Eugene V. Brewster

{{short description|American lawyer}}

{{Infobox person

| name = {{PAGENAME}}

| image = 200px

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| birth_date = {{Birth date|1869|09|07}}

| birth_place = Bay Shore, New York

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1939|01|01|1869|09|07}}

| spouse = Corliss Palmer

}}

Eugene Valentine Brewster (September 7, 1869 – January 1, 1939) was an American lawyer, editor, artist, and publisher. He was editor and publisher of Motion Picture Magazine, Shadowland, and Motion Picture Classic, which made him wealthy, only to file for bankruptcy years later. He was married four times, most notably to the actress Corliss Palmer.{{cite news |title=Brewster's millions gone |url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1931-08-07/ed-1/seq-3/#date1=1789&index=28&rows=50&searchType=advanced&language=&sequence=0&words=BREWSTER+Brewster+Eugene+EUGENE+V&proxdistance=5&date2=1963&ortext=&proxtext=&phrasetext=%22Eugene+V.+Brewster%22&andtext=&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1 |work=The Evening Star |date=August 7, 1931 |location=Washington, D.C. |page=A-3}}{{cite news |title=Eugene V. Brewster, 'grand smatterer' and publisher, dies |url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1939-01-02/ed-1/seq-10/#date1=1939&index=0&rows=20&searchType=advanced&language=&sequence=0&words=Brewster+Eugene+V&proxdistance=5&date2=1963&ortext=&proxtext=&phrasetext=%22Eugene+V.+Brewster%22&andtext=&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1 |work=The Evening Star |date=January 2, 1939 |location=Washington, D.C. |agency=Associated Press|page=A-10}}

Brewster was born in Bay Shore, New York, the son of Henry and Clotilda Brewster. He attended Princeton University and studied law, becoming admitted to New York State bar in 1894.{{cite magazine|title=Eugene V. Breswter|magazine=The Successful American|date=September 1902|volume=6|number=3|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HHEeAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA594|publisher=Press Biographical Company|page=594}} He first rose to prominence as "boy orator" of Grover Cleveland's 1892 presidential campaign.{{Cite news|url=http://bklyn.newspapers.com/image/52608267/|title=Eugene V. Brewster|date=January 4, 1939|newspaper=Brooklyn Daily Eagle|page=12|language=en}} He was a Chairman of the Democratic Ways and Means Committee, and organized banquets in support of William Jennings Bryan, along with his first wife who founded the Women's Bryan League. He was the Social Democratic candidate for New York Attorney General in 1900.{{cite news|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1900/06/17/102600922.pdf|title=Social Democrat's ticket|work=The New York Times|date= June 17, 1900}}

As an artist he specialized in landscape paintings,{{cite magazine|title=Extracts from the press on Eugene V. Brewster's exhibition of paintings |url=https://archive.org/details/jstor-25589595/page/n8/mode/1up |magazine=American Art News |volume=18|issue=20 |date=March 6, 1920 |page=8}} and was a founder and president of the Allied Arts Association of Brooklyn.{{cite book |editor1-last=Elson |editor1-first=Louis C. |title=University Musical Encyclopedia |date=1912 |publisher=The University Society |location=New York |page=88 |volume=I|url=https://archive.org/details/universitymusica09elso/page/88/mode/1up}}{{cite magazine|title=No "modernists" need apply |journal=American Art News |date=February 23, 1918 |volume=16 |issue=20 |page=1 |url=https://archive.org/details/jstor-25589237/page/n1/mode/1up}}

Brewster married screen ingenue Corliss Palmer in 1926, and they lived on a $500,000 estate in New Jersey. Brewster's fortunes took a disastrous turn in 1931 when his former wife sued for alienation of affection, compounded by the failures of Brewster's own investments. He and Palmer, nearly wiped out, were forced to relocate to a small bungalow in California. Palmer left him that same year. (See the Wikipedia entry for Corliss Palmer.)

He died on January 1, 1939, and was cremated at Fresh Pond Crematory in Queens, New York.{{Cite news |date=1939-02-05 |title=Family Attends Brewster Rites |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/pittsburgh-sun-telegraph-family-attends/138767023/ |access-date=2024-01-15 |work=Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph |pages=22}}