Heywood Campbell Broun Jr. (; December 7, 1888 – December 18, 1939) was an American
journalist
A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...
. He worked as a
sportswriter
Sports journalism is a form of writing that reports on matters pertaining to sporting topics and competitions. Sports journalism started in the early 1800s when it was targeted to the social elite and transitioned into an integral part of the n ...
, newspaper columnist, and
editor
Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, photographic, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, orga ...
in New York City. He founded the American Newspaper Guild, later known as
The Newspaper Guild
The NewsGuild-CWA is a labor union founded by newspaper journalists in 1933. In addition to improving wages and working conditions, its constitution says its purpose is to fight for honesty in journalism and the news industry's business practices ...
and now as
The NewsGuild-CWA. Born in
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
,
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
, he is best remembered for his writing on social issues and his championing of the underdog. He believed that journalists could help right wrongs, especially social ills.
Career
Broun was born in
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
, the third of four children born to Heywood C. Broun and Henrietta Marie (née Brose) Broun.
Broun attended
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
, but did not earn a degree. He began his professional career writing
baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...
stories in the sports section of the ''
New York Morning Telegraph
''The Morning Telegraph'' (1839 – April 10, 1972) (sometimes referred to as the ''New York Morning Telegraph'') was a New York City broadsheet newspaper owned by Moe Annenberg's Cecelia Corporation. It was first published as the ''Sunday ...
''. Broun worked at the ''
New York Tribune
The ''New-York Tribune'' was an American newspaper founded in 1841 by editor Horace Greeley. It bore the moniker ''New-York Daily Tribune'' from 1842 to 1866 before returning to its original name. From the 1840s through the 1860s it was the domi ...
'' from 1912 to 1921, rising to drama critic. He started working in 1921 for the ''
New York World
The ''New York World'' was a newspaper published in New York City from 1860 until 1931. The paper played a major role in the history of American newspapers. It was a leading national voice of the Democratic Party. From 1883 to 1911 under publi ...
.'' While at the ''World,'' he started writing his syndicated column, ''It Seems to Me''. In 1928, Broun moved to the
Scripps-Howard
The E. W. Scripps Company is an American broadcasting company founded in 1878 as a chain of daily newspapers by Edward Willis "E. W." Scripps and his sister, Ellen Browning Scripps. It was also formerly a media conglomerate. The company is he ...
newspapers, including the ''
New York World-Telegram
The ''New York World-Telegram'', later known as the ''New York World-Telegram and The Sun'', was a New York City newspaper from 1931 to 1966.
History
Founded by James Gordon Bennett Sr. as ''The Evening Telegram'' in 1867, the newspaper began ...
.'' Broun's column was published in the ''World-Telegram'' until Scripps-Howard abruptly decided not to renew his contract. He was then picked up by the ''
New York Post
The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates NYPost.com, the celebrity gossip site PageSix.com, and the entertainment site Decider.com.
It was established ...
.'' Broun's only column appeared in that paper two days before his death.
As a drama critic, in 1917 Broun wrote about actor Geoffrey C. Stein in the controversial play ''
The Awakening of Spring:'' "
..Geoffrey Stein gave a ludicrously inadequate performance in the important role of Melchior. It was easily the worst performance we have ever seen on any stage." Stein sued the ''
New York Tribune
The ''New-York Tribune'' was an American newspaper founded in 1841 by editor Horace Greeley. It bore the moniker ''New-York Daily Tribune'' from 1842 to 1866 before returning to its original name. From the 1840s through the 1860s it was the domi ...
'' and Broun for libel; but in light of the judge's
jury instructions
Jury instructions, directions to the jury, or judge's charge are legal rules that jurors should follow when deciding a case. They are a type of jury control procedure to support a fair trial.
Description
Jury instructions are the set of leg ...
, Broun and the Tribune won the case. A few weeks later, he had to review a production with Stein in the cast. His only mention of the actor was in the last sentence of his column: "We did not think Geoffrey Stein was up to his usual standards."
Broun coined the statement "Posterity is as likely to be wrong as anybody else". It is used widely, often in arguments about documentation and history. From 1927 to 1937, Broun wrote a regular column, titled "It Seems to Heywood Broun", for the magazine ''
The Nation
''The Nation'' is an American liberal biweekly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper tha ...
''. His column included criticism of another employer, the ''
New York World
The ''New York World'' was a newspaper published in New York City from 1860 until 1931. The paper played a major role in the history of American newspapers. It was a leading national voice of the Democratic Party. From 1883 to 1911 under publi ...
'', who fired Broun as a result. Broun later left ''The Nation'' for the rival ''
The New Republic
''The New Republic'' is an American magazine of commentary on politics, contemporary culture, and the arts. Founded in 1914 by several leaders of the progressive movement, it attempted to find a balance between "a liberalism centered in hum ...
''.
In 1930, Broun unsuccessfully ran for the
U.S.Congress, as a
Socialist
Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...
. A slogan of Broun's was "I'd rather be right than
Roosevelt
Roosevelt may refer to:
*Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919), 26th U.S. president
* Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945), 32nd U.S. president
Businesses and organisations
* Roosevelt Hotel (disambiguation)
* Roosevelt & Son, a merchant bank
* Rooseve ...
."
In 1933, along with ''
New York Evening Post
The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates NYPost.com, the celebrity gossip site PageSix.com, and the entertainment site Decider.com.
It was established i ...
'' Editor
Joseph Cookman
Joseph Cookman (February 6, 1899 – August 12, 1944) was an American journalist, critic and a founder of The Newspaper Guild.
Life and career
Early life
Born in 1899, in Batley, England, Joseph was the oldest of three children born to John ...
, John Eddy of ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' and Allen Raymond of the ''
New York Herald Tribune
The ''New York Herald Tribune'' was a newspaper published between 1924 and 1966. It was created in 1924 when Ogden Mills Reid of the ''New-York Tribune'' acquired the ''New York Herald''. It was regarded as a "writer's newspaper" and competed ...
, Broun'' helped to found
The Newspaper Guild
The NewsGuild-CWA is a labor union founded by newspaper journalists in 1933. In addition to improving wages and working conditions, its constitution says its purpose is to fight for honesty in journalism and the news industry's business practices ...
.
Beginning February 8, 1933, Broun starred in a radio program, ''The Red Star of Broadway'', on
WOR in Newark, New Jersey. Broun was featured as "The Man About Town of Broadway." Sponsored by
Macy's
Macy's (originally R. H. Macy & Co.) is an American chain of high-end department stores founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy. It became a division of the Cincinnati-based Federated Department Stores in 1994, through which it is affiliated wi ...
, the program also included musicians and minstrels. In 1938, Broun helped found the weekly tabloid ''Connecticut Nutmeg'', soon renamed ''Broun's Nutmeg''.
[Gale, Robert L. ''An F. Scott Fitzgerald Encyclopedia''. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1998, p. 49]
Personal life
In 1915, Broun met Russian ballerina
Lydia Lopokova
Lydia Lopokova, Baroness Keynes (born Lidia Vasilyevna Lopukhova, russian: Лидия Васильевна Лопухова; 21 October 1891 – 8 June 1981) was a Russian ballerina famous during the early 20th century.
Lopokova trained at the ...
and they quickly became engaged. She broke off the relationship to rejoin the
Ballets Russes
The Ballets Russes () was an itinerant ballet company begun in Paris that performed between 1909 and 1929 throughout Europe and on tours to North and South America. The company never performed in Russia, where the Revolution disrupted society. A ...
in 1916. On June 7, 1917, Broun married writer-editor
Ruth Hale, a feminist who later co-founded the
Lucy Stone League
The Lucy Stone League is a women's rights organization founded in 1921. Its motto is "A wife should no more take her husband's name than he should hers. My name is my identity and must not be lost."“lucystoneleague.orgArchivedfrom the original ...
. At their wedding, the columnist
Franklin P. Adams characterized the usually easygoing Broun and the more strident Hale as "the clinging oak and the sturdy vine." The couple had one son, broadcaster
Heywood Hale Broun
Heywood Hale Broun (; March 10, 1918 – September 5, 2001) was an American author, sportswriter, commentator and actor. He was born and reared in New York City, the son of writer and activist Ruth Hale and newspaper columnist Heywood Broun.
...
.
Along with his friends (the critic
Alexander Woollcott
Alexander Humphreys Woollcott (January 19, 1887 – January 23, 1943) was an American drama critic and commentator for ''The New Yorker'' magazine, a member of the Algonquin Round Table, an occasional actor and playwright, and a prominent radio ...
, writer
Dorothy Parker
Dorothy Parker (née Rothschild; August 22, 1893 – June 7, 1967) was an American poet, writer, critic, and satirist based in New York; she was known for her wit, wisecracks, and eye for 20th-century urban foibles.
From a conflicted and unhap ...
and humorist
Robert Benchley
Robert Charles Benchley (September 15, 1889 – November 21, 1945) was an American humorist best known for his work as a newspaper columnist and film actor. From his beginnings at ''The Harvard Lampoon'' while attending Harvard University, thro ...
), Broun was a member of the famed
Algonquin Round Table
The Algonquin Round Table was a group of New York City writers, critics, actors, and wits. Gathering initially as part of a practical joke, members of "The Vicious Circle", as they dubbed themselves, met for lunch each day at the Algonquin Hotel ...
from 1919 to 1929. His usually dishevelled appearance led to him being likened to "an unmade bed." He was also close friends with the
Marx Brothers
The Marx Brothers were an American family comedy act that was successful in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in motion pictures from 1905 to 1949. Five of the Marx Brothers' thirteen feature films were selected by the American Film Institute (AFI) ...
, and attended their show ''
The Cocoanuts
''The Cocoanuts'' is a 1929 pre-Code Musical film, musical comedy film starring the Marx Brothers (Groucho Marx, Harpo Marx, Chico Marx, and Zeppo Marx in his first starring role). Produced for Paramount Pictures by Walter Wanger, who is not cre ...
'' more than 20 times. Broun joked that his tombstone would read, "killed by getting in the way of some scene shifters at a Marx Brothers show."
In November 1933, Ruth Hale divorced Broun. In 1935, he married a widowed
chorus girl
A chorus line is a large group of dancers who together perform synchronized routines, usually in musical theatre. Sometimes, singing is also performed.
Chorus line dancers in Broadway musicals and revues have been referred to by slang terms s ...
named Maria Incoronata Fruscella Dooley (stage name Connie Madison).
Seven months before his death in 1939, Broun, who had been an
agnostic
Agnosticism is the view or belief that the existence of God, of the divine or the supernatural is unknown or unknowable. (page 56 in 1967 edition) Another definition provided is the view that "human reason is incapable of providing sufficient ...
, converted to
Roman Catholicism
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...
following discussions with then Reverend
Fulton Sheen
Fulton John Sheen (born Peter John Sheen, May 8, 1895 – December 9, 1979) was an American bishop of the Catholic Church known for his preaching and especially his work on Catholic television, television and radio. Ordained a priest of the R ...
and Reverend Edward Patrick Dowling,
Broun died of
pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severity ...
, at age 51, in New York City. More than 3,000 mourners attended his funeral at
St. Patrick's Cathedral in Manhattan. Attendees included New York City Mayor
Fiorello La Guardia
Fiorello Henry LaGuardia (; born Fiorello Enrico LaGuardia, ; December 11, 1882September 20, 1947) was an American attorney and politician who represented New York in the House of Representatives and served as the 99th Mayor of New York City fro ...
, columnist
Franklin Pierce Adams
Franklin Pierce Adams (November 15, 1881 – March 23, 1960) was an American columnist known as Franklin P. Adams and by his initials F.P.A.. Famed for his wit, he is best known for his newspaper column, "The Conning Tower", and his appearances a ...
, actor-director
George M. Cohan
George Michael Cohan (July 3, 1878November 5, 1942) was an American entertainer, playwright, composer, lyricist, actor, singer, dancer and theatrical producer.
Cohan began his career as a child, performing with his parents and sister in a vaudev ...
, playwright-director
George S. Kaufman, ''New York World'' editor
Herbert Bayard Swope
Herbert Bayard Swope Sr. (; January 5, 1882 – June 20, 1958) was an American editor, journalist and intimate of the Algonquin Round Table. Swope spent most of his career at the ''New York World.'' He was the first and three-time recipient of t ...
, columnist
Walter Winchell
Walter Winchell (April 7, 1897 – February 20, 1972) was a syndicated American newspaper gossip columnist and radio news commentator. Originally a vaudeville performer, Winchell began his newspaper career as a Broadway reporter, critic and co ...
and actress
Tallulah Bankhead
Tallulah Brockman Bankhead (January 31, 1902 – December 12, 1968) was an American actress. Primarily an actress of the stage, Bankhead also appeared in several prominent films including an award-winning performance in Alfred Hitchcock's ''Lif ...
. Broun is buried in the
Cemetery of the Gate of Heaven
Gate of Heaven Cemetery, approximately 25 miles (40 km) north of New York City, was established in 1917 at 10 West Stevens Ave. in Hawthorne, Westchester County, New York, as a Roman Catholic burial site. Among its famous residents is ...
in Hawthorne, New York.
Legacy
* In Broun's honor, the
NewsGuild-CWA
The NewsGuild-CWA is a labor union founded by newspaper journalists in 1933. In addition to improving wages and working conditions, its constitution says its purpose is to fight for honesty in journalism and the news industry's business practices ...
sponsors an annual
Heywood Broun Award for outstanding work by a journalist, especially work that helps correct an injustice.
* In 1970, the
J. G. Taylor Spink Award
The BBWAA Career Excellence Award, formerly the J. G. Taylor Spink Award, is the highest award given by the Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA). It is given "for meritorious contributions to baseball writing" and voted on annually by ...
was made posthumously to Broun by the
Baseball Writers' Association of America
The Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA) is a professional association for journalists writing about Major League Baseball for daily newspapers, magazines and qualifying websites. The organization was founded in 1908, and is known fo ...
.
* Broun was portrayed by the actor
Gary Basaraba
Gary Basaraba (born March 16, 1959) is a Canadian actor. He appeared as Sergeant Richard Santoro on Steven Bochco's ''Brooklyn South'' and Officer Ray Hechler on the critically acclaimed but short-lived ''Boomtown''. He has worked for Martin ...
in the 1994 film ''
Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle
''Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle'' is a 1994 American biographical film, biographical drama (film and television), drama film directed by Alan Rudolph from a screenplay written by Rudolph and Randy Sue Coburn. The film stars Jennifer Jason Le ...
''.
* In the first season of the
Amazon Prime
Amazon Prime is a paid subscription service from Amazon which is available in various countries and gives users access to additional services otherwise unavailable or available at a premium to other Amazon customers. Services include same, one- ...
television series ''
Z: The Beginning of Everything'', Broun is portrayed by the actor Tony Manna.
Footnotes
Works
* ''The A.E.F.'' (1918)
* ''Our Army at the Front'' (1918)
* ''The 51st Dragon'' (1919)
* ''Seeing Things at Night'' (1921)
* ''The Boy Grew Older'' (1922)
* ''Pieces of Hate'' (1922)
* ''The Sun Field'' (1923)
* ''Sitting On The World'' (1924)
* ''Gandle Follows His Nose'' (1926)
* ''
Anthony Comstock
Anthony Comstock (March 7, 1844 – September 21, 1915) was an anti-vice activist, United States Postal Inspector, and secretary of the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice (NYSSV), who was dedicated to upholding Christian morality. He o ...
: Roundsman of the Lord'' (with
Margaret Leech
Margaret Kernochan Leech (November 7, 1893 – February 24, 1974), also known as Margaret Pulitzer, was an American historian and fiction writer. She won the Pulitzer Prize for History both in 1942 (''Reveille in Washington'', Harper) (first woma ...
) (1927)
* ''Christians Only: A Study in Prejudice'' (1931)
* ''It Seems to Me'' (1935)
—Collection of columns
* ''Collected Edition'' (1941)
—Collection of columns
Further reading
* Everett F. Bleiler, ''The Checklist of Fantastic Literature.'' Chicago: Shasta Publishers, 1948; pg. 62.
* Robert E. Drennan, ''The Algonquin Wits.''
968
Year 968 ( CMLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.
Events
By place Byzantine Empire
* Emperor Nikephoros II receives a Bulgarian embassy led by Prince Boris (th ...
Secaucus, NJ: Citadell Press, 1985.
* John L. Lewis et al., ''Heywood Broun: As He Seemed to Us.'' New York: Random House/Newspaper Guild of New York, 1940.
* Christopher Phelps, "Heywood Broun, Benjamin Stolberg, and the Politics of American Labor Journalism in the 1920s and 1930s," ''Labor: Studies in Working-Class History,'' vol. 15, no. 1 (March 2018), pp. 25–51.
* ''The New York Times'', "3,000 Mourn Broun at St. Patrick's Mass", Dec. 21, 1939, pg. 23.
* ''The New York Times'', "Newspaper Guild Begins to Function", Nov. 16, 1933.
External links
*
*
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Broun, Heywood
1888 births
1939 deaths
American columnists
American Christian socialists
Sportswriters from New York (state)
Burials at Gate of Heaven Cemetery (Hawthorne, New York)
Catholic socialists
Converts to Roman Catholicism from atheism or agnosticism
Deaths from pneumonia in New York City
Socialist Party of America politicians from New York (state)
People from Brooklyn
BBWAA Career Excellence Award recipients
The Nation (U.S. magazine) people
The New Republic people
Catholics from New York (state)
Algonquin Round Table