My late husband, Harry Edson Browne, was an American free-market Libertarian writer and the Libertarian Party's 1996 & 2000 candidate for President of the United States. He was the nephew of Harry C. (Clinton) Browne. Uncle Harry was a native of North Adams, Massachusetts and attended their public schools. When the Spanish-American War broke out, he enlisted with the Second Massachusetts Regiment of Infantry and saw active service in Cuba in the Santiago Campaign.

After the war, he entered vaudeville as a banjo player and minstrel singer. He quickly became a Columbia Records and Harmony recording artist and made approximately fifty-five phonograph records. You can listen to some of his recordings on YouTube.

In 1900, according to a July, 1901 newspaper article in Sandusky Ohio's The Register, "he was 'stumping' for William Jennings Bryan."

In 1904 he grew interested in the theater, and for two years he toured the United States and Canada performing in stock and repertoire. In 1906, he made his Broadway debut in the musical play, "My Wife Won't Let Me." Then he went on to perform with many of the foremost theatrical producers and actors in at least thirteen more Broadway plays including "The Case of Becky" with Francis Starr.
He was also a silent screen star who appeared in thirteen films from 1914 to 1921 with co-stars Lillian Russell, Mary Pickford, Constance Talmadge, Frances Starr, Hazel Dow and several other leading ladies.
In 1921, he starred in the movie, "Closed Doors."

In 1926, Uncle Harry left the theater. He took a job as station director of WGHP in Mt. Clemens, Michigan. Then he went to work for CBS as a production director, announcer, and when needed, he used his playwriting skills on programs.

In addition to conceiving the Cap'n Kidd program for CBS, Uncle Harry produced and starred in the very popular program, Hank Simmons' Show Boat in late 1928. In the Milwaukee Sentinel on Sunday, November 16, 1930 the headline read, "Accident inspired Browne to Start his 'Show Boat.' Need for substitute program brought idea; Founder Once Well Known Stage and Screen Star." In the article it stated, "…..In manner he is modest, quiet, and efficient. Has no radio mannerisms. Treats his cast – which is still intact – like one big family."

Although the Cap'n Kidd and Hank Simmons' Show Boat programs were extremely popular radio shows, Uncle Harry resigned from CBS in 1931 to devote his full time to the public practice of Christian Science healing. Two years after he left the entertainment business my late husband was born, and his father named him after his older brother whom he greatly admired. The following year Uncle Harry began serving as First Reader of The Mother Church – The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston Massachusetts. In 1938 he began serving as First Reader of Second Church of Christ, Scientist, in New York City.

The following year he was named a Christian Science lecturer by the Church and traveled all across the United States lecturing. He also served as Member of the Board of Lectureship of The Mother Church, The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston. Then in 1948 he was elected president of the Mother Church where he served through 1949.

Up until just a couple of months before his death, Uncle Harry was heard regularly by an international audience on a 15-minute weekly Christian Science radio program. Each broadcast consisted of a believer's own account of a real-life crisis, followed by Uncle Harry's "vest-pocket sermon." When he died on November 15, 1954 the headline in the North Adams Transcript stated, "Harry C. Browne, 76, Passes Away, Forsook Stardom for Religion."

I am currently writing my husband's biography in which a section of his family history chapter is about his uncle, Harry C. Browne, for whom he was named. Unfortunately, Uncle Harry died when my late husband was only 21 years old. But in the biography I state, "My husband told me several times that he remembered his Uncle Harry fondly because he was a very benevolent, modest, and kind man."