The Man Who Lit Lady Liberty, The Extraordinary Rise and Fall of Actor M. B. Curtis

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Book ID: The Man Who Lit Lady Liberty: The Extraordinary Rise and Fall of Actor M. B. Curtis
By Richard Schwartz; Paperback: 2019; $19.95 retail; ISBN 978-0967820460; History, Biography, New York History, Statue of Liberty History, Theater History, Judaica; trim size 6”x .75”x 9”; 320 pages; Distributor : Sunbelt Publications 619-258-4911 (and supplies Ingram, Baker & Taylor, etc.)

www.richardschwartz.info

Sample Review: “An impeccably researched, skillfully written, deftly organized, accessibly presented biography of an inherently interesting man whose accomplishments had faded into obscurity, The Man Who Lit Lady Liberty: The Extraordinary Rise and Fall of Actor M. B. Curtis is a simply fascinating read and highly recommended for personal reading lists, as well as both community and academic library American Biography collections.”
—Midwest Review of Books

Special Features:The Man Who Lit Lady Liberty won the Bronze Medal for Biography from the Independent Publishers 2018 Book Awards and was chosen by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences Margret Herrick Library to be included in their collection.

Illustrative Elements of the Book:• _The immigrant M. B. Curtis personally paid to light the Statue of Liberty in 1886 when Congress refused to do so. He is the only person in American history to do that.
• • _M. B. Curtis was the first Jewish male actor to be allowed to portray a Jewish male theatrical character onstage in American theater history. The fact he did so with humanity changed things. He portrayed different immigrant populations in a positive and human manner in his plays throughout his career.
• • _The play Curtis starred in for decades, Sam’l of Posen, broke theatrical records in New York City and commanded operatic rates even in small theaters nationwide. Sam’l of Posen was held up as one of the few truly American character sketches.
• • _Curtis was approached by Mark Twain to produce a stage version of Twain’s book, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court.
• • _Curtis was a pioneer in silent movies, starring in one of the first silent movies ever made in 1899. In 1910 Curtis starred in a feature film based on his legendary play, Sam’l of Posen.
• • _Curtis worked with Fatty Arbuckle in another feature film. There is evidence Curtis influenced Chaplin and other performers such as Jack Benny.
• • _M. B. Curtis was tried three times for the murder of a San Francisco police officer.
• • _President Theodore Roosevelt was compared to Curtis’s theatrical character Sam’l of Posen in 1905, twenty-five years after the introduction of the play.
• • _Curtis also built the tallest hotel in the Bay Area in 1891—the Peralta Park Hotel in Berkeley. He also owned the famous Driskill Hotel in Austin, Texas.
• •_In 1899 Curtis took one of the most talented African American entertainment troupes ever assembled to Australia and New Zealand. Many of the performers went on to become legends in American entertainment.
• • _The ever-creative Curtis dreamed up a way to save a floundering new play by giving away property in Tehama County to anyone who would purchase a ticket. It worked!

Biography: Richard Schwartz is a historian and the author of The Man Who Lit Lady Liberty; Eccentrics, Heroes, and Cutthroats of Old Berkeley; Earthquake Exodus, 1906; Berkeley 1900; and The Circle of Stones. An outdoor enthusiast and animal lover, he worked on a Pennsylvania Dutch farm before heading west to find higher mountains, fighting forest fires for the US Forest Service. Schwartz was a building contractor and musician for forty years. Richard currently gives history talks and works with the State of California and the University of California, Berkeley recording previously unknown Native American sites he has found in the San Francisco Bay Area. Richard lives in Berkeley, California.