author
Porter Emerson Browne
1879–1934
A lively American playwright from the early 20th century, he wrote stage hits that audiences kept returning to—and filmmakers kept adapting. His best-known works include A Fool There Was, Chains, The Spendthrift, and The Bad Man.
2 Audiobooks
The Bad Man: A Novel
by Charles Hanson Towne, Porter Emerson Browne
A Fool There Was
by Porter Emerson Browne
About the author
Porter Emerson Browne was an American playwright born in Beverly, Massachusetts, on June 22, 1879. He built his reputation on Broadway with plays such as A Fool There Was (1909), The Spendthrift (1910), Chains (1912), and The Bad Man (1920).
His work clearly connected with popular audiences. Several of his plays were adapted for film, and The Bad Man had a notably successful Broadway run. Browne was also connected to early screenwriting, with credits linked to films including Joan of Plattsburg and The Seventh Day.
He died in Norwalk, Connecticut, on September 20, 1934. Although he is not as widely remembered today as some of his contemporaries, his career shows how strongly early American theater and early film could overlap, with stories moving easily from the stage to the screen.