Himan Brown

Himan Brown
Brown directingBetty WinklerandFrank Lovejoyin The Right To Live, May 18, 1947
Born	(1910-07-21)July 21, 1910
Died	June 4, 2010(2010-06-04)(aged 99) New York, New York
Nationality	American
Other names	Hi Brown
Alma mater	Brooklyn College Brooklyn Law School
Occupation	Radio producer
Known for	Producing for major networks and syndication

Himan Brown(July 21, 1910 – June 4, 2010), also known asHi Brown,was an American producer of radio and television programs. Over seven decades, Brown produced and directed more than 30,000 radio shows, for all of the major radio networks and syndication. He worked with such actors asHelen Hayes,Boris Karloff,Peter Lorre,Gregory Peck,Frank SinatraandOrson Welles.

A recipient of the American Broadcast Pioneer andPeabody Awards,Brown was inducted in 1990 into theNational Radio Hall of Fame.

Early life

The son of a tailor from ashtetlnear the Ukrainian seaport of Odesa, Brown first learned about radio from a shop teacher at Brooklyn'sBoys High School.At the age of 18, he began broadcasting on New York'sWEAF,reading newspapers with a Yiddish dialect. One of his listeners wasGertrude Bergwho wanted him to play Jake, her husband onThe Goldbergs,which he did for six months. He continued as a radio actor but soon began to pitch shows directly to advertising agencies.

While atBrooklyn College,he recruited fellow studentIrwin Shawto write scripts, giving the author his first paid writing job. Shaw later based a character on Brown in his 1951 novel about the radio industry,The Troubled Air.In 1931, he earned a bachelor of arts degree from Brooklyn Collegeand a law degree fromBrooklyn Law School,where he was valedictorian.

On the air

Over 65 years, Brown produced more than 30,000 radio programs, includingThe Adventures of the Thin Man,The Affairs of Peter Salem,Bulldog Drummond,CBS Radio Mystery Theater,City Desk,Dick Tracy,Flash Gordon,The General Mills Radio Adventure Theater,Grand Central Station,Green Valley, USA,The Gumps,Inner Sanctum Mysteries,Joyce Jordan, M.D.,Marie, the Little French Princess,The NBC Radio Theater,The Private Files of Rex Saunders,Terry and the Piratesand numerous daytime soap operas.During World War II, he worked with theWriters' War Board,producing patriotic serials to aid the war effort.

Brown directed many episodes of shows he produced. In 1951–55, he directed the NBC detective drama,Barrie Craig, Confidential Investigator.

In the 1950s, he bought Adolph Zukor's Famous Players Studios at 221 West 26th Street (nowChelsea Studios) to produce his shows.

When television arrived, Brown produced 26 episodes of the syndicatedInner SanctumTV series, plus a daytime show,Morning Matinee.Realizing that "all these guys making TV, they have to have a set," he profited by acquiring the studios in Chelsea; they were used for 35 years by New York TV production firms.

Through his non-profit educational foundation, Brown producedThey Were Giants,radio programs dramatizing the lives of such literary figures asWalt WhitmanandH. G. Wells,andWe, The Living,fact-based dramas about the lives of senior citizens.

Brown also taught audio drama atBrooklyn Collegeand theSchool of Visual Arts.

Personal life

In 1938, Brown moved to a ten-room apartment at 285 Central Park West, where he would live the rest of his life.

Brown had two children,Barry Kenneth Brownand Hilda Joan Brown, two grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.

Hi Brown’s second marriage was with Shirley Goodman who was the President of theFashion Institute of Technologyin New York City.

Brown died on June 4, 2010.

Legacy

Brown's legacy lives on in the Himan Brown Charitable Trust, which has endowed a Senior Program at the92nd Street Yin New York City.He also has an archive of his work at theUniversity of Georgia.

External links

• CBS Radio Mystery Theater(complete collection)Internet Archive, Retrieved September 15, 2011
• Inner Sanctum Mysteries(166 episodes)Internet Archive
• Himan Brown official site
• Himan Brown Radio Collection at The Walter J. Brown Media Archives & Peabody Awards Collection
• Pop Chronicles Interviews #136 – Himan Brown, Part 1&Part 2,April 18, 1977.