Arthur Brisbane
Encyclopedia
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
newspaper editors of the 20th century.
Biography
Born in Buffalo, New YorkBuffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...
, he was educated in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
. In 1882, he began work as a newspaper reporter and editor in New York City, first at the Sun
New York Sun
The New York Sun was a weekday daily newspaper published in New York City from 2002 to 2008. When it debuted on April 16, 2002, adopting the name, motto, and masthead of an otherwise unrelated earlier New York paper, The Sun , it became the first general-interest broadsheet newspaper to be started...
and later Joseph Pulitzer
Joseph Pulitzer
Joseph Pulitzer April 10, 1847 – October 29, 1911), born Politzer József, was a Hungarian-American newspaper publisher of the St. Louis Post Dispatch and the New York World. Pulitzer introduced the techniques of "new journalism" to the newspapers he acquired in the 1880s and became a leading...
's New York World
New York World
The New York World was a newspaper published in New York City from 1860 until 1931. The paper played a major role in the history of American newspapers...
. Hired away from Pulitzer by William Randolph Hearst
William Randolph Hearst
William Randolph Hearst was an American business magnate and leading newspaper publisher. Hearst entered the publishing business in 1887, after taking control of The San Francisco Examiner from his father...
, became editor of the New York Journal and Hearst's close friend. His syndicated editorial column had an estimated daily readership of over 20 million, according to Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
magazine. He remained occupied in journalism and the newspaper field until his death in 1936, but also was a successful real estate investor. He is buried in the Batavia Cemetery
Batavia Cemetery
Batavia Cemetery is located on Harvester Avenue in Batavia, New York, United States. It opened in 1823 and contains over 8,000 graves, mostly from the 19th century...
at Batavia, New York.
At his death, Hearst said, "I know that Arthur Brisbane was the greatest journalist of his day," and Damon Runyon
Damon Runyon
Alfred Damon Runyon was an American newspaperman and writer.He was best known for his short stories celebrating the world of Broadway in New York City that grew out of the Prohibition era. To New Yorkers of his generation, a "Damon Runyon character" evoked a distinctive social type from the...
said "Journalism has lost its all-time No. 1 genius." (Time: Death of Brisbane)
He was the son of Albert Brisbane
Albert Brisbane
Albert Brisbane was an American utopian socialist, the chief popularizer of the theories of Charles Fourier in the United States in several books, notably Social Destiny of Man , and in his Fourierist journal The Phalanx...
. His grandson, Arthur S. Brisbane, was appointed Public Editor of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
in June 2010.
In 1897, he accepted the editorship of the Evening Journal, flagship of the Hearst chain, and through it gained influence unmatched by any editor in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. His direct and forceful style influenced the form of American editorial and news writing. The saying, "If you don't hit the reader between the eyes in your first sentence of your news column, there's no need to write any more," is attributed to him.
Hearst biographer W.A. Swanberg ("Citizen Hearst," 1961, Galahad Books, N.Y.) describes Brisbane as "a one-time socialist who had drifted pleasantly into the profit system... in some respects a vest-pocket Hearst -- a personal enigma, a workhorse, a madman for circulation, a liberal who had grown conservative, an investor." (pp. 390–391)
While an employee of Hearst—at one point boasting of making $260,000 in a year (Swanberg, p 427) -- Brisbane also was known for buying failing newspapers, re-organizing them, and selling them to Hearst. In 1918, he became editor of the Chicago Herald and Examiner, and in the 1920s became editor of Hearst's first tabloid, the New York Mirror. He remained part of the Hearst media empire until his death in 1936.
A Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
magazine Aug. 16, 1926, cover story described his influence like this:
The New York American, the Chicago Herald-Examiner, the San Francisco Examiner and many another newspaper owned by Publisher Hearst, to say nothing of some 200 non-Hearst dailies and 800 country weeklies which buy syndicated Brisbane, all publish what Mr. Brisbane has said. His column is headed, with simple finality, "Today," a column that vies with the weather and market reports for the size of its audience, probably beating both. It is said to be read by a third of the total U. S. population. Obviously this is an exaggeration, but half that many would be some 20 million readers, "Today" and every day. .
Several volumes of Brisbane's editorials were published, including "The Book of Today," "The Book of Today and the Future Day,"and "The Brisbane advertising philosophy." At the time of his death, he was considered the "virtual executive director" of the Hearst news and media empire.
Works
Along with his editorial collections, Brisbane published "Mary Baker G. Eddy" in 1908, and later,What Mrs. Eddy Said To Arthur Brisbane: The Celebrated Interview Of The Eminent Journalist With The Discoverer And Founder Of Christian Science by Arthur Brisbane and Mary Baker EddyMary Baker Eddy
Mary Baker Eddy was the founder of Christian Science , a Protestant American system of religious thought and practice religion adopted by the Church of Christ, Scientist, and others...
. He was a speech writer, orator, and public relations professional. He coached many famous business people of his time in the field of public relations, particularly Henry Ford
Henry Ford
Henry Ford was an American industrialist, the founder of the Ford Motor Company, and sponsor of the development of the assembly line technique of mass production. His introduction of the Model T automobile revolutionized transportation and American industry...
, Thomas Edison
Thomas Edison
Thomas Alva Edison was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices that greatly influenced life around the world, including the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and a long-lasting, practical electric light bulb. In addition, he created the world’s first industrial...
and John D. Rockefeller
John D. Rockefeller
John Davison Rockefeller was an American oil industrialist, investor, and philanthropist. He was the founder of the Standard Oil Company, which dominated the oil industry and was the first great U.S. business trust. Rockefeller revolutionized the petroleum industry and defined the structure of...
.
He interviewed or conversed with nearly all the United States presidents during his career.
With Hearst, he formed Hearst-Brisbane Properties, investing heavily in New York real estate.
Perhaps Brisbane's most lasting legacy was preserving a large section of land he had amassed in central New Jersey along the Jersey Shore
Jersey Shore
The Jersey Shore is a term used to refer to both the Atlantic coast of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the adjacent resort and residential communities. . The New Jersey State Department of Tourism considers the Shore Region, Greater Atlantic City, and the Southern Shore to be distinct, each having...
between 1907 and 1936. It was here that Brisbane built his dream house, a palatial mansion for its time, adjacent to a lake, and complete with a library tower. It was also here that Brisbane and his family could enjoy their favorite sport - horse-back riding. Brisbane transformed the Allaire area from a near deserted village to a luxurious country estate, complete with a state-of-the-art horse farm, "Allaire Inn," toy factory, a camp for Boy Scouts, and training grounds during the war years. He used his professional connections to bring silent film companies to his property at Allaire, which was used as a backdrop. He even opened up his estate during the Great Depression to "New Deal" work programs. Brisbane and his family realized enjoyment at Allaire and considered it his final abode. He employed a large staff to take care of his property at Allaire, which at one time was boasted to occupy 10000 acres (40.5 km²). The actual count was closer to 6000 acres (24.3 km²).
Brisbane eventually began to explore the history of his property at Allaire and became aware in the 1920s of its great historic significance. His Allaire property was formerly James P. Allaire's "Howell Iron Works Company
Howell Works
Howell Works was a bog iron-based production facility for pig iron which was established in New Jersey in the early 19th century by American engineer and philanthropist James P. Allaire...
," a thriving iron-making industrial village of the early 19th century. As early as 1925, Brisbane sought to preserve this property, with its vast natural resources and 19th century era village buildings. Although not completed before his death, it was left to his wife, Phoebe Cary Brisbane and her immediate family to fulfill Arthur Brisbane's wishes of donating nearly 1200 acres (4.9 km²) to the State of New Jersey by 1944, including James P. Allaire's 19th century industrial village. The deed of gift contained stipulations that it was to be used for historic and forest reservation purposes, and for nothing else. Moreover, the Brisbane family home served as the Arthur Brisbane Child Treatment Center until its recent closure in 2005.
Today, the original Brisbane gift of land, 1200 acres (4.9 km²), forms the heart of Allaire State Park
Allaire State Park
Allaire State Park is a park located in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States, near the town of Farmingdale, operated and maintained by the New Jersey Division of Parks and Forestry and is part of the New Jersey Coastal Heritage Trail Route. The park is known for its restored 19th century...
. And its historic village is dedicated to portraying the life and times of James P. Allaire's "Howell Iron Works Company" largely through the non-profit educational organization, Allaire Village
Allaire Village
Allaire Village is a living history museum located within New Jersey's Allaire State Park in Wall Township, New Jersey. The village was originally established as a bog iron furnace known as the Howell Works, which the company's owner, philanthropist James P. Allaire, endeavoured to turn into a...
Inc. Efforts were pushed forward at the Historic Village at Allaire in 2006 by Allaire historian Hance M. Sitkus to better interpret Brisbane's career, family, and generosity, focusing on Brisbane as an often-overlooked humanitarian and philanthropist.