Burdette L. Main: presents "The Virginian"

              Figure

MR. BURDETTE L. MAIN Presents 
THE VIRGINIAN



LECTURE RECITALS MISCELLANEOUS PROGRAMS




30 ACADEMY PLACE NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE





ANNOUNCEMENT



IN adapting Owen Wister's 
Virginian
 as a monologue, Mr. Burdette L. Main has wisely chosen a justly popular book.  The delineation of the humor, pathos, love, and tragedy found in this charming story are entirely within the scope of an artist with the training and ability of Mr. Main.  Artistic versatility is the key to success in modern platform work, and that is the thing that Mr. Main is constantly striving to attain.  A graduate of the Genesee Wesleyan Seminary School of Oratory, Lima, New York, and the Cumnock School of Oratory, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, he has been before the public several years as a reader and a teacher of the art of reading.  Besides his monologue, 
The Virginian,
 Mr. Main has an extensive repertoire which includes lecture recitals and many miscellaneous programs.




There are many other readers filled with heaps of fun and wit,


There are many other speakers who know how to hump and git;


But if you want to laugh until your sides are lame,


Don't forget to head your program with 
Burdette L. Main.





Personal Opinions



PROF. ROBERT McLEAN CUMNOCK, L.H.D., Director of School of Oratory, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, writes:




Mr. Burdette Lawson Main, a graduate of this department of the University, is a delightful entertainer.  I confidently recommend him to lecture bureaus, or to any organization desiring an evening of elevated and rational enjoyment.




PROF. WEBSTER MERRIFIELD, A. M., President of the State University of North Dakota, writes:




On several occasions I have had the pleasure of listening to the readings of Mr. Burdette L. Main.  He has impressed me as possessing a fine appreciation of the spirit of his selections and a rare power of interpreting the meaning of the author.  He possesses unusual talent as an elocutionist, and his readings in this State have always been greeted by large and appreciative audiences.




I can commend him without reservation to churches and other organizations seeking an evening's entertainment of high order.




REV. JOHN CHRISTIAN, D. D., Pastor La Salle Avenue Baptist Church, Chicago, Ill., Writes:




I have heard Mr. Burdette L. Main read on a number of occasions with pleasure.  He is natural, forceful, entertaining, of good presence, and withal artistic.  He will undoubtedly take high rank as a Reader.




PROF. H. M. TILROE, A. B., Principal of School of Oratory, Genesee Wesleyan Seminary, Lima, N. Y., writes:




Mr. Main is a young man of excellent parts, possessing every necessary qualification to make him an entertainer of high repute.




PROF. VERNON P. SQUIRES, A. M., Professor of English Literature, State University of North Dakota, writes:




Mr. B. L. Main has often read at this University and in various parts of our State, and always with distinct success.  He has an excellent voice, a very pleasing manner, and dramatic power of a high order.




REV. ALEXANDER C. STEVENS, A. B., Pastor First Methodist Episcopal Church, St. Paul, Minn., writes:




Mr. Burdette L. Main is an artist.  His work always pleases.  It is a matter of satisfaction to his many friends to know that back of the finished platform work and wonderful variety of repertoire, there is a capital good fellow.  He is a winner of the right sort.




REV. JOSEPH LLEWELYN DAVIES, A. M., Professor of English Bible, Genesee Wesleyan Seminary, Lima, N. Y., writes:




On several different occasions it has been my privilege to hear Mr. Burdette L. Main, and I take pleasure in commending him to the public.  He is a reader of more than ordinary merit.  His renditions give evidence of natural ability of a high order and excellent training, combined with a rare appreciation of the spirit of his selections.




MR. HARRY H. TUTTLE, General Secretary of the Young Men's Christian Association, Grand Forks, North Dakota, writes:




While an instructor in the State University at this place, Mr. Burdette L. Main very kindly assisted a number of times in Association Entertainments.  His work was always high class and splendidly received.  Rather than wearing out, each appearance won him new friends.




PROF. S. M. D. CLARK, A. M., Principal of Montgomery Bell Academy, Nashville, Tenn., writes:




On several occasions I have had the pleasure of hearing Mr. Burdette L. Main read.  He has an attractive personnel, and at the very first gains the sympathy of his audience.  His conceptions are clear, his renditions are artistic, forceful.  His voice is musical and of remarkable range, enabling him to distinctly impersonate many characters in a single selection.  His repertoire is varied.  He moves his audience from laughter to tears in rapid succession.  His selections are pleasing, instructive, elevating.  He is an artist in his platform work.  His rendition of Dickens' Christmas Carol is excellent.  One attending his readings will always feel amply repaid.




REV. HERMON L. BROCKWAY, A. B., Pastor Chandler Methodist Episcopal Church, Chicago, Ill., writes:




It gives me great pleasure to recommend Mr. Burdette L. Main to the public.  He has appeared before my congregation several times with different programs.  He always gains the sympathy of his audience in his first number and holds their attention with increasing magnetism.  He has the rare faculty of rendering the humorous, pathetic, and sublime in a most pleasing and refined manner.  His temperament and moral balance peculiarly adapts his rare impersonating ability to the Virginian.




MR. D. P. MARKEY, Supreme Commander K. O. T. M., Port Huron, Mich., writes:




It was my good fortune to listen to an entertainment given by the Genesee Concert Company, at Ludington, Michigan.  Mr. Main showed exceptional talent as a dramatic reader.




LADIES' FORTNIGHTLY CLUB, Larimore, N. Dak., Miss Emma C. Arnold, President, Miss Bertha Plalmn, Secretary.




May 27, 1905, the accomplished elocutionary instructor of our State University, Mr. Burdette L. Main, gave a Riley recital before our club.  The members of the club and their invited guests unanimously voted it the happiest and one of the most instructive evenings of the year.  We trust Mr. Main may come to us again.




REV. G. W. ADAMS, Chairman of Lecture Committee, Prattsburg, N. Y., writes:




The entertainment given by Burdette L. Main, in our lecture and entertainment course, was of high order.  Mr. Main's rendering of Riley's poems was charming; he seemed to catch the spirit of the poet.  In all his selections, both reading and vocal solos, he pleased to a high degree his most fastidious hearers.




REV. GRIFFIN W. BULL, Ph. D., Pastor Moore Memorial Presbyterian Church, Nashville, Tenn., writes:




Viewing the work of Mr. Burdette L. Main from the critical standpoint of a public speaker, I do not hesitate to pronounce him as a man of rare ability.  He belongs to the new school of oratory in which elocution has come to mean 
impersonation
 to the point of forgetting that you are listening to an elocutionist and finding yourself in the presence of the original actor or writer.




His voice is a joy and its wonderful range is capable of expressing every shade of emotion, and Mr. Main understands how to use it with the most telling effect.  He is an artist, and his name upon any programme insures entertainment of the highest order.





The Press



DAILY REPUBLICAN, Belvidere, Illinois.


Those who were present at the concert given by the Northwestern University Glee Club last evening enjoyed a rare treat.  Mr. Main proved himself an entertaining and competent reader.




THE BLADE, Elkhorn, Wisconsin.


Mr. Main's ability as a reader was very evident, while his solo work charmed everyone at once.  He has a smooth, mellow, baritone voice.




DRAYTON ECHO, Drayton, N. Dakota.


Mr. B. L. Main is an entertainer of more than ordinary merit.  His readings proved him to be an elocutionist with much natural talent, which, with careful training and a rare appreciation of the spirit of his selections, enables him to gain the sympathy of his audience and hold their attention with his wonderful personal magnetism.




OLEAN LEDGER, Olean, New York.


An excellent entertainment was given in the M. E. Church at Portville, N. Y., last Friday night by Mr. Burdette L. Main.  Mr. Main's rare ability as a reader and vocalist pleased everyone present.  His readings indicate that he fully understands both the author and his audience, while his solos give expression to a rich voice that is at all times under control.




DAILY DEMOCRAT, Freeport, Illinois.


A large audience greeted the Northwestern University Glee Club last night in the Y. M. C. A. auditorium.  The programme of ten numbers was very satisfactorily given.  It comprised a prelude by E. S. Albritton, four selections by the Club, solos by Messrs. Stultz and Briggs, and two particularly excellent readings by B. L. Main.




NASHVILLE BANNER, Nashville, Tennessee.


One of the most favorably received and successful affairs, in the way of a church entertainment given during the winter, was that rendered at the Elm Street Methodist Church last evening, which was participated in by some fourteen young ladies of the Home Mission Society assisted by outside talent.  Prof. Burdette L. Main, of Montgomery Bell Academy, won the good opinion of the audience in his readings, which were delivered with a most approved style and ease of manner.




PONTIAC DAILY NEWS, Pontiac, Illinois.


The readings by Burdette L. Main, at the Northwestern University Glee Club concert last night, were especially fine and well received.




NEWS AND GAZETTE, Park River, N. Dakota.


Mr. Main simply held his audience spellbound or caused them to be convulsed with laughter as he treated of the grave and gay.  He is a reader that is sure of an audience wherever he is known.