Anthony Joseph Drexel Biddle Sr. (October 1, 1874 – May 27, 1948) was a millionaire whose fortune allowed him to pursue theatricals, self-published writing, athletics, and Christianity on a full-time basis. He was the man upon whom the book ''My Philadelphia Father'' and the play and film ''

The Happiest Millionaire ''The Happiest Millionaire'' is a 1967 American musical film starring Fred MacMurray, based upon the true story of Philadelphia millionaire Anthony Drexel Biddle. The film, featuring music by the Sherman Brothers, was nominated for an Academy A ...

'' were based. He trained men in

hand-to-hand Hand-to-hand combat (sometimes abbreviated as HTH or H2H) is a physical confrontation between two or more persons at short range (grappling distance or within the physical reach of a handheld weapon) that does not involve the use of weapons.Huns ...

combat in both World War I and World War II, was a fellow of the American Geographical Society and founded a movement called "Athletic Christianity" that eventually attracted 300,000 members around the world. A 1955 '' Sports Illustrated'' article called him "boxing's greatest amateur" as well as a "major factor in the re-establishment of boxing as a legal and, at that time, estimable sport."

Early life

He was born on October 1, 1874, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Edward Biddle II and Emily Drexel. He was a grandson of banker

Anthony Joseph Drexel Anthony Joseph Drexel Sr. (September 13, 1826 – June 30, 1893) was an American banker who played a major role in the rise of modern global finance after the American Civil War. As the dominant partner of Drexel & Co. of Philadelphia, he founde ...

, and a great-grandson of banker Nicholas Biddle. Biddle was a graduate of Germany's Heidelberg University.''Philadelphia Inquirer'', Friday Morning, 28 May 1948

Career

An officer in the United States Marine Corps, Biddle was an expert in close-quarters fighting and the author of ''Do or Die: A Supplementary Manual on Individual Combat'', a book on combat methods, including knives and empty-hand skills, training both the United States Marine Corps in two world wars and special agents of the

Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, t ...

. He can be seen training Marines in the RKO short documentary ''

Soldiers of the Sea ''Soldiers of the Sea'' is a 1939 RKO-Pathe News two-reeler short subject narrative featuring the U.S. Marine Corps. It was produced by Frederic Ullman Jr. and supervised by Frank Donovan. Through narration and film footage, the film shows and ...

''. He was considered not just an expert in fighting, but also a pioneer of United States Marine Corps training in the bayonet and hand-to-hand combat. He based his style on fencing, though this approach was sometimes criticized as being unrealistic for military combat. Having joined the Marines in 1917 at the age of 41, he also convinced his superiors to include boxing in Marine Corps recruit training. In 1919, he was promoted to the rank of major, and became a lieutenant colonel in 1934. In Lansdowne, Pennsylvania, right outside of Philadelphia, Biddle opened a military training facility, where he trained 4,000 men. His training included long hours of calisthenics and gymnastics, and taught skills such as machete, saber, dagger, and bayonet combat, as well as hand grenade use, boxing, wrestling, savate and

jiujitsu Jujutsu ( ; ja, link=no, 柔術 , ), also known as jiu-jitsu and ju-jitsu, is a family of Japanese martial arts and a system of close combat (unarmed or with a minor weapon) that can be used in a defensive or offensive manner to kill or subdu ...

. He also served two years in the National Guard. A keen boxer, Biddle sparred with Jack Johnson and taught boxing to Gene Tunney. He even hosted "boxing teas" in his home, where other boxers would spar a couple of rounds with him and then join the family for dinner. A February 1909 match with Philadelphia Jack O'Brien was attended by society leaders including women in elegant evening gowns. He served as a judge in the fight between Jack Dempsey and Jess Willard on 4 July 1919. On February 5, 1920, Biddle, as chairman of the Army Navy and Civilian Board of Boxing Control of New York, became a member the International Boxing Union. During World War II, Biddle returned to active duty with the Marine Corps with the rank of colonel and taught hand-to-hand combat to recruits.

Writings

Biddle also worked in and on periodicals. He spent time as a sports reporter for the ''Public Ledger'', and jokingly referred to himself as "the poorest and richest reporter in Philadelphia". He also revived the ''Philadelphia Sunday Graphic'' for a short interval, before it was forced to fold, and founded a short-lived "society weekly"–type publication, ''The People''. After organizing the also short-lived Drexel Biddle Publishing House, he acted as its head for two years. Books written by Biddle include: * ''A dual rôle: and other stories''. The Warwick Book Publishing Company. 1894. * ''The Madeira Islands''. Philadelphia: Drexel, Biddle & Bradley Publishing Company. 1896. * ''Shantytown Sketches''. Philadelphia: Drexel, Biddle & Bradley Publishing Company. 1897. * ''The Froggy Fairy Book'' (1896) and ''The Second Froggy Fairy Book'' (1900) Drexel, Biddle & Bradley publishing company * ''The Flowers of Life''. Philadelphia: Drexel, Biddle & Bradley Publishing Company. 1897. * ''Word for Word and Letter for Letter; a biographical romance''. Gay & Bird. 1898. * ''Do or Die: A Supplementary Manual on Individual Combat''. U.S. Marine Corps. 1937. (reprinted 1944 with new material, reprinted 1975)

Personal life

In 1895, he married Cordelia Rundell Bradley. Together, they had: *

Anthony Joseph Drexel Biddle Jr. Anthony Joseph Drexel Biddle Jr. (December 17, 1897 – November 13, 1961) was an American diplomat who served as ambassador to several countries between the 1930s and 1961. He served in the United States Army during World War I and after World Wa ...

(1897–1961), who married Mary Duke (1887–1960). They were the parents of

Mary Duke Biddle Mary Lillian Duke Biddle (November 16, 1887 – June 14, 1960) was an American philanthropist. Early life She was born as Mary Lillian Duke on November 16, 1887, to Benjamin Newton Duke in Durham, North Carolina. She attended Durham's Trinit ...

(1920–2012) and Nicholas Benjamin Duke Biddle * Cordelia Drexel Biddle (1898–1984), who married firstly

Angier Buchanan Duke Angier Buchanan Duke (December 8, 1884 – September 3, 1923) was a trustee of Duke University from 1914–1923, as well as vice president and president of its Alumni Association. Early life Duke was born on December 8, 1884, in Durham, Nort ...

(1884–1923), the son of

Benjamin Newton Duke Benjamin Newton Duke (April 25, 1855 – January 8, 1929) was an American tobacco, textile and energy industrialist and philanthropist. He served as vice-president at American Tobacco Company, being also founder of Duke Energy. Life and career He ...

. They were the parents of

Angier Biddle Duke Angier Biddle Duke (November 30, 1915 – April 29, 1995) was an American diplomat who served as Chief of Protocol of the United States in the 1960s. Prior to that, at the age of 36, he became the youngest American ambassador in history when he w ...

(1915–1995) and Anthony Drexel Duke (1918–2014). Her second marriage was to then architect Thomas Markoe Robertson in 1924. * Livingston Ludlow Biddle (1899–1981), who married Kate Raboteau Page (b. 1903), daughter of

Robert N. Page Robert Newton Page (October 26, 1859 – October 3, 1933) was a United States House of Representatives, U.S. Representative from North Carolina. Born in Cary, North Carolina, Page attended the Cary High School and Bingham Military School in Meb ...

. They were the parents of Livingston Ludlow Biddle III. Kate obtained a divorce in Reno in 1937, citing cruelty. Biddle married Suzanne Hutchinson Burke (1909-2000) whose mother was Mary Forbes Fay, the daughter of Alfred Forbes Fay (1843-1881). Suzanne donated two paintings by Jane Stuart of her mother and great uncle Sigourney Webster Fay (1836-1908) to the Boston Athenaeum in 1983. Monsignor Cyril Sigourney Webster Fay (1875-1919) was her uncle. He died May 27, 1948, from a

cerebral hemorrhage Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), also known as cerebral bleed, intraparenchymal bleed, and hemorrhagic stroke, or haemorrhagic stroke, is a sudden bleeding into the tissues of the brain, into its ventricles, or into both. It is one kind of bleed ...

and uremic poisoning and is interred at the Woodlands Cemetery in Philadelphia.

Legacy

His daughter, Cordelia Drexel Biddle, worked with Kyle Crichton (father of Robert Crichton) to write a novel based on her family in 1955. In 1956, it was made into a play starring Walter Pidgeon. In 1967 a

musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, but in some cases, they serve merely as breaks ...

based on the story, ''

'', was the last musical film to have personal involvement from Walt Disney. Biddle was played by

Fred MacMurray Frederick Martin MacMurray (August 30, 1908 – November 5, 1991) was an American actor. He appeared in more than one hundred films and a successful television series, in a career that spanned nearly a half-century. His career as a major film le ...

in the film.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Biddle, Anthony Joseph Drexel Sr. 1874 births 1948 deaths American philanthropists Anthony Joseph Drexel Sr. Burials at The Woodlands Cemetery Drexel family Members of the Philadelphia Club Military personnel from Philadelphia United States Marine Corps officers Heidelberg University alumni American people of English descent American people of Austrian descent United States Marine Corps personnel of World War I People associated with physical culture American expatriates in Germany American boxing trainers American boxing referees