Marion Ballou Fisk

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Marion Ballou Fisk


Cartoonist and Crayon Lecturer



REDPATH-SLAYTON, Chicago, Cedar Rapids, Lincoln.






B
ORN and reared under the eaves of the Green Mountains, educated in the East, and making her later home in the middle West, Marion Ballou Fisk, the cartoonist-lecturer, combines the grim humor of her New England ancestry, and the breeziness of her Western prairie.




Mrs. Fisk is a lover of nature, a lover of humanity, and an optimist.  Whether she is depicting the character of her own rugged New England folk, the unfortunate, the aliens upon our shores, or everyday men and women in their weaknesses and in their virtues, she handles all with a deft, sympathetic touch, sweetened always with 
the saving sense of humor.
  She can tell a funny story and make you laugh; a pathetic story and make you cry.  She can lecture, she can recite, she can impersonate, she can sing, and above all she is an artist of rare ability whose pictures really illustrate the stories she tells.  Mrs. Fisk has a fine stage presence, and a strong and pleasing personality.  Her voice is of a rich quality, and of exceptional carrying power.




It is claimed for Mrs. Fisk that she is the only woman cartoonist-lecturer on the American platform giving an entire evening's program.  Of her it was said at a convention in Topeka:  
I know all about this work, you know.  I heard two cartoonists at Chautauquas this summer and they couldn't either of them touch this woman we had this afternoon.




Without any solicitation on her part the demand for Mrs. Fisk's work has practically forced her to take up Lyceum work.  It is predicted for her that in the near future she will be considered not only the only woman crayon-lecturer, but one of the greatest cartoonists and crayon-lecturers before the public.





LECTURES



1.


Americans in the Making.
  A pithy, instructive, entertaining lecture, full of humor, illustrated by means of cartoons and artistic sketches, on the making of Americans from the time of our New England fathers to the present day.


2.


American Beauties.
  A strong humorous lecture, depicting the scenery, people, and institutions; the foibles, fancies and oddities; the eccentricities, strength and weaknesses which make America and Americans unique among the nations.


3.


Cap'n Tommy.
  A story of life among them 
that go down to the sea in ships.
 (Suitable for Sunday work.)






Personal Commendations



From Charles M. Sheldon, the Noted Author of 
In His Steps
 and other books.
—
I can heartily commend the platform work of Mrs. Fisk.  I have heard her speak and have seen her Chalk illustrations.  They are very efficient and her audiences are interested and helped.  She has talent added to a message.
—
CHARLES M. SHELDON
.




From Ewing Herbert, Editor of 
Herbert's Magazine.
—
The many who heard Mrs. Fisk talk, and saw her make good pictures as she talked, decided that she was witty in speech and most artistic with chalk.  Nothing on the Hiawatha Chautauqua program pleased better than her offering.
—
EWING HERBERT
, President Hiawatha Chautauqua Association.




I heard Mrs. Marion Fisk give a crayon lecture before a large representative company of ministers and laymen of our state.  From beginning to end she held her audience in close and sympathetic attention.  Her power to move an audience to laughter or to tears, showing not only the foibles and eccentricities of human nature, but its pathos and beauty, its nobilities and possibilities also, is certainly remarkable.  Added to all this is a charm of manner and of platform appearance which cannot fail to please the most critical of hearers.  Mrs. Fisk's illustrations really illustrate her addresses.
—
FRED GREY
, Pastor First Cong. Church, Stockton, Kansas.




Marion Ballou Fisk is an artist of marked ability, and pleased her audience from beginning to end in her usual entertaining and instructive manner.
—M. J. 
GILKERSON
, Pres. First Dist. Kan. C. E. Union.




I am personally acquainted with Marion Ballou Fisk, and have witnessed her skill with chalk before an audience.  I have no hesitation in recommending her as very proficient both in rapid sketching and in entertaining the people by her well trained powers as thinker and speaker.
—E. E. 
URNER
, Pastor First M. E. Church, Osage City, Kan.




I take great pleasure in commending Mrs. Marion Ballou Fisk to the public.  Mrs. Fisk has a message to give and a most pleasing method of presenting it.  She is pleasing in manner, and has the happy faculty of holding the undivided attention of the entire audience during her lecture.
—W. T. 
ANDERSON
, Supt. City Schools, Ordway, Colorado.




From Hon. Charles Curtis, United States Senator from Kansas.
  
I had the pleasure of listening to the Chalk Talk given by Mrs. Marion B. Fisk at the Hiawatha Chautauqua.  It was very interesting, entertaining and instructive.  It gives me pleasure to recommend Mrs. Fisk to any organization desiring a pleasing entertainment.
—
CHARLES CURTIS
.




From Miss Susie M. Guild, Dean of Women, Carroll College, Waukesha, Wis.
—
Mrs. Fisk is one of the most talented and delightfully original women I have ever met.  I have heard her in many of her Chalk Talks.  Mrs. Fisk not only has wonderful power in her drawing, but while her fingers fly swiftly and accurately over the board, she keeps her audience engrossed by her wit, her originality and her power at word painting.  Whether serious or comic, she always sends her lesson home, and one is better for having heard her, I take great pleasure in commending her.
—
SUSIE M. GUILD
.




It has been my very good fortune to hear Mrs. Marion Ballou Fisk in one of her most charming Chalk Talks.  In this work Mrs. Fisk is in a class by herself.  She possesses everything to insure for her great success.  The moment she appears before her audience, her personality impresses them.  She is a thorough artist and has the faculty of saying just the things that appeal to her audience.  I predict for Mrs. Fisk great success.
—
JOHN D. TURNER, JR
., Greensboro, N. C.




To say that the audience was well pleased would be but a mild statement of the feelings of those whose privilege it was to hear her.  The address was aptly illustrated with crayon, and the impression made upon the audience cannot be quickly forgotten.  It gives me great pleasure to recommend her as speaker for Chautauquas or upon the Lecture Platform.
—J. 
HAMMOND TICE
, Pastor First Cong, Church, Hutchinson, Kansas.




I have heard good Chalk Talkers, but none of them surpass Mrs. Fisk.  Her facile crayon and her ready tongue make you hold your breath until she is through.  Any audience may count it a great treat that has the good fortune to be entertained by her.  If you have any scruples against laughing or learning some good lessons, don't go to hear her, because you can't help doing both if you go.
—
GEORGE T. BEACH
, Supt. Sabetha (Kan.) Public Schools.





Press Comments



Those who attended the indoor chautauqua last night were entertained well by Marion Ballou Fisk.  Mrs. Fisk enjoys the distinction of being not only the leading lady cartoonist on the platform, but is one of the most clever of all crayon artists.  Her versatility was displayed last evening in her beautiful and quickly executed pictures, as well as in her unusually good impersonations and interesting stories.—


Lincoln, Neb., State Journal.




Mrs. Fisk has exceptional artistic ability as a ready illustrator.  Mrs. Fisk's Chalk Talks are famous all over the northeastern part of the state.—


Topeka Capital.




I would go farther to hear Marion Ballou Fisk than any other Chalk Talker I ever heard.—


Editorial in Morrill (Kan.) News.




The work of the Cartoonist is always one of the most pleasing features of Chautauquas.  When it is possible to get a clever crayon artist like Marion Ballou Fisk, a great entertainment is insured.—


Brown County World.




The crayon work of Marion Ballou Fisk, was the feature of the evening.  Her talk made the crayon work nothing less than marvelous.  As she lectured she drew cartoons of a New England Cabin of Long Ago, Our Uncle Sammy, Young America Coming and Going, a humorous cartoon founded upon a Fourth of July celebration, Negro Melodies, singing a selection that won the audience—just as her cartoons did, The Russian Jew, and the final, a crayon sketch of William Taft, 
our next president,
 she said, and then she added:  
If he is elected.
—


Hiawatha (Kan.) Daily World, July 14, 1908.




Mrs. Fisk is an artist in every sense of the word and delighted her audience with her description of people, places and scenes.—


Horton (Kan.) Headlight.




There was a storm of applause every time she paused for breath.  Her talk was chiefly humorous and was called 
Americans in the Making.
  Her drawings were surpassingly good, pictures of Uncle Sam, an old colored mammy rocking a baby, and President-elect Taft being received with positive excitement.—


Sabetha Herald.




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