Walton Pyre

              WALTON PYRE
EMINENT DRAMATIC RECITALIST

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Walton Pyre

Excerpts From Metropolitan Press

New York Telegraph:
Dramatic Virtuoso (Walton Pyre) gives remarkable performance for the Century Theatre Club at Hotel Commodore.


Standard Union, Brooklyn, N. Y.:
Walton Pyre proved himself to be a unique artist who has left no phase of the actor's art undeveloped.  He is a master pantomimist, and capable vocally of revealing every conceivable shade of character and emotion.


Daily Eagle, Brooklyn, N. Y.:
He made a climax of much impressiveness.  There were moments of great dignity in Mr. Pyre's interpretations and also of reserve.


Pittsburgh Dispatch:
'He held his audience spellbound' is about the only way to describe the effect he produced.




Transcontinental Recital Tour of WALTON PYRE, the Distinguished Actor

ANNOUNCEMENT
Walton Pyre, actor and protean artist, is announced as an unusual attraction for all who delight in unusual dramatic entertainment.  He is the authoritative artist having as background an University culture besides a varied stage experience gained in association with the great actors of the generation.

After some years as star at the head of his own attractions Mr. Pyre left the stage to bring his art to the platform and most happy is his transition to this more exacting mode of dramatic presentation.  He has of late been intimately associated with the ART MOVEMENT in the theatre having recently been connected with the new Art Theatre in Chicago, the Goodman Theatre, which is a part of The Chicago Art Institute.  Here Mr. Pyre has recently appeared in prominent roles, with the repertory company maintained there.  He is also at present supervising director of The Walton Pyre School of The Theatre in Chicago.

As recitalist his reputation is national.  He is one of the few platform artists favorably received in New York and other metropolitan centers.

During each of several seasons at the Blackstone, Chicago, Mr. Pyre has presented a series of drama recitals sponsored by the literary and social elect, including such cultural leaders as Mrs. Ogden Armour, Mrs. Potter Palmer, Mrs. Julius Rosenwald, and many others.  In New York, Philadelphia and other metropolitan centers, Mr. Pyre has been acclaimed in superlative terms as pre-eminent in his art.



REPERTOIRE
So versatile is this artist that the demands of practically any occasion can be met in the selection of material for entertainment.  His programs are given from memory and include the following:


FULL PLAY RECITALS

Francesca da Rimini (Boker Version).
Deburau by Sacha Guitry.
Tristan and Iseult by Arthur Symons.
The Falcon by Alfred Lord Tennyson.
The School for Scandal by Richard Brinsley Sheridan.
The Merchant of Venice, The Taming of the Shrew, Othello, Macbeth, Hamlet By Shakespeare



POPULAR RECITALS
These are composed of character sketches and vital dramatic scenes varied and adapted for each occasion.



PLAY REVIEW PROGRAM
A program made up of scenes adapted from the recent successes of New York and Chicago.



RECITALS WITH MUSICAL FEATURES
An extremely novel program and also very popular.  Dramatic and entertaining poetry with musical effects (Accompanist required).



RECITAL FOR MALE GATHERINGS
Popular program from poetry of Rudyard Kipling.




APPRECIATIONS OF WALTON PYRE

Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Walton Pyre made his debut in New York City last night, in Aeolian Hall as a dramatic interpreter of the tragedy of Francesca da Rimini.  An actor by profession, he is equipped with all the technical points of the boards.  As the forward said last night in a leaf of the program: The interpretation of the entire text from memory, the portrayal of all the characters and the suggestion of the various scenes by a single artist, should prove a distinct novelty.
Mr. Pyre is intense in all his work; in his action and manner, and in the interpretation of grief and passion in his speech.  He made a climax of much impressiveness especially in the last act, the part of Pepe, the court fool, was thrown in and out of the tragic weave of the play with a brilliant shuttleplay.  There were moments of great dignity in Mr. Pyre's interpretations and also of reserve.



New York Telegraph
PYRE PLAYS SIX CHARACTERS

Dramatic Virtuoso Gives Remarkable Performance for Century Theatre Club

Depression was read out of tragedy at the February social day of the Century Theatre Club, held yesterday in the ballroom of the Hotel Commodore, where 400 guests and members attended a dramatic presentation of Francesca da Rimini, in five acts, by George Henry Boker.

The club chose Walton Pyre, dramatic virtuoso, to interpret the six characters in the tragedy.

Mr. Pyre, an accomplished pantomimist and the possessor of an adaptable voice, performed on a stage bare except for artistic screens and laid his setting and situations verbally.


New York Journal
Mr. Walton Pyre played The Lord, and it was a pleasure to see that there are a few actors left who can read and act Shakespeare and Mr. Pyre is one of these.


New York Evening Mail
For those who enjoy Dramatic Readings, Walton Pyre who gave Francesca da Rimini last night at Aeolian Hall will be an inspiration.  With a simple background of handsome screens, he acted and depicted all the characters of the play with a lightning like change of voice and expression that almost startled one.  The large audience followed the story to the end with evident enjoyment and pleasure.


Milwaukee Sentinel
In all his interpretations yesterday afternoon, Mr. Pyre's work was marked by a pleasing naturalness and absence of affection.  He has a well rounded sympathetic voice, which is equally effective in pathos, tender sentiment, and powerful outbursts which make heavy demands upon it.


WALTON PYRE
A Great Artist of Both Platform and Stage



Pittsburgh Dispatch
Although it does not come under the head of music, mention should be made of the recital given by the dramatic interpreter, Walton Pyre, at Aeolian Hall, when he presented George Henry Boker's Francesca da Rimini portraying all the characters and suggesting every scene simply through the force of his imagination.  Alone in evening dress, on a stage to which by the use of screens, was given a medieval touch, Mr. Pyre created the atmosphere and the action of the entire play in a manner that was enthralling.  The platitude He held his audience spellbound is about the only way to describe the effect he created.  This form of entertainment, when carried through with Mr. Pyre's artistry, proves much more enjoyable than the majority of the plays given in the theatre these days.


Evanston News-Index
WALTON PYRE ATTAINS HIGH PERFECTION
Walton Pyre attained something near the perfect dramatization when he literally produced Francesca da Rimini himself at yesterday's meeting of the Drama Club of Evanston.  Although he was the sole character of the drama of six acts, he made each personality so individual and conspicuous that after the first announcements it was unnecessary to herald the entrances and exits of the persons he embodied.
And such applause!  When he had finished, he was called back again and again by the enthusiastic audience.  Even after the curtain had been rung down on the final act, the club held its seat and demanded repeated appearances of the artist.



Standard Union, Brooklyn, N. Y.
On a bare stage, set only with artistic screens, this artist brought to life the entire moving drama.  By the mere force of his powerfully trained imagination he peopled the scenes with the characters of the play and reset the stage with palaces, gardens, cathedrals and vast ensembles of courtiers and soldiers.  Walton Pyre proved himself to be a unique artist who has left no phase of the actor's art undeveloped.  He is a master pantomimist, and possessed of a voice so remarkable as to be capable of revealing every conceivable shade of character and emotion.

Walter Pulitzer, N. Y. Dramatic Critic

I attended the performance of Mr. Walton Pyre at Aeolian Hall, and this is but a meager acknowledgment of my appreciation of one of the superbest exhibitions of dramatic histrionism it has ever been my fortune to witness.  Mr. Pyre's rendering of Francesca da Rimini was a veritable tour de force and he ought to become an institution in New York.  I waited breathless to the last thrilling moment of the triple killing.  Someone ought to endow this great artist with a New York theatre.  His work is of the highest educational value and simply cannot be spared.






AS LORD BABBERLY IN CHARLEY'S AUNT



AS BASSANIO IN THE MERCHANT OF VENICE



AS PEPE WITH OTIS SKINNER IN FRANCESCA DA RIMINI



AS MARCUS BRUTUS SNAP IN A NIGHT OFF



AS PERCY MERRILL IN A FOOL AND HIS MONEY



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MR. WALTON PYRE IN SOME OF HIS FAMOUS ROLES



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AS PETRUCHIO IN SHAKESPEARE'S TAMING OF THE SHREW



AS THE SOLDIER IN SEVEN AGES UP TO DATE



AS THE JUDGE IN SEVEN AGES UP TO DATE



AS THE SIXTH AGE IN SEVEN AGES UP TO DATE



AS THE LAST AGE IN SEVEN AGES UP TO DATE



All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages.

—Shakespeare.