Fiske, Harrison Grey

Fiske, Harrison Grey (1861–1942), critic, producer, and playwright. The New York–born son of a wealthy hotel owner, he became drama critic for the Jersey City Argus while still in his teens but quit after he discovered the paper was in debt to his father and had hired him as a courtesy. After a brief time at New York University, he left when his father bought him a one‐third interest in the Dramatic Mirror in 1880 and he was made editor. In 1890 Fiske married Minnie Maddern, who had already developed a reputation as a promising actress and who thereupon changed her professional name to Mrs. Fiske. As editor, Fiske had been a crusader from the start. His 1880 editorials were instrumental in establishing the Actors' Fund of America. When stories about the practices of the newly formed Theatrical Syndicate, or Trust, began to gain currency, Fiske printed them without editorial comment. But after the members of the Trust threatened to destroy his paper if he mentioned it again, he initiated a mammoth crusade against the monopoly. The result was that his wife was barred from playing in Trust houses. Fiske was forced to lease theatres and produce plays to keep his wife on the boards. He also wrote several plays, including Hester Crewe (1893), The District Attorney (1895), Marie Deloche (1896), and The Privateer (1897). He withdrew from the Dramatic Mirror in 1911 but continued to produce plays, both for his wife and others. Ironically, one of his biggest hits was Kismet (1911), produced in association with his old adversaries from the Trust: Frohman, Klaw, and Erlanger.