James A. Herne (born James Ahearn; February 1, 1839 – June 2, 1901) was an American
playwright
A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays.
Etymology
The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...
and
actor
An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...
.
[ He is considered by some critics to be the "American ]Ibsen
Henrik Johan Ibsen (; ; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright and theatre director. As one of the founders of modernism in theatre, Ibsen is often referred to as "the father of realism" and one of the most influential playw ...
", and his controversial play '' Margaret Fleming'' is often credited with having begun modern drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...
in America. Herne was a Georgist
Georgism, also called in modern times Geoism, and known historically as the single tax movement, is an economic ideology holding that, although people should own the value they produce themselves, the economic rent derived from land—including ...
and wrote Shore Acres to promote the political economy of Henry George
Henry George (September 2, 1839 – October 29, 1897) was an American political economist and journalist. His writing was immensely popular in 19th-century America and sparked several reform movements of the Progressive Era. He inspired the eco ...
.
Biography
Stage actor
James A. Herne was born February 1, 1839, in Cohoes, New York
Cohoes ( ) is an incorporated city located in the northeast corner of Albany County in the U.S. state of New York. It is called the "Spindle City" because of the importance of textile manufacturing to its growth in the 19th century. The city's f ...
.[ His parents were poor Irish immigrants who removed him from school at age thirteen to work in a brush factory. Herne decided to become an actor the next year but was twenty before he could join a traveling ]troupe
Troupe may refer to:
General
*Comedy troupe, a group of comedians
*Dance troupe, a group of dancers
**Fire troupe, a group of fire dancers
*Troupe system, a method of playing role-playing games
*Theatrical troupe, a group of theatrical performers
...
. He made his debut in 1859 as George in a production of ''Uncle Tom's Cabin
''Uncle Tom's Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly'' is an anti-slavery novel by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe. Published in two volumes in 1852, the novel had a profound effect on attitudes toward African Americans and slavery in the U. ...
'' in Troy, New York. He enjoyed modest success as a young actor, appearing in Baltimore
Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
and Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
with the John Thompson Ford company in the early 1860s. He was the leading man for the Lucille Western
Pauline Lucille Western (born in New Orleans, 8 January 1843; died in Brooklyn, New York, 11 January 1877) was an American stage actress .* See also prior listing, "Western, Helen".
Biography
Her parents were actors. She made her first appearance ...
Touring Company from 1865 to 1867. He was briefly married, in the early 1860s, to Lucille's sister Helen Western, an actress who later became romantically involved with John Wilkes Booth
John Wilkes Booth (May 10, 1838 – April 26, 1865) was an American stage actor who assassinated United States President Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C., on April 14, 1865. A member of the prominent 19th-century Booth th ...
. Herne managed the Grand Opera House at 23rd and 8th Avenue in New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
for a season.
He then moved to San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
in 1870 to manage several other theaters. In San Francisco, he met David Belasco
David Belasco (July 25, 1853 – May 14, 1931) was an American theatrical producer, impresario, director, and playwright. He was the first writer to adapt the short story ''Madame Butterfly'' for the stage. He launched the theatrical career of m ...
, with whom he collaborated on at least three of his plays. He also met and married his second wife, actress Katherine Corcoran. The couple had five children, one son, John, and four daughters, Alma, Dorothy, Julie and Katherine Chrystal who usually went by the name Chrystal Herne. Dorothy and Julie were also actresses.
Mary Elitch Long
Mary Elitch Long (maiden name Hauck) (May 10, 1856 – July 16, 1936) was one of the original owners of Elitch Gardens in Denver, CO. She was the first woman to own and manage a zoo—the first zoo between Chicago and the west coast—and one of t ...
recounted seeing Ahearn in 1889: "A pleasant episode of a visit to New York during the winter...was meeting James A. Herne. Frank Mayo, who had never seen his old friend in his masterpiece, Shore Acres, sat beside me, and during the beautiful scene where the actor, candle in hand, passes up the kitchen stairs and stops to look back, Frank gently took my hand and sighed. I saw the tears that brimmed his eyes. We were the last to leave the theatre; some blocks away he spoke for the first time: 'That was the greatest piece of acting I ever saw.' "This genuine tribute came from a man who himself was the country's idol."
Playwright
Herne was the first American playwright to incorporate dramatic realism. He ventured away from nineteenth century dramatic romance and melodrama
A modern melodrama is a dramatic work in which the plot, typically sensationalized and for a strong emotional appeal, takes precedence over detailed characterization. Melodramas typically concentrate on dialogue that is often bombastic or exces ...
. Much of Herne's work faded into obscurity in the twentieth century. However, he exerted a profound influence, directing American dramatic literature toward the depiction of complex socially realities. This was illustrated in his controversial play ''Margaret Fleming'' (1890). The work singled him out as an influential figure in 19th-century drama.
Herne's first successful play, '' Hearts of Oak'', was written and produced with Belasco in 1879. After this, Herne focused mostly on writing. Of his later plays, only a handful saw financial success in his lifetime. He continued to act, often in his own works, but also in the plays of others. In 1897 Herne played ''Nathaniel Berry'' in ''Shore Acres'' at the Harlem Opera House
Harlem Opera House was a US opera house located at 211 West 125th Street, in the Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. Designed by architect John B. McElfatrick, it was built in 1889 by Oscar Hammerstein; it was his first theater ...
. It was the sixth consecutive season that he portrayed this character.
Death
James A. Herne died at his home, 79 Convent Avenue, in Manhattan, New York City
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the List of co ...
, on June 2, 1901, at 5:00 pm of pneumonia. He initially fell ill two months earlier in Chicago, where he was appearing in his production ''Sag Harbor
Sag Harbor is an incorporated village in Suffolk County, New York, United States, in the towns of Southampton and East Hampton on eastern Long Island. The village developed as a working port on Gardiner's Bay. The population was 2,772 at the 2 ...
''.
Works
* ''Within an Inch of his Life'' with David Belasco 1879
* ''Marriage by Moonlight'' with David Belasco 1879
* '' Hearts of Oak'' with David Belasco 1879 from "The Mariner's Compass" by Henry Leslie
* ''The Minute Men'' 1886
* ''Drifting Apart'' 1888
* '' Margaret Fleming'' 1890
* '' Shore Acres'' 1893
* ''Art for Truth's Sake'' (essay) 1897
* ''The Reverend Griffith Davenport'' 1899
* ''Sag Harbor
Sag Harbor is an incorporated village in Suffolk County, New York, United States, in the towns of Southampton and East Hampton on eastern Long Island. The village developed as a working port on Gardiner's Bay. The population was 2,772 at the 2 ...
'' 1900
Footnotes
Further reading
* Arthur Hobson Quinn, ''The Early Plays of James A. Herne.'' Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1940.
"James Ahearn Herne,"
Literature Resource Center.
* "Theaters," ''New York Times,'' October 10, 1897, pg. 5.
External links
with photo
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Herne, James
1839 births
1901 deaths
People from Cohoes, New York
American people of Irish descent
Writers from New York (state)
19th-century American male actors
American male stage actors
Vaudeville performers
Male actors from New York (state)
19th-century American dramatists and playwrights
Georgists