James Watt Raine

              Shakespearean Keritals

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BY
JAMES WATT RAINE


MR. RAINE has had wide experience in the work of the public platform, the pulpit, and the professor's chair.  His powers of insight into character, his keen appreciation of literary beauties, his native good taste and personal presence combine to render him an interpreter of the first rank, while his natural dramatic instinct, his subtle humor, and restful voice make him a delightful entertainer.




Macbeth
The greatest treasure in our dramatic literature.

Julius Caesar
The greatest name in history.

The Merchant of Venice
The most magnificent of Shakespeare's plays.

As You Like It
The sweetest and happiest of all Shakespeare's comedies.

Beside the Bonnie Brier Bush
What sturdy courage, what delicate sympathy, what loving humor!

Job
The book of Job is, beyond question, the sublimest poem in all literature.




Shakespeare has been called the most susceptible, and at the same time, the most intellectual of men; the man on whose thoughts the foremost people the world are now for some ages to be nourished; his mind is the horizon beyond which at present, we do not see.  But it is also true that Shakespeare wrote not for the learned but for the people, not for instruction but for entertainment.  Mr. Raine is therefore true to Shakespeare in making these Recitals ENJOYABLE, and leaving his auditors to find what instruction they may.

In Shakespeare's day the stage had neither scenes nor costumes, so he put both scenery and color into his poetry.  These masterpieces therefore suffer slight loss by the omission of all stage properties and puppets, but instead gain a unity of treatment, a clearness of interpretation, an artistic completeness and balance, which is seldom attained in the theater.





Spokane Spokesman.
His transitions from the lusty character of Gratiano to the mild pleadings of Portia were frequently applauded.


Long Island Traveler.
Mr. Raine's Interpretation from Macbeth was a finished epitome of the tragedy.  He was particularly happy in being able to convey to his hearers the weird atmosphere of the play.

President Geo. F. Fairchild, Kansas State Agricultural College.

His rendering of Shakespeare as I have heard it is excellent in all the ways that make good reading a genuine interpretation of an author; especially free from the tricks of elocution so frequently marring public readings.


Republic Times, Springfield, O.
Mr. Raine rendered selections from Shakespeare which met with the heartiest appreciation; showed unusual versatility on the part of the reader and a wide departure from the ordinary work of this kind.


The Pantagraph, Richmond, Ky.
Our community enjoyed a rich treat in the rendering of Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice by James W. Raine.  It was so nearly a reproduction of the entire play that omissions would not be noticed.  If Mr. Raine visits us again there will be a rush to hear him.

Maurice E. Wilson, D. D.

Good Shakespearean readers are rare.  Mr. Raine is one of those rare readers who render Shakespeare well.  His voice and manner are peculiarly adapted to this most difficult task.  His Merchant of Venice is well conceived, strong, and pleasing throughout.  There is plenty of color in his work and abundant force.


Dayton Press.
Mr. James W. Raine last night gave a Shakespearean recital, the Merchant of Venice, before a large and delighted audience.  It was done with great ability, insomuch that the whole thrilling episode was brought most vividly to mind.  To those who had only casually read the great drama Mr. Raine's reading was a revelation.


Riverhead News.
Mr. Raine has appeared twice in the Auditorium.  He opened our Lecture Course Thanksgiving night, and completely surprised and charmed us with his dramatic ability and rich voice, to say nothing of his remarkable memory.  The impersonation of Mark Antony was powerful, and his Lady Macbeth—a most difficult task—was a masterly interpretation.  By his suggestive impersonation of the various characters he made the whole scene stand vividly before us.


Springfield Gazette.
He is without superior.


Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
A master in fine powers of perception and discrimination.


The Journal, Dayton, O.
His portraits of character and touches of nature were exceedingly realistic.  The audience was kept 'twixt a smile and a tear.

Prof. W. B. Chamberlain, President National Association of Elocutionists.

His interpretations are scholarly and his renditions artistic.


Daily News, Dayton, O.
More than one thousand auditors heard James W. Raine present many strikingly interesting character sketches, and he was accorded an enthusiastic reception.


Marietta Daily Times.
The readings of James W. Raine at Andrews Hall last evening were remarkably fine—perhaps the very best that Marietta people have ever had the opportunity to hear.

G. F. Stackpole, Pres. Riverhead Lecture Assn.

Riverhead has maintained a lecture course for the past fourteen years.  During that time we have had in our course many of the best lecturers in the country.  Very few of these have pleased the audience as well as did James Watt Raine.


Register, Marietta.
Professor James W. Raine, Instructor in Elocution at Marietta College, was especially happy in his selections, and everybody was delighted with his interpretation of a wide variety of literary gems.

Rev. W. J. Hutchins, Brooklyn.

Each evening his readings met with warm appreciation and with unusual enthusiasm.  His interpretation of the sweet Scottish ballads and his rendering of the dialect of the Mountaineers of the South are exceptionally fine.

President Wm. Goodell Frost, Berea College.

Mr. Raine's recitals reach about the highest rank in artistic and heart-awakening work.  It is not elocution but interpretation, with all the effects which are best in a great drama or a great sermon.


Suffolk County Review.
Mr. Raine is a reader of exceptional ability and held his audience from start to finish.  His numerous readings were of a widely different character but were all given with uniform excellence.  The large audience was loud in its applause and praise of the entertainment.




Beside the Bonnie Brier Bush
IAN MACLAREN

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This is a delightful evening with the people of Drumtochty.  Mr. Raine, whose very appearance is indicative of the blood which courses through his own veins, introduces them in a happy, humorous way, and they then speak for themselves.

Mr. Raine has read parts of the Brier Bush to me.  He has the right accent, and conveys the sense admirably.

—IAN MACLAREN.


The Nationalist, Manhattan, Kansas.
Mr. Raine with his Scottish tongue and dramatic power is a marked success.


Republican-News, Hamilton, O.
Prof. James W. Raine delighted a crowded auditorium with his reading of Beside the Bonnie Brier Bush.


Tacoma Ledger.
By his humorous and pathetic descriptions he moved the audience to laughing or tears at will.  His picture of a Scotch home-scene was a fine effort.


Men of Dayton (Y. M. C. A.)
The committee was very lucky in securing James W. Raine, whose readings, especially the one given in Scottish dialect, were enthusiastically received.

Dr. James Brand, Oberlin, O.

I have several times heard James W. Raine in public readings and always with delight.  He has the rare ability of personification of many characters, which together with his good literary taste, a well-cultivated voice, and an enthusiastic appreciation of an author's best sentiments, makes the successful public reader.


Chicago Times-Herald.
As an interpreter of the Scottish character and in reading the dialect Mr. Raine has few equals.

Mrs. Louise Pollock, Prin.  Kindergarten Normal Institute, Washington, D. C.

His reading is not over-strained, but as I should have imagine Dickens' to have been.

Prof. Osmer Abbott, University of Montana.

To all who have enjoyment in intellectual pleasures I would say hear such readers as Mr. Raine as often as you can.


Oberlin News.
His rendition of the Scottish dialect was perfect.  After one hour and a half of readings the audience was loath to go.  By many he was considered the best of the course so far.


The University of Chicago Weekly.
Students and friends of the University seldom pass a more delightful hour than the one spent with the genial Scotchman, James Watt Raine.  At first we thought Mr. Raine grim and severe, but before long he undeceived us, and we then reveled in the wit and humor of his native countrymen.  It is indeed a pleasure to read for ourselves the stories of Ian Maclaren, but when a Scot of the power of Mr. Raine interprets them we close the book and listen.