Born in County Cork and raised primarily in Limerick, Ireland, Fitz-James O'Brien moved to New York City in 1852.
27 Memorial Drive West, Bethlehem, PA 18015
This contemporary account of life in New York City is a treasure trove of (sometimes reliable) facts and (somewhat biased) opinions about the city during and immediately after the Pfaff's period. Browne also includes a detailed account of the Bohemian scene that flourished at Pfaff's, complete with a list of names and some reflections on the more "notable" members of the group (153-57).
Arnold is described by Browne as "a very clever writer in prose and verse, a regular contributor to the Saturday Press, and remarkable for his versatility" (155). Browne mentions that Arnold was blessed with many "gifts," being "good-looking, graceful, brilliant" (155). Browne mentions that Arnold died three years prior to the publication of his text (about 1866), and that several of "his easy, almost impromtu poems" have been published posthumously (155).
Browne expresses what appears to be genuine praise for Arnold's work, stating that "he sang in a careless way the pleasures and pains of love, the joys of wine, the charm of indolence, the gayety and worthlesness of existence in a true Anacreontic vein" (155).
Browne seems to insinuate that a poet such as Arnold was not destined to live a long life: "From such a temperment as his, earnest and continued exertion was not to be expected. Like Voiture he trifled life away in pointed phrases and tuneful numbers; but gained a large circle of devoted friends. At three and thirty he slipped out of the World which had been much and little to him, and left behind him many sincere mourners who speak of him still with words of love and moistened eyes" (155).
Browne cites him as the head of the "original" Bohemians of New York City and the United States. Clapp was their leader "as well by age as experience and a certain kind of domineering dogmatism." Browne notes that Clapp had been previously associated with several New York papers and was "one of the first to introduce the personal style of the Paris fuilleton into the literary weeklies" (152).
Browne notes that Clapp began the Saturday Press after the "inception" of the "informal society" of the Bohemians. Browne calls the Saturday Press the paper "to which the brotherhood contributed for money when they could get it, and for love when money could not be had" (152-3). Browne mentions that Clapp was able to keep the paper running for a year and tried to revive it twice after its first failure.
Browne mentions that Clapp was able to keep the paper running for a year and tried to revive it twice after its first failure. He claims that since then "Clapp, bitter from his many failures, now lives a careless life; writes epigrammatic paragraphs and does the dramatic for one of the weeklies. He is stated to be over fifty; but his mind is vigorous as ever, his tongue as fluent, and his pen as sharp" (153).
She is mentioned as one of the Bohemians' "female companions" at Pfaff's. Brown refers to Clare as the "queen of Bohemia" and mentions that she wrote for the Saturday Press.
Browne describes her as "of Irish extraction; a large-hearted eccentric woman who had property in the South, but lost it in the War" (157).
Browne states that after the war Clare published her novel, "Only a Woman's Heart," which Browne claims "is said to have been a transcript of her own experiences." He also claims she began acting after the loss of her property. Browne claims that the last he heard of her, Ada Clare was playing a theatre in Galveston, Texas, and had married the theatre's manager (157).
She is mentioned as one of the Bohemians' "female companions" at Pfaff's. Danforth was "a writer for the weekly journals" (157).
She is mentioned as one of the Bohemians' "female companions" at Pfaff's. Browne notes that at that time she was "still on the boards" as an actress (157).
A member of the staff of the Sunday Times. He was part of the "fraternity" that met at Pfaff's resturant, that "had late suppers, and were brilliant with talk over beer and pipes for several years." Browne claims "Those were merry and famous nights, and many bright conceits and witticisms were discharged over the festive board" (156-7).
She is mentioned as one of the Bohemians' "female companions" at Pfaff's. She was an actress (157).
She is mentioned as one of the Bohemians' "female companions" at Pfaff's. Browne describes her as "a pretty little creature," and guesses that "Getty Gay" is an assumed name. She was an actress (157).
A playwright. He was part of the "fraternity" that met at Pfaff's resturant, that "had late suppers, and were brilliant with talk over beer and pipes for several years." Browne claims "Those were merry and famous nights, and many bright conceits and witticisms were discharged over the festive board" (156-7).
House is mentioned as a being "for years connected to the Tribune," a friend of Clapp, and a contributor to the Saturday Press (154).
At the time of Browne's writing "He has quitted journalism, at least for the time, and made a good deal of money, it is said, by sharing the authorship of some, and being the agent in this country of Boucicault's plays" (154).
By Browne's description: "House is a good fellow, handsome, well-bred, winning in manners; is still a bachelor; does little work and gets a good deal for it; and enjoys himself as a man of the World ought" (154).
Browne says she "went to Pfaff's occasionally." Browne describes her as "ill-fated"(157).
Browne spells his name Harry Neal here and notes that at the time of his writing, Neal is deceased. Neal was a contributor to Vanity Fair and other contemporary publications.
He was part of the "fraternity" that met at Pfaff's resturant, that "had late suppers, and were brilliant with talk over beer and pipes for several years." Browne claims "Those were merry and famous nights, and many bright conceits and witticisms were discharged over the festive board" (156-7).
Browne mentions that North was English and had "quarreled" with his wealthy parents. North is described as having "come to this country to live by his pen" (155-6). Browne includes North among the Bohemians.
Brown indicates that North had some difficulty establishing a reputation as a writer: "He found the struggle harder than he had anticipated; for, though a man of talent and culture, he lacked directness of purpose and capacity for continuous work. His disappointment soured him, and poverty so embittered his sensitive nature that he destroyed himself, leaving a sixpence, all the money he had, and the 'Slave of the Lamp,' a manuscript novel, which he had not been able to sell, but for which the notoriety of the mournful tragedy secured a publisher" (156).
O'Brien gained literary fame with the publication of Diamond Lens in the Atlantic Monthly; according to Browne, this event occured ten years prior to his writing (about 1859) (154).
By Browne's description O'Brien was "a generous, gifted, rollicking Irishman, was one of the cardinals in the high church of Bohemia, until the breaking out of the War" (154). Browne continues, "O'Brien had a warm heart, a fine mind and a liberal hand; but he was impulsive to excess and too careless of his future for his own good" (154).
Of O'Brien's military career, Browne states, "He entered the field and distinguished himself for desperate courage until he was killed in Virginia and forgotten" (154).
Ottarson "for five and twenty years a city journalist, nearly all of which he has spent in the service of the Tribune" (156).
He was part of the "fraternity" that met at Pfaff's resturant, that "had late suppers, and were brilliant with talk over beer and pipes for several years." Browne claims "Those were merry and famous nights, and many bright conceits and witticisms were discharged over the festive board" (156-7).
Browne notes that Clapp began the Saturday Press after the "inception" of the "informal society" of the Bohemians (152). Browne calls the Saturday Press the paper "to which the brotherhood contributed for money when they could get it, and for love when money could not be had" (152-3).
Browne calls the Saturday Press "really the raciest and brightest weekly ever published here. It often sparkled with wit, and always shocked the orthodox with its irreverence and 'dangerous' opinions" (153).
Browne mentions that Clapp was able to keep the paper running for a year and tried to revive it twice after its first failure. Of these failures, Browne states, "its brilliancy would not keep it alive without business management, and it was too independent and iconoclastic to incurthe favor of any large portion of the community." Browne marks the third failure of the Saturday Press as three years prior to his writing (153).
Browne specifically identifies William Winter, Edward H. House, Artemus Ward, and Ada Clare as contributors (153, 154, 155, 157).
Browne notes that at the time of his writing, Seymour is the dramatic critic at the Times.
He was part of the "fraternity" that met at Pfaff's resturant, that "had late suppers, and were brilliant with talk over beer and pipes for several years." Browne claims "Those were merry and famous nights, and many bright conceits and witticisms were discharged over the festive board" (156-7).
Browne describes him as "a well-known litterateur" and a contributor to Vanity Fair and other contemporary publications (156).
He was part of the "fraternity" that met at Pfaff's resturant, that "had late suppers, and were brilliant with talk over beer and pipes for several years." Browne claims "Those were merry and famous nights, and many bright conceits and witticisms were discharged over the festive board" (156-7).
She is mentioned as one of the Bohemians' "female companions" at Pfaff's. Browne claims she was "the best Camille on the American stage" (157).
A "popular humorist under the sobriquet of 'Doesticks.'" Browne notes that Thomson was a member of the "clever crew" of Bohemians when he was at the height of his popularity (156).
During his time with the Bohemians, Thomson wrote for the Tribune. Browne mentions that Thomson was also a war correspondent and has "had various changes of fortune, and no longer enjoys his old fame." At the time of Browne's writing, Thomson still lived in New York and did "the drollery for some of the weekly papers over his old nom de plume" (156).
Charles F. Browne became famous for his "Artemus Ward" columns while he was the editor of the Cleveland Plaindealer (154).
Browne states Browne/Ward "came to the Metropolis, where clever men naturally tend, worked to his advantage his droll vein for the Saturday Press, Vanity Fair and Mrs. Grundy. He was a pure Bohemian, thoroughly good-natured, incapable of malice toward any one, with a capacity for gentleness and tenderness, like a woman's, open-handed, imprudent, seeing everything at a queer angle, and always wondering at his own success" (154-5).
Browne remarks that Browne/Ward "drew about him in New-York a number of knights of the quill; gained their esteem and affection, and left a vacancy in the circle and their sympathies when his kindly soul went out across the sea" (155).
Browne refers to him as "Ned." Wilkins was a member of the staff of the Herald and a "prominent member of the fraternity." Browne states that he was "one of the few attaches of that journal [Saturday Press] who have ever gained much individual reputation" (153).
According to Browne's description: "He was a pungent and strong writer, at the same time correct and graceful, and had the requisite amount of dogmatism and self-consciousness to render him acceptable to his guild and satisfactory to himself. When he promised far better things than he had ever performed, he died, leaving no other record than the file of newspapers -- the silent history of countless unremembered men of genius" (153).
Browne states that Winter "came here from Boston, after graduating Harvard, because he believed New York offered the best field for writers." Winter contributed to the Saturday Press and other weekly papers (153). Winter also "composed many clever poems, and did whatever literary work he could find at hand; supporting himself comfortably by his pen, and gaining a considerable reputation, particularly as a poet" (153-4).
Browne mentions that "A few years ago he married a literary woman and has not since been much of a Bohemian; for Hymen is an enemy to the character, and domesticity its ultimate destroyer." Browne notes that Winter was, at the time of his writing, the dramatic critic at the Tribune and "a very hard worker; deeming it a duty to perform whatever labor comes to him without seeking" (154).
Browne notes that Wood is deceased at the time of his writing. Wood was a contributor to Vanity Fair and other contemporary publications (156).
He was part of the "fraternity" that met at Pfaff's resturant, that "had late suppers, and were brilliant with talk over beer and pipes for several years." Browne claims "Those were merry and famous nights, and many bright conceits and witticisms were discharged over the festive board" (156-7).
An electronic version of this text is available at Making of America, a digital repository of nineteenth-century literary and historical texts hosted by The University of Michigan. It is free and open to the public. Viewing the electronic version of this text will lead you to an external website. Please report dead links to digitlib@lehigh.edu.
Born in County Cork and raised primarily in Limerick, Ireland, Fitz-James O'Brien moved to New York City in 1852.
27 Memorial Drive West, Bethlehem, PA 18015