Editing Charles Farrar Browne

{{short description|American writer}}
{{Redirect-distinguish|Artemus Ward|Artemas Ward (disambiguation)}}
{{Infobox person 
|name = Charles Farrar Browne 
|image = Harvard Theatre Collection - Charles Farrar Brown TCS 1.3788 - cropped.jpg
|caption = "Artemus Ward" 
|birth_name = Charles Farrar Brown
|birth_date = {{birth date|1834|4|26}} 
|birth_place = [[Waterford, Maine]] 
|death_date = {{death date and age|1867|3|6|1834|4|26}} 
|death_place = [[Southampton]], [[Hampshire]] 
|nationality = American |occupation = humorist}}
'''Charles Farrar Browne''' (April 26, 1834 – March 6, 1867) was an American [[humor]] writer, better known under his ''[[pen name|nom de plume]]'', '''Artemus Ward''', which as a character, an illiterate rube with "Yankee common sense", 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. {{ISBN|978-1594204739}}.</ref> His birth name was Brown but he added the "e" after he became famous.<ref name="MAGDE">{{cite book |last= Maine League of Historical Societies and Museums |editor=Doris A. Isaacson |title=Maine: A Guide 'Down East' |year=1970 |publisher=Courier-Gazette, Inc. |location=Rockland, Me | pages = 400–401 }}</ref>

==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.

==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>{{Cite web|url=https://www.clevelandmetroschools.org/domain/796|title=Welcome / Welcome}}</ref>  In the American Garden of the [[Cleveland Cultural Gardens]] in [[Rockefeller Park]], a monument of him was erected, next to [[Mark Twain]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ideastream.org/news/clevelands-artemus-ward-remembered-as-pioneer-of-stand-up-comedy|title=Cleveland's Artemus Ward remembered as pioneer of stand-up comedy|date=4 February 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://clevelandhistorical.org/items/show/125|title = American Colonial Cultural Garden}}</ref>

==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

==Books==
* [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=miun.ack0410.0001.001 Artemus Ward His Book] (1862) (full text online)
* [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=miun.abs0367.0001.001 Artemus Ward His Travels] (1865) (full text online)
* [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015006946506 Artemus Ward Among the Mormons] (1865) (full text online)
* [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc2.ark:/13960/t84j0k81v Artemus Ward in London] (1867) (full text online)
* [https://archive.org/details/artemuswardspan00hinggoog/page/n9 Artemus Ward's Panorama] (1869) (full text online)
* [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=dul1.ark:/13960/t3jw9c54p&view=1up&seq=9 Artemus Ward's Lecture] (1869) (full text online)

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
{{commons category}}
* {{cite BDA1906|wstitle=Browne, Charles Farrar|volume=2|pages=17–18 |short=x}}
* {{Gutenberg author |id=1149| name=Artemus Ward}}
* {{Internet Archive author |name=Artemus Ward}}
* {{OL author}}
* {{librivox author | id=1887}}
* [https://pfaffs.web.lehigh.edu/node/54123 The Vault at Pfaff's: Artemus Ward] (a project of Lehigh University)
* [http://www.mainememory.net/bin/SwishSearch?person=Artemus%20Ward Photos from the Maine Historical Society]
* 3 short [https://web.archive.org/web/20110120165647/http://californialegacy.org/radio_anthology/scripts/ward.html radio episodes] of Ward's writing from [[California Legacy Project]].
* Seitz, Don Caros. [https://books.google.com/books?id=_UTUvxBG2HYC Artemus Ward (Charles Farrar Browne): a biography and bibliography] (1919) (full text online)

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Browne, Charles Farrar}}
[[Category:1834 births]]
[[Category:1867 deaths]]
[[Category:19th-century deaths from tuberculosis]]
[[Category:People from Waterford, Maine]]
[[Category:American humorists]]
[[Category:Tuberculosis deaths in England]]
[[Category:19th-century pseudonymous writers]]