Silent Wierdness: Born Today June 9: John Howard Payne

Tuesday, June 9, 2020

Born Today June 9: John Howard Payne

1791-1852

American writer and actor John Howard Payne was born on this date in New York City area (East Hampton). He was the one of nine children and spent his childhood in Boston, where he was educated (some sources cite Boston as his birth place-appears not to be correct). He apparently showed prowess and skill in dramatic acting from an early age (another story of parental disapproval of such talent--as he was set up with an apprenticeship at an accounting firm at the age of 13 by his father--possessing no head for figures, he had trouble concentrating on tasks at hand). His love for theater attendance--in any capacity--was an early passion and only grew stronger with age. He started his own published journal of theater criticism at the very young age of just 14! In this regard, he got lucky. A very well off business man from New York who saw some of Payne's published work and offered to pay for him to attend college. While at college, he started yet another published paper, but this and his college attendance were cut short by the death of his mother and the failure of this father's business--he deteremined that the best way to assist his family would be to quit his education and started a career as a professional stage actor (this most probably was the excuse he had been waiting for--though Payne was one of the older children in the family--as working as an actor to support them was probably not the most lucrative avenue...). Payne made his professional stage debut on the 24th of February in 1809 in New York City. It was a resounding success and soon sent him on tour, much to his and audiences delight. Ever the literary sort, Payne took a small amount of time to also establish a celculating library and reading room he called the Athenaeum. Around this time, his father passed away and he gained the interest of a famous British actor who was known for his leading roles in the plays of Shakespeare: George Frederick Cooke (whom Payne appeared with in King Lear in New York at the Park Theater). This was the catalyst that took Payne across the Atlantic to London, which is where he eventually took up writing plays of his own. He was a success in Drury Lane, and spent time in France--picking up the French language quickly and compently enough to be paid to translate French plays to English back in the U.K. He also tried his hand at theater mangament, which did not go well (perhaps his struggles with accounting contributed). In 1823, he penned a play based on a proposal by the theater manager at Covent Garden, but issuses with the selling and production of the play necccesitated that it be altered for production--the result of this was an opera. Turns out, Payne also possessed a talent for writing songs, along with the other copious writing skills that he began to explore. The end product was titled Clari; or the Maid of Milan. Within this work was a song entitled "Home, Sweet Home"--which was set to an old Italian folk song by English composer Sir Henry Bishop. I am going into all of this rather labourious detail, because, despite all of his written accomplishments in his life (he was also a very talented artist in drawing), it is for this one song that he remembered today. In fact, it was all he was remembered for by the year 1916, when the song was first used in a movie. To be fair, the song was an instant success and became known the world over whereever there was an English speaking population. 100, 000 copies were sold instantly upon publication. It certainly made him a household name in the U.K. and back at home in the U.S. As mentioned, it is this work that was used in a film in 1916--a title directed by it's star...a woman no less (!), Cleo Madison: Eleanor's Catch, a short comedy produced by the Rex Motion Picture Co. (the film not only survives, but has been restored by Kino--nearly 20 years ago--and has also been screened on TCM). The song would feature in one additional silent film, The Chechahcos (or The Cheekchakos), a feature length adventure drama filmed on location in what is now Denali National Park in 1923 (what a feat!) [the film is included in the National Film Registry]. This would be the last fully silent motion picture to feature the song; the song would show up in three more productions in the 1920's, only one of which was a feature. The first was the experimental all sound short from the company that made sound an early specialty: Warner Brothers. The Wild Westerner was a short comedy (8 minutes) that utilized the Vitaphone sound machine dating from 1928. The song next shows up in an early Mickey Mouse cartoon (it's first use in any animation): When The Cat's Away (1929) [incidently, since we are talking sound, the animation uitilized the Powers Cinephone Sound System]. High Voltage (1929) is a parital silent crime drama, while So This Is College (1929) is a full on musical comedy centered around college football. The song was next used in an early incarnation of Ripley's Believe It Or Not in the 1930 short Believe It or Not #3. The song made it's television debut in 1952 in the episode Huntin' For Trouble of The Roy Rogers Show. It's most recent use came in a made for television feature length documentary in 2013 entitled Secret Voices of Hollywood. After living for some 20 years in the UK, Payne returned to the United States in 1832. He became interested the Cherokee (Tsalagi) people through following their legal battle in the U.S. court system. He was eventually invited by Chief John Ross to his home in north Georgia and became a vocal opponent of the removal forced upon them. That leads to the next thing that he is remembered for, though these days it is most likely only recalled in Cherokee or other southern Native communities, that of coming up the theory that the Cherokee peoples were actually a lost tribe of Israel (rolls eyes, but seriously this was a "thing" in the 19th century that was applied at various times to native groups, espcially those forced onto the Trail of Tears). In 1842, he was appointed American Consul to Tunis, he served two separate terms there, eventually dying in Tunis on the 10th of April (some sources cite 9, but his memorial marker in Washington D.C. is engraved with the 10th) at the age of 60. He was buried at what was then just a cemetery called St. George's Protestant Cemetery--a church has since been built there--making it a graveyard. Please follow the links below to a post by Matteo Giunti to view this remarkeable place. In 1883, his ashes were shipped from Tunis to New York and reburied at Oak Hill cemetery in Washington, D.C. (it's near Georgetown). For me, the most intriguing part of Payne's life was his friendship Sam Colt (you know...the Colt Revolver). Payne became embroiled in Colt's brother's murder trial, conviction and imprisonment--the whole case was the "O.J. case" of it's time--follow the link for John Colt below to read all about it--facinating stuff! Payne is also cited as the great grandfather of actor and musical specialist John Payne--even though the elder Payne never married (I've tried to find information about children out of wedlock and came up goose-eggs--it is pure speculation that possibly the younger Payne was actually a great, great grand nephew??).