November 6, 2009 The story of legendary street performer Brother Blue Play video

(NECN: John Moroney, Cambridge, Mass.) - He's Brother Blue: the street performer who hoped to change the world one story at a time.

But his wife of 60 years still recalls their first encounter, long before Hugh Morgan Hill became known as the father of modern storytelling.

Hill: "I had never in my whole life had been to a dance, but there I was stuck and among the boys was this man named Hugh Hill, very formal, very different than what he is now, I wonder if it was my fault."

The 88-year-old hill died Tuesday at his home Cambridge, Massachusetts.

The Ohio native graduated from Harvard in 1948 and went to Yale drama school to become a playwright. He took the name Brother Blue when his plays did not sell, and he began telling stories to prison inmates.

Brother Blue started performing in Cambridge in the late 60s. He spent years here in Harvard Square, but never once asked people for a donation to hear his stories.

Packer: “Blue danced his stories. Blue's stories embodied him from tip to toe, and when he told stories with Blue, he was you best fan. Your biggest listener. The one who knew you couldn't fail, so telling stories with Blue was a transcendent experience."

Laura Packer and Kevin Brooks are storytellers who learned their craft from Brother Blue and a whole lot more.

His best-known story is about a butterfly which changes from a caterpillar and finally recognizes its own self-worth and inner beauty.

Brooks:

"He told a lot of stories and brought it down to loving, not hurting, changing the world. He theme was changing the world.

Brother Blue would say storytelling was not what you do, but who you are. His themes were big. His clothing was bold. Still, he always knew how to attract a crowd.

Ruth: "Who's this crazy guy. There was a lot of that kind of reaction. But if you really stopped and listen to him you found that there was a lot of depth there."

Brother Blue said life was a story, and no matter how each of us wrote the stories of our lives ... We all know what happens in the end.