He was born Ralph Brock Pemberton[3]inLeavenworth, Kansas,[4] the third of four children to Albert Pemberton and Ella Murdock.[5] He had two older sisters and a younger brother, Murdock Pemberton,[5] who became a writer and playwright. Pemberton's family had moved to Emporia, Kansas by 1895, where he attended Union Street School then Emporia High School.[6][7] He was the valedictorian of his high school graduating class during May 1902.[8]
He entered the College of Emporia on a scholarship during late summer 1902.[9] During his sophomore year he played football[10] and was Athletic editor of the college weekly paper.[11] During the summer of 1904 he worked on the Coffeyville Daily Record, in Coffeyville, Kansas, a paper recently purchased by his cousin Roland Murdock.[12] The following summer he worked on the Kansas City GlobeinKansas City, Kansas.[13] After one term at Yale University[fn 1] during the fall of 1906,[14] he returned to Emporia to work on the Emporia Gazette.[15]
The owner-editor of that newspaper, William Allen White, had previously employed Pemberton during the summer of 1906 before he left for Yale.[15] White had gotten his start on a newspaper owned by Pemberton's maternal relatives the Murdocks, and supported the political ambitions of Pemberton's uncle Victor Murdock, owner-editor of the Wichita Eagle.[16] By April 1907 Pemberton was enrolled in the School of Journalism at the University of Kansas,[17] while still working for The Emporia Gazette.[18] He pledged Phi Delta Theta fraternity[fn 2] upon returning to the University of Kansas in September 1907,[19] and joined the Dramatic Club.[20] He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in June 1908.[21]
During the next two years Pemberton worked full-time for the Emporia Gazette, becoming White's star reporter[22] then city editor by August 1909.[23] A long profile he wrote of the folksy poet Walt Mason was carried by newspapers across the country in early 1910.[24][25] In April 1910 he left Kansas to take up what he thought was a position on The Sun in New York City.[26]
Upon arriving in New York, Pemberton found out The Sun position didn't exist, but was able to get a job on the Evening Mail, reporting on harbor traffic and shipping.[27] He later became drama critic for the Evening Mail, then assistant drama critic on the New York World, before becoming Alexander Woollcott's assistant in The New York Times drama department.[27]
Pemberton gave the Antoinette Perry Award its nickname, the Tony. As Perry's official biography at the Tony Awards website states, "At [Warner Bros. story editor] Jacob Wilk's suggestion, [Pemberton] proposed an award in her honor for distinguished stage acting and technical achievement. At the initial event in 1947, as he handed out an award, he called it a Tony. The name stuck.[1]
From February 28, 1950 thru March 5, 1950, Pemberton played the lead in a production of Harvey at the Sombrero Playhouse in Phoenix, Arizona.[31] Six days later he died at home from a heart attack.[32]
Months after his death in 1950, a Tony Award was given to him posthumously in recognition of his role as the founder and the original chairman of the Tony Awards.
^"High School Graduating Exercises". Emporia Gazette. Emporia, Kansas. May 31, 1902. p. 1 – via Newspapers.com.
^U.S. Passport Applications, 1792-1925 for Brock Pemberton, retrieved from Ancestry.com
^ ab1900 United States Federal Census for Brock Pemberton, Kansas > Lyon > Emporia Ward 02 > District 0070, retrieved from Ancestry.com
^"Additional Local". Emporia Gazette. Emporia, Kansas. December 20, 1895. p. 2 – via Newspapers.com.
^"High School Notes". Emporia Daily Republican. Emporia, Kansas. October 15, 1900. p. 1 – via Newspapers.com.
^"Graduates at Emporia". The Topeka Herald. Topeka, Kansas. May 30, 1902. p. 3 – via Newspapers.com.
^"Haps and Mishaps". College Life. Emporia, Kansas. June 6, 1902. p. 9 – via Newspapers.com.
^"College Won a Game". Emporia Gazette. Emporia, Kansas. October 8, 1903. p. 8 – via Newspapers.com.
^"(Masthead)". College Life. Emporia, Kansas. Oct 30, 1903. p. 4 – via Newspapers.com.
^"Brookens New Job". Emporia Weekly Gazette. Emporia, Kansas. June 2, 1904. p. 8 – via Newspapers.com.
^"Lakeside". Emporia Gazette. Emporia, Kansas. July 5, 1905. p. 6 – via Newspapers.com.
^"Personal Notes". The Topeka Herald. Topeka, Kansas. August 26, 1906. p. 6 – via Newspapers.com.
^ ab"By the Way". College Life. Emporia, Kansas. January 25, 1907. p. 7 – via Newspapers.com.
^Griffith, Sally Foreman (1989). Home Town News: William Allen White and the Emporia Gazatte. Oxford University Press. p. 188. ISBN0-19-505589-6.
^"K. U. Students as Editors". Hamilton Grit. Hamilton, Kansas. April 24, 1907. p. 6 – via Newspapers.com.
^"Mathonians of the Past". College Life. Emporia, Kansas. May 17, 1907. p. 3 – via Newspapers.com.
^"Fraternity Pledges". Lawrence Daily World. Lawrence, Kansas. September 19, 1907. p. 1 – via Newspapers.com.
^"Play Cast Chosen". University Daily Kansan. Lawrence, Kansas. November 26, 1907. p. 2 – via Newspapers.com.
^"K. U. Graduates of 1908". Lawrence Daily Journal. Lawrence, Kansas. June 5, 1908. p. 3 – via Newspapers.com.
^Griffith, Sally Foreman (1989). Home Town News: William Allen White and the Emporia Gazatte. Oxford University Press. p. 182. ISBN0-19-505589-6.
^"Local News". The Wellington Daily News. Wellington, Kansas. August 14, 1909. p. 3 – via Newspapers.com.
^Pemberton, Brock (February 20, 1910). ""Uncle Walt" Mason, The Poet Philosopher". The Decatur Herald. Decatur, Illinois. p. 6 – via Newspapers.com.
^Pemberton, Brock (February 22, 1910). ""Uncle Walt" Mason, The Poet Philosopher". Democrat and Chronicle. Rochester, New York. p. 16 – via Newspapers.com.
^"Oread News Notes". University Daily Kansan. Lawrence, Kansas. April 9, 1910. p. 4 – via Newspapers.com.
^ ab"Pemberton Dies at Age 64". The Wichita Eagle. Wichita, Kansas. March 12, 1950. p. 4 – via Newspapers.com.
^Ferrell, Carol (March 1, 1950). "Harvey's Visit To Sombrero Creates Uproar In Phoenix". The Arizona Republic. Phoenix, Arizona. p. 6 – via Newspapers.com.
^"Brock Pemberton Dies At Home In New York". The Arizona Republic. Phoenix, Arizona. March 12, 1950. p. 1 – via Newspapers.com.
^Profiles Joe Leblang, discount theatre ticket seller.