John B. Ratto: character studies from life

              192?

Figure

John B. Ratta
Character Studies from Life


John B. Ratto   Character Studies From Life
IN presenting John B. Ratto to the Lyceum and Chautauqua public, the Slayton Lyceum Bureau feels they are bringing out a timely want, a man who can please the average audience, that is, an audience made up from all classes.  Mr. Ratto has been before the public for several years, and has proven himself a distinct success in giving character studies sketched from life.  His work is clearly drawn and well defined, and has met with most hearty approval from the most discriminating audiences.  He has made a most thorough study of the foreigner as he really is in this country, and his stories and readings consist almost exclusively of phrases and witticisms as he gets them from the characters he portrays.  His method of entertaining brings the character to you with the story, rather than have you see him through the words.  Mr. Ratto's argument that America is the greatest nation on earth because its people are a mixed people, enables him to give an audience a great deal to think about, along with his humor, in bringing the good traits of some of our people before us.

By use of the art of make-up, Mr. Ratto suggests the character to the eye as well as the mind.



Subjects:

Uncle Sam's Family
The Foreigner in America


Figure



Figure



Figure





John B. Ratto   Character Studies From Life

Sterling (Ill.) Gazette.
The impersonations of leading types of foreign born American citizens given by Mr. John B. Ratto, was the clever work of an artist of the highest order.  He is an entertainer far above the average, and his work last evening brought forth none but words of praise.  He relates narratives of persons of different nationalities, mimicking their peculiarities of speech, and in full view of the audience, makes up to represent the type of person who is the subject of his remarks at that time.  He is a genius, not only as a make-up artist, but a mimic and story teller.  His line of work is equally entertaining to young and old.


Valparaiso (Ind.) Evening Messenger.
A large audience enjoyed the fine program given by John B. Ratto of Chicago.  The interesting and amusing character sketches were heartily applauded.  In all his readings his talents as an artist were displayed in a marked degree.


Elgin (Ill.) Daily News.
Of pleasing personality, and possessed of a supply of humorous and pathetic stories, devoid of anything tinged with sarcasm to the races which he imitated, John B. Ratto, the dialect comedian successfully entertained a large audience last evening in the Grace Methodist Church.  The character of the persistent Irishman, the awkward, yet alert Swede, the solemn German, and the down-east Yankee were delineated in an inimitable manner.  Mr. Ratto is one of the best entertainers who has ever come to the city.  With humor and pathos, he transformed the church parlor into a miniature globe, on which dwell representatives of several races.  This is the second time he has appeared in Elgin, and it is probable that he will be secured for a third engagement.


Racine (Wis.) News.
Mr. John B. Ratto made a big hit.  His humor is really very funny and the way he presents the characteristics of the foreigners who have come to our shores is indeed amusing.  He presents his different character sketches with some kindly and timely remark on the traits of the nationalities he portrays, and makes up his characters before the audience and presents a program that is not only entertaining but instructive as well.  This was his third appearance in Racine.


Joliet (Ill.)
Mr. John B. Ratto, a humorist, entertained a large audience last evening.  Mr. Ratto is a humorist of rare ability, and kept his audience in a mirthful state for over an hour and a half.  One of his best impersonations was that of an Italian who was telling his impressions of a football game.  He brought before the audience many characters, making them up during the introduction to his selection.  The audience was highly pleased, and he closed his entertainment with a very clever imitation of a farmer, who had moved to the city to live with his sons.  The characters were made up carefully and artistically, none over-drawn, and the selections very typical of the nationalities he presented.


Logansport (Ind.) Journal.
The large Chautauqua tent was packed with people last night to hear John B. Ratto in his program of dialect readings.  The management said it was the largest crowd of the season.  Mr. Ratto pleased immensely, and was greeted with applause time and again.  His delineations of the Irish, German and Italian seemed to please the best.  With his work, while making up the character he gave a short talk on the characteristics of his subjects.  It was learned last evening the management had made arrangements to return him next year.


Figure



Figure



Figure




Figure



Beloit (Wis.) Daily Free Press.
A very appreciative audience greeted John B. Ratto, the noted entertainer, of Chicago.  His impersonations of the Irish police justice, and the Italian fruit vendor, and American farmer, pleased the audience the best.  The whole program was delightfully received, and stamped him a master in his line.


Sullivan (Ill.) Review.
John B. Ratto of Chicago furnished the evening's entertainment, and he held the audience from first to last with his natural unique representations of types of nationalities which make up Uncle Sam's Folks.  Mr. Ratto was equally good in Italian, Norwegian, Irish and German dialect, but brought his attempts to the climax when he closed with the representation of the typical old farmer, who was in retrospect enjoying the days of his youth.  Mr. Ratto makes up the character he represents, using grease-paint and wigs.  The make-ups were as artistic as his rendition of the readings, and were done with the same ease and naturalness.


El Paso (Ill.) Daily Journal.
John B. Ratto, the dialect comedian, entertained the audience with a well selected repertoire of impersonations.  His best production was the court scene, wherein the old offender and convict was on trial for a second offense.  The young prosecuting lawyer's appeal to the jury, and the prisoner's appeal for clemency, were especially fine, the latter being a masterful piece of acting.


Hammond (Ind.) News.
Mr. John B. Ratto, who has been heard here twice before, delighted his hearers with the quality of his selections, and was most enthusiastically received.  He justly deserved the encore after encore to which he responded, to the delight of the audience.  He has no peer among monologue artists, and the committee were fortunate in securing him.


Belvidere (Ill.) Republican.
Mr. John B. Ratto gave his entertainment, Uncle Sam's Family, last evening before a large audience.  He proved himself a humorist of distinct ability.  His impersonations of some of the characters were mirthful in the extreme, and elicited much applause.  Mr. Ratto establishes himself by meritorious work, clear thinking and humorous illustrations.  He is a master of dialect and an artist in costuming.


Mt. Vernon (Ill.) Daily Register.
John B. Ratto was the featured attraction at the Chautauqua Friday night, and to say that he pleased the large audience is expressing the feeling mildly.  His impersonations and dialect work won admirers from all the nationalities.  He was so thoroughly conversant with the various characters he represented that no one could dispute claim to any nationality he should declare himself to be.  Mr. Ratto was called back a second time at the conclusion of his program.



Slayton Lyceum Bureau
Steinway Hall   Chicago

Rogers & Company, Chicago and New York