Harrison Grey Fiske, Manager, Author, Journalist

Harrison Grey Fiske was born at Harrison, Westchester County, New York, July 30, 1861, son of Lyman and Jane Maria (Durfee) Fiske and grandson of Jonathan and Eunice (Fiske) Durfee, residents of Wales, Mass. Through both parents he is descended from John Fiske, of Weybred, England, whose forefathers had dwelt at Laxfield, in the same county, since the time of Henry IV. Emigrating to New England in 1648, John Fiske settled at Watertown. One, if not more, of his numerous descendants bore arms in the Revolutionary War, Asa, his great-grandson, being a lieutenant in Captain Freeborn Moulton's company of minute men in Colonel Danielson's regiment. Harrison Grey Fiske, after attending Dr. Chapin's Collegiate School in New York, spent some time in Europe, and then returned to his native country to enter the University of the City of New York. His tastes were literary, and while at college he wrote short stories and sketches for magazines and newspapers and corresponded for several Western dailies. He entered journalism regularly as editorial writer and dramatic critic on the Jersey City Argus. and later he held a similar post on the New York Star, then under John Kelly's control. In July, 1879, he became a contributor to The Dramatic Mirror, and in the autumn of the same year bought an interest in the Stock company that owned it. The same year he was placed in charge of the paper. At that time he was eighteen years old. In 1883 Mr. Fiske obtained a controlling interest in the newspaper, and five years later became sole proprietor. In 1886 he was dramatic critic of the New York Star. Mr. Fiske has advocated encouragement of the American drama and has worked for the spread of patriotisrn in dramatic art. Mr. Fiske married at Larchmont, N. Y., March 19, 1890, Mary Augusta, daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth ( Maddern) Davey, better known as Minnie Maddern, the actress. Mr. Fiske entered the field of management as the manager of Mrs. Fiske in 1896. In 1901 he leased the Manhattan Theatre, New York, as the home theatre for Mrs. Fiske, and conducted it for five years, making various productions during that period. He has also introduced to the American stage Bertha Kalich, the Polish actress. He is one of the so-called independent managers who have several times entered the lists against the so-called Theatrical Trust. Mr. Fiske was a trustee of the Actors Fund, a member of the Sons of the Revolution, of the American Academy of Social Science, and of the Zeta Psi fraternity. He was a director of the American Dramatists' Club and of the Lotos Club; was secretary of the Goethe Society and vice-president of the New York Shakespeare Society.