Bess Edith Barton: interpreter of plays and short sketches

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BESS EDITH BARTON Interpreter of Plays and Short Sketches


BESS EDITH BARTON Interpreter of Plays and Short Sketches
IN presenting Miss Barton to the patrons of the Lyceum, the management is confident that it has secured one of the most pleasing, accomplished, versatile artists.  Her presence on the platform, her grace, her charming manner and sweet disposition, make her a favorite wherever she appears.  Besides her many fascinating and winsome accomplishments, she is a woman of strong character, a person of high and lofty ideals, one whose heart and soul beats and throbs for the welfare of her sex.  She is quick to discern the purpose the author had and conveys it with great dramatic power and force to her hearers.  Tall, stately, graceful, dramatic, she gains and holds her audience in rapt attention.  She has a repertoire of two hundred selections from the pens of our greatest modern writers, as well as those of the past.  The impression of her message and her interpretation of the greatest modern plays, will remain long after her appearance upon your program.



Programs

PEG O' MY HEART
By J. Hartley Manners

The Comedy of Youth which ran for two solid seasons in New York, and which because of its sweetness and charm, has been one of the most phenomenal successes in recent years.  The play which made Laurette Taylor famous.



TOMORROW
By Percy MacKaye

The great eugenic play, the theme of which is the building of a better race.



THE SHEPHERD OF THE HILLS
By Harold Bell Wright

Arranged as a Monologue by Miss Barton.


Amidst all the ordinary literature of the day, it is as a pure white stone set up along a dreary road of unending monotony.  Its atmosphere is as fresh and sweet and free from modern grime as that which one would breathe on the Ozark trails themselves.—
Buffalo Courier.



THE DAWN OF A TOMORROW
Written by Frances Hodgson Burnett and dramatized for Miss Eleanor Robson.

A wonderful sermon in dramatic form.  If yer born cheerful yer can stand things.



THE SERVANT IN THE HOUSE
By Charles Rann Kennedy


Not in a lifetime has such a wonderful play been created, a drama so great, so compelling, so reverent, so akin to all the beautiful and permanent things in life.  It is a page from life itself, revealing the brotherhood of man as a real, breathing thing.—
New York Times.



POLLY OF THE CIRCUS
A Three-Act Comedy Drama written by Margaret Mayo, and successfully played by Mabel Taliaferro.

A charming pastoral play abounding in quaint humor.



IF I WERE KING
Written by Justin Huntly McCarthy, and made famous by E. H. Sothern.

A fascinating romance, based on the adventures of Francois Villon, and vividly portraying the sinister personality of King Louis the Eleventh of France.



ENOCH ARDEN.
By Lord Alfred Tennyson

With special musical setting by Richard Strauss.



BIBLE THEMES IN LITERATURE
The Lost Word.  The Other Wise Man.  The Mansion.  Three gems of literature, by Henry Van Dyke.

These sacred readings are appropriate for Sunday Chautauqua services or Y. M. C. A. meetings.



MISCELLANEOUS PROGRAMS
Comprising scenes from plays, original cuttings from classical and popular books, humorous character sketches, child impersonations, and various selections in the Scotch, Irish, Italian, French, German and Negro dialects.





TRUE ORATORY IS THE EXPRESSION OF THE SPIRIT, OF THE LIFE WITHIN

—CHARLES WESLEY EMERSON



A Few Press and Personal Comments

A heart gripping play with a lesson is The Servant in the House, which was read by Miss Bess Edith Barton last evening at the Carnegie Library Auditorium, Beaver Falls.  The play was written by Chas.  Rann Kennedy, a noted playwright, and is one of the greatest dramas of the day.  Miss Barton gave a remarkable rendition of the play, her reading being clever and entertaining.  She is a finished impersonator and was strong in the dramatic scenes.
The play was given under the auspices of the Woman's Club of Beaver Falls.—

Pittsburgh (Pa.) Dispatch.


Unusual variety and range of subject marked the literary interpretations with which Miss Bess Edith Barton entertained an audience that filled the First Methodist Church, Tuesday evening, when the Canton Ladies' Chorus gave one of its series of winter concerts.  From the lips of Miss Barton came in turn the words of a little child, a sweet girl graduate, an Italian lover, and an old New England housewife, while in her reading, The Elevator, by W. Dean Howells, she portrayed thirteen characters so that each stood out distinctly.
She was at her best in her interpretation of The Great Fear, which she had abridged and arranged from a story by James Oppenheim.—

Canton (O.) Repository.


The reading given by Miss Barton was Polly of the Circus, a three-act comedy drama.  It tells a charming story of pastoral life, filled with pathos, touched here and there with bright comedy, and contains good, moral lessons.  For nearly two hours Miss Barton held the close attention of the audience, while she portrayed the many characters.  It was a remarkable rendition of the play.  Miss Barton must be classed as a real artist, and the committee was fortunate in securing her for this course.—
Glassboro (N. J.) Enterprise.


A large and appreciative audience witnessed Miss Bess Edith Barton's impersonation of the play, The Servant in the House, given at the First M. E. Church last evening.  The play, itself, is as effective as a powerful sermon, and Miss Barton's rendition made it doubly so.  Throughout the entire performance she commanded the attention of an intensely interested audience, and the verdict of those who attended was, that Miss Barton ranks among the leading impersonators.—
Bellaire (O.) Daily Independent.


A large crowd greeted Miss Barton, dramatic reader, at the Christian Church last evening, and were highly entertained with her masterly interpretation of the popular comedy-drama, Polly of the Circus.
The play gave Miss Barton full scope for her marvelous histrionic powers, and for nearly two hours she played at will upon the emotions of her audience, carrying them from the deepest shadows of pathos to the sunshine of comedy.
The play contains good, moral lessons, and in the hands of such an artist as Miss Barton, it proves to be a most helpful and entertaining reading.  This was the reader's fifth appearance in Conneaut, and we hope it may not be her last.—

Conneaut (O.) Evening News.


Power of delineation of character, splendid presentation of details, delicacy of finish, combine with a graceful and magnetic presence to make Miss Barton's work as a dramatic reader above the usual standard.—
Warren (Pa.) Mirror.


Miss Barton easily takes place with the best that ever came to this city.—
Cleveland (O.) Leader.


Yesterday afternoon at the Y. M. C. A. men's meeting at the Oliver Theatre the audience was entertained by Miss Bess Edith Barton, a reader of note.  The reading, which was Miss Barton's own arrangement of Henry Van Dyke's masterpiece, The Lost Word, was given in a natural and thoroughly artistic manner.  Her large audience listened in rapt attention, and as she reached the intensely emotional climax there was scarcely a dry eye in the house.  The story and lesson of this great book was brought home to each heart in a most convincing way, and with a sympathy and earnestness that showed the heart of the reader was in her work.  This was one of the most successful meetings of the year.—
Lincoln (Neb.) State Journal.


During the two hours that Miss Barton required for her interpretation of the play, she held the closest attention of every person in the large audience.  With an entire forgetfulness of self, she gave the reading with a keen appreciation of the exquisite beauty, pathos and humor of the drama.  Her portrayal of the characters of the play was so real as to proclaim her an impersonator of very unusual talent.—
Olean (N. Y.) Times.


The speaker proved to be of very pleasing personality, the story she told was one of absorbing interest, and the manner of the telling showed the capabilities and finished work of a great reader.  To say that the audience was pleased would be putting it mildly.—
Franklin (Pa.) Venango Daily Herald.


Before a large and select audience Monday evening Miss Bess Edith Barton read Tennyson's Enoch Arden, with the Strauss musical setting.
Miss Barton has gained an enviable reputation as a reader of note in many of the large cities, and in this her home city she is looked upon with proud eyes as an artist whose ability even excels her reputation.
Her first reading of this beautiful music-drama before an Erie audience was looked forward to with interest, and it proved even a greater success than was anticipated.  Her interpretation was true in the conception of each detail and her portrayal was magnetic and vivid.  The audience gave the reader and her accompanist an ovation at the close.—

Erie (Pa.) Daily Times.


The first of a series of three popular entertainments was given last evening before a large audience at the Monroe Avenue Church.
The entertainment, which was in the nature of a dramatic recital by Miss Bess Edith Barton, was of a very high order of merit.  Miss Barton is an actress in the highest sense of the term.  With no accessories of scenery, and with an utter absence of the glamour of the stage, she succeeded in portraying the deepest and most profound tragedy and the lightest and fluffiest of comedy.  Gifted with rare personal attractions, she showed great natural talent, cultivated and trained to a very high degree.
The entire absence of the self-consciousness which sometimes detracts from the work of the monologist, was a surprise, no less than a source of gratification, to an unusually critical audience.—

Rochester (N. Y.) Democrat and Chronicle.



At two o'clock Miss Barton gave the Binghamton Winter Chautauqua audience of over two thousand people an excellent interpretation of Henry Van Dyke's masterpiece, The Lost Word.  Miss Barton had greatly pleased the patrons of the Chautauqua Wednesday afternoon and evening, but her rendition of this great work gave full scope to her genius.  For one hour she held the rapt attention of the great audience.—
Binghamton (N. Y.) Evening Herald.

My dear Miss Barton,—

It is hard for us to forget the afternoon and evening you spent with us on our platform.  The ease with which you, as a gifted speaker, appealed to the emotions of the audience in rendering Polly of the Circus, was proof that you knew well how to master the many characters and varied dialects, and make them live in the minds of those who expect from the reader today, humor, pathos, and tragedy, all at one time.  We will be glad, indeed, to have you with us next season.

Sincerely yours in the work,
H. Ross McClure, General Secretary., Y. M. C. A., Xenia, O.


Miss Bess Edith Barton strengthened her strong hold on our people, Sunday afternoon, through her dramatic reading of The Lost Word, at the Y. M. C. A.
The magic of her art and the heart interest of the subject so entranced the large audience of men that it required several moments for them to break the spell, and realize that they were not in ancient Antioch.  Her clear, distinct enunciation, absolutely natural manner and singular freedom from affectation adds to the pleasure of hearing her renditions.  She gave Polly of the Circus on Monday evening and evidenced her versatility by impersonating fifteen distinct characters.  We hope to have her give The Shepherd of the Hills at an early date.—

Bradford (O.) Sentinel.


Miss Barton is gifted with fine dramatic ability and a charming personality, which enables her to portray tragedy and comedy in a compelling manner only attained by the foremost of her profession.—
Beaver Valley (Pa.) News.


The dramatic reading of Chas.  Rann Kennedy's great play, The Servant in the House, by Miss Bess Edith Barton in the Y. M. C. A. auditorium last evening was a revelation to Ridgway people.  Miss Barton came heralded from afar, but certainly local lovers of the drama did not expect any such portrayal of this famous masterpiece as it received at the hands of this clever monologist.  With an entire lack of self-consciousness, and apparently forgetful of her audience, Miss Barton depicted the tragedy, pathos and humor of the book in its every phase, and carried her audience with her throughout.—
Ridgway (Pa.) Democrat.


Those present at the dramatic recital given last evening at the Baptist Church by Miss Bess Edith Barton, expressed a high degree of admiration for the work of this highly cultured eastern lady.  It is not often that Hastings is favored with such talent.  Her work showed inspirational genius, cultivated by much training and experience.  Her impersonations were not overdrawn, but showed a knowledge of life in its different phases.—
Hastings (Neb.) Tribune.

I have heard Miss Barton on several occasions, and always with pleasure.  Her manner and rendering of selections of a high order make her one of our most pleasing readers, while those of us who know her find an added charm in the excellent character that lies behind all her work.  She deserves most cordial appreciation.—Andrew C. Ellis, D. D., Pastor Trinity M. E. Church, Oil City, Pa.


Miss Barton is a reader of exceptional grace and cleverness.  Her selections were given with the original touch, which few readers attain.  The appreciation of the audience was shown by their repeated calls for encores.—
Youngstown (O.) Telegram.


Miss Barton ranks with the best of her profession in the east, and those who were fortunate enough to hear her here, loudly proclaim her excellence, and count her the finest reader they have heard in the west.  Her program included the dramatic, humorous, pathetic, and rural selections and each number was a treat and thoroughly appreciated by the large audience.—
Evans (Colo.) Courier.


Miss Barton has been voted the cleverest woman in her line ever heard here.  Her original program of reading was greatly appreciated by those present.  It is likely that she will be asked to return here in the near future and give another entertainment, at which time she is assured of a much larger attendance.—
Sharon (Pa.) Herald.


Miss Barton is undoubtedly an artist of great ability.  For two hours she held the undivided attention of the large audience, and with the exception of three minutes was before the audience reading the entire time.
The subject of her reading was a most appropriate one for a Sunday afternoon gathering.  The Servant in the House is indeed in itself a sermon, and teaches forcefully many great truths and useful lessons.  No one could hear Miss Barton's splendid presentation of this excellent theme and not have received a spiritual and moral uplift.
The Y. M. C. A. committee has arranged to have Miss Barton return to Tarentum next spring for another engagement.—

Tarentum (Pa.) Valley News.

The program of readings by Miss Bess Edith Barton, given last evening under the auspices of Eden Lodge, I. O. O. F., was one deserving very high commendation.  The reader has a good and well modulated voice, a natural, graceful and pleasing presence and manner, and her reading is sufficiently, though not extravagantly, dramatical.  There was a happy variety in the numbers rendered, the grave and the humorous being finely intermingled, and all in the best of taste.  In Irish dialect Miss Barton would be hard to excel.  Indeed, there was not an uninteresting number or a dull moment in the entire evening's entertainment.  Nothing more clever and enjoyable has been presented here in recent years.—S. F. Marks, Pastor Presbyterian Church, Tidioute, Pa.

Miss Barton's reading of Henry Van Dyke's The Lost Word at one of our meetings last year was of real worth.  The large audience present expressed themselves as one person, saying it was one of the best meetings they had ever attended, and also hoping that we would arrange for another meeting with Miss Barton to give another one of her good readings.

Very truly yours,
Otto Largent, General Secretary, Y. M. C. A., Lorain, Ohio.



A few of the many other places where Miss Barton has appeared, showing number of times

Akron, O. (3)
Ashtabula, O. (3)
Bradford, Pa. (2)
Clarion, Pa.
Corry, Pa.
Cleveland, O. (6)
Conneautville, Pa. (5)
Cuba, N. Y.
Denver, Colo.
Du Bois, Pa.
Dawson, Pa. (2)
Dalton, O.
De Graffe, O.
Epworth Park Chautauqua, O.
Edinboro, Pa. (4)
Elyria, O.
Hillsville, Pa. (3)
Hoytville, O.
Jamestown, N. Y. (9)
Johnsonburg, Pa. (2)
Kane, Pa. (4)
Knox, Pa. (3)
Lakeside Chautauqua, N. Y. (3)
Millersburg, Ind.
Mentor, O.
Marshallville, O.
New Carlisle, O.
North East, Pa. (5)
Osnaburg, O. (2)
Philadelphia, Pa.
Panama, N. Y. (2)
Pikeville, Ky.
Rochester, Pa. (3)
Ripley, N. Y. (3)
Salamanca, N. Y. (2)
Scio, O.
Stoneboro, Pa. (4)
Sandy Lake, Pa. (3)
Strongsville, O.
Sheffield, Pa. (5)
Sugar Grove, Pa. (2)
Tallmadge, O.
Union City, Pa. (3)
Willoughby, O.
West Liberty, O.





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MISS BESS BARTON Interpretive Recitals



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MISS BESS BARTON

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