John Mason Brown

Brown, John Mason (1900–69), critic and author. A native of Louisville, he studied under Professor George P. Baker at Harvard, then became an associate editor and drama critic of Theatre Arts Monthly. Brown left the magazine to become critic of the Evening Post in 1929, then moved to the World‐Telegram in 1939. Following service in World War II, he was appointed drama critic for the Saturday Review of Literature. From 1925 to 1931 he was a lecturer at the American Laboratory Theatre, and he conducted courses at Harvard, Yale, Middlebury College, and elsewhere. Among his many books are The Modern Theatre in Revolt (1929), Upstage: The American Theatre in Performance (1930), Letters from Greenroom Ghosts (1934), The Art of Playgoing (1936), Two on the Aisle (1939), Dramatis Personae (1963), and The Worlds of Robert E. Sherwood (1965). His style, often described as courtly or urbane, was suffused with an elegant humor, as in his recollection of his first exposure to theatre: “I have been stage‐struck ever since, when eight, I was taken to Macauley's Theatre in Louisville, Kentucky, to see Robert B. Mantell play King Lear, one of the few parts, I realize now, that he was still young enough to act.” Biography: Speak for Yourself, John, George Stevens, 1974.

For other persons named John Brown, see John Brown (disambiguation).

John Mason Brown (3 July 1900 – 16 March 1969) was an American drama critic and author.^[1]

Born in Louisville, Kentucky, he graduated from Harvard College in 1923. He worked for the New York Evening Post from 1929 to 1941. He served as a lieutenant in the United States Navy during World War II, beginning in 1942. His book, To All Hands, documents his activities aboard the USS Ancon (AGC-4) during Operation Husky, the invasion of Sicily. Upon his return, his "Seeing Things" column appeared in The Saturday Review starting in 1944 until his death in New York City.

Brown resigned from the Pulitzer Prize drama jury in 1963 when the advisory board refused his recommendation of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf.

References

1. ^ Van Gelder, Lawrence (March 17, 1969). John Mason Brown, Critic, Dead. New York Times

External links

• John Mason Brown at the Internet Movie Database
• Brown, John Mason, 1900-1969. Additional papers, 1933-1984

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