Robert Oden Smith of Mississippi: messenger of mirth

              1911
ROBERT ODEN SMITH
OF MISSISSIPPI
MESSENGER OF MIRTH

Figure


In Interesting and Inspiring and Thrilling Recitals

Humor and Pathos The Sublime and Ridiculous



Nature and training and experience have fitted Mr. Smith for the difficult task of portraying almost every type and phase of human nature.  Mr. Smith, by his power of making people laugh, brushes frowns away and drives care from weary brains and sorrow from heavy hearts.  He is welcomed as a spring day.



COMMENDATION FROM DISTINGUISHED LECTURERS

J. G. CAMP
Georgia.
It was my good fortune to hear Mr. Bob Smith in one of his entertainments.  I was never more charmingly and delightfully entertained: An evening with Bob Smith is one of rare pleasures and wholesome fun.  As a character delineator, he is the perfection of the impersonator's art.  Off the state he is a most cultured gentleman and genial companion.



SENATOR ROBT. L. (BOB) TAYLOR
of Tennessee.
Bob Smith is a delight and joy forever—a tear starter and a fun-maker—a most charming entertainer.  Few men get so closely into the heart of the audience.  He is among the foremost humanity lovers, who is chasing care and sorrow off the earth—an enemy to grumps and growlers.  He richly adorns the platform.



HOMER T. WILSON
Superintendent Texas-Colorado Chautauqua.
Mr. Bob Smith is one of the most pleasing entertainers I have ever heard.  It is well to laugh; it does us good; but when the fun comes from a soul whose one desire is to uplift as well as amuse, then the pleasure is great and the benefit unmeasured.  Such a character is the man for whom this is written.



TOM F. McBEATH
of Mississippi.
Bob Smith is a rare genius, such a combination of excellence as nature turns out only when her artist-hand is at its best.  As an interpreter, he is equally at home both in humor and pathos, and is always the master of himself, his subject and his audience.  A brighter, cleaner, more cheery and charming soul was never incased in a human body.



H. M. QUIN
G. K. R. S. of Mississippi.
Bob Smith is an artist in character delineations.  His sketches are not only entertaining but elevating,, and his inimitable way of presentation leaves a good effect.  Wherever he goes he has been asked to make a return engagement, which in itself is indicative of the character of his entertainment.




WORDS OF PRAISE FROM TEACHERS AND PREACHERS

H. M. HART
Principal Spokane High School, Washington.
Mr. Smith was an instantaneous success before our school.  He is one of the best fun-makers to whom I have ever listened.  He is one among many. Mr. Smith succeeds in all he attempts.  I conmend him without reservation.



J. C. HARDY
President A. & M. College, Mississippi.
It is with positive pleas are that I have learned that Mr. Bob Smith is to give his entire time to the platform.  He is eminently fitted for this work, and many a life will be made brighter, happier, and better as a result of this decision on his part.  I commend him without reservation to all lovers of wit and eloquence.



W. C. HOWARD
President Columbia College, Oregon.
Robert Oden Smith gave a recital last night in our city under the auspices of Columbia College.  It was thoroughly appreciated and pronounced excellent by the best critics.  He did not fail to make his point at any time.  I consider him one of the best impersonators I have yet heard.



E. W. VAN AKEN
President Parker College, Winnebago, Minn.
Mr. Robert O. Smith, who gave an entertainment here, was very pleasingly received.  Mr. Smith is especially good in his impersonations of an aged man, a Dutchman, and the small boy.  He kept his audience at a high pitch of interest and proved himself an entertainer.



REV. W M. BAKER
Poplar Bluff, Missouri.
As an impersonator Bob Smith has few equals.  His selections are always of the very best.  He has pathos to bring tears to the cheek, and he has fun to bring smiles and laughter.  Hear him once and you will want to hear him again.



REV. J. E. CARPENTER
Jackson, Mississippi.
I have often witnessed Bob Smith's work as an impersonator.  I would not pass him by to hear anyone it has yet been my privilege to hear.  In his interpretations of old age, and the negro character, he is very felicitous.  In these departments of his work he has few equals—no superiors.




COMMENTS FROM AMERICAN AND CANADIAN PRESS

COLORADO

The Evening Times, Fort Morgan, Colorado.
Bob Smith has won the title of Messenger of Mirth and only those who take time to reflect have any idea of the amount of care he drives away and the rays of sunshine he brings in.  The boys and the girls all enjoyed it and among the old folks there was much weariness of the flesh because of convulsive laughter.



TEXAS

The Dallas (Texas) Morning News.
Bob Smith, humorist and impersonator, highly entertained an audience at the First Methodist Church last night.  He was equally at home in the humorous, the pathetic and the dramatic.  He knows well how to produce effects by alternating the humorous and the pathetic.  Mr. Smith is an artist in his line.



NORTH DAKOTA

Grand Forks (North Dakota) Daily Herald.
Bob Smith, the Southern humorist, entertained a good-sized audience last evening in the Guild Hall of St. Paul's Episcopal Church.  Whether it was in his mirth provoking selections, or those in which pathos predominated, the entertainer swayed his audience at will and all were more than satisfied with the program.



ALBERTA

Morning Journal, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
A couple of hours crammed full with wholesome wit and humor, was what Bob Smith supplied a large crowd with last evening.  Rhymes from James Whitcomb Riley, and selections from the pens of other great and popular humorists followed each other in rapid succession, drawing from the audience rounds of applause amid their uncontrollable merriment.



ALABAMA

Mobile (Alabama) Daily Item.
The entertainment given last night at Temperance Hall by Bob Smith proved to be a most enjoyable affair.  As a humorist entertainer, Mr. Smith ranks among the first in the land.  A most pleasing personality, combined with a clear, ringing voice, and inimitable expression, go to make up one of the most charming entertainers it has ever been the good fortune of the writer to hear.





COMMENTS FROM THE PRESS—Continued

NEBRASKA

Sovereign Visitor, Omaha, Nebraska.
Sov. Bob Smith's humor is contagious, rippling with the smooth cadence of the mountain stream, provoking a roar of laughter here, and mingling pathos there, ever with the touch of the actor who is adept in his art.  His services are a sure assassination of the blues.



KENTUCKY

Carlisle (Kentucky) Mercury.
The entertainment given by Bob Smith last Thursday night was one of the most enjoyable ever given here.  Mr. Smith is all that his friends claim for him, and it is a sure thing that those who attend his entertainments will be delighted.  We commend him to whomsoever he may go.



MANITOBA

Evening Review, Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, Canada.
Mr. Robert O. Smith, the refined, highly artistic Southern entertainer, delighted a most select and cultured audience last evening that filled the lecture room of St. Mary's church.  Every man, woman and child went home feeling happier than when they came, taking with them pleasant memories that will live long after an evening spent in such a delightful manner.



TEXAS

Beaumont Enterprise, Texas.
Bob Smith was the attraction at the Y. M. C. A. Auditorium last night on the Lyceum Course.  A large audience was present and thoroughly enjoyed the recital.  He is at perfect ease all the time and this makes his audience feel at home.  He is one of the best character impersonators who have appeared on the Lyceum Course.



ILLINOIS

Republican Eldorado, Illinois.
The inimitable Bob Smith was billed and the uniqueness of the name brought out a crowd.  Descriptive powers fail us when attempting to word paint in an article like this the many chunks of fun thrown out.  Well, when the fitful dream of life is o'er we hope to meet Bob on the other shore, when the train comes in.



NEW MEXICO

The Clayton (New Mexico) Citizen.
The Clayton Woman's Club considers itself most fortunate in the success of the entertainment given Friday evening.  Bob Smith held his audience, which packed the Opera House, for two hours with wholesome, refined humor, clever delineations of the foibles and frailties of human nature, and philosophy of life couched in homely truths.



MISSISSIPPI

The Vicksburg (Mississippi) Herald.
The Bob Smith entertainment last night was a brilliant and unqualified success.  In his character sketches, Mr. Simth stamped himself as a veritable master of the art.  He kept the large audience convulsed with laughter.



SASKATCHEWAN

Daily Evening Capital, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.
Bob Smith delighted a large and enthusiastic audience last evening, and sheer mirth just bubbled up and spread around as long as he remained on the platform.  His delineations of character as portrayed by James Whitcomb Riley and others, who have won permanent places in American literature, delighted all.



MISSOURI

Chariton Recorder, Keytesville, Missouri.
Bob Smith, the Messenger of Mirth, gave one of his inimitable exhibitions at the Court House in this city under the auspices of the local chapter of the Daughters of the Confederacy.  Mr. Smith is an entertainer par excellence, and the only fault we had to find with the program was that it was too short.  Mr. Smith ranks with the best.



LOUISIANA

The Daily Signal, Crowley, Louisiana.
A large representative and appreciative audience assembled in the City Hall last night to hear Bob Smith.  He more than made good, to use a common expression.  He kept his audience laughing for an hour and a half.  The entertainment was unquestionably one of the best of the season, pleasing both young and old.



OREGON

Pendleton (Oregon) Morning Tribune.
The famous Messenger of Mirth from Dixie delighted an audience at the First Presbyterian Church last evening.  He is a real fun-maker and a sure exterminator of the blues, but at the same time can put a world of expression in a pathetic selection.  His character delineations are complete and true.



WASHINGTON

Columbia Dayton Dispatch, Washington.
Bob Smith, Messenger of Mirth, entertained a large audience in the Fraternity Hall Saturday evening in a way that left nothing more to be asked.  Every minute of the two hours he occupied the platform was enjoyed by his audience.  Mr. Smith is the peer of any entertainer that ever visited Dayton.