Myrtyl Ross

              1934

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JOAN OF ARC
QUEEN VICTORIA
CATHERINE THE GREAT
QUEEN ELIZABETH
SHORT HUMOROUS SUBJECTS


MYRTYL ROSS
Star of the Stage in Monodramas
A Great One-Woman Performance
REDPATH BUREAU



Famous Actress Becomes Platform Star


MYRTYL ROSS DRAWS LARGER CROWDS ON RETURN ENGAGEMENTS
MYRTYL ROSS, popular American actress, for the past year has been presenting a program of monodramas before universities, colleges, other schools, men's and women's clubs, theatres, churches, with such pronounced success that she has many return dates to her credit already.  And return engagements always mean larger audiences.  For instance, a Milwaukee organization sold 250 tickets for her first appearance in March.  On her return in May over 600 tickets were sold at double the first admission.

Miss Ross' monodramas are in reality complete plays.  Her sketches are original and brilliantly done.  Miss Ross says she studied thirty-two volumes about Queen Victoria to perfect her sketch of England's great queen.  And she literally lived with Joan of Arc for three-and-a-half years.

Her repertoire of feminine characterizations covers a wide range—Joan of Arc, Queen Victoria, Catherine the Great, Queen Elizabeth and short sketches about the modern woman of today that sparkle with humor and satire.



RECEIVES HIGHEST PRAISE

Milwaukee Journal
Miss Ross has attained an enviable reputation in this new field of dramatic art—monodramas.

Elizabeth Dodge, President Prospect Hall

Miss Myrtyl Ross appeared at Prospect Hall, doing a series of characterizations—Joan of Arc, Catherine of Russia and several short numbers.  Each character was finely drawn.  Every school would benefit greatly by including her performances in their school drama program.  The numbers were both educational and amusing.  I consider Miss Ross the finest character artist I have ever seen.

Mother Mary Ferdinand, Mount Mary College

Her illuminating interpretation of Queen Victoria in particular delighted the audience.  She won favor because of the drama she brought out in her interpretations.

S. A. Strich, Archbishop of Milwaukee

I enjoyed very much her presentations at St. John's Auditorium.  They were instructive and artistic.

Howard Agnew Johnston, Minister, Immanuel Pres. Church, Milwaukee

Her Joan of Arc was superb.  One could not escape the power of her interpretation, her perfect technique, her spiritual fervor, her thrilling climaxes.  I do not remember having heard a dramatic presentation that had in it everything that one's imagination could have suggested to make it perfect.

Rockford, Ill., Woman's Club (J. I. S.)

It was a most intelligent and artistic interpretation of episodes in the life of Joan of Arc.  The program was thoroughly enjoyed by the members of the club.





The Milwaukee Leader, March 3, 1934
MYRTYL ROSS, EXPONENT OF MONODRAMAS, SCORES
By HARRIET PETTIBONE CLINTON


MYRTYL ROSS is by way of staking out a claim for herself in those rare gold fields of the monodrama.

Miss Ross' experience in the theater ranges through every backstage possibility.  Very early in her career her singing ability carried her to the prima donna's shoes in musical comedy, and her all around acting prowess to the position of leading woman in stock.  Milwaukee was introduced to her when she occupied that spot for several seasons at the old Garrick theater.



Becomes Actor-Manager
When she left Milwaukee it was to become an actor-manager.  And during the succeeding years when she headed her own stock company she learned every device that goes to make up the glamour created back of the proscenium arch.

Now she has left the stage.  But not the theater.  She has changed the form of her dramatic activities.  She gives one-woman performances such as have been undertaken only by the few who have the hardihood to exchange the support of the stage filled with actors for a stage empty save for the figures which their own words can create in the imagination of their audience.



Takes Theater with Her
But the theater, in a very real though intangible sense, goes with her.  The theater is glamour.  And the ability to create the theater's illusion is part of Miss Ross' equipment as an actress.

Last night her theater was the Washington Park Presbyterian church.  Her backdrop was the choir gallery.  Her properties were a chair, a table, and, at one time, an illuminated cross.



Creates Four Characters
With these simple adjuncts Miss Ross created, with the aid of costumes, sometimes realistic, sometimes suggestive, four characters: a Negro mammy, an ambitious mother of a marriageable daughter, Queen Victoria and Joan of Arc.

Her Victoria is a complete hypochondriac, believing herself on the brink of the grave except when carried away by regal wrath to over-rule her ministers.  Miss Ross cleverly combined this material to develop the two contrasting moods.

The Joan of Arc was given in five scenes which traced the maid of Orleans from the first time she hears voices to her recantation.

The audience succumbed immediately to the entertainer's charm.  It offered in abundance every expression of appreciation.





MYRTYL ROSS
Partial Repertoire of Monodramas—The Weaker Sex

(Feminine Characterizations in Costume—Quick Changes)


The Economist
A grande dame addresses her club on The Business and Economic Outlook.  Lots of keen satire and comedy.



The Family Diplomat
Thoroughly confident of her great diplomacy in handling the affairs of her family, a socially ambitious mother succeeds in making a mess of their lives, which is as pathetic as it is ludicrous.



A Conjur Woman
The oldest woman on the plantation greatly disturbed by the advent of a new butler.  Greatest offense is the attention he is paying her youngest and favorite grandchild.



An Old Sinner
What happens in an English home on the morning which marks the return of the former mistress after an absence of 30 years.



On the Veranda
An old lady, 86, gives her views of modern hardships compared with the hardships of the pioneer.  Rich comedy.



At the Matinee
A fussy old dowager arrives late at the matinee.  Too bad for the rest of the party.



Queen Victoria
Scene—Jan. 8, 1864, three years after Albert's death, when the queen has become a confirmed hypochondriac.  Clever character development in the use of two contrasting moods—sniffling, self-pity and booming dominance.



Catherine the Great
This sketch is of a summer morning in 1794.  Catherine, as was her custom, prowling about in the early hours of the morning to the anxiety of those about her—especially her oldest companion, Countess Bruce.



Queen Elizabeth
A most interesting sketch with England's 16th Century queen as the central figure.



Joan of Arc—Five Episodes

1.
Joan, in her father's garden, hears the voices for the first time.
2.
Her first interview with Squire Baudricourt, who sends her to the Dauphin at Chino.
3.
The Dauphin gives Joan command of the army.
4.
Coronation day at Rheims.  Joan reads the handwriting on the wall.
5.
Last day of trial.  Joan's momentary renunciation of her faith and its triumphant return.