HYDE PARK — The Fairy Castle has been a popular attraction at the Museum of Science and Industry for decades. But the story behind the fascinating structure — a large dollhouse filled with exquisite miniatures — is almost as intriguing as the castle itself.
The castle was created by Colleen Moore, a popular silent movie actress in the early days of the film industry. Local author Kathleen Rooney has crafted a fictionalized biography of Moore in her new historical novel, “From Dust to Stardust,” which was released in the fall by Lake Union Publishing.
Rooney will discuss the book, Moore and the castle at an MSI event Saturday, Moore’s Marvelous Minis. The museum, 5700 S. Lake Shore Drive, is putting the spotlight on the Fairy Castle for the day, with a discussion between Rooney and Colleen Moore’s granddaughter, Alice Hargrave; a booksigning by Rooney; a miniature artisan marketplace with demonstrations and mini items for purchase in the rotunda; a special storytime with the Chicago Public Library; and a screening of Moore’s iconic Jazz Age movie, “Flaming Youth.”
Rooney saw the castle for the first time as a child.
“I went there when I was 8 years old,” she said. “My family had just moved out from Louisiana. And it was a big cultural change. And I loved everything at the museum, especially the history stuff like the coal mine, and the castle was instantly my favorite.”
Rooney said she also became instantly fascinated by the castle’s creator.
“It was the object itself, but also the fact that there were details about Colleen Moore, this person who built it, and little things like she had one brown eye and one blue eye and an Irish grandmother who told her all these fairy stories,” Rooney said. “I was just smitten by her.”
Moore began her film career in Chicago at Essanay Studios in Uptown. She soon moved to Hollywood, where she became an iconic flapper movie star, complete with bobbed hair. F. Scott Fitzgerald called her 1923 film “Flaming Youth” “the only film that captured the sexual revolution of the Jazz Age.” It’s rumored the story “A Star Is Born” was inspired by Moore’s rise to fame and her alcoholic first husband, John McCormick.
After retiring from acting, Moore created her own production company and wrote not only her autobiography, “Silent Star,” but a volume on investing for women.
But although Moore’s story was ripe for a retelling, Rooney made the creative decision to craft “From Dust to Stardust” about a fictional silent movie starlet named Doreen O’Dare whose life parallels Moore’s in several ways (right down to her husbands and the titles of her movies) and who also builds a fairy castle based on a lifelong hobby of collecting rare miniatures. The castle includes rare and tiny artifacts like the world’s smallest Bible and painting of Mickey and Minnie Mouse donated by Walt Disney. Each chapter of the book is named after a different room in the castle.
Rooney said the decision to have her main character based on Moore, but not her exactly, offered her creative license.
“I think it’s important to draw a line between a biography and historical fiction,” she said. “It was like a reminder to myself, to have the freedom to change stuff, I left stuff out. … That was the thing that gave me permission to have fun with it.”
For example, Moore’s own family was supportive of her film career, while O’Dare’s parents in the book are not.
Rooney said she was also in contact with some of Moore’s descendants. Hargrave, who she’ll speak with in the program Saturday, is Moore’s granddaughter and a Chicago-based photographic and video artist and educator. Getting to meet Hargrave, Rooney said, “has been really fun. She invited me to her studio and Wicker Park to see a lot of her [grandmother’s] memorabilia, like big posters and old images and like headshots.”
Rooney said Hargrave told her, “Grandma always said, ‘If you’re telling a story, and it’s not working, or it’s not interesting enough, just embellish, embellish, embellish.’ She was like, ‘I think Grandma would like what you’ve done here.'”
The author said she also heard from one of Moore’s nieces in Georgia.
“She sent me this adorable picture of her on a cruise with Colleen, who was a great world traveler,” Rooney said. Moore, it appears, “kept her joie da vive all the way up to the bitter end.”
The Museum of Science & Industry’s Moore’s Marvelous Minis is Saturday. Some events, like Rooney and Hargrave’s discussion and Rooney’s booksigning, require additional tickets. For more information, see the event page on the museum’s website.
Support Local News!
Subscribe to Block Club Chicago, an independent, 501(c)(3), journalist-run newsroom. Every dime we make funds reporting from Chicago’s neighborhoods. Already subscribe? Click here to gift a subscription, or you can support Block Club with a tax-deductible donation.
Listen to the Block Club Chicago podcast:
