HUMOROUS HITS
AND
How to Hold an Audience
A COLLECTION OF SHORT SELECTIONS,
STORIES AND SKETCHES
FOR ALL OCCASIONS
By
GRENVILLE KLEISER
Author of "How to Speak in Public"
THIRTEENTH EDITION
FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY
NEW YORK AND LONDON
Copyright 1908 by
FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY
Printed in the United States of America
Published March, 1908
INTRODUCTORY
In preparing this volume the author has been guided byhis own platform experience extending over twelve years.During that time he has given hundreds of public recitalsbefore audiences of almost every description, and in allparts of the country. It may not be considered presumptuous,therefore, for him to offer some practical suggestionson the art of entertaining and holding an audience, and toindicate certain selections which he has found have inthemselves the elements of success.
The "encore fiend," as he is sometimes called, is so ubiquitousand insistent that no speaker or reader can affordto ignore him, and, indeed, must prepare for him in advance.To find material that will satisfy him in one or ina dozen of the ordinary books of selections is an almostimpossible task. It is only too obvious that many compilationsof the kind are put together by persons who havehad little or no practical platform experience. In an attemptto remedy this defect this volume has been prepared.
It is believed that the book will be valuable not only tothe amateur and the professional reader, speaker, elocutionist,and entertainer, but also to the after-dinner andimpromptu speaker, the politician who wants to make a"hit," the business man who wishes to tell a good storyand tell it effectively, the school-teacher in arranging her"Friday Afternoon" programs, as well as for readingaloud in the family circle, and for many other occasions.
Providing, as this work does, helpful hints on how to holdan audience, it is hoped that the additional suggestionsoffered regarding the use of the voice and its modulation,the art of pausing, the development of feeling and energy,the use of gesture and action, the cultivation of the imagination,the committing of selections to memory, and the standingbefore an audience, while not as elaborate and detailedas found in a regular manual of elocution, will be of practicalbenefit to those who can not conveniently commandthe services of a personal instructor.
The author has been greatly assisted in this undertakingnot only by the kind permission of publishers and authorsto use their copyrighted work, but also by the hearty cooperationof many distinguished platform speakers andreaders who have generously contributed successful selectionsnot hitherto published.
The author gratefully acknowledges the special permissiongranted him by the publishers to print the followingcopyright selections: "Keep A-goin'!" the Bobbs-MerrillCompany, "A Modern Romance," the Publishers of TheSmart Set; "The Fool's Prayer," Houghton, Mifflin &Company; "Mammy's Li'l Boy," and "'Späcially Jim,"the Century Company; "Counting One Hundred," theLothrop, Lee & Shepard Company; "At Five O'clock Tea,"the Publishers of Lippincott's Magazine.
Grenville Kleiser.
New York City,February, 1908.