Olivia Sanger Hall: recitals from the best literature, dramatic, lyric, dialect, humorous

              Olivia Sanger Hall.  


RecitalsFrom The Best Literature, Dramatic, Lyric, Dialect, Humorous.

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Hon. Nathan Schaeffer, Supt. Public Instruction Pennsylvania.




An evening of enjoyment and profit.  We want her in Pennsylvania.




Lewis Crowe, County Superintendent, Portland, Indiana.




Say everything good about Mrs. Hall, and I will sign it.  You can not make it too strong.




A. B. Thompson, Connty [sicCounty]Superintendent, Marion, Indiana.




I would not hesitate one minute to recommend Mrs. Hall.  She has something that the people want to hear.




A. C. Huff, County Superintendent, Rockville, Indiaua[sicIndiana].




We are simply glad Mrs. Hall came.




The Ladies' Literary Club, Spiceland, Indiana.




We could not have been better pleased.  Every Club should hear Mrs. Hall.




Supt. C. H. Copeland, Fairmount, Indiana.




The recital given at the Auditorium by Mrs. Hall last evening, was to the delight of every person there.  We will want her again.




UNDER THE EXCLUSIVE MANAGEMENT OF THE ENTERTAINERS LEAGUE, J. L. DIXON, Manager, INDIANAPOLIS, IND.





Announcement,



M
RS. OLIVIA S. HALL has unusual equipment for her interpretative work.  To a magnetic personality, ripe literary culture, a keen dramatic insight, she adds a genuine love for and pleasure in her work, which makes her the excellent artist that she is.




Her recitals are more—much more—than mere entertainment; there is an 
UPLIFT
 in every program, which instructs while it pleases.  Her versatility is truly marvelous, as she is equally at home in the humorous or grave selections, and has mastered the dialects so much in vogue at the present time, in this form of Lyceum Work.




Mrs. Hall has the stamp of approval of Press and Public, and has studied under the most expert teachers in the land.  We call particular attention to her clever adaptations of the great masterpieces of fiction, both old and new; her graphic interpretations of them carry their messages home to the heart as no personal reading of their texts will.




We brought Mrs. Hall from New York City, here, in September, and she was heard by the leading educators of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, and so well did she please both them and us, that we offer her with perfect confidence, and count ourselves fortunate in holding control of her entire time.




ENTERTAINERS LEAGUE.





Repertory.



Plays:



Marie Stuart
—Schiller's Great Drama.


Paolo and Francesca
—Stephen Phillips's Masterpiece.


Henry V.
 and other Shakespearian Dramas.


In A Balcony
—Browning.


Fast Black
—Henry Gaines Hawn.  A negro dialect play.





Novels: (adapted and curtailed to fill an evening's program.)



The Battle of the Strong
—Gilbert Parker.


Beside the bonnie brier bush
—Ian McLaren.


Ben-Hur
—Lew Wallace.






Miscellaneous.



Experience teaches that by far the most popular program, that which appeals to the greatest number in the audience, is not taken from one book or from one author, but is made up of selections culled from many sources.  This gives the interpreter a chance to suit one and all.




From her entensive [sicintensive]acquaintanceship with good literature, Mrs. Hall is able to give a recital of varied character and interest, of which the following, given before the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences, October 5, 1901, is a





Specimen Program.
PART FIRST.



The Creation—Egyptian legend,


Lew Wallace




Jamie—Story of Mother Love,


Anon




Widder Doodles—comedy,


Samantha Allen




Hagar—dramatic,


Elizabeth Nicholson




A Set of Turquoise—dramatic playlet,


T. B. Aldrich





PART SECOND.





Through the Flood—(
Beside the Bonnie Brier Bush
)


Ian McLaren




Mother and Poet—reflective,


Mrs. Browning




Moriah's Moanin'—negro dialect,


Ruth McEnry Stuart




The Royal Princess—dramatic monologue,


Christina Rossetti




Tommy, Gunga Din, L'Envoi,


Kipling








Testimonials,



Henry Gaines Hawn, Pres. of the National Association of Elocutionists.




Carnegie Hall, New York, June 17, 1900




To Mrs. Olivia S. Hall.




The earnest work you have done with me, coupled with your great interpretative gifts, entitles you to rank as one of America's best readers.  Be as sincere in all your future work, appealing only to the highest in poor human nature and your pronounced success will be of long continuance.




Robert S. MacArthur, Pastor Calvary Baptist Church.




New York City, May 12, 1902.




It gives me great pleasure to say that last season I was on several Chautauqua Programs with Mrs. Olivia Sanger Hall.  This winter the people of Calvary Church had the good fortune to hear her in one of the Literary Entertainments given under the auspices of the church itself.  Her work was varied and admirable in every respect.  It was chracterized [siccharacterized]by general literary culture, by discriminating dramatic instinct, and by commendable self-restraint, which gave the impression of much reserve power.  Mrs. Hall immediately secured the sympathy and appreciation of her audience.  Her personality is marked by the charm of a noble womanhood, resulting from wide experience and varied culture finely touched by moral sentiment and emotion.




J. P. Silvernail, Dept. of Elocution and Oratory, Rochester Theological Seminary, September 1900.




I have had the very great pleasure of hearing Mrs. Hall on several occasions, and her work is of the highest class.  Her repertoire is varied, refined and in every way worthy to be placed before the most critical and exacting audience.  Her execution is most effective.  Her characters stand out with a forcefulness that places her in the very front rank of our best reciters.  She is equally successful in pathetic and in humorous selections, and holds her audience by the artistic perception of the true meaning of her numbers.  Her natural talent and her careful training more than guarantee her success.




Robert A. Martin, Sec'y Entertainment Y. M. C. A. 23d Street Branch, New York City.




Mrs. Olivia Sanger Hall appeared as the leading artist in our recital and concert, November 19, 1901.  Her work was very fine.  She 
got
 her audience from the first, and it was hers so long as she chose to make it so.  Her ability in reading pathetic selections is specially fine, as is also her facility in humorous sketches.  She does all she claims to do.




Dr. Wilber Davidson, Supt. of Chautauquas.




Washington, D. C., January 26, 1902.




Mrs. Olivia Sanger Hall was with me at five of my Chautauquas during the season of 1901, appearing constantly as a public reader at all of the assemblies.  Her selections were carefully made from the best authors, and were entirely out of line with the clippings made by the average elocutionists.  All her interpretations gave evidence of the touch of the scholar.  She made many friends and her work was greatly enjoyed.




Rev. Joseph B. Clark, Sec'y of Congregational H. M. Society, New York City.




Brooklyn, N. Y., September 15, 1900.




Mrs. Olivia Sanger Hall is a reader and interpeter [sicinterpreter]of marked culture and winning personality, having a clear and sympathic voice and that rare quality of charm which for lack of a better word we call 
magnetic.
  She moves her listeners to both tears and laughter and her fine dramatic talents are shown best in scenes of pathos and strength, though she is equally at home in humorous and dialect selections, so much enjoyed by the modern audience.






Some Recent Press Notices.



Brooklyn Eagle, October 7th, 1901.


The first dramatic reading of the season under the auspices of the 
BROOKLYN INSTITUTE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES
 was given Saturday, October 5, by Mrs. Ollvia [sicOlivia]Sanger Hall.  Mrs. Hall is a most popular interpreter and has a large circle of admirers as an artist, particularly at Chautauqua and other educational assemblies.  This, however, was her initial appearance before an institute audience.  Delight is expressed on all sides over Mrs. Hall's program and her straightforward, unaffected interpretation.  Mrs. Hall has a graceful and commanding presence, a pleasing personality and a thoroughly natural method of telling the story.  It is seldom one hears a reader so free from mannerisms.  This is not saying, however, that she is not trained, for the perfection of long and careful preparation is shown in all she does.  Her dialect is accurate and the more noble portions of her work are given with force and dramatic feeling, while pathos and fun are equally within her reach.  A pleasing feature is that Mrs. Hall does not announce each piece, but leaves that for the printed list to do.  By appropriate action she glides from one selection to another, thus making a symmetrical whole of each part of the program.




Brooklyn Eagle, March 3rd, 1902.


Mrs. Olivia Sanger Hall read on Saturday evening for the second time this season before the Brooklyn Institute, and pleased as well as by her first appearance.  She has a full, round voice, under perfect eontrol[siccontrol], a clear enunciation and betrays an excellent training in all she attempts.  Exceptionally good was her delineation of humble folk who told their varied tales in 
Higher Culture,

Sally Ann's Experience,
 and 
Moriah's Mo'nin',
 her gurgling, unctuous laugh as a plantation hand being as true as her dialect.  Of quite another style were 
The Rajput Nurse, 
Love Casteth Out Fear,
 and Vashti.
  The five choruses from 
Henry V.
 were grouped as one selection.  Miss Wilkins was represented by the well-known 
Village Singer
 and Browning by 
A Tale.
  The dashing movement of 
The Battle Flag of Shenandoah
 was followed by an exquisite selection entitled 
Goodby.
  In her simple, unaffected recital of this closing number, Mrs. Hall brought out the pathos or the joy that may attach to this everyday expression.  The occasion was the fourth of the Saturday evening dramatic readings.




Brooklyn Eagle,


The feature of the evening was the recital by Mrs. Olivia Sanger Hall, who has an enviable reputation as a dramatic reader.  She rendered selections of varied interest, proving herself a finished reader.  Mrs. Hall has a fine, full voice, under perfect command, great earnestness and a complete intellectual grasp of her texts.  Her selections ranged all the way from Shakespeare to the latest humor of negro dialect and James Whitcomb Riley, and she was perfectly at home and convincing in all.  Her pathetic portrayal of mother love in the beautiful story of 
Jamie
 was a revalation[sicrevelation].




Northampton Chautauqua.


The Feature of Monday's programme was Mrs. Olivia Sanger Hall's reading.  Mrs. Hall gave a strong representation of that dramatic, pathetic, humorous chapter called 
Through the Flood,
 from Ian McLaren's 
Beside the Bonnie Brier Bush.
  She also gave selections from Shakespeare and Kipling.  Her readings and interpretations have grown in popularity from first to last.




Buffalo Courier.


The reading yesterday morning at the Marsten Park High School by Mrs.  Olivia Sanger Hall was one of the most delightful of the literary events yet given at the new school.  Mrs. Hall's selections were from Shakespeare, Longfellow, and Whittier.  Mrs. Hall reads with fine effect.




Citizen, Jacksonville, Fla.


A good audience gathered to hear Mrs. Olivia Sanger Hall in an evening of recitation.  A most satisfactory program was given.  It embraced a wide variety of selections, and all were rendered in a manner which left nothing to be desired.  Mrs. Hall is an elocutionist of very high attainments, and puts her whole soul into her work in a manner which makes it very effective.




Democrat, Springfield, Ohio.


Dr. Davidson announced Mrs. Hall for a presentation of Shakespeare's 
King Henry V.
  The audience was the largest afternoon audience yet seen on the camp grounds.  Mrs. Hall is a powerful reader.  She held her audience spell-bound for an hour by her fine, trained, well-modulated voice, and her wonderful impersonation of the parts.  The scene of Henry's wooing of Katherine on his return to France was strong.  It brought back to mind strongly that beautiful scene as Mansfield staged it.




Morning Herald, Lexington, Ky.


Mrs. Olivia Sanger Hall's reading has been very favorably commented upon.  Mrs. Hall is certainly a dramatic reader of unusual talent and in this line compares most favorably with the best heard in this city.  She possesses a powerful voice, well cultivated, perfectly controlled and further has the natural qualities of the artist in her facial expression, gesture and general stage appearance.  She is a literary student and as an interpreter of her readings Mrs. Hall stands among the best.  She reads with meaning.  One can find new thought in familiar lines after hearing her repeat them.  Mrs. Hall is among the best the Assembly has ever secured, and her work is greatly appreciated.




Republican, Springfield, Mass.


Mrs. Hall's work was not only always entertaining, but it was also profitable and uplifting.  She stands for literature of the highest grade and her work is to be especially commended to audiences of culture.  Shakespeare, Edwin Arnold, Gen. Lew Wallace, James Whitcomb Riley and such authors are her favorites, and her repertoire includes only the best.