Harry C. Browne
{{short description|American banjo player, actor, and religious leader}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| image = File:Closed Doors lobby card.jpg
| caption = Alice Calhoun and Browne in Closed Doors
| name = Harry C. Browne
| birth_date = August 18, 1878
| birth_place = North Adams, Massachusetts, U.S.
| death_date = November 15, 1954 (aged 76)
| death_place = Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
| children = 1
| office = President of the The First Church of Christ, Scientist
| term_start = June 7, 1948
| term_end = November 15, 1954
| allegiance = {{flag|United States of America}}
| serviceyears = 1898–1900
| battles = Spanish–American War
| unit = Massachusetts U.S. Volunteers
| occupation = {{hlist|Musician|actor|religious leader}}
}}
Harry Clinton Browne (August 18, 1878 – November 15, 1954) was an American banjo player, actor, and religious leader,{{Cite news |last=TIMES |first=Special to THE NEW YORK |date=1948-06-08 |title=SCIENTISTS ELECT FIRST CHURCH HEAD; Harry C. Browne, Former Actor and Radio Executive, Named at Meeting in Boston |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1948/06/08/archives/scientists-elect-first-church-head-harry-c-browne-former-actor-and.html |access-date=2025-05-25 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}} who appeared on stage and in silent films and recorded for Columbia Records in the 1910s and 1920s. He also served as the President of the First Church of Christ, Scientist from 1948 until his death in 1954.
Biography
Browne was born in 1878 in North Adams, Massachusetts. Before his acting career, he served in the Second Massachusetts U.S. Volunteers during the Spanish–American War and had a brief career campaigning for the Democratic Party. William Jennings Bryan, then the Secretary of State, offered Browne a diplomatic position in February 1914 but the latter declined. Browne later worked for a stock company as an actor, casting him in plays such as Arizona and Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm in the early 1900s.{{cite web|url=http://www.thanhouser.org/tcocd/Biography_Files/id_cbwfke.htm|title=BROWNE, Harry (Actor 1915)|publisher=Thanhouser|first=David|last=Bowers|access-date=March 18, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170319200352/http://www.thanhouser.org/tcocd/Biography_Files/id_cbwfke.htm|archive-date=March 19, 2017}}
A skilled banjo player, Browne performed in vaudeville for seven years before recording a series of songs for Columbia Records, starting in 1916. His first record, perhaps his most well-known, is a re-interpretation of the American folk song "Turkey in the Straw". Released in March 1916, Browne appropriated the standard as a coon song re-titled "Nigger Love a Watermelon, Ha! Ha! Ha!".{{cite web|url=http://m.eonline.com/news/541451/the-ice-cream-truck-song-has-a-racist-history|title=The Ice Cream Truck Song Has a Racist History|website=E! News|first=John|last=Boone| date=May 13, 2014|access-date=March 18, 2017}} It is commonly referred to as one of the most racist songs in American music. The song relied heavily on the watermelon stereotype, a belief popularized in the 19th century that African-Americans had an unusual appetite for watermelons.{{cite web| url=https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2014/05/11/310708342/recall-that-ice-cream-truck-song-we-have-unpleasant-news-for-you|title=Recall That Ice Cream Truck Song? We Have Unpleasant News For You|website=NPR|first=Theodore R. III|last=Johnson|date=May 11, 2014|access-date=March 18, 2017}} For the B-side, Browne chose to record the minstrel show favorite "Old Dan Tucker", marking the tune's first commercial appearance on a major label.{{cite book| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QWBPAQAAQBAJ&q=harry+c+browne+banjo&pg=PA516|title=Encyclopedia of Great Popular Song Recordings, Volume 1|first=Steve|last=Sullivan|publisher=Scarecrow Press|location=Lanham, Maryland|page=516|isbn=9780810882966|year=2013}}
Between 1906 and 1925, Browne appeared in at least 14 Broadway shows, including Oh, Lady! Lady!![https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/harry-browne-33380 "Harry Browne"], Internet Broadway Database, accessed May 23, 2017 His feature length film debut is believed to have been in August 1914 with the release of The Eagle's Mate, although he appeared in a number of shorter films before that.{{cite web |title=Harry C. Browne Biography |url=https://m.imdb.com/name/nm0115005/bio?ref_=m_mn_ov_bio |access-date=March 18, 2017 |publisher=IMDb}} During his acting career, Browne had roles in notable films such as The Unwelcome Mrs. Hatch, The Heart of Jennifer, and Closed Doors. Afterwards, he worked as an announcer and production director for CBS radio, a position he resigned from in 1931.{{cite web|url=http://dismuke.org/blog/?p=1835|title=Harry C. Browne - 1916|date=July 2015 |publisher=Dismuke.org|access-date=March 18, 2017}} He thereafter devoted himself wholly to religion. A Christian Scientist, he was elected president of the First Church of Christ, Scientist—which is deemed the mother church by the sect's adherents—on June 7, 1948.
Browne died on November 15, 1954, at the age of 76, in Boston.{{Cite news |date=16 November 1954 |title=Harry C. Browne, 76, Passes Away, Forsook Stardom for Religion |work=The North Adams Transcript |pages=2}}
Selected filmography
:Source: [https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0115005/ IMDb]
{{div col}}
- The Eagle's Mate (1914) as Fisher Morne
- The Heart of Jennifer (1915) as Stephen Weldon
- The Flower of No Man's Land (1916) as Big Bill
- The Big Sister (1916) as Rodney Channing
- Scandal (1917) as Pelham Franklin
- The Inn of the Blue Moon (1918) as Warde MacMahon
- The Battler (1919) as Duncan Hart
- Know Your Men (1921) as John Barrett
- Closed Doors (1921) as Jim Ranson
- Moral Fibre (1921) as George Elmore
{{end div col}}
References
{{Reflist|2}}
External links
{{Commons category|Harry C. Browne}}
- {{IMDb name|id=0115005|name=Harry C. Browne}}
- {{Discogs artist|2834468-Harry-C-Browne}}
- [https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/1002/images/2wwii_2372310-1052?treeid=&personid=&hintid=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=loX1&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true&_ga=2.217644436.389354654.1592969688-56217701.1589870252&pId=6797366&backurl=https%3A%2F%2Fsearch.ancestry.com%2Fcgi-bin%2Fsse.dll%3Findiv%3D1%26dbid%3D1002%26h%3D6797366%26usePUB%3Dtrue%26_phsrc%3DloX1%26_phstart%3DsuccessSource%26nreg%3D1 Harry C. Browne Draft Card]
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Browne, Harry}}
Category:20th-century American male actors
Category:American male stage actors
Category:American male silent film actors
Category:Musicians from Massachusetts
Category:Male actors from Massachusetts
Category:People from North Adams, Massachusetts
Category:American military personnel of the Spanish–American War