Caption: Comedian Steve Moore, Credit: John K. MacLellan
Image by: John K. MacLellan 
Comedian Steve Moore 

Steve Moore: Tears of a Clown

Series: A Grain of Sand
From: Charles McGuigan
Length: 00:28:41

AIDS survivor Steve Moore was one of the first comedians in the international limelight to bring laughter to this devastating illness. Read the full description.

Stevemoore_104ma24735665-0001_small Steve was born in Danville, Virginia to Skeets and Wilma, both factory workers. Steve was gay in a community that had trouble accepting his orientation. Again and again he was surprised by the love of his parents and brother Dale. Skeets and Wilma even began to challenge their own Southern Baptsit beliefs. Steve studied theatre, pursued acting in New York then headed out to L.A. where he became a comedian. Just as his career was blossoming, Steve was diagnosed with HIV. His world came to a stand still and he moved back to Virginia where he rented a travel trailer on a mountain lake. He hatched out a plan that would propel into the international limelight.

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Piece Description

Steve was born in Danville, Virginia to Skeets and Wilma, both factory workers. Steve was gay in a community that had trouble accepting his orientation. Again and again he was surprised by the love of his parents and brother Dale. Skeets and Wilma even began to challenge their own Southern Baptsit beliefs. Steve studied theatre, pursued acting in New York then headed out to L.A. where he became a comedian. Just as his career was blossoming, Steve was diagnosed with HIV. His world came to a stand still and he moved back to Virginia where he rented a travel trailer on a mountain lake. He hatched out a plan that would propel into the international limelight.

1 Comment Atom Feed

User image

wonderful

I'm not surprised, you are wonderful at this. How delightful. I have missed your stories and your voice, thank you, charles

Transcript

NARRATIVE 1

:30

In the last episode Steve Moore chronicled his life, from boyhood days in Danville to early adulthood in L.A. He left the East Coast for the West Coast to become an actor. Instead he became a comedian. And just as his career was taking off, he was diagnosed with AIDs. This was back in the late 1980s when AIDs was a death sentence. While playing Caesar’s Palace one night, Steve had a small nervous breakdown and decided to leave California and return to Virginia.

ACT 1 (47:10-48:37)

1:25

So I packed up my bags and sold all my furniture and moved to the Blue Ridge Mountains I lived in Smith Mountain Lake in the Blue Ridge Mountains in a trailer for a year by myself and Danville was probably about seventy miles from there so I got to see Skeets and Wilma quite often. And here’s the funniest part, my mother is like the queen of the malapr...
Read the full transcript

Timing and Cues

With intros and outros piece runs 28:41; without intros and outros piece runs 26:10.

Musical Works

Title Artist Album Label Year Length
All original music written for this show Charles Arthur 00:00