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20
RADIO REVUE
Browne and His Banjo
Moulded
Career
Together
(.(.
0'
H, SUSANNA, Now Don't You Cry for Me; I've Come From Alabama Wid My Banjo on My Knee."
So sang a young soldier of the American forces in Cuba in '98. If the entertainer had been a bit more accurate he would have sung, "I've Come From Massachusetts Wid My Banjo on My Knee," for the Berkshire Hills were the home of Harry C. Browne and his stringed instrument, now popular with the radio audience through his frequent appearances in programs of the Columbia chain. "Hank Simmons's Showboat" is probably the most outstanding of these programs.
This young man and his banjo were boon companions. In school Browne was a football player of renown, and in the earlier ' days of this sport's popularity it was no five o'clock tea. The scars of battle were numerous.
Though quite adept at baseball, he did not play because he feared that he would injure his fingers. With disabled digits Harry realized that he would be unable to strum the accompaniment to his vocal efforts. The banjo evidently appreciated the sacrifice made for it and, in return, provided the means of procuring spending money, namely by entertaining the townspeople.
The Browne family was not at all enthusiastic about the son's strenuous activities as a minstrel. The father had attained only partial success with the burned cork and pictured his "pride and hope" as a prosperous member of the
By ROBERT TAPLINGER
Bar. Without consideration for his decided protests they made plans for his education in law. For a few months he attempted to wade through Blackstone and the lesser lights. The call to arms in 1898 was pleasant music to his ears. He now had a most excellent excuse for dropping his law. Soon he and his banjo formed a very definite part of army life at the training camp. The Second Massachusetts Regiment was in Florida within three weeks' time.
Great Success as Entertainer
Harry's success as an entertainer was soon firmly established. In Cuba he was always in demand to play for the officers, and in this way he escaped many of the tasks that his less talented companions performed as part of the daily routine of army life. Despite his relea s e from these duties, his part in warfare was an active one. He was there when his company led the way in capturing El Canal. In the rush to disembark at B a i quairi, he forgot even his precious banjo.
Browne returned home so thin that, as he puts it, "I scarcely cast a (Turn to page 44)
Mr. Browne, as Henry Clinton,
Ballyhooing "Hank Simmons's
Showboat"