1: Lights dim as screens mounted left, right, and above center stage flash blurred images.
Chorus begins "Agincourt Hymn". On screens, slides project of drawing of Agincourt yeomen around campfires. In space under drawing, the words: CHARLES FARRAR BROWNE ("ARTEMUS WARD") LOVED ENGLAND DEARLY AND WAS PROUD OF HIS ENGLISH HERITAGE.
2: Drawing of late medieval town and townspeople. Chorus: "Robin Adair". Words on screens: AN ENGLISH PLAYWRIGHT AND FRIEND, T. W. ROBERTSON, REMARKED THAT BROWNE KNEW ENGLISH HISTORY BETTER THAN MOST ENGLISHMEN.
3: "NO MAN HAD MORE REVERENCE IN HIS NATURE." AND WHEN BROWNE VISITED THE TOWER OF LONDON, HE SAW IT AS THE HISTORY OF ENGLAND EMBALMED IN STONE AND MORTAR. BUT THE SHOWMAN IN HIM INSPIRED BROWNE TO SEE IT AS A PANOPLY OF "WAX FIGGERS", PORTRAYING THE BARBARITY OF THE ANCIENT BRITISH BARONS AND THE "CUSS" OF CHIVALRY.
4: Drawing of Pilgrims going to church (Chorus: "Pilgrims Hymn"): SIMILARLY HIS PRIDE IN HIS AMERICAN HERITAGE INSPIRED BROWNE TO WRITE ABOUT ARTEMUS WARD'S ANCESTORS COMING OVER IN THE "MAYFLOWERS" --
5: (drawing of revolutionry soldiers around campfire Chorus sings, "Chester") AND OF THE PARTICIPATION OF ARTEMUS' FATHER IN THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR. (BROWNE LIKELY KNEW THAT THE FIRST GENERAL OF THE CONTINENTAL ARMY WAS NAMED "ARTEMAS WARD".)
6: Drawing of country town, Waterford, Maine; chorus, "Skip to my Lou". BROWNE'S PARENTS WERE NATIVES OF ONE OF THE MOST CONSERVATIVELY PROVINCIAL SECTIONS OF AMERICA: WATERFORD, OXFORD COUNTRY, MAINE, A COMMUNITY OF 200 PERSONS. HIS FATHER, LEVI, WAS A RESPECTED CITIZEN, SURVEYOR, STOREKEEPER, FARMER; A CONGREGATIONALIST AND DEMOCRAT, LIKE MOST OF HIS NEIGHBORS. HE HELD NUMEROUS TOWN OFFICES AND SERVED IN THE STATE LEGISLATURE.
7: Drawing of a Browne-like house (Chorus: "Barbara Allen"). HIS MOTHER, CAROLINE, HAD AN UNCONSCIOUS HUMOR WHICH THE FAMILY LOVED TO DRAW OUT. AS PART OF HER DOWRY, SHE BROUGHT THE FINE HOUSE INTO WHICH CHARLES WAS BORN ON APRIL 26, 1834.
8: Drawing of playing children (Chorus: "Pop goes the weasel!"). CAROLINE (AS CHARLES CALLED HER) ONCE REMARKED OF HER SON: "HE WAS A STRANGE CHILD FROM A BABY, BUT HAD ALWAYS BEEN A GOOD BOY." OLDSTERS LATER TOLD OF CHARLES' SAYINGS AND PRANKS. FOR EXAMPLE, WHILE A MINISTER PERFORMED RITES OF BAPTISM IN THE RIVER, PLAYING CARDS FLOATED TO THE SURFACE FROM THE MINISTER'S GOWN, WHERE CHARLES HAD HIDDEN THEM.
9: Drawing of children at circus (Chorus: "Little Brown Jug"). HE WAS A LEADER OF BOYHOOD SHOWS AND RECITATIONS, AND BECAME A LIFELONG DEVOTEE OF THE CIRCUS, THE MINSTREL SHOW, AND THE THEATER. HIS HUMOR PARTLY COMPENSATED FOR HIS RATHER WEAK PHYSIQUE IN GAINING SOCIAL ACCEPTANCE.
10: Drawing of funeral in cemetary (Chorus: "Be Thou My Vision"). HIS FATHER DIED IN 1847, LEAVING LITTLE TO HIS WIFE AND SURVIVING CHILDREN, CHARLES AND CYRUS, WHO MUST NOW CONTRIBUTE TO THEIR MOTHER'S SUPPORT.
11: Drawing of "printer's devil" working in print shop (Chorus:
12: Drawing of editor at newspaper desk (Chorus: "Froggy Went A-Courtin"). AT 17, BROWNE WENT TO BOSTON TO WORK ON THE NEWLY FOUNDED WEEKLY "THE CARPET-BAG" ("FOR AMUSEMENT OF THE READER"). DURING 1851-3, UNDER THE PEN-NAME "CHUB" (IRONIC COMMENT ON HIS OWN THINESS), BROWNE PUBLISHED 10 SKETCHES AND SOME VERSE. (IN 1852 BROWNE ARRANGED FOR THE "CARPET-BAG" TO PUBLISH THE FIRST WRITING OF THE 16-YEAR-OLD SAMUEL LANGHORNE CLEMENS.)
13: Drawing of itinerant on road (Chorus: "To Be a Pilgrim"). UNFORTUNATELY, EVEN THE GENTLE SATIRE OF THE "CARPET-BAG" OFFENDED POLITICIANS AND NOTABLES, SO IT FOLDED, MARCH, 1852. BROWNE JOURNEYED WEST AS IINERANT PRINTER, WORKING IN CINCINATI, IN DAYTON, IN SPRINGFIELD, IN SANDUSKY, IN TIFFIN (OHIO), WHERE AN EDITOR DESCRIBED HIM AS "THE GAWKEST, GREENEST-LOOKING YOUNG FELLOW I EVER SET EYES ON." THEN BROWN DID A SHORT STINT AS LOCAL EDITOR OF THE TOLEDO "COMMERICAL".
14: Drawing of small town scene (Chorus: "Billy Boy"). IN OCTOBER, 1852, AT AGE 18, BROWNE BECAME COMMERCIAL AND LOCAL EDITOR OF THE CLEVELAND "PLAIN DEALER", A PIONEER IN PERSONAL JOURNALISM. BROWNE'S STYLE OF ENLIVENING ACCOUNTS OF FIRES, LAWSUITS, ARRESTS, DOG FIGHTS SWINDLES, ELOPMENTS, MURDERS, HELPED TO INCREASE CIRCULATION (AND PREPARED HIM FOR LATER WRITING). IN DECEMBER, 1857, BROWNE (AT AGE 23) BECAME ASSOCIATE EDITOR OF THE CLEVLAND "PLAIN DEALER".
15: Drawing of Lincoln-Douglas Debates (Chorus: "Listen to the Mocking Bird"). ON JANUARY 20, 1858, BROWNE PUBLISHED (IN THE "PLAIN DEALER") THE FIRST "ARTEMUS WARD" LETTER, ENTITLED "A LETTER FROM A SHOWMAN" (LATER EXTENDED AS "ONE OF MR. WARD'S BUSINESS LETTERS"). OTHER ARTEMUS LETTERS FOLLOWED, POPULARITY GREW, FURTHER INCREASING CIRCULATION OF HIS PAPER. DURING JUNE-SEPTEMBER, 1860, BROWNE WAS ALSO ASSOCIATE EDITOR OF "CAMPAIGN PLAIN DEALER", PROPAGANDA ORGAN FOR STEPHEN A. DOUBLAS IN HIS CAMPAIGN FOR PRESIDENT AGAINST ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
16: Drawing of midcentury New York City streets (Chorus: "Danny Boy"). ORIGINATING THE FIRST SYNDICATED HUMOR COLUMN, IN 1860, BROWNE SOLD HIS LETTERS TO THE NEW MAGAZINE OF HUMOR, "VANITY FAIR", PUBLISHED IN NEW YORK CITY. IN NOVEMBER, 1860, BROWNE LEFT "THE PLAIN DEALER" TO JOIN "VANITY FAIR". IN MAY, 1861, AT AGE 27, BROWNE BECAME THE MANAGING EDITOR OF "VANITY FAIR".
17: Drawing of lecturer before audience (Chorus: "I've Been Working on The Railroad"). BROWNE BEGAN A LECTURE SERIES FOR THE 1861-2 SEASON IN NEW LONDON, CONNECTICUT, WHICH WAS TAKEN TO NEW YORK CITY IN DECEMBER; CONTINUED IN THE MIDWEST IN 1862. HE COLLECTED ARTEMUS WARD LETTERS TO PUBLISH IN HIS FIRST BOOK, "ARTEMUS WARD: HIS BOOK", IN MAY, 1862. HE RESIGNED FROM EDITORSHIP OF "VANITY FAIR" TO DEVOTE HIS TIME TO WRITING AND LECTURING.
18: Drawing of Lincoln before his Cabinet (Chorus: "In the Good Old Summertime"). BY START OF LECTURE SEASON OF 1862-3, CARYING HIM AS FAR AS MEMPHIS, BROWNE AND ARTEMUS WARD BECAME NATIONALLY FAMOUS. AS INDICATION OF HIS POPULARITY, PRESIDENT LINCOLN INSISTED ON READING ARTEMUS WARD'S LETTER, "HIGH-HAND OUTRAGE AT UTICA", TO HIS CABINET BEFORE PRESENTING TO THEM "THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION".