John Duxbury

              Figure

John Duxbury




JOHN - DUXBURY - ENGLAND'S - GREATEST - READER



An Appreciation



I
N THE PERSON of Professor John Duxbury we are presenting to Lyceum committees England's greatest Reader.  His first American-Canadian tour was undertaken five years ago.  So immediate was America's approval given to his work, and so insistent the demands for his recall, that he enters this coming season upon his fourth series of American engagements.




To his profession, Prof. Duxbury brings gifts, training, platform experience of an exceptional character, which enable one to account alike for the professional eminence he has attained and for the universal admiration which has been accorded him.  Among the many honors that have come to him in the United Kingdom, Prof. Duxbury has held the following positions:  Professor of Elocution, Lancashire Independent College; Professor of Reading and Expression, Primitive Methodist College for all England; Professor of Elocution, Baptist Church College, Brighton Grove; Tutor in Elocution, Methodist Free Church College, Manchester; Founder and Director of the School of Elocution, Manchester; Director of Studies in Elocution, Victoria University, Manchester.




By the English methods of selection, such positions can only be obtained in that country, not alone by men of sterling character and distinguished artistic achievements, but by men who combine as well a high degree of scholarship and a wide acquaintance with Literature.




As an Impersonator of Sacred Stories,—
The Story of Prince Jonathan,
 
The Book of Job,
 etc.,—Prof. Duxbury is famous the world over.  Yet he brings to the secular department the same interpretive ability, mastery, genius, that characterize him in the sacred field.  The key-note of his art is 
thoroughness,
 while his characterizations are accomplished seemingly without effort.  There is a charm to his simple style and his unaffected manner that is refreshing.  With the fine insight of a poetic temperament, Prof. Duxbury divines the author's purpose, and then with faithfulness, discrimination and rare dramatic instinct all human emotions are portrayed.  It is a finished and flawless picture that is presented to the audience, the product of England's most finished workman, her greatest Interpretive Artist.




Exclusive American Management
 THE COIT LYCEUM BUREAU, 
Cleveland, O.





Notices from 
America & Abroad



A Recital at Sea.


—A correspondent of a New York Daily on board the s.s. Tunisian writes:—
Mr. John Duxbury, of Manchester, England, recited the major portion of the 'Book of Job' to a ship load of passengers last Sunday evening at sea.  The first saloon writing room was filled with a cosmopolitan crowd from Canada and the United States, a Canadian rifle team bound for the Bisley ranges, a commission of farmers from the provinces on the way to investigate the capture of the bacon market by the Danes, American tourists en route for Rome, a Montreal ironmaster, a Congregational minister from the States, and a French priest from Quebec going to London to learn English.  It was the first Sunday night out from Montreal.  The ship was creeping over the banks of Newfoundland in ice and fog.  The isolation and the danger gave a fine atmosphere.  The novelty of Mr. Duxbury's work lies in his impersonation.  He both speaks and acts the various parts.  Eliphaz is a doughty doctor of divinity, with a long system of theology and a short stock of patience.  Bildad is an M. P. with a high thin voice, keen and sarcastic, a wily debater, and a formidable antagonist.  Zophar is a Yorkshire farmer, old, bent, blunt, narrow, conservative as a Tory, and unyielding as Gibraltar, knowing a few things, impatient of contradiction as a sea captain.  Mr. Duxbury's portrayal of this style is superb.  Elihu is a young theologue, with the cocksureness of youth, counting off his well learned points on his fingers.  The growth of Job's faith was finely depicted in voice and manner up to the climax, where he cries, 'He knoweth the way I take.  When He hath tried me I shall come forth as gold.'  The spiritual climax of interest and feeling in the mixed audience was remarkable.  The hush over all and the rapt look in every face were like those at the close of a sermon among a body of worshippers at church.  It was a splendid tribute to the possibilities of the English Bible in the hands of a master of expression and portrayal.
  The writer, who happens never to have met Mr. Duxbury on any of his three visits to the United States, counts this as the most unique and memorable of many Sunday evenings at sea.




From the Methodist Conference, Assembled in Toronto.


—We rejoice that his splendid vocal abilities and great histrionic powers have been consecrated to the noblest uses in setting forth the great messages of truth contained in God's Word.  His Recital has given us great delight, instruction and inspiration.




Boston Evening Transcript.


—It is not often that an Englishman comes to this country and ingratiates himself so quickly and surely into the favor of the churches generally as has Professor John Duxbury, the Scripture Reciter.  Some pastors have substituted his readings for a regular church service.  Professionalism is so conspicuously absent, and the desire to help people so evident, that his work may well be counted amongst the most influential religious forces of the day.




Right Rev.  The Lord Bishop of Burnley (Dr. Pearson).


—I have pleasure in expressing warm appreciation of the Recitations which Mr. John Duxbury gave in my schoolroom last Tuesday evening.  His rendering of the beautiful poem of 
Enoch Arden
 by Tennyson, was in every way admirable, and marked by intense sympathy.  By the wisdom of his selections, and his freedom from an over-declamatory style, he lifts the art of elocution to a very high level.





Programs



Dr. Jekyll 
& Mr.
 Hyde (Stevenson)


Christmas Carol (Dickens)


Enoch 
A
rden (Tennyson)


Parsifal


Evangeline (Longfellow)


Story 
of
 Prince Jonathan (Ewing)


The
 Book 
of
 Job


Pilgrim's Progress (Bunyan)


Paradise Lost (Milton)


The
 Book 
of
 the Revelation




Miscellaneous
 Programs







JOHN DUXBURY - 
Reader
 Notices from 
America & Abroad



Manchester, England.
—Prof. Duxbury's career is a striking instance of concentration, the devotion of one's whole time and energy to a particular field of labor.  He brings to the work he does the combined results of culture, great poetic appreciation and real earnestness, and it is this, together with a strong endeavor to reach a high standard of excellence, that has raised him to the unique position he now occupies in the elocutionary world.  His recital of 
The Book of Job
 was a daring and ambitious venture; but the success of the piece was assured from the first presentation.  It has not only prepared the way for his later scriptural interpretations, but has given an impetus to many other reciters, who are taking the same line of work.  Although he has given thousands of recitals at most of the best known Churches and Literary Societies in the United Kingdom, many theological students in the North of England claim him as their teacher of Elocution.  In 1902 he was appointed Professor of Elocution at the Lancashire Independent College; and shortly afterwards the Primitive Methodist College for all England engaged him to take the students for Reading and Expression.  In the spring of 1903 he accepted a similar position at Brighton Grove Baptist College, and six months later he became Tutor in Elocution at the Methodist Free Church College in Manchester.  In March 1907 he established the Manchester School of Elocution, which quickly ran up a membership of a hundred students; and in the following year was appointed Director of Studies in Elocution at the Victoria University of Manchester.  During his last American visit of three months he was engaged every evening, with only four exceptions.  Perhaps his most inspiring experience was his last meeting in New York, when he recited to a congregation of twelve hundred men—ministers and laymen, the leaders of American Methodist thought and labor.  Among the greatest compliments paid him are two important engagements for next year; a series of fifty recitals for the United States Chautauqua Circle, and a series of recitals of 
The Story of Joseph,
 for a number of Jewish Societies also in the United States.—


Chronicle.




Rev. J. M. Buckley, D. D.,
 Editor of the New York 
Christian Advocate.
—
Professor John Duxbury, of whose career in England we had heard fine things, recited 
The Book of Job
 before our Ministers' Meeting.  We had the pleasure of hearing him, and all that we had heard was confirmed.  In voice, manner, appreciation and realization of the different characters, lofty themes, and sharp transitions which compose that wondrous drama, he excelled.  He can be strongly … recommended to Churches, Y. M. C. A.'s, Chautauquas and Colleges.  His memory alone is a phenomenon, and his ease an enviable possession.




Rev. R. N. Burns, B. A., D. D.,
 Ex-President of the Methodist Conference, Toronto, Canada.—
An unusual break in our Conference business took place at its last session when Mr. John Duxbury, of England, on invitation recited the 
Book of Job
 and a selection from Dickens' Christmas Carol.  All present felt his power as a wonderful interpreter of truth.  Mr. Duxbury received a great ovation when he concluded.




John H. Vincent, Chancellor, Chautauqua, N. Y.
—
Professor John Duxbury, of Manchester, England, greatly entertained, instructed and inspired our large audiences in the amphitheatre at Chautauqua by his effective recitals of the 
Book of Job.
  He held the attention of the great assemblies for an hour as he thus echoed the wisdom and goodness of God as set forth in the great drama from the Library of Divine Revelation.




Booker T. Washington.
—
I know Professor John Duxbury and have heard him read 
The Book of the Revelation.
  I consider his recital unique and fine.  He will interest, please and instruct any audience before whom he appears.  To me it has been a pleasure to know and meet Mr. Duxbury; for his work is much out of the ordinary.




Rev. F. B. Meyer, B. A.,
 late of Christ Church, Westminster Road, London, and Ex-President of the Baptist Union.—
Mr. John Duxbury has spent three or four days with us to our great enjoyment.  His perfect mastery of the art of Elocution, his magnificent voice, his devout Christian character, inspired great interest in his fine Scriptural recitals, whilst his ability in miscellaneous pieces (grave and humorous) greatly pleased and fascinated our young people.




Rev. J. H. Jowett, M. A.,
 of Carr's Lane, Birmingham, and Ex-President of the Congregational Union.—
I am very glad to send a word of testimony as to my own deep appreciation of the work Mr. John Duxbury is doing for the Churches.  His two visits to Carr's Lane during the last twelve months, when he recited 
The Book of Job
 and 
The Story of Prince Jonathan,
 not only gave my people great delight, but have, I am sure, created and deepened a vital interest in the word of God.




Rev. Dr. Cadman, of Brooklyn.
—
I can heartily recommend him to my brethren of the churches as a reverent and beautiful interpreter of the Holy Scriptures and of the Masters.




THE BRITTON PRINTING CO., CLEVELAND. OHIO