Edmund Vance Cooke

              Pot Luck with a poet etc.


Edmund Vance Cooke
DEALER IN
(AND DEALER OUT OF)
RIME AND REASON   SENSE AND SENTIMENT
PHILOSOPHY AND PHOOLERY



The Man Who Wrote

Chronicles of The Little Tot
Rimes to be Read
Impertinent Poems
A Patch of Pansies Etc.




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The Man Who Gives

Pot Luck with A Poet
Impertinent Poems and Others
Little Tot Poems and Prose Sketches
Just Between You and Me Etc.



EXCLUSIVE MANAGEMENT IN SOUTH
C. H. MOONEY, Pres. & Gen. Mgr.   R. A. CARSON, Sec. & Treas.

NEW DIXIE LYCEUM BUREAU
M. C. TURNER,
Vice-Pres. & Mgr. Dallas, Texas, Office.
Main Office, COLUMBUS, MISS.




ABOUT THE MAN
By JOE MITCHELL CHAPPLE in NATIONAL MAGAZINE, January, 1906

HUMAN NATURE.  It is human nature to like to discover people for ourselves.  In a dim, hazy way the name of Edmund Vance Cooke as a contributor to magazines and as a poet had long been familiar to me, but one day I ran upon a bit of verse entitled, How Did You Die?  It opened with the lines:

Did you tackle that trouble that came your way With a resolute heart and cheerful?

This appealed to me at once, just as it has to thousands of other readers, and I studied the three verses through carefully.

Now, I often find in reading verses of this sort than one is not merely interested in the poem—which soon becomes a part of our very selves—but we feel a sort of personal friendship for the author.  Though I felt acquainted with Mr. Cooke, it was not until the days at the St. Louis Exposition that I had the pleasure of meeting him, at a gathering of the National Editorial Association where he recited a number of his poems, and there was not a man there, I believe, who would not cheerfully have sacrificed his own opportunity to air his views in order to hear Mr. Cooke recite just one more selection.

Edmund Vance Cooke is one of the young poet-philosophers who have made a prominent name in American literature.  He has a pleasing personality, both in the social circle and on the platform as a lecturer.  In this latter capacity his work as an entertainer has been most satisfactory, for he is an inimitable actor.  Who can ever forget his recitation of the experience of putting the baby to sleep.  It goes right to the heart's core of every father and mother who hears it.

Mr. Cooke is now president of the International Lyceum Association and it is gratifying to know that lyceum and plat form work are well represented by this organization and its worthy president.  Mr. Cooke's lecture, Pot Luck with a Poet, is one of the most popular in lyceum courses, and his books of verse have won a place in the homes of the people well deserved by one of our happiest and healthiest poets.

Though Mr. Cooke is a poet, he can not be accused of adopting any of the mannerisms of the tuneful brethren, and he certainly does not wear long hair, as the accompanying portrait proves.  Here the brow of the philosopher is plainly seen.  His mobile mouth and sparkling eyes reveal the mirth of minstrelsy and the flash of thought, while the firm chin tells of the thoroughness and accuracy that are his characteristics.

Edmund Vance Cooke is nothing if not original, and has won the friendship and admiration of all who have ever come into contact with him.  It was Bill Nye who paid him the tribute of saying that Mr. Cooke had touched his old heart and made him a better man.  What more glorious mission could be found for a philosopher?  Who is more beloved than the man who makes us feel better and more in tune with our best selves?  We value the friends who have always an inspiring word far more than those who try to scold us into the right path.

The contributions of this writer have appeared in nearly every periodical in the country, and Mr. Cooke's volumes are becoming increasingly popular.  The Chronicles of the Little Tot reached its fourth edition in three months, while his other volumes have been equally successful.  It is probable that such poems as The Little Boy Who Left Us have done more than many sermons for the elevation of the people.

Born in Canada, Mr. Cooke has become thoroughly Yankeeized, according to his own statement.  His literary career began at the early age of fourteen, when Eddy Cooke was his name, and the Golden Days received his first contribution, which in due time brought in his first check.  Mr. Cooke has always preserved his kindly, thoughtful ways, has a frank, genial belief in the best that is in human nature.  His creed is just to make people feel better.  Hail to Edmund Cooke!




ABOUT HIS PROGRAM
AHANDFUL picked from the wilderness of press comments, printed here as an evidence of good faith, but which nobody is expected to read.


He scored a great success.—
Baltimore Sun.


Marked by a breezy originality.—
Syracuse Standard.


Exquisite in anything he attempts.—
Urbana (Ill.) Courier.


He was in constant favor every moment.—
Utica Observer.


Edmund Vance Cooke scored a triumph.—
Cleveland Press.


His work is distinctly clever.—
Louisville Courier-Journal.


Poems and renditions were both charming.—
Norfolk (Va.) Pilot.


He kept the audience laughing all the evening.—
Nashville Banner.


A poet of rare power and brightest promise.—
Cleveland Plain Dealer.


Uproarious applause recalled him again and again.—
Nashville American.


He has not been equaled in this city for many a day.—
Sedalia (Mo.) Capital.


A delicate and subtle, but none the less irresistible genius.—
Buffalo Courier.


As a pure and simple entertainment it was a great success.—
Ft. Worth Register.


Mr. Cooke is always original.  He says things in a vigorous way.—
St. Paul Dispatch.


The celebrated poet-humorist displayed rare merit and ability.—
Richmond (Va.) Dispatch.


Exceedingly clever and a sure cure for a fit of the blues.—
Portland (Ore.) Evening Telegram.


Poved to be all that had been said of him in the Western journals.—
Brooklyn Standard-Union.


The evening was one that will long be remembered by those present.—
Jacksonville (Ill.) Courier.


Head and shoulders above any entertainer ever seen in our city.—
Wilmington (N. C.) Messenger.


A poet of rare ability and unusual cleverness.  Mr. Cooke is really a genius.—
New York American.


Mr. Cooke makes some center shots with his rhymes, but his sharts are never malicious.—
Los Angeles Herald.


Mr. Cooke is a born comedian.  Reduced his hearers to helpless laughter.—
Richmond Palladium.


Sounded all the shoals and depths of human sentiment, pathos, and wisdom.—
Seattle Post-Intelligencer.


The poems of Mr. Cooke are full of breezy philosophy and good-natured hits at human foibles.—
Pittsburg Gazette.


Pot Luck With a Poet proved a generous hospitality.  The audience was carried away.—
Des Moines News.


He possesses a gay agility in the management of meter and rhyme and a fertility of mirthful ideas.—
Toronto Globe.


Mr. Cooke is one of the most popular platform entertainers and reads from his own poems only.—
Chicago Examiner.


Mr. Cooke ranks with Riley as a humorist and poet, but has a style which is peculiar to himself.—
Waco Times-Herald.


There was no one in the audience who would not gladly have listened two hours longer.—
Charleston Daily Mail-Tribune.


Delightfully unique, highly original, and different from anything ever given in the Star Course before.—
Harrisburg Star-Independent.


His recitation of his works is so good that it is safe to say no one will be able to excel him in their interpretation.—
Topeka State-Journal.


Edmund Vance Cooke has become prominent because of the bright style and genial humor that animates his pen.—
Los Angeles Express.


Mr. Cooke's ability in devising odd forms of versification is truly Gilbertian, and he has a fine sense of rhythm.—
Milwaukee Sentinel.


Mr. Cooke has the advantage of being an accomplished actor and recites his poems with a fine and natural art.—
Detroit Evening News.


The good impression made by his Pot Luck with a Poet was increased by last night's performance.—
San Antonio (Tex.) Daily Express.


Mr. Cooke's work places him in that exclusive class whose number can be counted on the fingers of one hand.—
(Lincoln) Nebraska State Journal.


Mr. Cooke is poet, author, and impersonator.  His impersonations are fine.  Each individual stood out and became an interesting character.—
Chattanooga Times.


Mr. Cooke is a poet of much cleverness and versatility.  As a reader and impersonater he is the peer of any man on the lecture platform.—
Albany (N. Y.) Journal.


Mr. Cooke is little less than a wonder.  The only objection made to his entertainment was that it was too short, though it continued nearly two hours.—
Charleston (W. Va.) Daily Mail-Tribune.


Something of Riley, something of Field, nor is there lacking the keenness of Twain, yet, unlike any of them, he is the original Cooke, poet, entertainer, and philosopher.—
Beloit (Wis.) Free Press.


Those who availed themselves of the opportunity of the visit to this city of the great poet and impersonator enjoyed themselves immensely.  Kept his audience in roars of laughter.—
Vancouver (B. C.) News-Advertiser.





EN then they ast me how'd I like to come
En leave my papa's house en live with thum?
En one day Mr. Fred that comes to take
My aunt to the'ters en who gits more cake
Than I git, ever' supper-time, when he
Is ast by her en ma to stay to tea,
He ast me that en I says 'No, I can't,
But if you want some one reel much, why ast my aunt!'

—From When Folks Come T' Our House, in Mr. Cooke's volume, Chronicles of the Little Tot.


OTTO sought to auto on the auto as he ought to,
But the auto sought to auto as Otto never thought to;
Then Otto he got hot, O, very hot, as he ought not to,
And Otto said, 'This auto ought to auto and it's got to!'
So Otto fought the auto and the auto it fought Otto,
Till the auto also got too hot to auto as it ought to
And then, Great Scott!  that auto shot to heaven—so did Otto—
Where Otto's auto autos now as Otto's auto ought to!

—From Otto and the Auto, in Mr. Cooke's volume, Rimes to be Read.


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EDMUND VANCE COOKE AS HOST AND GUESTS IN HIS ORIGINAL EVENING, POT LUCK WITH A POET.

ARE you singing in the chorus?  Do you want to be a star?  Plug!
You may think that you're a genius, but I do n't believe you are, So Plug!
Oh, you'll hear of this or that one who was born without a name,
Who slept eleven hours a day and dreamed the way to fame,
Who simply could n't push it off so rapidly it came, But Plug.

—From Plug, in Mr. Cooke's volume, Impertinent Poems.


HERE'S a motto, just your fit—
Laugh a little bit;
Keep your face with sunshine lit,
Laugh a little bit.


LITTLE ills will sure betide you,
Fortune may not sit beside you,
Men may mock and fame deride you,
But you'll mind them not a whit.
If you have the grit and wit
Just to laugh a little bit.

—From Laugh a Little Bit, in Mr. Cooke's volume, A Patch of Pansies.




About His Books

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Chronicles of the Little Tot
FIFTY-SIX OF MR. COOKE'S POEMS OF CHILDHOOD
in a volume of 128 pages, printed on antique paper, finely bound, and illustrated in colors.  $1.50 in cloth, $2.00 in leather.
Good enough for a gift   Good enough to keep




THE things which the true poet writes come to him by the grace of God, and of them all there is nothing better than love and understanding of children.  That can not be taught or acquired.  It has to be born with him.  Cooke has it.
There's plenty of fun in the book.  You will laugh at that.  But the teans will come to your eyes when you reach the poems that are grouped under In Remembrance.
I cried and I am proud of it.—

Sage, in The Cleveland Leader.


A well-known critic has compared the verse to Stevenson's and Field's.  There is a spontaneity to the humor, a touching realism in the pathos, and a pervasive beauty in the sentiments that raise this collection of Mr. Cooke's verse to heights seldom attained, even by the poets referred to.—
New York American.


His work is taking the place once occupied by Riley's child poems and by Field's, and has a breadth and power not expressed by the majority of scribblers of child verse.—
The Evening News.


I was touched beyond expression by the beauty of the poem (The Little Boy who Left Us).  I know of nothing better in American literature, and I have never said this before to any writer.—
Alice Thatcher Post.


The poetry seems to me to stand out from the mass of current verse, both in its insight into childhood and in its charming form.  I should rank the best of it with the work of Stevenson and Field.—
Edward Howard Griggs.


Why did n't you put the last five poems in a book by themselves?  Of all the present-day yerse with which I am familiar, I can not recall five poems that approach these, and I am quite content to wrap The Little Boy Who Left Us in the lavender of love and lay it away with The Dandelion, The Chambered Nautilus, and Little Boy Blue.  It towers above adjectives; it passes words in its sure journey to the heart.—
Leigh Mitchell Hodges.


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Dodge Publishing Co. 40–42 East Nineteenth St. New York






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Rimes to be Read
Sixty-one of Mr. Cooke's recitable poems in a volume of 166 pages, printed on antique paper, handsomely bound. $1.50, cloth.  $2.00, leather.

Good enough for a gift.
Good enough to keep.

DODGE PUBLISHING COMPANY, 40–42 E. 19th ST., NEW YORK.




Some of them (Mr. Cooke's verses) are sober and discreet and some of them are very comical; they grin, they laugh, they smile a quiet smile.  Some are very soft, sweet, delicate things.  Then there are some of deeper color.  But the most are gay conceits, bright, witty, rollicking, and what is best, without any bitterness, any cynicism.—
Christian Register (Boston.)


A most readable volume.—
Washington (D. C.) Post.


One of our happiest poets.  Mr. Cooke has the gift of brevity, the curiosa felicitas, the cleverness of wit, and the brightness necessary to swift sketching in verse.—
The Independent (N. Y. City.)


An American production of far greater cosmopolitan interest than the average transatlantic verse.—
London (Eng.) Literary World.


Poems full of cleverness.—
New York Sun.



Impertinent Poems
A score of Mr. Cooke's characteristic poems in a volume of 77 pages, handsomely printed, with cover design by Alton Packard. 75 cents.

Good enough for a gift.
Good enough to keep.

FORBES & CO., PUBLISHERS, BOX 464, CHICAGO, ILL.


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Cleverness incarnate, more than clever!—
Philadelphia Telegram.


It is a wise little book, full of many bright sayings.—
Boston Transcript.


After reading them, we say, Give us more of your 'Impertinence!'—
Chicago Tribune.


They certainly do not lack pertinence of the most poignant kind.  Condoning our faults and pardoning our supposed virtues, he has picked up a number of universal human foibles and done them into a swinging, rugged sort of verse, not at all excluding himself from the general implication.  And yet Mr. Cooke does not think that the whole world is a cheat and a lie, or that the entire order of things is reversed and topsy-turvy; and in spite of the flippancy of their tone, there is a great deal of good, hard Occidental common sense and not a little sterling courage in these Poems.—
Chicago Evening Post.




A scant half-score that you may read 'em; A thousand more, if you mould heed 'em.

Ohio Poet Gives Pleasing Recital — Audience Delighted with Readings of Edmund Vance Cooke.

Edmund Vance Cooke, the Ohio poet, came to Salt Lake almost a stranger, that is, as a reader, but perhaps no one has ever made more friends for himself in a single evening than did Mr. Cooke last night.  The quaint humor, the exquisite pathos and the stirring note which sounded through the various readings given aroused the greatest admiration among those who heard — not for their beauty alone, but for the very admirable way in which they were presented.
There was a newness about Mr. Cooke's readings, too, which was altogether refreshing, and the evening was enjoyable on this account if for no other.
Of the humorous readings, perhaps the one that created the greatest amusement was, The, Young Man Waited.  In this Mr. Cooke portrays the actions of a girl making herself ready for the theater, while the young man calmly waits below.  His actions are excruciatingly funny and the audience sat convulsed during the entire recital.  Other poems of the same type were Bobby's Besetting Sin, At the Concert, Folks 'at Come t' our House, and The Moo, Cow, Moo, while the philosophizing of the German optimist, the English pessimist, and the French savant were exceedingly clever.  The pathos of the domestic dialect poem, Going Home to Mother, brought tears to many eyes, and the hearty ring of the greeting, I'm Glad to See You, and Plug touched a responsive cord in every heart.  The Hero of the Hill, The Red Cross Nurse, The Story of Old Glory, and How Did You Die, were stirring selections indeed, and each was received with tremendous applause.—

Salt Lake Tribune.



Edmund Vance Cooke Good in Recitals and Impersonations — Ohio Poet Captured Y. M. C. A. Audience.

A good sized audience greeted the Ohio poet, Edmund Vance Cooke, of Cleveland, who presented the second entertainment of Association Courses last evening at the Y. M. C. A.
Mr. Cooke charmed his audience with a carefully selected list of choice bits of verse from his own pen.  His Bobby's Besetting Sin, How they Heard La Prima Sing, The Hero of the Hill, Moo, Cow, Moo, and The Young Man Waited, were especially well received.
His numbers were well chosen to illustrate the delightful versatility of Mr. Cooke as a poet.  His impersonations were clever in the extreme, in fact, he takes rank with the best reciters who have appeared here.—

Trenton, N. J., Times.



Edmund Vance Cooke Entertains Large Crowd.

By reciting funny verse in a funny way, and songs of sentiment in an effective way, and every kind of verse in a clever way, Edmund Vance Cooke gave a large audience in Central Presbyterian Church last evening a very enjoyable hour and a halt's entertainment, and probably every one was genuinely sorry when Mr. Cooke finished.  The attraction was one of a series which the Christian Endeavor Society is giving this winter, and besides being enjoyable for the audience, was a financial success for the Society.  Mr. Cooke is especially gifted in the imitation of children's speech and antics, and his rendition of At the Concert and Folks 'at Come t' our House was exceptionally amusing.—
Denver Rocky Mountain News.



Edmund Vance Cooke Pleases His Audience.

Edmund Vance Cooke, the humorous poet-philosopher, was the attraction of the Young Men's Christian Association course and delighted a good-sized audience at Boyd's, Monday evening.  Mr. Cooke recites his own writings only, but there was no lack of diversity.  While much of his clever work, both prose and verse, has appeared in the magazines and is more or less familiar to the reading public, it comes again with almost a sense of novelty as presented by the author.  Mr. Cooke is not merely the head of a verse factory, but is a gifted and versatile impersonator as well as greatly accomplished in dramatic art.  It is not every poet who can, unaided, satisfy an audience with his writings for an entire evening, but Edmund Vance Cooke is such a one, and the time passed too soon.—
Omaha World-Herald.



Edmund Cooke, the Ohio Poet, Delighted a Large Audience Friday Evening.

A poet in readings from his own poems usually means a stilted and ill-at-ease person who reads indifferently and whose expression leaves everything to be desired.  Mr. Cooke has the happy and uncommon faculty for getting into the skin of the character he wishes to picture.
He is the old man agape at the modern marvels of Nathan's Flat; the gloomy Bobby who hates to wash his neck; the wanderer, going home to mother; the optimistic German; the pessimistic Englishman, and the Frenchman bewildered by our fearful and wonderful language.  He was the baby describing the moo cow; the impatient young man who waited; the maddening young woman who made him wait while she loitered over her toilet.  Each character was made luminous with a rare expression in facial play and vocal inflection.—

Toledo, O., Courier-Journal.



Finds His Own Sunshine—Edmund Vance Cooke Entertains with Fund of Original and Genial Humor.

Edmund Vance Cooke entertained a large audience Friday evening with a program from his own works.
Mr. Cooke has been entertaining people for years, but he has kept his wits so closely at work, and his pen so busy, that he has a new program every year if he chooses to employ it.
There is a large amount of genial humor in the poems and stories he has written.  He not only sees the fun in the affairs of life all about him, but he has a pleasing style of telling them in verse, and an inimitable manner in reading them.
Each year his appearance is an event of importance in the course, and means a crowded house.  Incidentally it means an audience of delighted people.—

Cleveland Plain Dealer.


Mr. Cooke is included among the men of letters who are giving America a distinctive literature.  For more than two hours the author of Impertinent Poems and Rimes to be Read swayed the audience, now with broad humor and then with touches of pathos from every-day life.  The entertainment was highly successful, and at the close Mr. Cooke held a formal reception in the hall.—
Tacoma, Wash., Ledger.



Pot Luck With a Poet—Feast of Wit and Sentiment Provided by Edmund Vance Cooke Last Friday Evening.

Assembly Hall was filled to its utmost capacity, and there surely was never a more enthusiastic gathering, nor a better satisfied audience than those who were fortunate enough to partake of the feast of wit and sentiment which was provided by Edmund Vance Cooke, the justly celebrated Ohio poet, humorist, and philosopher, from his own works.
Mr. Cooke's menu was delightful.
His dialect stories brought forth great applause, and in the next moment his touching pathos, was felt by every listener.  His combination of humor and pathos, with a remarkable dramatic talent made the evening's entertainment seem all too short.
Many quotable bits linger in the memory.—

Bridgewater, Mass., Advertiser.


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POT-LUCK WITH A POET