Norma Terris

Born in Columbus, Kansas, Terris was named after the heroine of Bellini's opera Norma. Her grandmother and grandfather taught in college, and both initially opposed her going into acting. Undeterred, as a child she put on her own productions in a barn and on the family's front porch. A cousin enabled her to study dancing and drama.

In December 1920, she and Max Hoffman Jr. applied for a license to marry, but both were underage, so they did not wed then.{{cite book |last1=Stalter-Pace |first1=Sunny |title=Imitation Artist: Gertrude Hoffmann's Life in Vaudeville and Dance |date=15 May 2020 |publisher=Northwestern University Press |isbn=978-0-8101-4193-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k2nXDwAAQBAJ&dq=%22Norma+Terris%22&pg=PR4-IA45 |access-date=October 12, 2021 |language=en}}

File:Norma Terris Argentinean Magazine AD.jpg

In the early 1920s, Hoffman and Terris debuted an act called "Junior and Terris" in Asbury Park, New Jersey. They went on to tour on the Interstate Circuit.

In vaudeville, Terris headlined two-a-day programs, appearing in productions by Schubert and Ziegfeld. She also gave a command performance for the Prince of Wales while she was in Europe.

Terris was known for her impersonations of popular public figures. She originated the roles of Magnolia in the original Broadway production of Show Boat in 1927. She reprised her role in the first New York revival of the show in 1932. However, she was not selected to reprise her role in the 1929 part-talkie film, nor in the 1936 film version.

Her Broadway credits included Queen O' Hearts (1922), A Night in Paris (1926), A Night in Spain (1927), The Well of Romance (1930), The Climax (1933), So Many Paths (1934), and Great Lady (1938).{{cite web |title=Norma Terris |url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/norma-terris-68876 |website=Internet Broadway Database |publisher=The Broadway League |access-date=October 12, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211012211813/https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/norma-terris-68876 |archive-date=October 12, 2021}}

For 10 seasons in the 1930s and 1940s, she starred in productions at the Muny Opera in St. Louis.{{cite news |title=Norma Terris Dies Nov. 15 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/86940888/norma-terris/ |access-date=October 12, 2021 |work=Palm Beach Daily News |date=November 22, 1989 |page=16|via = Newspapers.com}}

Terris was originally chosen to play the dual roles of Moonyean Clare and her niece Kathleen in Through the Years, Vincent Youmans's 1932 musical version of Jane Cowl's once-popular play, Smilin' Through, but she was replaced at the last minute.

She made two films during the early days of talking pictures - Married In Hollywood, and the 1930 version of Cameo Kirby, which was, like Show Boat, a riverboat musical involving a gambler. Cameo Kirby appears to be lost, and only twelve minutes of Married in Hollywood apparently survive.

Terris and Hoffman married in Houston while they were touring with their act.

Terris married Dr. Jerome Wagner and retired to Lyme, Connecticut,{{cite news |last1=Cannon |first1=Toby |title=Norma Terris Lives a Motto |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/86939248/norma-terris/ |access-date=October 12, 2021 |work=The Burlington Free Press |date=July 30, 1937 |page=8|via = Newspapers.com}} where she was an avid supporter of the Goodspeed Opera House, which eventually expanded and named their second theatre the Norma Terris Theatre. She later married Albert D. Firestone, son of William McKinley Firestone and Gladys Bigam Firestone of Greensburg, Pennsylvania. Terris and Albert Firestone spent winters at their Palm Beach, Florida, residence (where they were major donors to the Ballet Florida) and summered in Lyme, Connecticut. Mr. Firestone, who remained dedicated to Terris’ remembrance, died in 1997 at the summer residence.

In 1972, Terris donated 30 acres of land on which the Norma Terris Humane Education and Nature Center was created.

She performed two one-woman shows, An Evening with Norma Terris (1969 and 1971) and A Tribute To Jerome Kern (1985). She created The Norma Terris Fund "to encourage achievements in musical theater" in 1987, and in 1989 she created a scholarship in her name to sponsor an internship at the Goodspeed Opera House.

Terris died at her summer home in Lyme, Connecticut, on November 15, 1989, aged 85.{{cite news |last1=Anderson |first1=Susan Heller |title=Norma Terris, Who Won Acclaim In Original 'Show Boat,' Dies at 87 |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/110357008 |access-date=April 1, 2021 |work=The New York Times |date=November 19, 1989 |page=44|id={{ProQuest|110357008}} |via = ProQuest}}

In 1984, Goodspeed Musicals created a second performance venue in Chester, Connecticut, which is named the Norma Terris Theatre.{{cite web |title=All About Goodspeed |url=https://www.goodspeed.org/about/all-about-goodspeed |website=Goodspeed Musicals |access-date=October 12, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210823175213/https://www.goodspeed.org/about/all-about-goodspeed |archive-date=August 23, 2021}}

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• {{IMDb name|0855907}}
• {{Find a Grave|7330312}}
• Norma Terriss, right, with Daniel Frohman at [http://www.corbisimages.com/stock-photo/rights-managed/U636283INP/daniel-frohman-sitting-with-women-at-luncheon?popup=1 National Press Club] luncheon (Corbis)

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Category:1904 births

Category:1989 deaths

Category:Actresses from Kansas

Category:American musical theatre actresses

Category:American silent film actresses

Category:People from Columbus, Kansas

Category:20th-century American actresses

Category:20th-century American singers

Category:20th-century American women singers

Category:American vaudeville performers