Artemus Ward, born Charles Farrar Browne, was a nineteenth-century American humorist known for his distinctive dialect and comedic perspective on current topics of his day. Browne is known primarily for his short but pithy contributions to various newspapers under the guise of “Artemus Ward,” a simple backwoodsman with a distinct dialect and curmudgeonly perspective of the world. Toward the middle and end of his life, Browne took to the stage as Artemus Ward, performing “lectures” in a deadpan comedic style both in the United States and Britain, an innovation that led the way for later American humorists such as Mark Twain.
Born April 26, 1834, in Waterford, Maine, Browne showed early signs of interest in recitations, the theater, and minstrel shows. He was considered a practical joker with keen ambition despite lacking much formal education. After the death of his father, Browne began working in printing offices at the age of thirteen but soon developed a unique ability to write newspaper columns using the persona of “Artemus Ward.” As a newspaperman, Browne became expert at adapting his natural comedic wit to the truncated length of the newspaper column where he could draw from a number of literary forms such as the letter, the anecdote, the burlesque, and the frame narrative.
Charles Farrar Browne enjoyed a short but influential career as a humorist and comedian, using the persona Artemus Ward. His style of folksy and irreverent commentary on people and issues of the day drew large audiences and well-placed admirers, including Abraham Lincoln and Mark Twain. (Corbis)
As a printer and later compositor, Browne worked for a number of newspapers, including the Lancaster, New Hampshire, Weekly Democrat; the Norway Oxford County Advertiser and Pine State News; and the Skowhegan, Maine, Clarion. In 1851, when Browne was only seventeen, he began working for the Boston weekly paper, The Carpet-Bag, as part of the printing staff, but also began making contributions as a writer under the pseudonym of “Chub” or “Lieut. Chubb.” The Carpet-Bag was a genial, lightly humorous publication that provided a forum for a wide range of topics as well as writers, including the first known writings of Samuel Langhorne Clemens (“The Dandy Frightening the Squatter,” published May 1, 1852) and George Horatio Derby (“The New Uniform,” published April 3 and May 1, 1852). Browne contributed ten pieces in total between December 27, 1851, and December 25, 1852.
After three years’ employment in Boston, Browne went west where at the age of twenty he ended up working briefly as a schoolteacher in Kentucky for one week, followed by employment at the Seneca, Ohio, Advertiser and the Toledo Commercial, where he began working as a compositor and then as the local editor. Browne quickly built his reputation in journalism circles, landing a position as city editor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer on October 29, 1857. It was at the Plain Dealer that “Artemus Ward” as a comic persona matured and flourished through a series of letters Browne wrote in the guise of his creation. The increasing popularity of “Artemus” led Browne to initiate syndication of his articles with the New York–based Vanity Fair for which he became in 1861 a regular contributor and later editor.
Tired and somewhat disillusioned with the world of journalism, Browne left the staff of Vanity Fair in 1862 to continue pursuing his interest in entertaining live audiences by transforming the print-created character of Artemus Ward into a comedic stage presence. These performances, which had begun before Ward resigned his editorship of Vanity Fair, were usually advertised as “lectures” and allowed Browne to expand and capitalize on his reputation as one of America’s funniest comedians. His first performance was at New London, Connecticut on November 26, 1861. From there Browne continued to travel widely across the United States, going all the way to California and meeting with Mark Twain in Nevada. His lectures ranged from “Children in the Wood” to his “Artemus Ward Among the Mormons” based on his travels west. It was with his “Mormon” lecture that Ward began using the Panorama, a popular form of entertainment that consisted of a scrolling set of scenic paintings that fit with his subject.
In June 1866, Browne traveled to England where he soon became a member of the Savage Club, a group of bohemian types who advocated the arts. By September 1866, Browne was contributing his “Artemus Ward in London” articles to the British magazine Punch, a weekly periodical of satire. His series “Artemus Ward in London” totaled eight articles published between September 1 and November 3, 1866. Ward also performed as his comic creation and continued to incorporate the Panorama into his shows, all held over the course of seven weeks at the Egyptian Hall in London between November 13, 1866, and January 23, 1867. Browne’s performance in England was cut short when he became too ill with tuberculosis to continue any longer. He died March 6, 1867 at the age of thirty-two.
Aside from his many newspaper articles and columns, Ward’s books include the following, some of which are collected pieces from the several newspapers for which he worked: Artemus Ward: His Book (1862); Artemus Ward: His Travels (1865); Artemus Ward in London, and Other Papers (1867); Artemus Ward’s Lecture (as Delivered at the Egyptian Hall, London) (1869); and Artemus Ward’s Panorama (1869).
Pennie Pflueger
See also Harris, George Washington; Sam Slick; Twain, Mark
Further Reading
Austin, James C. 1964. Artemus Ward. New York: Twayne.
Blair, Walter. 1931. “The Popularity of Nineteenth-Century American Humorists.” American Literature 3 (2): 175–194.
Rourke, Constance. 1931. American Humor: A Study of the National Character. New York: Harcourt.
Seitz, Don Carlos. 1974. Artemus Ward (Charles Farrar Browne): A Biography and Bibliography. New York: Beekman.