Born in Newark, New Jersey, Stephen Ryder Fiske achieved journalistic success at a young age. He was a paid contributor to several newspapers by the time he was twelve and, two years later, became the editor of a small newspaper. He attended Rutgers College until 1860, when he was asked to leave after he was found to be responsible for writing book chapters that satirized the college professors, according to D. W. Miller. Fiske's obituary, on the other hand, reports that he graduated sucessfully from Rutgers and was admitted to the bar two years later, but abandoned law for journalism ("Stephen Fiske").
After leaving Rutgers, Fiske moved to New York City and began writing for the New York Herald, where he served as an editorial writer and war correspondent there ("Stephen Fiske"). Through this work, he is considered part of the "Bohemian Brigade," a group of Civil War journalists with a tangential relationship to the Pfaff's bohemians (Starr). He also worked as a “special correspondent” who traveled the country with dignitaries such as the Prince of Wales and President Lincoln ("Stephen Fiske"). As a journalist, Fiske maintained a keen desire to be the first person to report a story. In one notable instance, he sent Biblical passages through the telegraph in an effort to tie up the lines, thus preventing his competitors from sending their stories (D. W. Miller). Fiske replaced Edward G. P. Wilkins as dramatic critic at the Herald in 1862. At the time, he also accused Wilkins of reviewing productions without actually seeing them (T. Miller 46).
Several sources place Fiske at Pfaff's, where he was one of the youngest of the crowd. One article, which provided updates on many former Pfaff's bohemains, lists Fiske as a theatrical manager and critic ("General gossip" 479). Miller writes that he joined the Pfaff's circle prior to the Civil War (17). While he worked for the Herald, Fiske maintained a friendship with Henry Clapp, Jr and later helped to organize his funeral. The two also men co-edited the Leader in 1864. (T. Miller 40). Fiske is also mentioned by Rose Eytinge as one of the "clever and distinguished" men who frequented Ada Clare's evening parties (21).
Fiske shifted his focus toward the theatre, although he continued to write throughout his life. He moved to Europe at the end of the Civil War, making the ocean crossing in the Henrietta during the “first Atlantic yacht race” (D. W. Miller). He traveled first to Rome, where he was with Garibaldi during the revolution, and then to London, where he became manager of the Royal English Opera Company and the St. James’s Theatre ("Stephen Fiske"). Returning to New York City in 1874, he succeeded Augustin Daly as manager of the Fifth Avenue Theatre three years later. Both Edwin Booth and Joseph Jefferson performed in Fiske’s company one year prior to his retirement.
Around this time, he met and began an affair with Mary Hewins Fox, which prompted Fox’s husband at the time, Mr. Burnham, to attempt to shoot and stab Fiske. Fiske survived and married Fox, who in 1877 gave birth to a son (T. Miller 110).
After leaving the theatre in 1879, Fiske started the New York Dramatic Mirror and also worked as a dramatic critic for The Spirit of the Times. Soon after founding the Mirror, he relinquished control and split his time between writing for Spirit and creating his own plays. Some of Fiske's most memorable works include the plays Corporeal Cartouche, Martin Chuzzlewit, and My Noble Son-in-Law and the books English Photographs, Holiday Tales, and Offhand Portraits of New Yorkers. He passed as a widower at the age of seventy-nine survived by two brothers and a sister ("Stephen Fiske"). Fiske came to be considered the “dean of active dramatic critics” whose “sharp pen has not been a whit dulled by time” (D.W. Miller 479).
References & Biographical Resources "Current Memoranda." Potter's American Monthly. 01 Sep. 1875: 710-715. Identified as one of "the friends of Henry Clapp in the city of New York," but not necessarily a Pfaffian. [pages:714] Eytinge, Rose. The Memories of Rose Eytinge: Being Recollections & Observations of Men, Women, and Events, during Half a Century. New York: Frederick A. Stokes, 1905. Mentions Stephen Fiske as one of the "clever and distinguished" men who frequented Ada Clare's Sunday evening parties at her home on West 42nd Street in New York (21). [pages:21] G. J. M. "Bohemianism: The American Authors Who Met in a Cellar." Brooklyn Eagle. 25 May 1884: 9. Fisk is credited with contributing towards a granite monument for Clapp's grave site. [pages:9] "General gossip of authors and writers." Current Literature. 01 Jan. 1888: 476-480. Mentioned as one of the Bohemians at Pfaff's "gossiped" about by Rufus B. Wilson in a "reminiscent letter to the Galveston News."The blurb gives "updates" on the whereabouts of many of the former Bohemians. "Stephen Fiske, one of the youngest of the 'Pfaff Crowd,' is now a theatrical manager and critic, whose sharp pen has not been a whit dulled by time." [pages:479] Haynes, John Edward. Pseudonyms of Authors: Including Anonyms and Initialisms. New York, 1882. This text identifies the following pseudonym: Ariel (14). [pages:14] Miller, Douglass W. "Stephen Ryder Fiske." Dictionary of American Biography. Base Set. American Council of Learned Societies, 1928-1936. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Thomson Gale, 2006. http://www.galenet.com/servlet/BioRC. Miller, Tice L. Bohemians and Critics: American Theatre Criticism in the Nineteenth Century. Metuchen, NJ: The Scarecrow Press, 1981. Fiske became part of the Pfaff's circle just prior to the Civil War (17).He co-edited the Leader with Henry Clapp, Jr. in 1864 (37).Fiske helped organize Clapp's funeral in 1875 (40). Fiske replaced Edward Wilkins as dramatic critic at the Herald and suggested that Wilkins reviewed productions without actually attending them (46). Fiske moved to London after the end of the Civil War.He returned in 1874 and in 1879 he became the dramatic critic for the Spirit of the Times (128). Fiske was married to Mary Fox Hewins, but the couple first engaged in a scandalous affair.The affair prompted Mary's husband of the time, Mr. Burnham, to attempt to shoot and stab Fiske (110). [pages:17, 37, 40, 46, 67, 80, 102-127, 128, 154] Starr, Louis Morris. Bohemian Brigade; Civil War Newsmen in Action. New York: Knopf, 1954. Fiske was one of the three men in Hudson's [of the Herald] Washington bureau in 1861.Fiske was twenty and accompanied President Lincoln on the last leg of his trip to Washington.Fiske was locked in a hotel room in Harrisburg the night Lincoln "made his most famous secret departure fo avert foul play in Baltimore."Fiske was also sent by Simon P. Hanscom, the bureau chief, to cover the inaugural ball.When Fiske shook hands with Lincoln, he asked the President "if there was any special news he would like to send to Mr. Bennett.Fiske recalled that Lincoln responded: "'Yes,' he replied, looking at me significantly, 'you may tell him that Thurlow Weed has found out that Seward was not nominated at Chicago'" (25-26). [pages:25-26] "Stephen Fiske: Dramatist, Author, and Former War Correspondent Dies at 75." The New York Times. 28 Apr. 1916: pg.11. Stephen Fiske, dead at 75. April 28, 1916 [pages:11] "Untitled." Dramatic Mirror. 19 Feb. 1889.