Renee Harris, New York's first female producer, was born in 1876. Early in her life she worked as a legal secretary and attended law school at night. It was there that she met Henry B. Harris, who was to become one of Broadway's most successful producers, and they were married in 1899. Renee Harris became involved in the theater through her husband: she read plays for him, attended rehearsals, and generally acquired knowledge of all aspects of production.
In 1912 the Harrises boarded the ill-fated ship, the Titanic, for a trip to Europe. In the Atlantic the ship struck an iceberg, and there were not enough lifeboats for all the passengers. Renee Harris was on the last lifeboat to leave the ship; her husband remained behind. Walter Lord's book on the horrendous accident, A Night to Remember, drew extensively on Renee Harris' memories.
After the grief of her husband's death had subsided, Mrs. Harris determined to carry on in his footsteps. She also had to repay the hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt that Henry had accumulated. This she did by producing plays and running the Hudson Theatre, which her late husband owned. Her first, and probably most famous, production was Damaged Goods (1913) with Richard Bennett. Considered extremely daring for those times, it dealt with the effects of syphilis.
Through the rest of the decade and into the twenties she continued to produce, and through her both Barbara Stanwyck and Judith Anderson got their starts on Broadway.
Late in the 1920s Renee Harris received an offer to sell the Hudson Theatre; she refused, thinking the price was not high enough. But when the Depression came, a bank foreclosed on the mortgage while she was in Europe. Hurrying home, she sold her homes, her car, and her yacht trying to save the theater. It was to no avail. She lost everything and was reduced to near poverty.
She did not lose her spirit, however. For the following years of her life she worked, earned money, and wrote articles. She married again but, in a famous remark attributed to her, she said, “I married four times, all told, but I really had one husband--Henry.” Mrs. Harris was writing her autobiography at the time of her death in 1969.
