'''{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2011}}

{{Other persons|John Brown}}

{{Infobox writer <!-- for more information see [[:Template:Infobox writer/doc]] -->

| image =

| name =

| birth_date = {{birth date|2016|7|3}}

| death_date = {{death date and age|1969|3|16|1900|7|3}}

| birth_place = [[Louisville, Kentucky]]

| death_place = [[New York]]

| occupation = columnist, journalist

| genre = drama criticism

| notableworks = "Seeing Things" column

| influences =

|influenced =

}}

'''John Mason Brown''' (July 3, 1900 &ndash; March 16, 1969) was an [[United States|American]] [[drama critic]] and [[author]].<ref name="nytobit">Van Gelder, Lawrence (March 17, 1969). "John Mason Brown, Critic, Dead." ''[[New York Times]]''</ref>

==Life==

Born in [[Louisville, Kentucky]], he graduated from [[Harvard College]] in 1923. He worked for the ''[[New York Evening Post]]'' from 1929 to 1941. He served as a lieutenant in the [[United States Navy]] during [[World War II]], beginning in 1942. His book, ''To All Hands'', documents his activities aboard the [[USS Ancon (AGC-4)]] during [[Operation Husky]], the invasion of Sicily.

Upon his return, his "Seeing Things" column appeared in ''[[Saturday Review (US magazine)|The Saturday Review]]'' starting in 1944 until his death in New York City. In a 1948 radio broadcast, Brown attacked [[comic book]]s as "the [[marijuana]] of the nursery; the bane of the bassinet; the horror of the house; the curse of the kids; and a threat to the future."<ref>[[Maggie Thompson|Thompson, Maggie]]. "April 21, 1954: Mr. Gaines Goes to Washington," [http://www.cbgxtra.com/default.aspx?tabid=42&view=topic&forumid=34&postid=6606 "The 1900s: 10 biggest events from 100 years in comics,"] CBGXtra.com (Dec. 12, 2005).{{dead link|date=September 2013}}</ref> (These charges were echoed during this period by other public figures like [[Sterling North]], [[J. Edgar Hoover]], and most notably Dr. [[Fredric Wertham]], until [[United States Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency|Congressional hearings]] led to the mid-1950s self-censorship and rapid shrinkage of the comics industry.)

Brown resigned from the [[Pulitzer Prize]] drama jury in 1963 when the advisory board rejected his recommendation, and that of theater historian John Gassner, that the prize go to [[Edward Albee]]'s ''[[Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf]]''.<ref>Van Gelder, Lawrence, "John Mason Brown, Critic, Dead"; ''[[The New York Times]]'', March 17, 1969</ref>

He was inducted, posthumously, into the [[American Theatre Hall of Fame]] in 1981.<ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/1981/03/03/theater/26-elected-theater-hall-fame-26-broadway-voted-into-theater-hall-fame.html ''The New York Times'', March 3, 1981 - ''26 Elected to the Theater Hall of Fame'']</ref>

==See also==

* [[45th Regiment Kentucky Volunteer Mounted Infantry]], the regiment Brown's father commanded during the [[American Civil War]]

==References==

{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==

*{{cite journal |last=Brown |first=Preston |title=John Mason Brown, 1837-1890 |journal=Filson Club Historical Quarterly |volume=13 |issue=3 |date=July 1939 |url=http://connect1.ajaxdocumentviewer.com/viewerajax.php?TTc26klfr1%2B0N3jXyfi%2BW2qOGMyO70WtFmQirw6bmAn%2Bz%2FRm1eHUNrPdNxoi9EukMvVATRff89eu6%2FUmF7NISTbLd9AhLXgR%2Fb%2BZXQ1YrPDwQzh2%2BNNeiNf5u9mZvmx5pujHE1iEzDEIAIUQbqyNaFx9Bq%2BeXezJe9DMfgzeT%2B64tTOQV9P2vymsQyOXJafP8S6HKHHhfQLmsothAgRAGSFA5Qsvf6pFcvTlAL6t3LIseURC77GycysmP%2FnOU9Q6rtjWJ17YrYYCdB%2BlOSvMKVCMuK7vxKOteA04qMNV0AGQ6EnvfK1H7UQcRtID%2BFzxAtSf6NvJk3w3D6TUx3ffWgC%2BacNL0BKXRj%2BSxAaX220Rbh6SWogFdirji%2FUaJv4loUv7hzsYnLvxJm1pMl6pdyF0%2FnOyCnnDKpEHsTV5xck%3D |accessdate=2011-11-30}}

==External links==

*{{imdb name|0113897}}

*[http://oasis.lib.harvard.edu/oasis/deliver/~hou00655 John Mason Brown Papers (MS Am 1948-1948.1).] Houghton Library, Harvard University.

*[http://oasis.lib.harvard.edu/oasis/deliver/~hou00097 John Mason Brown Additional Papers, 1933-1984 (MS Am 2096).] Houghton Library, Harvard University.

{{Authority control|VIAF=12226246}}

{{Persondata <!-- Metadata: see [[Wikipedia:Persondata]]. -->

| NAME =Brown, John Mason

| ALTERNATIVE NAMES =

| SHORT DESCRIPTION =

| DATE OF BIRTH =1900-07-03

| PLACE OF BIRTH =[[Louisville, Kentucky]]

| DATE OF DEATH =1969-03-16

| PLACE OF DEATH =[[New York, New York]]

}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, John Mason}}

[[Category:Harvard University alumni]]

[[Category:1900 births]]

[[Category:1969 deaths]]

[[Category:American theater critics]]

[[Category:People from Louisville, Kentucky]]

{{US-writer-stub}}

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