[1] He began his career as the Philadelphia correspondent and theater critic for the top entertainment journal of the time, the New York Clipper.

T. Allston Brown filled in for the missing helper, and the Baltimore Press dubbed him "Colonel" for the deed.

His clients included the famous female impersonator Ernest Byne (1848–1904), the Hanlon Brothers, and Mlle.

[4] As early as 1858, Brown had begun compiling stories and biographies of theatrical performers in the United States.

[3] He began to write a book on the subject, and in 1870 he published the exhaustive History of the American Stage.