Dramatic recitals: Chas. F. Underhill

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Dramatic Recitals

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CHAS. F. UNDERHILL


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ASSOCIATE MEMBER AMERICAN LYCEUM UNION

S. B. Hershey Prest & Gen'l Mgr.
ROCHESTER. N. Y.

CENTRAL LYCEUM BUREAU
FRED PELHAM, Manager   532 TRIBUNE BUILDING, CHICAGO




DRAMATIC RECITALS from the BEST LITERATURE
MR. UNDERHILL brings to his task excellent abilities which show the result of refined training and liberal culture.  Although not technically an actor, he possesses much of the power and spirit which belong essentially to the stage.  In other words, he manages to identify himself with a character in such a way as to produce an illusion.  Yet it must not be inferred from this that he aims at stage effects, or that, indeed, he seeks to make any ambitious display of his talents as an actor.  His method is that of the elocutionist, and, what is better, of the elocutionist who has studied in a good school.  He neither strains for vulgar points, nor does he ever drop into that affected manner which is so painfully characteristic of many readers.

He has a sweet, strong voice, which he modulates with remarkable ease; a fine, dignified presence, and a through understanding of the art of gesturing.  His extraordinary memory enables him to dispense with book or note, and his skill in characterization and the use of the voice enables him to present living images of his authors' creations.

He possesses a large repertoire for miscellaneous programs, besides original condensations for many single evenings.



Shakespeare
A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S DREAM THE MERCHANT OF VENICE AS YOU LIKE IT MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR AND OTHERS



Charles Dickens
DAVID COPPERFIELD DOCTOR MARIGOLD'S PRESCRIPTIONS A CHRISTMAS CAROL SELECTIONS FROM PICKWICK AND OTHER STORIES



Richard Brinsley Sheridan's Great Comedy—THE RIVALS
Tennyson's ENOCH ARDEN
A BACHELOR'S PARTY by J. A. Mitchell

An Evening with J. M. BARRIE
RIP VAN WINKLE

MISCELLANEOUS PROGRAMS WILL ALWAYS BE GIVEN WHEN DESIRED

Note—By special arrangement A Midsummer—Night's Dream will be given with the Mendelssohn Music as arranged for Large or Small Orchestra or the Great Organ, with the Choruses.



What The Entertainment Is

IT is neither a reading, nor a lecture, nor a mere elocutionary program.  It is more.  It is the complete story of the greatest and most popular dramas told by one person, but one who has the rare gift of being able to appear like several.  With none of the aids that changes of scenery and costume lend to dramatic expression, Mr. Underhill gives these recitals in dramatized form, depending on changes of vocal and facial expression for individualizing the different personages, and they tell the story themselves, the characteristics of each one being brought out so vividly that after the first introduction there is no need of naming them, so easy is it to recognize them on each reappearance.  Before the evening was half over, the audience was made to feel as though actually in the presence of many people and shifting scenery, owing to the gift of interpretation that goes with a really great impersonator.—
Birmingham Age-Herald.




Commendatory
WILLIAMS COLLEGE, Williamstown, Mass.

Mr. Underhill has read The Rivals and A Midsummer-Night's Dream in the Thompson Course, at Williams College, and has won deservedly high praise for the fine quality of his work.  His rendering of these plays is distinguished by an intelligent, sympathetic appreciation of the text, by a delicate sense of the limits to which the reader is obliged to restrict himself, and by a most skillful use of all the legitimate resources of his art.  He has an admirable voice, with a manner that commands at once the respect of an audience; and his interpretation of classic English comedy is so unstrained and graceful, so free from all turbulence and exaggeration, that it is a very great pleasure to listen to him.

BLISS PERRY, Professor of Elocution and English.

This letter was written while Professor Perry was at Williams College.  He afterward engaged Mr. Underhill for the same two programs on the Trask Course at Princeton University.

From THEODORE WHITEFIELD HUNT, PH.D., L.H.D., Professor of Rhetoric and English Language and Literature.

PRINCETON UNIVERSITY.

Mr. Underhill's readings at Princeton have been thoroughly enjoyed by the students of the University and the community at large.  Shakespeare's A Midsummer-Night's Dream, Sheridan's The Rivals, and A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens have been presented in a masterly manner.  In dramatic recital Prof.  Underhill evinces skill and taste of a very high order.

THEO. W. HUNT.

From Bishop J. H. VINCENT, D.D., LL.D., Chancellor of Chautauqua University.

CHAUTAUQUA, N. Y.

Mr. Underhill is a remarkable reader, a master of pathos and humor, and has a repertoire apparently inexhaustible.

J. H. VINCENT.

Y. M. C. A., PHILADELPHIA.

Mr. Chas. F. Underhill is one of the fixed stars in the Association Course.  His appearances on our course have been so numerous that we have lost the count; and we hope to have him many times in the future.  He is an accomplished reader of remarkable versatility, a genial man and a general favorite.

CHAS. H. WEVILL, Manager of the Association Course.

BALTIMORE, MD.

Mr. Chas. F. Underhill is one of the standing attractions of our Y. M. C. A. Course.  He has been with us again and again, and will be on the course this year.  He possesses just the ability and faculty to please that insures his constant popularity.

WM. H. MORRISS, General Secretary.

YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION, Boston, Mass.

DEAR MR. UNDERHILL:

I desire to convey to you this expression of the pleasure that your rendering of Rip Van Winkle gave the patrons of our Association Course last Thursday evening.  The facility and skill with which you impersonated one character after another enabled your hearers to quickly grasp the situations and appreciate them with a keen relish.  The touches of pathos and humor with which the piece abounds afford ample opportunity for the exercise of your superior elocutionary powers.  Wishing you continued success, I am

Very Truly yours,
GEO. W. MEHAFFEY, General Secretary.

From ALBERT SHAW, Editor of Review of Reviews.

DEAR MR. UNDERHILL:

I was sorry the other evening not to have the pleasure of meeting you personally, in order to express my very great pleasure and also that of Mrs. Shaw in hearing you recite Dickens' Christmas Carol at the Mackenzie School.  It seemed to me that your interpretation brought out most remarkably the humor as well as the pathos of the tale.  I was particularly impressed with the knowledge of certain phases of English life that you exhibited, and without which you could not have done such delightful justice to the goose dinner in the family of Mr. Scrooge's clerk.

I wish you very great success in your wholesome and beneficial public work, and beg also to wish you a merry Christmas and a happy New Year.  As I remarked on coming out the other evening, you had happily given us a fortnight's warning, and therefore ample opportunity, to avoid disagreeable Christmas ghosts.

Believe me sincerely yours,
ALBERT SHAW.

CHARLESTON, S. C.

MY DEAR MR UNDERHILL:

Your charming personality and faultless recital of The Merry Wives of Windsor have produced a most pleasing impression, and your praises are on every tongue.  In your audience there were critics of high degree and Shakespearean students of no ordinary ability.  They have applauded you to the echo and as an evidence of what our daily morning paper, The News and Courier, thinks of you and your impersonation, I will enclose a clipping from its issue of the 27th inst.  The gentleman who wrote it is the literary and art critic for that paper, and is a close student of Shakespeare.

We shall hope to meet you again, and with best wishes and kindest regards, I shall always be

Your friend,
HENRY P. ARCHER, Secretary of the Charleston Lyceum.

Mr. Underhill has read many times at New Haven, and on the occasion of his last appearance on the Yale Public Lecture Course, President Hadley said in introducing him:

It is always a great pleasure to listen to Mr. Underhill, especially when he is to read 'The Merry Wives of Windsor.'




Press Comments

New York Tribune
A Midsummer-Night's Dream, in the range of its characters and the scope of its plot, which is concerned at once with the purest imaginative poetry and the most boisterous farce, offers a difficult task to the reader, but Mr. Underhill's interpretation was marked by a thorough grasp of the essential features of the play, by a delicate poetical fancy and a delightful humor.  His rendering of the love passages had a certain grave dignity and air of good breeding which are none too common among public readers of Shakespeare.  The unusual sweetness of Mr. Underhill's voice in its upper register was shown to good advantage in his recital of the songs and magic spells in the second act, while his impersonation of Bottom, the weaver, and the other humorous characters was a test of his versatility and his power of creating broad comic effects.  The unbroken attention of the audience during the whole evening was in itself one of the best evidences of the artistic qualities of a reader who is widely 
recognized as one of the best now before the public.


The State, Columbia, S. C.
The unusually large and cultured audience that attended the fourth number of the Y. M. C. A. Star Course last evening enjoyed one of the best treats of recent years here.  Mr. Charles F. Underhill, the peerless impersonator, proved his right to the title.  He essayed to present the play of Rip Van Winkle in monologue, without the aid of costumes or scenery.  This is the play in the presentation of which Joe Jefferson has made himself famous, and Rip is recognized as being one of the most difficult of all characters to delineate.  But Mr. Underhill's versatile talent was equal to the undertaking.  His conception of the character was perfect, and it was hard to believe that only one man, clad in evening dress, was alone upon the stage.  In expression, manner, gesture, and articulation the critic could see nothing wanting.  Unassisted he even brought to the mind's eye of his hearers the most interesting scenes, and character after character was presented in its true light.


Providence Journal
It is no easy task to hold the attention and interest of an audience in the presentation of a half dozen different characters without any extraneous aid in the way of costume or stage setting.  There is no illusion about a man in a dress suit on a bare platform, nor can the imagination of the hearers be materially swayed even by such ingenious devices as those advocated by Bottom in Shakespeare's merry play.  Whatever is accomplished must be by means of appropriate pose and gesture, change of facial expression, and skillful modulation of voice.  It is but giving Mr. Underhill his due to say that he exhibited a thorough mastery of these means of expression, and carried his audience with him equally in the delineation of pathos, fun or sentiment.


Atlanta Constitution
Not only great ability as an actor, but great genius.


Boston Journal
His genius entitles him to great popularity.


Baltimore American
Seventh time on the course, and a greater success than ever.


Brooklyn Eagle
Delightful absence of the show of studied art, by which many readers exhibit themselves instead of their subjects.


Chicago Tribune
He has achieved the highest success throughout the country.


Cincinnati Enquirer
A thorough naturalness of treatment characterized each selection, and the easy grace of every gesture carried the mind of the hearer in presence of the actual scenes and surroundings described.


Cleveland Leader
One of the most delightful, refined and fascinating elocutionists in the country.


Detroit Free Press
An accomplished reader.


Indianapolis Journal
The best entertainment of its kind that has ever been given in this city.


Milwaukee Sentinel
His assumption of the numerous and widely varying characters was skillful, thoughtful and effective.


Montreal Gazette
Remarkable faculty for facial expression.


New Orleans Daily States
A brilliant audience appreciated the literary and histrionic gifts of this accomplished scholar.


Philadelphia Press
His voice is always delightful, his presence dignified, his gestures graceful and effective.


Richmond Despatch
The management is to be congratulated on bringing an entertainment of such merit to Richmond.


Rochester Herald
To those who do not like the artificialities of the stage, and yet have a keen love of the best dramatic literature, Mr. Underhill's recital must be an occasion of unalloyed enjoyment.


St. Louis Globe-Democrat
He has superior talents, and made a splendid impression.


St. Paul Pioneer-Press
He exhibited not only thorough study of the play, but also rare versatility.


Springfield Republican
He is to be praised for the general harmony and good taste of his programs, as well as the individual excellence of the selections.