Chamberlain and Lyman Brown papers, 1849-1961.

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Creator

Brown, Chamberlain.

Location

Billy Rose Theatre Division

Extent

• 351 lin. ft. (850 boxes )

Access Restrictions

Collection is open to the public. Library policy on photography and photocopying will apply. Advance notice may be required.

Scope/Contents Note

The Chamberlain and Lyman Brown papers consist of approximately 351 linear feet and contain business and personal correspondence, legal and financial papers, over 600 scrapbooks, production materials, clipping files, scripts, and photographs which cover the history of the entertainment industry from the end of the nineteenth century through the middle of the twentieth century. The bulk of the collection spans more than a fifty year period beginning in 1903 and ending in 1959. Much of the material pertains to Chamberlain Brown and his activities from his early career as an actor to his death in 1955. The collection also includes theatrical materials collected by the brothers, consisting of autographs and ephemera from many nineteenth and early twentieth century performers. Many actors and actresses, both famous and unknown, are represented in the collection through correspondence, clippings, or other material, including Ethel Barrymore, Mrs. Leslie Carter, Clark Gable, Edward Everett Horton, Clare Boothe Luce, Rosalind Russell, and Barbara Stanwyck, as well as dancers Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn. Also included in the collection is correspondence from producers, directors, and managers such as George M. Cohan, Lee Shubert, and George Cukor. Extensive correspondence from stock company managers and professional associations, particularly Actors' Equity Association, also exist in the files. Chamberlain Brown's correspondence with World War II servicemen, as well as with incarcerated men, is also included in the collection. A number of family and personal papers are included, including a handwritten note from the brothers'maternal grandfather, General Samuel Emery Chamberlain, aswell as material relating to actress and singer Fritzi Scheff.

Biographical/Historical Notes

Theatrical casting agents, producers, and writers, brothers Chamberlain and Lyman Brown were born in Hartford, Connecticut in the 1890s of a prominent New England family. Chamberlain, the elder of the two brothers,was educated at Harvard and while there he began a career as an actor. He formed his own stock company and became anowner and manager of a theater in Lowell, Massachusetts while still in his teens. Chamberlain also had begun collecting posters as a young child and this collecting habit escalated to include autographs, photographs, and programs. He also subscribed to many theatrical periodicals, thus forming the basis of what became an extensive collection. By 1913, Chamberlain had come to NewYork and performed in The Yellow Jacket at the Fulton Theatre, as well as in vaudeville. He also had begun working as a press representative and soon opened his own company, which his brother Lyman also joined. Chamberlain,who died in 1955, discovered and represented many stars of theater, radio, and film during his career. Among thoseperformers he claimed to have discovered were: Clark Gable, Helen Hayes, Alfred Lunt, and Rudolph Valentino. Brown agency clients included Ruth Chatterton, Miriam Hopkins, Fritzi Scheff, and Spencer Tracy. Lyman Brown became a co-owner of the Chamberlain Brown Agency and worked primarily casting summer stock productions throughout the United States and Canada. He died in 1961.

In addition to their agency activity, the Brown brothers made numerous and financially disastrous attempts at producing. Kept (1926), at the Comedy Theatre, was Chamberlain Brown's initial Broadway production. The Brownbrothers' first stock company in the metropolitan area wasat the Greenwich Theatre in Connecticut. Under the auspices of the Chamberlain Brown Players (also known as the L. Chamberlain Brown Players), between 1929 and 1930 they presented over thirty plays. The company would hold subsequent summer seasons at other locations with varying degrees of success through the mid-1930s. Beginning in 1926, Chamberlain also hosted radio programs discussing the theater or presenting talent on various New York stations. He also embarked upon a number of professional activities that dovetailed with the agency business, including founding membership clubs, as well as initiating several unsuccessful publications. Perhaps because of an inability to evolve professionally with thechanging times, or owing to Chamberlain Brown's lifestyle,the Brown agency floundered, despite family financial support for the brothers. Chamberlain declared bankruptcy in 1934 and was the defendant in numerous lawsuits for collection of funds spanning several decades.

Controlled Access Terms

• Brown, Chamberlain.
• Brown, Lyman.
• Chamberlain, Samuel E. (Samuel Emery), 1829-1908.
• Scheff, Fritzi, 1879-1954.
• Carter, Leslie, Mrs., 1862-1937 -- Correspondence.
• Horton, Edward Everett -- Correspondence.
• Actors' Equity Association -- Correspondence.
• Actors -- United States.
• Actresses -- United States.
• Press agents -- United States.
• Prisoners -- Correspondence.
• Summer theater -- United States.
• Summer theater -- Connecticut -- Greenwich.
• Theater -- New York (State) -- New York -- 19th century.
• Theater -- New York (State) -- New York -- 20th century.
• Theatrical agents -- United States.
• Theatrical producers and directors -- United States.
• World War, 1939-1945 -- Correspondence.
• Autographs (manuscripts)
• Clippings.
• Ephemera.
• Financial records.
• Legal records.
• Correspondence.
• Photographs.
• Scrapbooks.
• Scripts (documents)
• Press agents.
• Theatrical producers and directors.
• Theatrical agents.

Additional Creator Names

• Brown, Lyman.
• Barrymore, Ethel, 1879-1959.
• Carter, Leslie, Mrs., 1862-1937.
• Chamberlain, Samuel E. (Samuel Emery), 1829-1908.
• Cohan, George M. (George Michael), 1878-1942.
• Cukor, George, 1899-1983.
• Gable, Clark, 1901-1960.
• Horton, Edward Everett.
• Luce, Clare Boothe, 1903-1987.
• Russell, Rosalind.
• St. Denis, Ruth, 1880-1968.
• Scheff, Fritzi, 1879-1954.
• Shubert, Lee, 1873?-1953.
• Shawn, Ted, 1891-1972.
• Stanwyck, Barbara, 1907-1990.
• Actors' Equity Association.