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March 16, 2025.?.? THIS COMING SUNDAY.?Immigrant actor M. B. Curtis's magical effects on Oakland in the 19th and early 20th centuries. 672 11th St, Oakland, CA 94607. 3pm. The one-hour talk and question period will be followed by a one-hour catered reception with champagne, hors d'oeuvres, and sweets. Please reserve a place as soon as possible a space is limited?by calling Richelle Lieberman at 510.381.1973 at the Pardee House Museum?($25 if calling the?museum- all proceeds go to the Governor Pardee House Museum; or $28.50 through Eventbrite).?
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Award-winning Bay Area author Richard Schwartz speaks about the grand cultural and physical impacts made by the forgotten immigrant actor M. B. Curtis on the Nation and his consequential ties with and effects on Oakland.??Richard will share all these forgotten culture-changing stories in this fascinating Oakland-centric talk on the life and times of actor M. B. Curtis.?
The talk is based on Richard¡¯s national medal-winning biography of the actor,?The Man Who Lit Lady Liberty, The Extraordinary Rise and Fall of Actor M. B. Curtis.
Governor Pardee, an Oakland native, was the Governor of California during the 1906 Earthquake, where M. B. Curtis performed soon thereafter to entertain the Oakland residents with his cosmically comic play and help them forget their problems. Curtis, too, had problems he wished to move on from.
An early?poster for M. B. Curtis's 1880s run-away?theatrical hit play?"Sam'l of Posen" (NYPL)
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The Novelty Theatre in Oakland, where Curtis gave a vaudeville version of "Sam'l of Posen" with his actress wife Albina de Mer, months after the 1906 Earthquake with many refugees still present. (OPL History Center)
Governor George Pardee House Museum Refugees outside of Courthouse after 1906 Earthquake when Gov. Pardee rushed back to Oakland.
Refugees outside of Courthouse after 1906 Earthquake when Gov. Pardee rushed back to Oakland
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Richard Schwartz delivers the fascinating life story of immigrant actor M.B. Curtis.
M. B. Curtis¡¯s meteoric rise to fame in his play?Sam¡¯l of Posen?broke all records and made him extraordinarily famous and wealthy overnight in one tour of the country in 1880-1. Curtis chose the Bay Area as the most beautiful place in America and settled here, desiring to ¡°belong.¡± What he?did with his wealth and culturally transforming powers around the?Bay Area and the nation boggles the mind, even more so when one learns that he was pursued by Mark Twain to work together;?that he was the only person in American history to personally pay to light the State of Liberty when Congress shut it down;?that Curtis strongly promoted positive portrayals of immigrants in his plays; that he?was the first male Jewish actor allowed to portray a male Jewish character on the American stage; that he built the tallest hotel in the Bay Area in 1890; that M. B. Curtis took his wealth, his play and his time to fund things like a Bay Area firehouse, train station, street lighting, and paving, sponsoring bands, sports teams, offering help for injured or ill people and civic organizations; that he?took one of the most talented troupes of African American performers ever assembled to the Antipodes;?and that Curtis became a pioneer in the silent movie industry. Even film historians do not realize there is proof he worked with Fatty Arbuckle in 1910. M. B. Curtis was accused of murdering a San Francisco police officer on 9/11 of 1891 and endured three trials on the charge. The actor and man who loved being loved was never the same. Still, through it all, he managed to pursue his art, always?¡°returning¡±?to the beloved character Sam¡¯l of Posen. Even President Theodore Roosevelt was compared to Sam¡¯l of Posen twenty-five years after the play was released and there is plenty of proof everyone wanted to be Sam¡¯l in one way or another.
Curtis's mind-bogglingly impactful, eventful, and dramatic life left a deep impression on the culture of Oakland and the Bay Area. Richard will reveal the details of these stories in his talk.?
M. B. Curtis's rise to fame and tragic fall embody the complexities of celebrity, identity, and the costs of success.?
"An outstanding new biography of one of the most talented characters of his time."
--Barry Moreno, historian & author, the Bob Hope Memorial Library at Ellis Island, Statue of Liberty National Monument
"I came so close to passing on an opportunity to talk with Richard Schwartz.
It is one of the most phenomenal books I have ever read. Phenomenal story of
the guy who wrote it. Unbelievable story about the guy who is the subject of
the book.
And how can a guy be universally known in 1900 and unknown in probably 60
years later, certainly, a century later, nobody knows M. B. Curtis.
...It is written by a guy who is a construction worker who has such a great
command of the English language that after reading this book,?I don't even have the desire to challenge a book.
-- Dan Manly, Radio Broadcaster WMST, Mount Sterling, Kentucky
April 3, 2025.?
The Man Who Lit Lady Liberty and his ties to Marin County. Award-winning author Richard Schwartz shares the biography of M. B. Curtis, a 19th-century immigrant actor who funded the Statue of Liberty¡¯s lighting, starred in America¡¯s longest-running play, and faced fame, scandal, and reinvention.?Curtis¡¯ ties to Marin will surprise you.? The talk takes place in the?Livermore Pavilion at the Marin Art & Garden Center. 30 Sir Francis Drake Bvd., Greenbrae, CA 94904. Doors open at 10 am. The talk begins at 11 am. 415-235-9162.
Learn the previously hidden history of the Bay Area and the nation created by one immigrant actor and of his interaction with and support of a renowned Marin institution?which affected the whole country and has now vanished.
"Yes, this is a very charismatic man with magical eyes.
Your book is wonderful. I read it in a flash...It's also a feat of archival research...Bravo for a great book!
It would indeed make a great movie."
¡ªDR. HARLEY ERDMAN
Chair, Department of Theater
University of Massachusetts at Amherst
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M. B. Curtis as Sam'l of Posen, the traveling salesman in the play?Sam'l of Posen. (Both photos Harvard University, Houghton Library TCS 1)
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Champion boxer Joe Choynski, the first Light Heavyweight Champion of the World. Lightweight Champion Joe Gains. Both boxers trained at Billy Shannon's in San Rafael, CA
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Boxers, including national champions, who trained at Billy Shannon's training facility in Marin County.?(Alice T. Kent California Room, Marin County Library)
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Biography:
Richard Schwartz is a historian and the author of Eccentrics, Heroes, and Cutthroats of Old Berkeley; Earthquake Exodus, 1906; Berkeley 1900; and The Circle of Stones. Originally from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he graduated from Temple University with a bachelor¡¯s degree in English Literature. An outdoor enthusiast and animal lover, Schwartz worked on a Pennsylvania Dutch farm for two years before heading west to find higher mountains. He fought forest fires for the US Forest Service in Tahoe National Forest. He now lives in Berkeley, California, where he worked as a building contractor and now documents early Native American sites in the Bay Area. The Man Who Lit Lady Liberty (April 2017) is his fifth book and was selected by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Margaret Herrick Library to be included in their special collection.?
Richard's website is www.richardschwartz.info
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