Mr. Ralph Bingham

              MR. RALPH BINGHAM

THE WORLD'S LEADING MONOLOGUE ENTERTAINER.—
PHILADELPHIA TIMES


Figure



Personator : Humorist : Violinist
Vocalist : Raconteur
1876—THIRTY-THIRD ANNUAL ANNOUNCEMENT—1909

REDPATH-SLAYTON, Boston, New York, Chicago, Cedar Rapids, Kansas City.





Constitution, Atlanta, Ga.

Not a Lecture
AN EVENING OF SONG, MUSIC AND STORY

An Intellectual Diversion Inducing PLEASURE AND DELIGHT, provoking MIRTH, MERRIMENT, LAUGHTER



SEEN AND HEARD ALONG THE LINES
DR. T. DE WITT TALMAGE, ON THE FUN-MAKERS
Bless Bingham and all the apostolic college of humorists.  The man that makes me laugh is my benefactor.  God bless all skillful punsters, all those who mirthfully surprise us with unusual juxtaposition of words.  Theirs is a divine mission.  They stir into the acid beverage of life the saccharine, and make the cup of earthly existence, which is sometimes stale, effervesce and bubble.  They placate animosities.  They foster longevity.  They slay follies and absurdities which all the sermons of all the pulpits cannot reach.


A laugh is just like music; it lingers in the heart,
And when its melody is heard, the ills of life depart
And happy thoughts come crowding its joyful notes to greet;
A laugh is just like music for making living sweet.



Philadelphia, Pa.

Ralph Bingham is funny because he can't help it.  If he went into the undertaking business he would be expelled from the union in a week.  He was born to drive dull care away, a doctor who cures by the good old rule of 'laugh and growfat.'  And he is one of the few doctors who seem to take their own medicine.  On the platform or off, with an audience of one or five hundred, if Mr. Bingham's audience is not shrieking with laughter you may take it for granted that it is composed of deaf-mutes who have not yet learned to read lip movements.

But what does he do, anyhow?  Well, he monologues and plays the violin.  His monologues are either original, or might as well be; their rendition, at least, is original and inimitable.  His face changes with every shift in the humor; you hardly need to hear the story, for you can see it.  He uses many puns, and the pun is said to be the lowest order of wit.  But there are puns and puns, and Mr. Bingham's are as near the highest wit as it is possible for a pun to be.  He makes use of remarkable metaphors and similes; there is a constant crackling of jokes throughout the monologue, and last but not least, the monologue itself is always new.

—Paul M. Pearson, Editor TALENT.

Jackson, Mississippi.

I do not know when I have enjoyed anything as much as I did Ralph Bingham last Saturday evening.  He is beyond a doubt the GREATEST IMPERSONATOR ON THE AMERICAN PLATFORM.

Major Jas. K. Vardaman, Gov. Mississippi.


MR. RALPH BINGHAM TELLS A FUNNY STORY ON THE BEACH AT ATLANTIC CITY.  Philadelphia Inquirer


Bristol, Tenn.

I consider my friend Ralph Bingham to be the finest all around entertainer on the American platform.

Ex-Gov. Bob Taylor, of Tennessee.

Philadelphia, Pa.


Ralph Bingham, as a monologue artist, has no equal on this side of the Atlantic at least, and as a musician he has few peers.—
Evening Bulletin.

Chicago, Ill.

Mr. Bingham knows the art of entertaining: variety, surprise, climax, the turning of a point, the absence of striving for effect.  All these does Bingham know and use, yet they are ever kept hidden by an art that conceals art.

I think I do not exaggerate when I say I believe Ralph Bingham is the greatest story teller in the world.  I have heard nearly all the famous raconteurs of today, but never have I heard one who could make so much out of nothing.  I do not mean to say Bingham's stories are nothing—far from it—but I've known him to take the most trivial incident and, in his inimitable way, convulse his auditors, be they a thousand or a dozen.

Edwin L. Barker, Editor LYCEUMITE.

Boston, Mass.


Ralph Bingham is a star entertainer, with his unctuous dialect, his brilliant violin solos and his songs.
Boston Traveler.




BRIGHT GEMS PICKED UP ALONG THE LINES
Augusta, Ga., Walker's Magazine

When Momus was first brought into the world he must have had an idea that in the days that were yet to come there would be such a man as Ralph Bingham.  Momus was the God of Mirth, and as such he represented this modern humorist of the platform more thoroughly than any man on the American platform.

Ralph Bingham has been in Augusta so often that he owns the town.  On each of his successive visits during the intervening years, he has done more than his part in establishing a reputation for the excellence of the Augusta Lyceum Standard.  He has been for many years one of the most conspicuous figures on the American platform, and he has done more to elevate it than any man who has ever been south of Mason and Dixon's line.  The people of Augusta have long since become cordially attached to him, and they esteem him as a friend and one of the leading figures of the AMERICAN ROSTRUM.—Charles J. Bayne.


THE PRESIDENT AND HIS TROUBLES CHAS: BELL.  in Talent



THE CHAUTAUQUA
Independence, Kan., July 21, 1906.

Ralph Bingham Proves an Entertainer of Rare Ability


Mr. Ralph Bingham, of Philadelphia, left many of his big audience yesterday afternoon at Chautauqua declaring him the 'best yet.'  Mr. Bingham is a humorist of the first class, and excels in four different and difficult directions.  He dramatizes music with his voice, makes the piano an instrument of rare humor, recites funny sketches till the tears of laughter riot a-down one's cheeks and plays the violin like Ole Bull!  A baritone of fine timbre and adequate strength, Mr. Bingham brings to his work as he recites or as he sings.  He plays the violin and the piano, he sings ballad poetry, and he recites dramatic or pathetic or humorous sketches in a manner that brings down the house.  While he is reciting his auditors feel that is his forte.  He steps to the piano and that piano becomes a vehicle of humor as well as of harmony, and you think he misses his calling when he ties himself to anything short of music.  Especially is that true when he takes up the violin, for then he makes you think of the old masters, as the music sobs and wails to the magic touch of his masterly bow.  When his program calls for song, you wish he would sing all the while.  Perhaps, however, this artist is the most artistic with the violin and the recitation, in both of which he is unexcelled.  The program yesterday afternoon was largely humorous.  Nevertheless, the subject-matter was high-class, and its educational and inspiration value of the best.—
Daily Reporter.



NEWNAN CHAUTAUQUA

The only Ralph Bingham, whose stories and inimitable fun have made him a favorite in every city and town where he has appeared throughout the United States, acted as platform manager during the entire week, and he drew the largest audience during the assembly at the last evening's performance, notwithstanding the rain-storm which raged at the hour of its opening.—
Atlanta Journal, Aug. 5, 1906.



BINGHAM'S RECORD Born Richmond, Va., 1870.  First appearance in public, 1876.  From 1876 to 1896 famous as the Boy Orator of America.  30 consecutive years before the public.  8000 appearances on the American Continent.  2000 appearances alone in the Empire and Keystone States.  160 entertainments in the Quaker City: 58 times in the Metropolis of the Western Hemisphere—New York City.  700,000 miles traveled since six years of age.  500 towns in Uncle Sam's domain have given him, each, five, some of them six, seven and eight audiences, in repeated recognition, confirmation and commendation of his unequaled artistic and natural accomplishments, skillful platform methods and his inimitable public demonstrations of wit, wisdom, humor, poetry, sentiment, tragedy, music, melody, drollery and mirth.




H. Grattan Donnelly DRAMATIC AUTHOR
Sole Author of the

Successful Plays:

DARKEST RUSSIA
THE WOMAN IN BLACK
THE AMERICAN GIRL
FONTENOY
IN OLD NANTUCKET
ETC., ETC.


The Famous Comedies:

NATURAL GAS
LATER ON
A NIGHT AT THE CIRCUS
A PAIR OF JACKS
ETC., ETC.


The Popular Operas:

SHIP AHOY
DICK TURPIN
THE MAIDS OF ATHENIA
ETC., ETC.


Address reply to this letter to Box 209, Madison Square Post Office, New York.

My dear Bingham:

I hasten to bear testimony to the splendid success of your unrivalled entertainment.  I have never seen a more delighted and enthusiastic audience than that which applauded and cheered you to the echo, and I most heartily congratulate you on one of the finest individual successes I have ever witnessed.  Good luck to you.

Yours sincerely,
GRATTAN DONNELLY.

RALPH BINGHAM, ESQ.


Ralph Bingham in the Act of Holding an Audience


Ross CRANE

Lyceumite, Chicago




THE EVIDENCE ABSOLUTELY UNANIMOUS

Atlanta, Ga.  The Constitution
MR. BINGHAM ENTERTAINS
Well-Known Humorist Delighted a Big Audience at the Grand Last Night



Washington, Ill. Washington News
RALPH BINGHAM A HUGE SUCCESS
Not Only an Inimitable Mimic, But a Rare Musician as Well—Audience in an Uproar



Yazoo, Miss.  The Yazoo Sentinel
Finest Entertainment Ever Seen Here
Or Anywhere Else for That Matter, Was That Given by Ralph Bingham



Silverton, Col. Silverton Standard
RALPH BINGHAM, ENTERTAINER
Mirth-Provoking, but Refined and Clean Throughout



Tampa, Fla.  Tribune
BINGHAM PLEASED HOUSE
Lyceum Entertainer Made a Marked Hit — His Versatile Talents Appreciated by First Audience of Lyceum Lecture Course



Hopkinsville, Liy.  New Era
BRAVED ELEMENTS AND WERE REPAID BY BINGHAM'S EFFORTS
Large Crowd at Tabernacle and Lyceum Season Opened Auspiciously



Clearfield, Pa. The Daily Public Spirit
The 41st Annual Session of the Clearfield County Teachers' Institute
A NIGHT ENTERTAINMENT RARELY EQUALLED



Wichita, Kan. The Wichite Daily Eagle
Richly Entertained At the Toler”


Chattanooga, Tenn. Daily News
MR. BINGHAM MAKES HIT
Versatile Entertainer Delights Large Audience at First Methodist Church



Durango, Col. The Durango Telegraph
MR. RALPH BINGHAM
Won the Hearts of His Audience



Parkersburg, W. Va. Parkersburg News
SUSTAINED HIS GREAT REPUTATION
Ralph Bingham Greeted by Large and Representative Audience at Camden Theatre



Anniston, Ala.  Hot Blast
RALPH BINGHAM
Delighted Packed House at Noble Street Theatre Last Night



Kenton, O.  News-Republican
RALPH BINGHAM'S PROGRAM PLEASED
Famous Impersonator and Humorist Gave an Entertainment That Showed Wonderful Versatility



Belvidere, Ill. The Daily Northwestern
MANY LAUGHED WITH BINGHAM
Opening Number of the Star Course at the Y. M. C. A. Was All That Could Be Desired — Auditorium Was Full



Neoscho, Mo.  Neosho Daily Herald
PLEASED HIS AUDIENCE
A Good Drawing Card for the Following Numbers of the Lecture Course



Columbus, Ga.  The Ledger
Brilliant Social and Financial Success
Ralph Bingham at the Opera House Last Evening



Bristol, Va. Tenn.  Herald
RALPH BINGHAM INIMITABLE IRREPRESSIBLE
Bingham at the Harmeling Theatre Last Night Won His Way into the Hearts of Every Bristolian Who Heard Him



Janesville, Wis.  Recorder
Bingham at Y. M. C. A. THE NOTED MONOLOGUE ARTIST, STORY TELLER AND MUSICIAN WAS FINE
Most Amusing Entertainment Ever Given Before a Janesville Audience Was That Given by Ralph Bingham Who Appeared at the Y. M. C. A.



Brazil, Ind.  Daily Democr.
RALPH BINGHAM
Packed House and a Delighted Audience