Thornton Anthony Mills

              Figure

THORNTON ANTHONY MILLS


MR. THORNTON ANTHONY MILLS is a speaker whose message is fearless, aggressive, eloquent, crowd-compelling, a virile and vital force for better conditions in every community he has served.  He has something to say that people want to hear, and he knows how to say it in a winning, powerful manner.  Temperamentally dramatic and exceptionally gifted in voice and manner, he brings to the platform the ability to translate the highest and deepest thoughts and impulses of literature, philosophy and sociology into practical, inspiring, ringing messages that make glad the hearts and minds of the men and women of today.



As a thinker and an orator, Mr. Mills stands in the front rank of men of his age.

He comes honestly by his talents.  He is the great grandson of Judge Benjamin Mills, a famous jurist and advocate, who became the first Chief Justice of Kentucky, the home of oratory.  His grandfather, whose name he bears, was one of the most powerful preachers in the Presbyterian Church in the United States; his father, Benjamin Fay Mills, was an orator of international fame, and the son is more than fulfilling the promise of his heritage and his own earlier achievements.

His collegiate education was received at Tuft's College in Massachusetts, where he won the first prize for oratory, and at the famous University of California at Berkeley.

In Battle Creek he has become the orator par excellence of all that region, and is in constant demand as the speaker for Chambers of Commerce, Rotary, Knife and Fork, and other commercial, social and literary clubs, women's clubs, colleges, high school commencements, temperance mass meetings, and civic and patriotic occasions, so that he cannot begin to accept the invitations that come to him.

To illustrate the grip that his work gets upon a community, his experience at Kalamazoo, a flourishing city of 50,000 inhabitants in Michigan, is in point.  Two years ago he gave his celebrated lecture, Fiddles and Fortunes, there at the chautauqua.  Last year the Chamber of Commerce asked for it for a luncheon.  Then later the Rotary Club demanded it.  Again he was invited to address the big annual meeting of the Chamber of Commerce, and went with another address already prepared, but just before he was to speak, there was such a unanimous demand for the repetition of Fiddles and Fortunes that he gave it to the same body for the second time, being received with immense enthusiasm, and after its delivery, he was immediately dated to return the next week to give it before the students of the Michigan State Normal School.  Five dates for the same lecture in the same town, with increasing enthusiasm, is quite a record.



Discriminating papers and individuals speak of Mr. Mills and his lectures in superlative terms.  For example:


The Hastings (Michigan) Journal-Herald says:
Mr. Mills ranks as a peer of any of them.  He is forceful, tense, dramatic.

Frank E Bohn, President of Fort Wayne Rotary Club, says:

In recommending his work to all Rotary Clubs I feel that I am not so much doing him a good turn as doing something worth while for Rotary.


The Kalamazoo Telegraph-Press says:
Mr. Mills cannot be beaten by any of the men appearing on the present Chautauqua program.


The Benton Harbor (Michigan) Press-Palladium says:
With dramatic intensity the orator held his audience spellbound in the grip of his inspiring message, and with his wonderful gifts of oratory fairly electrified them.




MR. MILLS' SUBJECTS

A Cheerologue on
Fiddles and Fortunes
An inspirational lecture, based on a stirring classic theme, alive with humor, vibrant with healthy-mindedness, it induces hope, arouses courage and takes the sting out of work.



The Greatest Frenchman's Greatest Story
Jean Valjean
A dramatic interpretation of Victor Hugo's masterpiece.  When the literary critics call the roll of the great novels, with striking unanimity they give 'Les Miserables' the first place.



Also, Dramatic Readings of

The Melting Pot
If I Were King
The Case of Becky
In the Vanguard
Passing of the Third Floor Back





Mr. F. C. Butler, Secretary of the Kalamazoo Chamber of Commerce, writes:

Your address was by far the very best that we have ever heard at any of our meetings.


The Maysville (Kentucky) Independent says:
He opened his soul and left his audience with a new resolution.


The Hart (Michigan) Tribune says:
T. A. Mills was really the artist of this big meet, and he was worth the season ticket itself.


The Fort Wayne (Indiana) Journal-Gazette says:
Thornton Anthony Mills may well be defined as a human dynamo.

Fred W. Woodward, Chairman Program Committee, South Bend Knife and Fork Club, writes:

No one who has addressed the club during the eight years of its history gave the program maker more satisfaction and pride than the one upon which you appeared, and your part in it was simply splendid.  As the paper said the next day, You may expect another call from this club.

T. W. Nadal, Acting President, Olivet College, says:

Mr. Mills has appeared twice this year before an Olivet audience.  We have had nothing better on our course.  He is a great interpreter of great literature, and he strikes twelve with a college audience.


The Elyria (Ohio) Democrat says:
Dr. Mills is a forceful speaker and drives home the truths of his message with fearless blows.


The Charleston (West Virginia) Gazette says:
Dr. Mills displayed originality of thought and a keen insight into human nature and human needs.  He is one of the Chautauqua's greatest speakers.  And, on another occasion: His power of delineating character proved a prime factor in his success as a lecturer.


The Kalamazoo (Michigan) Gazette says:
Never before in the history of organized commercial interests in Kalamazoo has a more forceful, interesting and entertaining speaker appeared before a body of Kalamazoo business men.

W. K. Kellogg, of the Kellogg Toasted Corn Flake Company, of Battle Creek, writes:

It was one of the most interesting and instructive lectures to which I have ever listened.

The Way-Bill, Published by the Traffic Club of Chicago, says:

He is no slouch in the matter of telling stories and he held the boys spellbound for nearly an hour in one of the finest orations we ever listened to, and, in fact, it seemed but a moment of time until he had finished, so wrapt in attention were his audience.




SOME COMMENT

From a Metropolitan Daily

In spite of the severe heat and many summer distractions the lectures by Mr. Mills are attracting audiences that overflow the hall.—
Detroit Evening News.



Editorial

We know of no one who has a more complete equipment for success in the lecture field.  His audiences have grown from the faithful few which greeted him on the first Sabbath to the capacity of the edifice.
His lectures on literary, sociological and current topics have shown originality, dramatic power and marked oratorical ability.—

The Rockford Morning Star, Rockford, Ill.



What Some Prominent Educators Say
Rev. Thornton Anthony Mills is a speaker of great force and earnestness.  He always has something interesting to say, and says it vividly and with convincing power.

—Julia H. Gulliver, Ph. D., LL. D., President of Rockford College.

Rev. Thornton Anthony Mills has spoken before the Rockford High School pupils several times and has never failed to please.  His talk on Antonio Stradivari held the closest attention of the thousand pupils assembled and at its close he was cheered to the echo.  Mr. Mills has the ability to hold the attention and at the same time entertain the young as well as the old.

—C. P. Briggs, Principal of the Rockford High School, Rockford, Ill.

Rev. Thornton Anthony Mills, Rockford, Ill.

MY DEAR SIR: I desire to express to you my thorough appreciation of your address, given on the occasion of the recent Commencement Exercises of this school.  Many of the patrons of the Platteville Chautauqua and of the Platteville Lecture Course have told me that they consider your address the best ever given in this city, and personally I consider your speech the best that ever I have had the opportunity of hearing.

With sincere regards, I desire to remain,

Yours very truly,
RALPH E. DAVIS, Director of the Wisconsin Trade School of Mining, Platteville, Wis.



What His Home City Thinks of Him

He is a minister who is on the job seven days in the week, and has put his church into the forefront of all the movements which make for a better city and a better people.—
Battle Creek Evening Moon.


He is reaching the people, and, by his talent as a pulpit speaker and an attractive personality, is drawing audiences that fill the large church auditorium whenever he speaks.—
Battle Creek News.


Many listeners have been heard to say that they enjoyed Mr. Mills' readings of the great plays better than going to the play itself.  He has a keen perception of the possibilities of the dramas, and, aided by a deep and melodious voice, he holds the attention of his hearers to a remarkable degree.—
Battle Creek Journal.



He is a Philosopher—

Mr. Mills' address was a masterpiece.  He is a philosopher and orator of no mean caliber.—
Freeport Standard, Freeport, Ill.



—And Might Have Been an Actor

Mr. Mills sacrificed remarkable histrionic talents when he entered the pulpit instead of the stage.  This is the opinion of the large audience which heard his rendition of Justin McCarthy's If I Were King.—
Rockford Evening Republic, Rockford, Ill.



Made Good
Mr. Thornton Anthony Mills certainly made good with us.—F. B. Stumpf, Manager Eureka Chautauqua, Eureka, Ill.

Address
THORNTON ANTHONY MILLS, 139 Maple St., Battle Creek, Mich.