Harry C. Browne
Harry C. Browne | |
|---|---|
 Alice Calhoun and Browne in Closed Doors | |
| Born | August 18, 1878 |
| Died | November 15, 1954 (aged 76) |
| Military career | |
| Allegiance |  United States of America |
| Unit | Second Massachusetts U.S. Volunteers |
| Battles / wars | Spanish–American War |
Harry Clinton Browne (August 18, 1878 – November 15, 1954) was an American banjo player and actor. He appeared on stage and in silent films and recorded for Columbia Records in the 1910s and 1920s.
Biography
[edit]Browne was born in 1878 in North Adams, Massachusetts.[1] 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.[2]
A skilled banjo player, Browne performed in vaudeville for seven years before recording a series of songs for Columbia Records, starting in 1916.[2] 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!".[3] 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.[4] 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.[5]
Between 1906 and 1925, Browne appeared in at least 14 Broadway shows, including Oh, Lady! Lady!![6] 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.[1] During his acting career, Browne had roles in notable films such as The Unwelcome Mrs. Hatch, The Heart of Jennifer, and Closed Doors.[2] Afterwards, he worked as an announcer and production director for CBS radio, a position he resigned from in 1931.[7]
Browne died in 1954, aged 76.[1]
Selected filmography
[edit]- Source: IMDb
- 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
References
[edit]- ^ a b c "Harry C. Browne Biography". IMDb. Retrieved March 18, 2017.
- ^ a b c Bowers, David. "BROWNE, Harry (Actor 1915)". Thanhouser. Archived from the original on March 19, 2017. Retrieved March 18, 2017.
- ^ Boone, John (May 13, 2014). "The Ice Cream Truck Song Has a Racist History". E! News. Retrieved March 18, 2017.
- ^ Johnson, Theodore R. III (May 11, 2014). "Recall That Ice Cream Truck Song? We Have Unpleasant News For You". NPR. Retrieved March 18, 2017.
- ^ Sullivan, Steve (2013). Encyclopedia of Great Popular Song Recordings, Volume 1. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press. p. 516. ISBN 9780810882966.
- ^ "Harry Browne", Internet Broadway Database, accessed May 23, 2017
- ^ "Harry C. Browne - 1916". Dismuke.org. July 2015. Retrieved March 18, 2017.
External links
[edit]
- Harry C. Browne at IMDb
- Harry C. Browne discography at Discogs
- Harry C. Browne Draft Card
- 1878 births
- 1954 deaths
- American banjoists
- 20th-century American male actors
- American male stage actors
- American male silent film actors
- Musicians from Massachusetts
- Male actors from Massachusetts
- People from North Adams, Massachusetts
- American military personnel of the Spanish–American War
- Military personnel from Massachusetts