Brady was born to a newspaperman in 1863. His father kidnapped him from San Francisco and brought him to New York City, where his father worked as a writer while William was forced to sell newspapers on street corners. Upon his father's death when William was 15, he hitchhiked his way back to San Francisco.[3]
He made his start onstage in San Francisco with a company headed by Joseph R. Grismer and Phoebe Davies[4] shortly after his return. As a callboy in The White Slave by Bartley Campbell, he filled in a role for an ill actor, and started his career.[citation needed]
After a failed attempt to produce a version of She by H. Rider Haggard, he was able to secure the rights to After Dark, successfully bringing the play to New York. While Brady was sued for his efforts, as Augustin Daly claimed plagiarism, Brady was able to make enough money to continue with his theater ventures.[3]
He inadvertently became a boxing promoter during this time. He cast James J. Jeffries in After Dark, and later introduced the man into the boxing circuit, where Jeffries would eventually become the undisputed heavyweight champion. Brady would be the only person to manage two undisputed heavyweight champions, in Jeffries and James J. Corbett.[2]
Brady produced The Corbett-Fitzsimmons Fight in 1897. Although Corbett ultimately lost, the match ran for over an hour and a half, and the documentary lasted that long, the longest film ever released at the time. In 1898, Brady and Grismer produced the hugely successful Charlotte Blair Parker play, Way Down East. The two remained partners until Grismer's retirement sometime around 1909.[4]
Other clients
In late 1896 Brady watched as young bicycle racer Major Taylor won his first professional races, a half-mile exhibition and a six-day race at Madison Square Garden.[5]: 51–52 Brady arranged to promote Taylor, who was a Black athlete facing serious obstacles in a racist time. Brady was known for using his tenacity and innovation to secure races for Taylor.[5]: 51–52 For example, when southern cycling officials sought to ban Taylor from national competition, Brady built his own racetrack and started his own cycle race series for Taylor.[5]: 51–52
Another Brady client was Black polar explorer Matthew Henson.[5]: 250–251 Henson, denied the credit given to white Commander Peary, was financially destitute and physically unable to work, when Brady arranged a national lecture tour for him.[6] In a 1930 interview, a grateful Henson credited Brady for "taking care of" objections by Commander Peary; he said that Brady accepted no promoter's fee for the tour beyond "twenty-five dollars for cigar money."[6]
Brady picked up the contract of Koca Yusuf and toured him around the east and midwest.
Theater
Brady ran a successful theatre operation for thirty years, having met actresses like Grace George (whom he later married)[3] and having, at one point, hired famous humorist Robert Benchley to complete ad copy for him.[7] Brady's success continued until the Stock Market Crash of 1929, which wiped out his entire savings. He was able to secure the funds to produce Street Scene, which was written by Elmer Rice, won the Pulitzer Prize, and netted Brady roughly a half a million dollars. His total theatrical output included over 260 plays, including a version of Uncle Tom's Cabin that was later used as images for a book in 1904,[8] and a number of movies before his death.
