Emily Farrow Gregory, New York City: in tales and songs of the old plantation

              EMILY FARROW GREGORY
 New York City IN Tales and Songs of the Old Plantation TOLD 
As only a Southerner can tell them




This is only one side of the work.  Bring a Specialty Circular gotten out for the Boston Redpath Bureau.








Realizing the public demand for something new and original, something cultural in its influence, with an educational value, at the same time amusing and entertaining, I have prepared this talk on 
The Folk Lore of the South and Cabin Days in Dixie.
  Not a 
cut and dried
 lecture nor is it the hackneyed evening of 
Readings and Recitations,
 but a simple, natural talk on the old time customs of the Southern negroes (the foster parents of the children of the South.)  Every phase of the life is illustrated by short stories, dialect poems and character sketches.




The lecture is changed and adjusted to meet the needs of the organization for which it is given.  It is an evening of rest and refreshment for the tired brain, a blend of humor and pathos with an attempt always to hold the mirror up to Nature.




If the lecture as outlined interests you, terms and dates may be secured by writing.






FOR TERMS AND DATES ADDRESS STUDIO 133—CARNEGIE HALL NEW YORK CITY






Woman's Club, Trenton, N.J.:



Those who were fortunate enough to hear Mrs. Emily Farrow Gregory, the talented dramatic reader and elocutionist of New York, when she appeared before the Woman's Contemporary Club Tuesday afternoon, enjoyed a rare treat indeed.  In her monologue, or lecture, on 
Southern Folklore and Cabin Days in Dixie,
 she had a chance to display her elocutionary powers and her clever negro dialect.  As an imitator of the genuine Southern negro, Mrs. Gregory has many of the high class comedians beaten to a standstill.  Her dialect is simply perfect and her change from the old Southern mammy's utterances to the half-grown negro girl and then to the little pickaninny was marvelous.  She kept her audience in outbursts of laughter and anon had them moved to tears by her tender, touching pathos.—


Daily State Gazette, Trenton, N. J.




Mrs. Gregory as the old 'Black Mammy' of Southern days, completely captivated her hearers and was recalled again and again.—


Herald.





Suggestive Programme Cabin Days in Dixie …



A Humorous Lecture Recital




1.


General Characteristics of the Southern Negro



Stories from Paul Lawrence Dunbar and Joel Chandler Harris



2.


The Old Time Black Mammy



Readings from Thomas Nelson Page and F. Hopkinson Smith



3.


Marriage, Funeral and Mourning Customs



Illustrations from Ruth McEnery Stuart



4.


Holiday Amusements



The Dance, Cake Walk, etc.
Illustrations from Ben King and Irwin Russell





Campmeeting Scenes

From Paul Lawrence Dunbar






Woman's Club, Newburg, N. Y.:




Mrs. Gregory well sustained her reputation of being an excellent monologist and impersonator.  Congratulations are in order for the Ossoli Club on the high class entertainment provided.  * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *




So excellent was her work and so generally known her records that tickets would have sold as readily at double the price.






FROM THE 
Massachusetts Women's Clubs

BROCKTON, MASS., CLUB.



Mrs. Gregory is of charming personality, rather tall and of stately carriage, and with that cordiality of address innate with the Southerner.  Her face is wonderfully mobile in response to the emotions within, with an eager light in an expressive pair of eyes which tells of no common individuality.  Mrs. Gregory spoke for an hour on this subject of Dixie-land and held her audience completely in her sway.  One secret of her power may be briefly mentioned—the wonderful charm of her voice.  It never seemed to tire, never grew hoarse, met every strain, rising to a storm of execration or sinking to a sob with the same realism of touch, and through every passage left on the listener's ear an impress of melody.—


Daily Enterprise, Brockton, Mass.





MALDEN, MASS.



Mrs. Emily Farrow Gregory, of New York, appeared before Old and New Tuesday afternoon in her lecture recital, 'Southern Folklore and Cabin Days in Dixie,' much to the delight of the audience.  She is an accomplished dramatic reader with a grace and charm of manner which alone go far to captivate her hearers, and her impersonations of varied types of the real Southern 'darkey' have the unstudied naturalness possible only to a Southerner in such perfection of dialect and intonation.  Her laugh was almost startling, while the crooning lullaby of the black 'mammy' was as movingly pathetic.—


Malden News.





WEST BRIDGEWATER.



Those who were present at Howard Seminary on Tuesday evening to listen to Mrs. Emily Farrow Gregory of New York City in dialect readings were given one of the treats of the season.  Mrs. Gregory has made a study of the negro dialect, her Southern birth giving her unusual opportunities for studying the customs of the negro of the South.  She presented him in all the simplicity and pathos of his character, even while showing his weaker side.  Mrs. Gregory has not been heard here often in the past, but will be most welcome whenever she may come in the future.  Her audience was an appreciative one from Brockton and the Bridgewaters.—


Enterprise.





LOWELL, MASS.



It was children's day at the Middlesex Woman's Club.  The story teller was Mrs. E. F. Gregory, of New York City, who delighted the children at once; and when she began talking just to them, without any special reference to the 'grown-ups' except to wish that they had stayed at home, it was almost too good to be true.  The entertainment was all too short for the children's complete satisfaction, but it was unquestionably a success.—


Lowell Courier.





NASHAU WOMAN'S CLUB.



The lecturer for the afternoon spoke most interestingly.  She said she wished to give not a caricature but a reproduction of the old Southern 
mammy and daddy
 of the land of her birth, and her talk was a most delightful combination of personal reminiscences and readings from the works of many Southern authors.—


Nashau Telegram.






WOMAN'S CLUB, WOBURN, MASS.




Mrs. Emily Farrow Gregory, with inimitable skill and charm, gave an outline of the folk lore of the Sunny South in her 'Tales and Songs of the Old Plantation.'





Extracts from Personal Letters



Dr. J. M. Green, Principal of the New Jersey State Normal and Model Schools, Trenton, N. J., says
:




Mrs. Gregory chose for the subject before our State Normal 
Southern Folk-lore and Cabin Days in Dixie.
  The recital was one of the most artistic and entertaining we have ever had.  Both students and faculty were greatly pleased and instructed.  Mrs. Gregory's dramatic powers, as well as her dialect, were very distinct.




Mr. Alton B. Packard, famous for his 
Chalk Talks,
 says
:




The poetic charm and beauty of Mrs. Gregory's interpretations are unusual, and appeal to the best that is within all of us.




Dr. H. W. Sears, the popular Lecturer, 
Taffy and Epitaffy,
 says
:




Mrs. Gregory is the most artistic reader it has been my pleasure to hear.  She will please and charm any audience.




Mr. Elsworth Plumstead, the well-known Impersonator, says:




Since hearing you I have thought many times of your excellent work.  You are one of the few who has the faculty of 'holding down' a Chautauqua audience; and one who can do this need have no fear of failure anywhere.  I trust the pleasure of hearing you again may be mine.




Belle Watson Melville, Treasurer of 
The National Association for the Advancement of the Speech Arts,
 says
:




I have repeatedly listened to Mrs. Emily Farrow Gregory's readings and each time with increasing interest and enjoyment.  I would speak especially of her portrayal of the old-time negro character, which is inimitable.  Not only does she assume their peronality and eccentricities, but she supplements these with brief talks upon the customs and folk-lore of this quaint people, which throw floods of light upon the happy, humble cabin-life of which the present generation knows nothing, except as it is brought to them by a real Southerner and through the genius of impersonation which Mrs. Gregory possesses in a remarkable degree.
—
Oak Park Ill.




Miss Marie Ware Langhton, Principal of the School of English Speech and Expression, Boston, Mass., says
:




From the very first word to the last, Mrs. Gregory held the undivided attention and absorbed the interest of the audience.  In her impersonation of the negro she delights without offending.  Mrs. Gregory is a person of very pleasing personality and rare charm.




Frederick Pratt, Pratt Institute, Brooklyn
:




Her programs have been selected with taste and judgment and are rendered with unusual skill.  She came to us through friends who knew her outside her professional life, and she has lived up to the strong social and professional recommendations which came with her.




Mrs. Donald McLean, of New York City, Regent of the Daughters of the American Revolution
:




I remember with delight your remarkable work.




Mr. Oscar Saenger, the eminent vocal teacher of New York City, says
:




I am pleased to have an opportunity of testifying to my admiration for, and appreciation of the ability of Mrs. Gregory, whose work has given me great pleasure on several occasions.  I can warmly recommend her to anyone desiring a delightful entertainer.






Extracts from Y. M. C. A. Letters



C. W. Dietrich, Secretary of the Central Branch of the Y. M. C. A., Brooklyn, says
:




The work was superb.  I predict for her a brilliant future on the Lyceum platform.




W. W. Winne, Secretary of Prospect Park Branch of Y. M. C. A., Brooklyn, says
:




Her work is of the highest character—pleasing and profitable.




Fred D. Fagg, Secretary of the Eastern District Branch of the Y. M. C. A., says
:




She is endowed with rare gifts.




Arthur Truslow, Secretary of the Greenpoint Branch of the Brooklyn Y. M. C. A., writes
:




Both young and old were highly pleased, and I would heartily commend the entertainment to other Young Men's Christian Associations, knowing that they will be pleased, as we have been.




A. O. Booth, Secretary of the Y. M. C. A., Washington Heights Branch, N. Y. City, writes
:




I can make no stronger statement regarding the work done by Mrs. Gregory on New Year's Day than that made by one of our directors, who said:  'She is a finished artist; her work was clean cut, her manner graceful and pleasing, her selections wholesome.'




D. M. Claghorn, Secretary of the Y. M. C. A., Morristown, N. J.
:




On behalf of the Association I desire to congratulate you on the very artistic manner in which your program was rendered.  I hear words of praise on all sides.




Y. W. C. A., Poughkeepsie, N. Y.
:




Mrs. Gregory gave the best lecture recital that has been heard here in many years.  She used the dialect of the Southern negro perfectly, and her acting was graceful and realistic.  She held her audience from start to finish.—


Daily Eagle.




Men's Club, Kingston, New York
:




The program consisted in a vivid representation of the South in Slavery days by Mrs. Emily Farrow Gregory, of New York City.  The delineation of the negro character and descriptions of the life and amusements of the times were enjoyed thoroughly, and were far superior to the entertainments usually offered by professional entertainers.





WHAT THE PRESS AND PEOPLE SAY OF MRS. GREGORY'S WORK:



At the Waldorf Astoria:




A large and fashionable audience greeted Mrs. Gregory.  The programme was decidedly an artistic success.  It contained a happy combination of pathos, sparkling wit and strong dramatic situations to which this clever artist was at all times equal.  The applause was spontaneous and well merited.—


New York Herald.




At Sherry's:




Mrs. Gregory as the old 'Black Mammy' of Southern days, completely captivated her hearers and was recalled again and again.—


Herald.




'The Pianner Juett,' by Mrs. Gregory, was rendered as near to nature as imitation can ever succeed in getting.—


Detroit Free Press.




MRS. JAMES HENRY PARKER
, President of the New York Chapter of the Daughters of the Confederacy, says:




Mrs. Gregory's dialect stories are told as only a Southerner can tell them.




It had been stated that she was far above the average, but no one supposed she was so far above.  If she can be persuaded to visit Tarrytown again, a great audience will greet her.—


The Press-Record, Tarrytown-on-the-Hudson.




University of Missouri:




Mrs. Gregory's appearance proved to the students of the University that Elocution is an art and she an artist.—


St. Louis Republic.




Her versatility is remarkable, and 'tis hard to say in which role she excels.  Mrs. Gregory came highly recommended as a reader, and her splendid efforts sustained that reputation.—


Courier Journal, Louisville, Ky.




Mrs. Emily Farrow Gregory, of New York City, was the principal artist at a musicale for the benefit of St. Mary's Infant Asylum.  Her readings in the Southern dialect were rendered with unusual skill and were indeed a rare treat.—


Post, Boston, Mass.




EDNA CHAFFE NOBLE
, Director of the School of Expression, London, England, also of the Detroit Training School of Elocution and English Literature, says:




Mrs. Emily Farrow Gregory is an artist.  The audience she entertains and the authors she interprets are to be congratulated.




It was the most brilliant entertainment listened to here for many years.—


Daily Press, Newport News, Va.




Mrs. Gregory, who is well known in Manhattan, gave Brooklyn people great pleasure by her dialect readings.—


Brooklyn Eagle.




Mrs. Gregory captivated her audience with a program which gave great range to her splendid talent.  In dialect and the purest English, in pathos or humor, she was equally effective and won her audience from her initial number.—


Indian Chieftain.




The recital was a delightful one.  Mrs. Gregory's character impersonations called forth bursts of applause.—


New York Tribune.




She has an individuality as a reader and a lack of affectation and mannerisms that make her reading a pleasure to listen to.—


Jersey City Evening Journal.




Those who were at the Soldiers' Home last evening enjoyed one of the treats, if not the treat of the season.  The occasion was the appearance of Mrs. Emily Farrow Gregory, of New York City.  It is seldom that an artist meets with such spontaneous applause as that which was received by Mrs. Gregory.  Of the performance as a whole it may be said that it was filled with brilliant episodes, dash and grace, and given with smoothness characteristic of a finished artist.—


Newport News Times-Herald.




Mrs. Emily Farrow Gregory made a great hit last evening at the First Methodist Church in her lecture recital of 
Old Cabin Days in the South,
 which she gave in the inimitable style of the negro, reflecting their peculiarity of speech and mannerisms as only a Southern woman can do who has lived all her life among them.  She has a clear voice that could be distinctly heard in all parts of the large building.—


Bridgeport, Conn.




NORTH REFORMED CHURCH, NEWARK
, N. J.—
Mrs. Emily Farrow Gregory's work as a reader is artistic and masterly.  Her interpretations are intelligent and impassioned, and her delivery natural, but full of movement.  She has no tricks of elocution, but with a rich and mellow voice well trained and under complete control, and a body that responds with ready sympathy, she easily holds and charms her audience.  Her renditions of Southern negro dialect are faultless.  I listened with the keenest interest to a program given by her.  She is a true artist of expression, and her work is of the highest order.
— 
JAMES
 I. 
VANCE
, 
Pastor.




Mrs. Gregory with her folk-lore of the South showed both the pathos and native humor of the cabin days in Dixie.  She has a place in public favor second to none in her special dialect recitals.  She sang some of their songs, described their wedding and funeral occasions, and gave one of their characteristic dances with violin accompaniment.—


The Press, Middletown, Conn.