Jessie Armager Power and Company

              figure




Jessie Armager Power, 
the Original Canteuse, and Character Interpreter




Assisted by




Mrs. Perry J. Power, 
Pianist and Accompanist


Edna Anna Wheeler, 
Harpist


The Boy Nightingale of the West, 
Boy Soprano


Jessie Armager Power and Company




(Miss Wheeler uses a Wurlitzer Harp)





Edna Anna Wheeler, 
Harpist





Jessie Armager Power



The Brilliant Young Canteuse and Distinguished Dramatic Interpreter Appearing During the Current Season at the Head of her All Star Company, including






Edna Anna Wheeler,


Harpist




The Boy Nightingale of the West
,


Boy Soprano




Mrs. Perry J. Power,


Pianist and Accompanist








Jessie Armager Power,
 the charming 
Canteuse,
 and fascinating 
Actress,
 has attained an enviable reputation among New York and Chicago audiences as a dramatic interpreter of pronounced versatility and striking personal magnetism.  Her repeated successes on the Chautauqua and Lyceum platforms, before clubs and various other organizations, and at exclusive 
at homes,
 as well as on the theatrical stage, have been most noteworthy.  A wide experience before every type of audience, stamps her an exceptional artist whose talents cover an extraordinary variety of dramatic styles.




Miss Power's repertoire is both extensive and attractive, combining as it does the ideal programme elements of novelty, entertainment and education.  This season she is offering a 
Collection of Cantillations
 (many of which are in manuscript and have been written especially for her), with piano and harp accompaniment.  
Flashlight Portraits From Life,
 introducing well known character types (ms.)  
Dickens' Best Loved Heroines,
 costumed interpretations (ms.)  
Quaint Conceits in Song and Rhyme,
 a delightful programme for the little folks, consisting of Musical Fairy-Tales, Song-stories and Children's Cantillations:  
Short Stories
 some of which are special and new translations, and are now presented for the first time in English.




Edna Anna Wheeler
 enjoys the distinction of being the official harpist of the Rudolph Wurlitzer Company, and carries with her a magnificent Wurlitzer harp, which is a highly valuable instrument of exquisite tone quality.  Miss Wheeler is an accomplished artist, and a young woman of much personal charm.  Her public appearances before Lyceum and club audiences have always met with unqualified success.  Aside from giving solo numbers, representative of the best music in harp literature, she plays duets, especially arranged for harp and piano, with Mrs. Power, and assists Miss Power and 
The Boy Nightingale of the West
 in some of their numbers.




The Boy Nightingale of the West
:
  Who is he?  He is the small boy with the big voice.  Hear him sing 
the songs that mother used to sing!
  His glorious soprano voice is at once the joy and wonder of the auditor.




Mrs. Perry J. Power
 is a musician of the highest order, and an accompanist of particular intelligence and sympathy.  Indeed, when assisting Miss Power in her cantillations, or song readings, her accompaniment becomes a gratifying part of a perfect whole.






Jessie Armager Power



Herewith are reproduced a series of photographs representing Miss Power in her famous creations of 
Dickens' Best Loved Women.
  Her costumes are true to the period of the novels and her interpretations of the characters depicted are the result of careful research and artistic preparation.  This programme has been arranged with careful attention to novel and pictorial effects, and is particularily popular, as it ranges from the sparkling gaiety of the bewitching 
Dolly Varden
 to the touching funniness of 
The Marchioness
,
 the original of the slavey type in literature.  A musical setting, consisting of balads popular during the Victorian period and excerpts from Goldmark's opera 
The Cricket on the Hearth
 accompanies this programme.  These manuscript dramatic sketches introducing 
Dickens' Best Loved Heroines
 have been written exclusively for Miss Power by 
Marian Bowlan,
 the monologue writer.





As 
The Marchioness
 in 
Old Curiosity Shop





Oh, please,
 said a little voice very low down in the doorway, 
will you please come and show the lodgin's?
  There never was such an old-fashioned child in her looks and manner.  She must have been at work from her cradle.

Why don't you show 'em yourself,
 asked Dick.
Oh, Miss Sally Brass said I wasn't to, because people wouldn't believe the 'tendance was good if they saw how small and dirty I was first
.—

From 
Old Curiosity Shop.





As 
Miss Betsy Trotwood
 in 
David Copperfield





If there ever was a donkey trespassing on my green at Dover, there is one this minute!
My aunt was a tall hard featured lady, but by no means ill-looking.  There was an inflexibility in her face, in her voice, in her gait and carriage; amply sufficient to account for the effect she had made upon so gentle a creature like my mother .... I particularly noticed that she had a quick bright eye.—

From 
David Copperfield.





As 
Dora, the Child Wife
 in 
David Copperfield





'It's a stupid name', she said, shaking her curls for a moment'—
Child wife.

I don't mean, you silly fellow, that you should use the name instead of Dora; I only mean that you should think of me that way.  When you are going to be angry with me, say to yourself, 'It's only my 
Child wife
.'  When I am very disappointing, say, 'I knew a long time ago, that she would make but a 
Child wife
.'  When you miss what I should like to be, and—think can never be, say, 'Still my foolish 
Child wife
 loves me.'  For indeed I do.'—
From 
David Copperfield.




As 
Little Nell
 in 
Old Curiosity Shop





The old man and his little guide sat down to rest.  The freshness of the day, the singing of the birds, the beauty of the waving grass, the deep green leaves, the wild flowers, and the thousand exquisite scents and sounds that flooded the air … sunk into their breasts and made them very glad.  The child had repeated her artless prayers once that morning … but as she felt all this, they arose to her lips again.—


From 
Old Curiosity Shop.





As 
Lady Dedlock
 in 
Bleak House





But ever I hear the step upon the 
Ghost Walk
 of that other Lady Dedlock.  It has sounded in my ears and beat into my brain since the day I first entered the house of the Dedlocks.  Can it be the voice of 'conscience that walks at night and is never still'?


From 
Bleak House.





As 
Dolly Varden
 in 
Barnaby Rudge





Photos by Moffett, Chicago.




A roguish face lighted by the loveliest pair of sparkling eyes that ever locksmith looked upon, the face of a pretty girl, dimpled and fresh and healthful—the very impersonation of good humor and blooming health.  Never had Dolly looked so handsome as she did then, in all the glow and grace of youth, with all her charms increased a hundred fold by a most becoming dress, by a thousand little coquettish ways which nobody could assume with a better grace.—


From 
Barnaby Rudge.





Jessie Armager Power and Company




The Boy Nightingale of the West


Boy Soprano





Excerpts from the Chicago Press regarding Jessie Armager Power



Eight hundred members and guests attended the 
Dickens' Day
 at the North End Club Monday.  Miss Jessie Armager Power captivated the hearts of the large gathering by her dainty, graceful manner and the transformations from the costumes and characters.  As 
Lucie Manette
, from 
A Tale of Two Cities
, the costume was a dainty French affair, and her monologue was given in the emotional gestures and voice in which a French woman is interested with her whole heart.  
Dolly Varden
 was as pretty as a bit of Dresden china.  
Dora
 from 
David Copperfield
 was a typical 
child wife,
 mind as light as thistledown, but a gentle, lovable little woman.  
Miss Betsy Trotwood,
 in her old 
bombazine
 and 
coal scuttle
 bonnet and veil, gave a story of her trials and tribulations with the 
donkeys
 and donkey boys, 
poor Jeannette
, as usual wearing her feet off running after imaginary 
donkeys
 of both kinds.  The 
Marchioness
 with her picturesque rags and great cap at her game of solitaire and soliloquy on 
Mr. Dick Swiveller,
 completed the programme.  The interpretations were interluded with music adapted to the various scenes, with Mrs. Perry J. Power at the piano.




In February Hyde Park had a rare treat, which it will not soon forget.  Miss Jessie Armager Power, secured by the Hyde Park English Club, gave us impersonations of Dickens' heroines.  As 
Dora
, the 
Child wife
 of David Copperfield, she presented to an interested audience, a long tale of household trials and tribulations.  After a quick transformation, she next appeared as 
Dolly Varden
, and went through the figures of an old-country dance.  
Lucie Manette
 was immediately recognized in the next impersonation.  The rather tearful silence occasioned by her dramatic story of 
Sidney Carton's
 sacrifice was promptly dispelled when 
Betsey Trotwood
 bustled in waving her umbrella and screaming destruction to donkeys.  The 
Marchioness
, in a large dust-cap, ended the programme, after reducing the listeners to a state of tears and laughter.  Not only the Dickens' lovers were carried away by Miss Power's clever acting, but the whole audience seemed captivated.




Miss Jessie Armager Power carried her audience by storm with her 'Cantillations',
 or musical readings, which she gave in costume, accompanied by Mrs. Perry J. Power at the piano.  Her number were all rendered with 
an irresistible vivacity and charm.




Miss Jessie Armager Power, accompanied by Mrs. Perry J. Power, entertained the children royally with her nursery rhymes and children's stories, told in costume.




Miss Jessie Armager Power delighted the audience with every number.  Her selections covered a wide range, and each one was artistically given.  Miss Power is a dramatic artist of great ability.  Her interpretation of 
The Patchwork Quilt
,
 which is dedicated to her by the composer, 
Natalie Whitted Price,
 was one of the artistic gems of the evening's programme.








(Photo by Moffett, Chicago.)
(The Piano is a Wurlitzer Grand.)

Jessie Armager Power, 
Canteuse

Mrs. Perry J. Power, 
at the Piano





What Booth Lowrey, the noted lecturer, has to say regarding Miss Power's art.




One of the Most Delightful Features
 of the Chautauqua at Hamilton, Illinois, where I was platform director for the session of 1913, was 
Jessie Armager Power.
  She is a 
Perfectly Delightful Reader
 and a most attractive young woman.  She seems to be 
Inexhaustible,
 and to have 
Unerring Judgment in making Selections.
  Whether in short preludes, or in full programmes, 
she struck twelve every time.
  There are no 
frills
 on Miss Power's work.  She is sincere and unpretentious, and speaks from the heart, through a musical, magnetic voice, and a free graceful body.




(Signed) 
BOOTH LOWREY.




The Jessie Armager Power Company is booked for Chautauqua engagements by the Chautauqua Managers Association, Orchestra Building, Chicago.




Entire or part company may be engaged for entire or part programmes.  For Terms, Dates and other details, address




Jessie Armager Power, 5407 Woodlawn Avenue, Telephone:  Hyde Park 6258 Chicago