Mrs. Carlotta B. Ewing

              FigureMrs. Carlotta B. EwingLiterary Interpreter and Dramatic Reader


Address:  347 Charles Avenue Grand Rapids, Michigan





Dramatic Interpretations





From Victor Hugo's


JEAN VALJEAN




Les Miserables


COSETTE
GAVROCHE

Chas. Rann Kennedy's


SERVANT IN THE HOUSE
THE NECESSARY EVIL

John Galsworthy's


THE SILVER BOX
THE ELDEST SON

Israel Zangwill's


THE MELTING POT



Percy MacKaye's


TOMORROW



Henry Van Dyke's


RELIGIOUS POEMS
LOVER OF MUSIC

Helen R. Martin's


TILLIE, A MENNONITE MAID
Also Several Short Sketches of Pennsylvania Dutch.

Mary Stewart Cutting's


LITTLE STORIES OF MARRIED LIFE
And Many Other Short Selections from Well-Known Authors.



What People Say of Mrs. Ewing



After hearing Mrs. Ewing's recital in Cleveland, C. S. Burnham, a leading vocal instructor of the city, says:




Of all persons who possess the art of expression, Mrs. Ewing is the most gifted of anyone I have heard in years.  Her work was a revelation to me, not only in the use of the voice and the delineation of character, but in her unique and almost inimitable use of the face, and the entire absence of elocutionary effects as we are led to understand elocution.




C. S. BURNHAM.




It is a pleasure for me to say that I have a high appreciation of the ability of Mrs. Carlotta Ewing as a reader and delineator of character.  I had the privilege of listening to Mrs. Ewing in some sketches of life among the Pennsylvania Dutch and in their dialect, which were altogether charming.  I have no doubt that she would be equally entertaining and captivating in whatever she undertook to do.




FRANCES WHEELER SMITH.




Pres. Mich. State Fed. of Women's Clubs.




Mrs. Ewing has a natural style of delivery which very few readers achieve, and her Dutch dialect in the tales of Helen Martin depicting the quaint folk of the so-called 'Pennsylvania Dutch' is absolutely flawless in its realism.




MRS. MYRTLE KOON CHERRYMAN.




Dramatic Critic of Evening Press.




I am glad of the opportunity of stating that personally, I consider Mrs. Ewing one of the strongest and most original dramatic reader in Grand Rapids.  She has a naturalness, spontaneity and appreciation of literary values, and a dramatic instinct, which gives to her readings both charm and the interpretative element.  Her reading of Hugo's 
Les Miserables
 is particularly strong.




MARY E. REMINGTON.




Dramatic and Music Editor of Grand Rapids Press.




The Melting Pot,
 a drama in four acts, by Israel Zangwill, presented by Mrs. Carlotta Ewing at the Ladies' Literary club yesterday afternoon proved an artistic performance and delightful treat to all club members and friends present.  The drama as presented, seemed the embodiment of patriotic fervor.  Mrs. Ewing held her audience spellbound.




By NELLIE AUSTIN.






Press Comments




In introducing the speaker of the afternoon, Mrs. Reynolds stated that she felt that few words were necessary as Mrs. Ewing and her work were well known to the members.  Mrs. Ewing expressed her special pleasure in taking up the subject of her discourse, as having recently met Mr. Kennedy, author of 
The Necessary Evil,
 she was able to give personal impressions of the play-wright [sicplaywright]and of his drama.



Mr. Kennedy is a man of deep religious feeling; so much so that the quotations which naturally occur to him are invariably biblical.  He is also musical in the highest sense of the word,—Mrs. Ewing said:  
Certain passages of composers interpreting his feelings better than words.



Nellie,
 the central figure in 
The Necessary Evil
 is a personal friend of Mr. and Mrs. Kennedy; an invalid for whom the writer and his wife entertain the utmost devotion.  The author's opinions and the ideas pertaining to the subject of this work may best be obtained by the reading of the book.—


Grand Haven Daily Tribune.




A large number of ladies from the city and vicinity gathered in the Presbyterian church yesterday afternoon, at the invitation of Mrs. Carl L. Bailey and Miss L. Luella Anderson, to hear Mrs. Carlotta Bailey Ewing, of Grand Rapids, read 
The Necessary Evil.



Like 
The Servant in the House,
 which Mrs. Ewing gave here several years ago, this drama was written by Charles Rann Kennedy.  In it he combats the old plea that purity of life is not so essential to men as to women, and that in fact a certain looseness of morals on the part of men is inevitable—an evil, perhaps, but a necessary evil.  This difficult theme is handled by Mr. Kennedy with candor and directness, but with the utmost delicacy.  Those who read or hear the play can no more take offense at its presentation of truth than can 
Nellie,
 the innocent, carefully guarded girl—the character to whom the lines are addressed.



Mrs. Ewing's interpretation of the drama was satisfying to even the most critical.  As a dramatic reader, she has won many friends in Hillsdale among those who have listened to her in the past and many of them were outspoken in their statement that 
The Necessary Evil
 is the best work of the kind which she has ever done.  She made it clear, forcible and convincing, without becoming rasping or over-emphatic in the stress of the heavier passages.  From the very beginning until the close of the reading, she held the undivided attention of the audience, who seemed almost breathless lest they should miss a word.—


Hillsdale Daily.



Following the lines of dramatic study which characterizes the season's work in the Society of Elocution this year, Mrs. A. E. Ewing gave an intensely interesting reading of Charles Rann Kennedy's record play, 
The Necessary Evil,
 presenting the characters with much insight and the special message of the theme with exceptional force.—


Evening Press.





The presentation of Victor Hugo's great masterpiece, 
Les Miserables,
 by Mrs. Ewing of Grand Rapids at the armory Friday afternoon, equalled in strength and in point of grace and beauty surpassed the various lectures and addresses just presented this week before the state federation of women's club.


Those who have read and studied this great work could not but be impressed by the herculean task which Mrs. Ewing prepared for herself when she undertook to present in an hour and a half an outline of the book.  That she held her audience enthralled and intensely interested from beginning to end proves that her abilities are lifted out of the common and ordinary.



The artistic value of Mrs. Ewing's recital as an elocutionary production was completely submerged in the larger and greater art of presenting life to us in a broader, fuller, wider vision.  The audience felt it was no idle entertainment but a spiritual and mental process that was being unfolded with matchless skill.—


Benton Harbor Palladium.




A fine literary and educational entertainment was enjoyed last evening by the members of the Woman's Literary club, their husbands and friends, the members of the board of education and teachers of the public schools and the

 faculty of Hope College, the Woman's club having secured Mrs. Ewing of Grand Rapids to give a reading of Victor Hugo's masterpiece, 
Les Miserables.



Mrs. Ewing's charming manner pleased the large audience and she was give close attention.—


HOLLAND, MICH.



Mrs. Ewing of Grand Rapids, gave a most pleasing review and reading of Hugo's 
Les Miserables
 in the Congregational church Monday evening.  All who attended certainly spent an evening filled with profit to themselves.  Few times in life will a person be able to get so much good in so short a time.—


FREMONT, MICH.





The library of the L. L. C. was well filled Monday at the regular meeting of the Society of Elocution, the afternoon being in charge of Mrs. C. B. Ewing, who gave readings from 
Les Miserables.
  Mrs. Ewing's former readings from this masterpiece, including the life story of Jean Valjean, are well remembered as showing a thorough knowledge of the great novel.  The selections chosen for this occasion were even more interesting, being unique in character.  They were given the name of 
The Children of Les Miserables
 and covered the childhood of Cosette and Gavroche, the gamin.


The second study was especially pleasing, Mrs. Ewing's arrangement of it including much of Victor Hugo's masterly characterization of the typical Parisian gamin and of Gavroche, the gutter hero, in particular.  Mrs. Ewing's impersonation of the lad was quaint, sympathetic and full of irresistible humor.—


Grand Rapids Press.




A vertible [sicveritable]garden party in November with great quantities of autumn bowers, huge boquets[sicbouquets], etc., in the green parlors of the Hotel Whitcomb when Mrs. A. H. Stoneman, Mrs. J. J. Egan, Mrs. John Reitz, Mrs. Willis J. French, Mrs. Mary M. Happ, Mrs. W. W. McCracken, Mrs. C. E. Burchfield and Mrs. Harry W. Fowler entertained 150 twin city ladies.


The appearance of Mrs. A. E. Ewing of Grand Rapids who has frequently appeared before local audiences was greeted with applause as she announced her reading for the afternoon, 
The Melting Pot
 by Israel Zangwill. Mrs. Ewing reads with much dramatic effect and in the great Zangwill drama finds an opportunity to demonstrate her ability.  The fascinating story in which the immigration problem is looked upon from the view of the immigrant, lost nothing in the telling.



The story was strong and was not only fascinating as told by Mrs. Ewing, but gripping with its heart interest.—



St. Joseph Press.



At the Methodist church last evening occurred the first meeting of the Good Time club; it was most interesting and enjoyable.  The readings by Mrs. Carlotta Bailey Ewing of Grand Rapids, from 
The Servant in the House
 were very greatly enjoyed and Mrs. Ewing's interpretation of this play, was of a very high order, and gave a keen insight into the spirit and meaning of this immortal drama, which is producing such a profound impression upon the thought of the people of this country, and which will inevitably be evidenced in more practical recognition of the Christ-idea of the Brotherhood of Men.  The large audience was very appreciative of Mrs. Ewing's efforts to faithfully interpret 
The Servant in the House,
 and from all who heard her there is the highest commendation of her readings.—


Hastings Banner.




Mrs. Ewing will read Helen Martin's delightful story, 
Tillie, the Mennonite Maid,
 this evening at Westminster Presbyterian church.  Mrs. Ewing gave the same reading last Tuesday at the Fountain Street Baptist church and won instant success.  The locale of the story is Pennsylvania, and the characters are the quaint Pennsylvania Dutch.  Mrs. Ewing gives the story with vivid dramatic power, and her character portrayals are true to the life.  The audience Tuesday evening was in a continual gale of laughter, which was inspired by the quaint characters, the genuine human interest, and Mrs. Ewing's excellent and vivacious recital of the story.—


Grand Rapids Herald.




Mrs. Ewing gave her reading of 
Tillie, the Mennonite Maid.
  The audience was delighted and every moment of the afternoon was thoroughly enjoyed.  Mrs. Ewing makes a rare and interesting study of Helen Martin's Pennsylvania Dutch folk, the dialect and general impersonation being wonderfully vivid and true to life.  The humor is irresistible and dramatic points were brought out admirably.  The day was one of the most gratifying of the club year.—


Grand Rapids Evening Press.




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