Abstract
In June 1922, Pittsburgh’s H. Samson Funeral Home organized the service for actress and singer Lillian Russell, one of the most famous women in the country. Russell moved to Pittsburgh toward the end of her career following her marriage to newspaper publisher Alexander P. Moore. In a report to National Selected Morticians—a document within the Samson Family Papers and Photographs at the Detre Library & Archives—funeral director Harry G. Samson recounted that “it is doubtful whether there was ever a funeral of a woman in America which had so many, varied features, causing so much publicity.” A detachment of U.S. Marines led the funeral procession from the Moore residence in Point Breeze to Trinity Episcopal Church in downtown Pittsburgh. Thousands of onlookers lined the route, hoping to catch a view. At the church, H. Samson’s staff tried to keep the crowd, who “fought for admission and worked all kinds of schemes to gain entrance,” at bay.