Charles Farrar Browne

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Charles Farrar Browne (April 26, 1834 – March 6, 1867) was an American humor writer, better known under his nom de plume, Artemus Ward.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Ward was the character of an illiterate rube with "Yankee common sense", whom Browne also played in public performances. He is considered to be America's first stand-up comedian.<ref name="tarnoff">Tarnoff, Benjamin (2014). The Bohemians: Mark Twain and the San Francisco Writers Who Reinvented American Literature. Penguin Books. Template:ISBN.</ref> His birth name was Brown but he added the "e" after he became famous.<ref name="MAGDE">Template:Cite book</ref>

Biography

Browne was born on 26 April 1834,<ref name="ohiocenterforthebook/charles-farrar-browne">Template:Cite web</ref> in Waterford, Maine to Caroline (née Farrar)<ref name="mainememory/8744">Template:Cite web</ref> "a descendant of the first Puritans"<ref name="NEhs/artemus-ward"/> and Levi Brown,<ref name="case/ech/browne-c-f">Template:Cite web</ref> who "operated a store in Waterford, engaged in farming and did some surveying",<ref name="maineanencyclopedia/charles-f-browne/">Template:Cite web</ref> and was a justice of the peace.<ref name="NEhs/artemus-ward">Template:Cite web</ref>

He began his career at the age of fourteen, "learned the printer's trade"<ref name="nytimes/old-friends-reminiscences">Template:Cite news</ref> at The Advertiser in Norway, Maine, and later apprenticed in the printing office of The Skowhegan Clarion,<ref name="cathen/02804b">Template:Cite web</ref> Skowhegan, Maine, then, as a compositor<ref name="tarnoff"/> and occasional contributor to the daily and weekly journals. In 1858, in The Plain Dealer newspaper (Cleveland, Ohio), he published the first of the "Artemus Ward" series ("a barely literate circus sideshow manager who toured the country and wrote about the people and events he saw."<ref name="pressherald/2019/04/24">Template:Cite news</ref> "loosely based on P.T. Barnum"<ref name="biography/a43468479">Template:Cite web</ref>), which, in collected form, achieved great popularity in both America and England.<ref name="EB1911">{{#if: | 

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Browne's companion at the Plain Dealer, George Hoyt, wrote:

"his desk was a rickety table which had been whittled and gashed until it looked as if it had been the victim of lightning. His chair was a fit companion thereto, a wabbling, unsteady affair, sometimes with four and sometimes with three legs. But Browne saw neither the table, nor the chair, nor any person who might be near, nothing, in fact, but the funny pictures which were tumbling out of his brain. When writing, his gaunt form looked ridiculous enough. One leg hung over the arm of his chair like a great hook, while he would write away, sometimes laughing to himself, and then slapping the table in the excess of his mirth."<ref>The Complete Works of Artemus Ward by Melville D. Landon, 1898 page 16</ref>

Photograph of Artemus Ward, sitting with his right leg crossed over his left, a top hat and books sitting on the table to his right. A typed caption at the bottom of the image reads "H. Hering Photo" and his name is written at the bottom.
Artemus Ward, [ca. 1859–1867]. Carte de Visite Collection, Boston Public Library.

In 1860, he became editor of the first Vanity Fair, a humorous New York weekly that failed in 1863. At about the same time, he began to appear as a lecturer who, by his droll and eccentric humor, attracted large audiences.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Browne was also known as a member of the New York bohemian set which included leader Henry Clapp Jr., Walt Whitman, Fitz Hugh Ludlow, and actress Adah Isaacs Menken.<ref name="tarnoff"/>

Though his books were popular, it was his lecturing, delivered with deadpan expression, that brought him fame.<ref name="Britannica/Artemus-Ward">Template:Cite web</ref>

In 1863, Browne came to San Francisco to perform as Artemus Ward. An early expert at show business publicity, Browne sent his manager ahead by several weeks to buy advertising in the local papers and promote the show among prominent citizens for endorsements. On November 13, 1863, Browne stood before a packed crowd at Platt's Music Hall,<ref>

"Artemus Ward" was a favorite author of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln. Before presenting "The Emancipation Proclamation" to his Cabinet, Lincoln read to them the latest episode, "Outrage in Utiky", also known as "High-Handed Outrage at Utica".<ref name="tarnoff"/>

When Browne performed in Virginia City, Nevada, he met Mark Twain and the two became friends.<ref name="tarnoff"/> In his correspondence with Twain, Browne called him "My Dearest Love." Legend has it that, following a stage performance there, Browne, Twain, and Dan De Quille were trekking on a (drunken) rooftop tour of Virginia City until a town constable threatened to blast all three with a shotgun loaded with rock salt. Browne recommended Twain to the editors of the New York Press and urged him to journey to New York.<ref name="tarnoff"/>

In 1866, Browne visited England and attracted a large following to his playing Artemus Ward, both as lecturer and for his literary contributions to Punch. But within a year his health gave way and he died of tuberculosis at Southampton on March 6, 1867.<ref name="EB1911"/>

In England, Browne was buried at Kensal Green Cemetery, but his remains were removed to the United States in 1868 and buried at Elm Vale Cemetery<ref name="mainememory/8733">Template:Cite web</ref> in Waterford, Maine.

Legacy

In Cleveland, where Browne started his comedy career, an elementary school is named after him, known as Artemus Ward Elementary on W. 140th Street.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In the American Garden of the Cleveland Cultural Gardens in Rockefeller Park, a monument of him was erected, next to Mark Twain.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Works

Short stories

  • A Visit to Brigham Young
  • Women's Rights
  • One of Mr Ward's Business Letters
  • On "Forts"
  • Fourth of July Oration
  • High-Handed Outrage at Utica
  • Artemus Ward and the Prince of Wales
  • Interview with Lincoln
  • Letters to his Wife

Artemus Ward books

References

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Biography

Media

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