Editing Charles Farrar Browne (section)

==Biography==
Browne was born in [[Waterford, Maine]]. He began his career as a [[Compositor (typesetting)|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, which, in collected form, achieved great popularity in both America and [[England]].<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Ward, Artemus|volume=28|page=319}}</ref>

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>
[[File:Artemus Ward - DPLA - a2d2bc227680446aabe10b6ad459bdd3 (page 1).jpg|alt=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.|thumb|Artemus Ward, [ca. 1859–1867]. Carte de Visite Collection, Boston Public Library.]]
In 1860, he became editor of the [[Former magazines named Vanity Fair#Vanity Fair (1859–1863), American|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>{{Cite news|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Artemus-Ward|title=Artemus Ward {{!}} American humorist|work=Encyclopedia Britannica|access-date=2017-08-21|language=en}}</ref> Browne was also known as a member of the New York [[Bohemianism|bohemian]] set which included leader [[Henry Clapp Jr.]], [[Walt Whitman]], [[Fitz Hugh Ludlow]], and actress [[Adah Isaacs Menken]].<ref name="tarnoff"/>

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>
*https://www.themillsbuilding.com/about-the-building/mills-building-history
*http://www.newspapers.com/article/3008495/platts_music_hall_san_francisco/
*https://emperornortontrust.org/blog/tag/Platt%27s+Music+Hall
*http://sanfranciscotheatres.blogspot.com/2019/01/platts-hall.html
*https://documentingcarreno.org/items/show/504
*http://sflib1.sfpl.org:82/record=b1012236
*https://calisphere.org/item/ba6d08cf9be435e7150a6af0a90aaace/
*https://pcad.lib.washington.edu/building/20674/</ref> playing the part of Artemus Ward as an illiterate rube but with "Yankee common sense."<ref name="tarnoff"/> Writer [[Bret Harte]] was in the audience that night and he described it in ''[[the Golden Era]]'' as capturing American speech: "humor that belongs to the country of boundless prairies, limitless rivers, and stupendous cataracts—that fun which overlies the surface of our national life, which is met in the stage, [[Railcar|rail-car]], [[canal]] and [[Flatboat|flat-boat]], which bursts out over camp-fires and around bar-room stoves."<ref name="tarnoff"/>

"Artemus Ward" was a favorite author of [[President of the United States|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|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 (magazine)|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 in Waterford, Maine.