Sam Risk

              LECTURE: THE SYRIAN YANKEE
Intense, Compelling, Real
Mr. Risk tells a fascinating story, the story of his own life, woven into mankind's common adventure for world economic stability and international peace.  He captivates his audience with his vivid portrayals and humorous sallies, and inspires thought by his penetrating views.

Many have remarked that hearing Mr. Risk is like listening to a character out of Franz Werfel's great novel, The Forty Days of Musa Dagh.  A delightfully extemporaneous style, a rich vein of humor, a keen sense of the dramatic, a strong social passion,—all these combine to make Mr. Risk a most unique platform personality.

Memorable — Beyond that of almost any Speaker I can think of.


SAMUEL RISK


Comedy and Tragedy — travel Adventure Romance



THE BUREAU OF INTERNATIONAL SPEAKERS
509 Fifth Avenue,
Chicago, Ill.   New York, N. Y.

LIKE A CHARACTER OUT OF FRANZ WERFEL'S GREAT NOVEL 'THE FORTY DAYS OF MUSA DAGH'.





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COMMENTS
OF TREMENDOUS VALUE
I feel that your message is of tremendous value to adults in general and especially to high school students. — J. W. STUDEBAKER, Federal Commissioner of Education, Washington, D. C.



EVERY YOUNG AMERICAN SHOULD HEAR IT
He has a message which every young American should hear.  Mr. Risk relates the story of his own life in which vivid language that you cannot easily escape the reaching challenge of his message. — CLEMENS M. GRANSKOU, President, Augustana College, Sioux Falls, S. Dak.



CONTRIBUTION TO REAL INTERNATIONALISM
More much talks by people who have actual contact with other  and peoples will do more toward real inter-nationalism than all the conferences and treaties our diplomat may be able to accomplish. —Central Junior High School, Ames, Iowa.



AN OUTSTANDING INTERPRETATION OF AMERICAN LIFE
The story of his life which is a very fascinating one is presented in a most interesting way.  Mr. Risk is a forceful speaker and has no difficulty in holding the attention of the student body.  His interpretation of our American life as he has experienced it is outstanding.  I do not hesitate to recommend him to any school for an assembly program. — Fort Dodge High School, Iowa.



A MAN OF KEEN VISION
He is a man of keen vision in the field of international relations, and his lectures are of immense value in broadening the cultural outlook of students—JAMES C. WILSON, World Traveler and Lecturer, Chesterton, Indiana.



IT OUGHT TO BE PUBLISHED
I am wondering if you have thought of publishing your story in book form.  It ought to be done for it's valuable effect and made available to more of our citizens than you can possibly appear before.—FOSTER THOMPSON.



AN EXCEPTIONAL AND SURE-FIRE ATTRACTION
For school and college audiences, women's clubs, service clubs, and the like, Mr. Risk will be an exceptional and sure-fire attraction.  His message ought to have a hearing all over the country.  I recommend him with the utmost confidence.—G. HARRISON Durand. Vice-president of Yankton College, Yankton, S. Dak.



AN INTENSE AND TIMELY MESSAGE
When, as President of the Lions' Club, I asked you to be our speaker at a special meeting I had no idea as to the significance of the intense and timely message you would bring us.

Facing your audience as chairman of the meeting, I could not help but be impressed by the complete and intense expression upon the faces of each of our members and guests.—The convincing, interesting experiences which you related made your talk so outstanding that immediately afterwards several gentlemen spoke to me about the possibility of securing you as the leading speaker for several important gatherings which mean audiences of 500 and upward.—GORDON FENNELL, Cedar Rapids, Iowa.



ONE MINISTER TO ANOTHER
Dear Bill:

Sam Risk is a human and spiritual phenomenon.  I have never heard anything to match him.  Our college students would hardly leave the hall after his address—just sat and clapped.  And he took the high school bunch by storm.  I won't try to go into detail because Risk is so unique you can't describe him.  You just have to see and hear him.  His life history would make an almost unbelievable novel.  Our Dr. Davies of Chicago heard him here.  He was almost speechless: There's nothing like it.

Yes, you may urge him upon your audiences without reserve.

H. H. LINDEMAN, Minister.

The employed and older high school boys who attended not only listened attentively but were aroused to ask numerous questions regarding the splendid lecture.—HOBOKEN COMMUNITY Y—New Jersey.



TOO VALUABLE TO BE OVERLOOKED
While providing all the thrills of fiction it (the message) contains a gripping moral, a patriotic and spiritual suggestion too valuable to be overlooked by Rotary.—ROTARY CLUB, Des Moines, Iowa.



A RARE SOUL
Mr. Risk is a rare soul—a man of unusual intelligence—with the simplicity, dignity and refinement which mark such characters.—IOLA B. QUIGLEY, Des Moines, Iowa.

I unhesitatingly recommend him as a most interesting educational lecturer who can give an address realistically and with much rest I am happy to say that Mr. Risk has the power to give you all of that and more.—RENA JEAN NELSON, County Superintenddent.


M. D. HELSER
DEAN OF THE JUNIOR COLLEGE AND DIRECTOR OF PERSONNEL IOWA STATE COLLEGE of Agriculture and Mechanical Arts AMES. IOWA


It is an address of thrilling human interest and it greatly impressed our students.—JOHN L. HILLMAN, President, Simpson College.

Mr. Sam Risk's lecture is unique and striking.  It represents a wide and varied experience.  I feel that every high school and college should hear it.

Sincerely yours,
M. D. Helser




AUGUSTANA COLLEGE DEPARTMENT OF SPEECH
HUGO A. CARLSON, DIRECTOR

SIOUX FALLS, S. D.
January 5, 1935

To Whom It May Concern:

It is genuine pleasure to recommend Mr. Sam Risk to you.  He has a message for college audiences that is fundamental to students regardless of their interests.  Speaking from personal experience, startling and illuminating, he touches upon the vital problems of the day in such a  that no auditor can force himself to ignore the message.

I would go so far as to say that he has an oration the like of which is seldom  in compelling thought force, especially in these times.  It is logic on on fire.

Mr. Risk gripped our audiences to such an extent that we could well have afforded to forego a week of regular class work to listen to further elaboration.

Sincerity prompts this recommendation.

Hugo A. Carlson Director of Speech.



THE SYRIAN YANKEE

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When Samuel Risk was a baby he was nursed by mothers of many creeds — Mohammedanns, Druse.  Christians, gypsies.  His own mother died the day he was born.  Around him grew a legend that carried a curse.  For this was the land of Syria, birth-place alike of high religion and enslaving superstition.  The baby brought up on such an evil mixture of milks would grow to be a monster, a devil, people said.

Then there was the war-guns belching death in Europe.  The Holy Land was Hell.  People starving, Turks marauding and murdering, people on the death march, patriots on the gallows by the hundreds.  Sam was a boy.  His impressionable mind, like a camera, caught and recorded the pictures.  The horror, the terror, the injustice of it did things to him.

Then he learned that he was a citizen of America, the land of tolerance, of freedom, of opportunity, of education.  If he was really a citizen, if this was his birthright, he must go there at once.  But no.  The American consul at Beirut would not believe him.  Five years he spent, a homeless waif, camping on the steps of the American consulate, dreaming about America.

Finally, in 1927, Samuel set sail for New York, literally an immigrant to his own country.  Coming to the new land was like the awakening of Rip Van Winkle.  The civilization of 2,000 years ago nestling in his mind until then, had to move out.  America moved in.  The Syrian Yankee was in the making.

But the first year in America was one of disillusionment.  All day in the hide-room of a mid-western packing house—was this education, opportunity, happiness?  Not that he wanted to avoid work.  He wanted to work, to work hard.  But this work chained him to a machine, did not allow him to reach out for the higher things he had come to seek.

Then came a happy change.  He saw a beautiful campus with its halls of learning.  He got work there—went to school.  Teachers encouraged him.  In five years, while building a business that has gained a national reputation, he went through grade-school, and as a special student took high school and college work.  He won oratorical contests and began to lecture.  He traveled abroad, hobnobbed with rulers and subjects, read widely in politics, history, philosophy religion.  The boy suckled by mothers of many creeds—Mohammedanns, Christians, Druse,—became a man of one creed—Humanity.





HUGO A. CARLSON



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His message ought to have a hearing all over the country.

The story of his life which he presents is unique and striking, and the view which he sets forth of international affairs and of our American society is one which only a person of such experience together with an unprejudiced and penetrating mind would be capable of.  The address he gives is unlike anything I have ever heard, and is convincing and memorable beyond that of almost any speaker I can think of.  Technically, as a platform performance, it is admirable.  His message ought to have a hearing all over the country.

G. HARRISON DURAND, Vice-president of Yankton College