Geoffrey F. Morgan

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Geoffrey F. Morgan
© UNDERWOOD & UNDERWOOD STUDIOS. N. Y.

Redpath



The Personal Side of An Interesting Man
GEOFFREY F. MORGAN is a native of London, England.  His parents, who are Scotch, brought him to America when he was five years of age, and settled on a ranch in Southern California.  The nearest trading point was six miles away and the nearest town, San Diego, was 40 miles distant.  Mr. Morgan attended elementary and high schools in Los Angeles and graduated from the Los Angeles State Normal in 1903.  After devoting three years to teaching, he entered Stanford University and graduated in 1910 with the degree of Bachelor of Arts.  During his Stanford college days he played leading parts in school dramatics and edited the college comic magazine.

At Riverside, Cal., Mr. Morgan served for three years as supervising principal of one of the city schools and at the same time was director of the Associated Charities.  He began to make a reputation as a public speaker, lecturing throughout southern California on social and literary topics.  He left the west in 1913 to enter Columbia University where he received the Master of Arts degree after a year devoted chiefly to educational and sociological lines.  While in Columbia he was on the staff of the College Jester.  He served as reader and humorist for the combined glee clubs, appearing at Carnegie Hall, Brooklyn Academy of Music and other places of importance in New York and vicinity.

A period of teaching, writing and lecturing intervened between Mr. Morgan's graduation from Columbia and his acceptance of a place in the educational department of the New York City Y. M. C. A.  In recent years he has been a member of the staff of lecturers employed by the New York Board of Education for their public lecture system.

Thousands of school men and women in America know Mr. Morgan thru his contributions to such magazines as The Normal Instructor, Popular Education, and the American School Board Journal.  His talent as an author leads also into another channel.  Two of his musical comedies have been published by T. S. Dennison & Company of Chicago.

As a lecturer Geoffrey Morgan has filled some of the most important positions that fall to the lot of a public speaker.  At Chicago, Milwaukee and Des Moines he appeared on the programs of the National Educational Association.  In 1920 he was one of the speakers at a banquet of Ohio newspaper men in Columbus, in company with two men who afterwards became candidates for president — Senator Warren G. Harding and Governor James M. Cox.  During the summer of 1921 Mr. Morgan toured the Redpath seven-day chautauqua circuit in Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Kentucky.  A year later he was routed over the same territory on another Redpath circuit.




The Morgan Lectures
THE MORGAN LECTURES ARE NOT epoch-making, nor soul-stirring, nor clock-stopping.  Strong men do not weep, nor do weak women faint when they hear him.  People do not clamor wildly for his return, nor do they die of despair when he cannot be secured for a second coming.  They just sit and listen to it all, enjoy it, and applaud heartily at the end, and sometimes even in the middle, and afterwards they shake hands and say that it was good and that they hope to see him again.  That is all.  They do not say that he is better than Demosthenes, Ingersoll and Thomas Brooks Fletcher combined.  It is a good thing they do not, for they would be exaggerating if they did.  No man is as good as all that.

BUT THE MORGAN LECTURES ARE plain and practical.  They are full of sound philosophy, good humor and common sense.

The man himself is a clear, straight thinker, who has good ideas about things, and has the knack of saying them so that everyone understands them, enjoys them and profits by them.

Lovers of glittering generalities and vague vacuities will find little to interest them in his strong, tense and often homely phrases.  His style is terse and epigrammatic, enlivened by frequent flashes of humor.  Nor does he stray from the subject to introduce rambling stories with only a far-fetched relation to the argument.  His humor has more the quality of summer lightning, which plays fantastically over the landscape, accentuating the lights and shadows of his discourse.

Mr. Morgan is a speaker who appeals strongly to young folks.  Probably this is because he is comparatively young himself, and because he has made boys his hobby.  Frequently, when he has time, he visits the high school and gives a short talk, or drops in at the Y. M. C. A. for a visit with one of the clubs.  Various city clubs frequently call Mr. Morgan into servive for their noon luncheons.



Committees May Choose
Four lectures, covering four distinct phases of life, are offered by Mr. Morgan.  The first, SUCCESS WITH EASE, has been given more than two hundred times and is a real platform surprise.  In this talk he discusses the qualities which every man must develop if he wants to get ahead.  He dwells strongly upon the point that success can be bought like any other commodity, provided only that one is willing to pay the price.

The second address is GETTING AND SPENDING.  Most people think that if someone would handle the first problem for them they could take care of the second for themselves, but after hearing Mr. Morgan they are willing to admit that there is much to be said and learned on both sides.

His third talk, THE PINCH OF POVERTY, proposes some frank and vigorous social remedies which are not in any sense socialistic.  They are rather an appeal for social justice to be gained by taking account of the fundamental causes of human misery and by striking at these causes rather than by trying to relieve the conditions which they bring about.

Fourth, WHEN DO WE EAT?  Mr. Morgan admits that this talk is sheer nonsense.  It appeals, however, to those who have ever eaten or who ever expect to eat.  It deals with eating, in all the modes and tenses, to say nothing of the person and number, let alone the gender and the case.  Did you ever picnic out in Simpkins' grove on the Fourth of July?  Have you ever shared the bountiful hospitality of a neighbor's Thanksgiving turkey?  Have you ever eaten on a railway diner or at a hotel where everything is served but food, or at a lunch counter, or an automat, or a house where there is nothing but style, and all of it bad?  If so, you will understand and appreciate, laugh and grow fat at this lecture.  It is a humorous monologue—the fruit of at least twenty years of eating out and around.  A man may learn much about eating, in twenty years.

There are two special talks along practical lines: SOME AIMS OF EDUCATION and WHY FARMERS LEAVE HOME.




East Joins West in Praising Morgan
Bruce Bliven, managing editor of the New York Globe, asserts that a man of Mr. Morgan's intelligence, humor and effective platform presence could not fail to make a public lecturer whom any audience would delight to hear.

David Starr Jordan, President Emeritus of Leland Stanford University, says of Mr. Morgan: He is able as well as entertaining; I am sure he will interest any audience he may address.

Frank A. Miller of the celebrated Mission Inn at Riverside, Cal., says: Mr. Morgan has appeared in the concert room of our hotel on several occasions, when his readings and lectures have been heard by our guests with the keenest pleasure.

Congressman Israel M. Foster of the 10th Ohio District brands Mr. Morgan a forceful and fluent speaker who has the ability to present his subject with the utmost clearness.  He adds: Mr. Morgan is not only a clear and logical thinker on matters of public interest, but he has the power to put his ideas across in telling fashion, being a man of education and culture.

Dr. Henry Sloane Coffin of the Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church, New York City, in a letter dated Dec. 8, 1921, refers to Mr. Morgan as a magnetic speaker with a most helpful message, particularly to young people.  He has a keen sense of humor and puts his material in really attractive form.  Dr. Coffin adds that he knows Mr. Morgan to be a man of highest principles, whose work for boys and young men has made a noteworthy contribution to the many organizations with which he has been connected.  He further describes Mr. Morgan as widely read and of good literary taste.

E. Graham Wilson, Executive Secretary of the West Side Y. M. C. A. in New York City, says: It has been a great pleasure to have Mr. Geoffrey Morgan associated with us.  He has been unusually successful in his work because he is a clear thinker, forceful speaker, and has the ability to put things in a way that sticks.  His winsome personality makes friends for him, and he is always in great demand for platform work throughout the city.



From a Recent Chautauqua Tour
Findlay, Ohio, Republican: Droll, characteristic humor, combined with practical suggestions, made Geoffrey F. Morgan's lecture interesting and entertaining.

Marietta, Ohio, Times: Holding his audience with clever humor, yet forcefully driving home his points, Geoffrey F. Morgan spoke to an appreciative crowd of chautauquans.  His lecture was considered one of the cleverest ever delivered on the local chautauqua platform.

Bluefield, W. Va., Telegraph: Geoffrey F. Morgan proved to be another of those forceful speakers that have been featuring the present chautauqua season.  He used many snappy, epigrammatic sentences which will linger long in the memory of those who heard him.  His address was a classic that appealed to everybody.

Greensburg, Pa., Record: Geoffrey F. Morgan of New York City spoke on Success With Ease.  It was one of the best lectures of the chautauqua assembly.

Greenville, O., News: His lecture was of a practical character, enlivened by ready wit.

London, O., Enterprise: An entertaining as well as a learned speaker.

Hillsboro, O., Dispatch: Mr. Morgan's most excellent and helpful lecture was heard with great interest.  He is especially well fitted, as all opportunities to learn have been used to advantage by him.  He has always been in educational work, and young folks are his hobby.