. Moore made her first credited film appearance in 1917 in ''[[The Bad Boy (1917 film)|The Bad Boy]]'' for Triangle Fine Arts, and for the next few years appeared in small, supporting roles<ref name="afi">{{cite web |title=Colleen Moore |url=http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/SearchResult.aspx?s=1&TBL=PN&Type=CA&ID=33642&bhcp=1 |work=AFI Catalog Silent Films |publisher=AFI |year=2002 |access-date=September 30, 2007}}</ref> gradually attracting the attention of the public.

''The Bad Boy'' was released on February 18, and featured [[Robert Harron]], [[Richard Henry Cummings|Richard Cummings]], [[Josephine Crowell]], and [[Mildred Harris]] (who would later become [[Charles Chaplin]]'s first wife). Two months later, it was followed by ''[[An Old-Fashioned Young Man]]'', again with Robert Harron. Moore's third film was ''[[Hands Up! (1917 film)|Hands Up!]]'' filmed in part in the vicinity of the Seven Oaks (a popular location for productions that required dramatic vistas). This was her first true western. The film's scenario was written by Wilfred Lucas from a story by [[Al Jennings]], the famous outlaw who had been freed from jail by [[Pardon|presidential pardon]] by [[Theodore Roosevelt]] in 1907. [[Monte Blue]] was in the cast and noticed Moore could not mount her horse, though horseback riding was required for the part (during casting for the part she neglected to mention she did not know how to ride). Blue gave her a quick lesson essentially consisting of how to mount the horse and how to hold on.

On May 3, 1917, the ''[[Chicago Daily Tribune]]'' said: "Colleen Moore contributes some remarkable bits of acting. She is very sweet as she goes trustingly to her bandit hero, and, O, so pitiful, when finally realizing the character of the man, she goes into a hysteria of terror, and, shrieking 'Daddy, Daddy, Daddy!' beats futilely on a bolted door, a panic-stricken little human animal, who had not known before that there was aught but kindness in the world." About the time her first six-month contract was extended an additional six months, she requested and received five weeks' release to do a film for [[Universal Pictures|Universal]]'s Bluebird division, released under the name ''The Savage''. This was her fourth film, and she was only needed for two weeks. Upon her return to the Fine Arts lot, she spent several weeks trying to get her pay for the three weeks she had been available for work for Triangle (finally receiving it in December of that year).

Soon after, the Triangle Company went bust, and while her contract was honored, she found herself scrambling to find her next job. With a reel of her performance in ''Hands Up!'' under her arm, [[Colin Campbell (film maker)|Colin Campbell]] arranged for her to get a contract with [[Selig Polyscope Company|Selig Polyscope]]. She was very likely at work on ''A Hoosier Romance'' before ''The Savage'' was released in November. After ''A Hoosier Romance'', she went to work on ''[[Little Orphant Annie]]''. Both films were based upon poems by [[James Whitcomb Riley]], and both proved to be very popular. It was her first real taste of popularity.

''Little Orphant Annie'' was released in December. The ''Chicago Daily Tribune'' wrote of Moore, "She was a lovely and unspoiled child the last time I saw her. Let's hope commendation hasn't turned her head." Despite her good notices, her luck took a turn for the worse when Selig Polyscope went bust. Once again Moore found herself unemployed, but she had begun to make a name for herself by 1919. She had a series of films lined up. She went to [[Flagstaff, Arizona]], for location work on ''The Wilderness Trail'', another western, this time with Tom Mix. Her mother went along as a chaperone. Moore wrote that while she had a crush on Mix, he only had eyes for her mother. ''The Wilderness Trail'' was a [[Fox Film Corporation]] production, and while it had started production earlier, it would not be released until after ''The Busher'', which was released on May 18. ''The Busher'' was an H. Ince Productions-[[Famous Players–Lasky]] production; it was a baseball film whose hero was played by [[Charles Ray (actor)|Charles Ray]]. ''The Wilderness Trail'' followed on July 6, another Fox film. ''The Man in the Moonlight'', a [[Universal Pictures|Universal Film Manufacturing Company]] film, was released a few weeks later on July 28. ''The Egg Crate Wallop'' was a Famous Players–Lasky production released by [[Paramount Pictures]] on September 28.

[[File:Her Wild Oat - scene - 1927.webm|thumb|thumbtime=48|Colleen Moore acting in a scene from the 1927 silent film [[Her Wild Oat]].]]
[[File:Oh, Kay! (1928 film), First National Pictures. Publicity still. L to R, Mervyn LeRoy (director), actor Colleen Moore.jpg|thumb|Mervyn LeRoy on the set of ''[[Oh, Kay! (film)|Oh, Kay!]]'' (1928) alongside Colleen Moore]]