Henry Harris (producer)

Henry B. Harris (undated)

Henry Birkhardt Harris (born December 1, 1866 in St. Louis , Missouri , USA , † April 15, 1912 in the North Atlantic when the Titanic sank ) was an American theater producer and manager.

Life

Harris was the son of theater manager William B. Harris and his wife Rachel Freefield. He came from a wealthy Jewish family who had made arrangements in the theater business before. When he was a child, the family moved to Boston , Massachusetts . On October 22, 1898, he married Irene "Renee" Wallach (1876–1969), daughter of Edgar and Rachel Wallach from Washington, DC The couple had no children. Irene's father and brother were also theater producers. As a young man Harris gained his first experience at the Howard Athenaeum Theater in Boston, which he incorporated into his company Rich & Harris. During this time he discovered very successful artists such as May Irwin , Pete Daily and Lillie Langtry .

The Hudson Theater in New York (around 1910)

Harris later became president of the National Producing Managers of America and executive director of the Theater Managers' Association of Greater New York. In 1903 he built and managed the Hudson Theater in New York City , followed in 1906 by the Harris Theater and in 1911, together with Jesse L. Lasky, the Folies-Bergere (later Fulton Theater). His company Henry B. Harris Company produced a total of almost 70 stage plays, of which The Climber with Amelia Bingham was one of the most successful. Other milestones in his career were Charles Klein's The Lion and the Mouse , The Traveling Salesman and The Third Degree . Over the years Harris worked with many well-known actors such as Helen Ware , Robert Edeson and Ruth St. Denis .

Harris was also a member of the Democrats , Treasurer of the Actor's Fund of America, and Trustee of the New York Hebrew Orphanage. He was a member of the Lambs Club and the Green Room Club. In 1912 Harris lived with his wife in Manhattan (50 Central Park West).

Titanic

In the spring of 1912 Harris was traveling Europe on business and was accompanied by his wife. To return to the USA, the couple booked a passage as first class passengers for the maiden voyage of the RMS Titanic , which departed on April 10, 1912 in Southampton, England . They occupied cabin C-83 (ticket no. 36973). A cabin opposite, C-123, was occupied by the writer Jacques Futrelle and his wife May. During the trip, Renee Harris slipped on the main stairs, fell down the stairs, and broke an arm. The couple spent the eve of the disaster with Jacques and May Futrelle in the ship's à la carte restaurant.

When the Titanic collided with the iceberg in the late evening of April 14th, the Harris' were still awake playing Canfield, a solitaire variant. Harris helped his wife in lifeboat D, which left the Titanic fifteen minutes before it went down. It was the last boat that could be launched (May Futrelle boarded this boat with her). Henry Harris was killed in the sinking. Renee Harris was accommodated aboard the rescue ship RMS Carpathia in the cabin of the American expressionist Colin Campbell Cooper , who later painted two paintings of the rescue of the survivors. Renee took over the management of the Henry B. Harris Company and produced ten more pieces. She married three more times and died on September 2, 1969.

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• Information and photos as well as further links in Encyclopedia Titanica
• Walter Lord . A night to remember . R. & W. Holt (1955)