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 (), lit ...

. 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 ''Margaret Fleming'' is an 1890 play by James A. Herne. The play is remarkable because many critics consider it to be the first "modern" drama, a play that focused more on the psychological complexities of its characters and on the role of so ...

'' 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 b ...

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 (economics), ...

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 perform ...

. 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 most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 30th most populous city in the United States with a population of 585,708 in 2020. Baltimore was ...

and Washington, D.C. 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 ...

. 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 for " 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 fourth most populous in California and 17t ...

in 1870 to manage several other theaters. In San Francisco, he met David Belasco, 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 Katherine Chrystal Herne (June 16, 1883 – September 19, 1950) was an American stage actress. She was the daughter of actor/playwright James A. Herne and the younger sister of actress and Hollywood talent scout Julie Herne. Her stage credit ...

. 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 Frank Mayo may refer to: * Frank M. Mayo (1839–1896), American actor and comedian * Frank Mayo (actor) Frank Lorimer Mayo (June 28, 1889 – July 9, 1963) was an American actor. He appeared in 310 films between 1911 and 1949. Biograp ...

, 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 exce ...

. 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 thea ...

. 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 * ''

'' 1890 * '' Shore Acres'' 1893 * ''Art for Truth's Sake'' (essay) 1897 * ''The Reverend Griffith Davenport'' 1899 * ''

'' 1900

Footnotes

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