Albert Mason Harris

              Albert Mason Harris
Exclusive Management
The Chautauqua Managers Association
Chicago
ALBERT   MASON   HARRIS
RECITALS
Old Ebenezer Monsieur Beaucaire Wanted, A Match-Maker The Fortune Hunter
READINGS
Herod
The Servant in the House
Hamlet
The Merchant of Venice
The Rivals
Chautauqua Morning Lectures
1.     A series of lectures on literary subjects.
2.     Both sides of Current Questions.
In this series both sides of a few of the most burning public questions are pre¬sented, and time given for questions and answers.
Few if any college men in the country have so heavy a correspondence regard¬ing public questions as has Professor Harris. The services of a special secretary are required to  care  for  it.
After his First Appearance at Vanderbilt.
(From The Hustler)
The initial recital of Professor Harris was given in the chapel on last Friday evening. The largest crowd of the year greeted him, and besides the student body and immediate friends of the University, there were present several hundred Ward, Belmont and Boscobel girls. To say the audience was an appreciative one and the reading was a thorough success does not do justice either to the audience or Professor Harris, for he has won a high place in the estimation of the people of Nashville. In fact he fairly captivated his listeners, and more than one said he had "Never heard anything quite as good."
Before coming to Tennessee Mr. Harris had been a popular lyceum attraction in the North for several years. After completing his college course and three years of professional work in one of the prominent Boston schools, Mr. Harris was elected to a chair in his alma mater where he served until chosen in 1902 to succeed to the chair in Vanderbilt University made vacant by the death of Austin H. Merrill the widely known reader and teacher. At the close of the first appearance of Mr. Harris on the Vanderbilt platform, a colleague and intimate friend of Professor Merrill remarked "The good old times have come again." A good summary of the standing of Professor Harris in the South as a platform attraction was given recently by a prominent southern preparatory school man when he said to an enquirer "He is the standard; we measure others by him."
Besides the programs that are ordinarily called for Mr. Harris is available so far as his time will permit for lecture and recitals suitable for special occasions.
PROGRAMS
...  ■  r                                                                                                                       i =-
Old Ebenezer
A Comedy
(Arranged by Mr. Harris from the story by Opie Read)
CHARACTERS IMPERSONATED
SAMUEL LYMAN          -           Lawyer and Editor
J. WARREN            -      Publisher of The Sentinel
JOHN CARUTHERS       -                A cheap lawyer
JAMES MCELWIN             -                     A banker
ZEB. SAWYER                                 A mule buyer
EVA MCELWIN      -          The banker's daughter
MRS. MCELWIN         -             The banker's wife —Two co-partnerships.    An  unusual  marriage
ceremony.
—A spicy interview.    A lawn party.    The white-capping affair.
—Mt. Zion Church.    A midnight adventure with Sawyer.    The petition is destroyed.
At Cornell College, Iowa
(Dr. Geo. H. Betts in Personal Letter)
I cannot refrain from expressing to you my gratification over the success of "Old Ebenezer'' in our lecture course last Wednesday evening. I am sure that our people never enjoyed an even¬ing fuller of pure and unalloyed fun of the kind that makes life richer and better for having ex¬perienced it than on that occasion. May you delight many another audience as you did the hundreds of our citizens and students whom you beguiled from their cares for a quickly-passing hour or two on this occasion.    Sincerely yours,
GEO. H. BETTS.
At   Huntingdon, Tenn.
(From Nashville Banner) Prof. A. M. Harris, holder of the chair of Public Speaking at Vanderbilt University, rend¬ered Opia Read's famous story last night to a delighted audience. In spite of the severe storm, a goodly number attended the entertain¬ment, which was given in the chapel of the Industrial and Training School. Prof. Harris' clever interpretation of the characters gripped his hearers from the start and frequently con¬vulsed them with laughter at the vivid portray¬al of the different types—the cool headed author, the pompous banker, the happy-go-lucky news¬paper man, the ''Noted Advocate", and all the rest were hit off with a lifelike accurracy which made the entertainment one long to be remem¬bered by all in attendance.
Monsieur Beaucaire
A Comedy
(Arranged by Mr. Harris from the story by Booth Tarkingrton)
CHARACTERS IMPERSONATED BEAUCAIRE            -            A French adventurer
THE DUKE OF WINTERSET An English nobleman MR. MOLYNEUX     -     An English Gentleman of
[French descent MARQUIS DE MIREPOIX   The French Ambasador
[to England LADY MARY CARLISLE    The reigning beauty of
[Bath —Winterset is caught cheating.    The party at
Lady Malbourne's.    Beaucaire gets the rose. —The    moonlight    ride.     Six     against   one.
Snubbed by Lady Carlisle. —The Assembly room.    The  Appeal to  Lady Carlisle.    The explanation.     An introduction de Mirepoix.
A Gift of Impersonation
(Criticism by Miss Theodora Irvine of New York)
It would seem that Mr. Booth Tarkington had Mr. Harris in mind when he wrote the story which the latter has so intelligently dramatized and interpreted. The debonair, excitement-loving Beaucaire, the courtly but severe Mirepoix, the proud beauty of Bath, the coarse-grained Winter-set, all live before you. The fight scene shows a fine bit of descriptive acting. The skill in the use of the sword is masterful. Throughout the play is the odor of roses—first the red, red rose of love, then the blood red rose stained with heart's blood, and last the withered rose leaves fluttering down. Mr. Harris possesses a rich voice, a fine stage presence, and what is even more he has the rare gift of impersonation, which is a thing apart, a special gift that may or may not be found in a reader or orator.
At Monteagle, Chautauqua
(Correspondent Nashville Banner) Prof. Harris held his audience as few speakers or lecturers have done this season, and expres¬sions of praise for his artistic work were on every lip. His impersonation of the gallant and audacious young Frenchman was especially note worthy, and yet his transitions from that bril¬liant role to the ponderous and choleric Duke of Winterset were made with ease and fine effect. The French accent of the young noble was charming and his fencing bout was especially well done.
PROGRAMS
Wanted, A Match-Maker
(Arranged by Mr. Harris from the story by Paul Leicester Ford)
CHARACTERS IMPERSONATED
MISS CONSTANCE DURANT   A rich and beautiful
[young lady DOCTOR ARMSTRONG Surgeon at the hospital SWOT MCGARRIGLE          -                 A newsboy
POLICEMAN                 -             One of the finest
NURSE                                          At the hospital
Swot is run over in the street. At the hospital. Miss Durant meets Dr. Armstrong. Miss Durant forgets. ' 'Old Sleuth on the Trail.'' Swot makes an unfortunate remark. Swot under¬goes an operation. The photograph. Swot's Christmas gift to Dr. Armstrong.
At Monteagle Chautauqua
(Correspondent Memphis Commercial Appeal)
Prof. A. M. Harris of Vanderbilt University gave a recital at which he presented the charm¬ing story by Paul Leicester Ford entitled "Wanted, A Match-maker." His splendid portrayal of the three widely differing charact¬ers of the story, the central one of which is the young street gamin, won him unstinted applause.
The Nashville Banner
(Nashville, Tennessee)
Prof. Albert Mason Harris of Vanderbilt Uni¬versity entertained a large audience last night with a reading, "Wanted, A Match-maker." This well-known story by Paul Leicester Ford centers about three widely different characters. The street gamin occupies the center of the stage, while the strong dominating character of the hospital physician, and the pleasing person¬ality of the young society girl form a pleasing background. Mr. Harris' fine portrayal of these three characters of the story easily stamped him an artist in his line, for the performance was artistic in every particular.
The Fortune Hunter
(Arranged by Mr. Harris from the story by L. J. Vance after the play by Winchell Smith)
CHARACTERS IMPERSONATED
NATHANIEL DUNCAN            The Fortune Hunter
HENRY KELLOGG      -      The New York Banker
SAM GRAHAM           -                        An Inventor
WILLIE BARTLETT          -          A Guilded Youth
TRACY TANNER         -         The Liveryman's son
MR. BURNHAM OF NEW YORK    -     A promoter
ROLAND BARNETT      -      The beau of the town
GEORGE (BLINKY) LOCKWOOD    Country Banker
PETE WILLING      -          -          -      The Sheriff
BETTY GRAHAM           Daughter of Sam Graham
JOSIE LOCKWOOD Daughter of Banker Lockwood
How to get rich.    Mr. Duncan gets
a position.     Betty  Graham  expresses
herself.     The  new drug  store.     The
scheme   works.       An   interview   with
"Roly" Barnett.    Betty returns from
school.    All's well that ends well.
This remarkable story, absorbing  in  interest
and replete with refined humor is a late addition
to Mr. Harris' repertory.
Before a Literary Club
(From Nashville American) At the home of Mrs. Leo B. Schwartz yester¬day afternoon the Magazine Circle was given an exceptionally fine rendition of "Hamlet'' by Prof. A. M. Harris of Vanderbilt University. Prof. Harris is a Shakespearean student of long standing, and brought to this interpretation a force and conviction that will prove of great assistance to the members of the club in their study of this masterpiece.
At Ruston, La.
(From Daily Leader) Mr. Harris has great talent for impersona¬tion and every one of the varied characters he assumed was living and convincing. So perfect was his delineation of the Frenchman Beaucaire that one could well agree with the critic who said that it would seem that the author had Mr. Harris in mind when he wrote the story. Mr. Harris proved himself an expert in the fencer's art as well as in the more difficult art of pantomime. Holding the sympathetic attention of the audi¬ence, he brought the play through its lights and shadows to the delicate artistic end—the falling of the leaves of a rose.