The daily sentinel., 1908-04-28
GREATEST OF READERS
COMES HERE FRIDAY NIGHT
Miss Ridgeway and Her Company
Will Prove One of the Lecture
Courses Finest Attractions.

+ 1t is generally conceded that +
+ the Katharine Ridgeway Concert +
1. company is the most popular +
+ organization on the lyceum plat +
+ form. Miss Ridgeway is. with +
+ out doubt, the best known read +
+ er of the present generation.
+ + 1. + r = = +
There has been in increasing de-
mand each year for a program on
which more of Miss Ridgeway's work
would be heard. To meet this she
has agreed to give an evenings en-
tertainment, with the assistance of
one other artist, pianist.
By birth Miss Ridgeway is
Southerner, native of Atlanta,
Georgia. but most of her childhood
was spent in the far northwest:
While a student at the University of
Washington, Spokane, she heard
Nella Brown Pond read. Previous
to that time Miss Ridgeway had not
thought of public reading as pro-
fession. but such was the influence
of Miss Ponds art and personality
upon the young student that after the
recital Miss Ridgeway announced to
her friends that she would become a
reader. AS soon as she finished her
course at the University she went to
Boston, and after two years study
at the Boston School of Oratory and
with Miss Emma Greeley, founder of
the Greeley School of Dramatic Art,
she was engaged by the Redpath
Bureau, as reader, with the Temple
Quartet. She was with this well
known quartet for two years, making
a tour of the United States and Can
ada. Next year she was placed at
the head of company of her own,
a position which she accepted with
some misgiving, but where she has
won phenomenal success.
Miss Ridgeway has been repeated
ly and enthusiastically received in
nearly every city in the United Sta
tes. But she is not one of those pro-
phets who is without honor in her
own country. Indeed, the most en-
thusiastic audiences greet her in her
home state Washington. "Our
Katharine is the favorite name by
which she is called in her former
home cities of Spokane and Colfax,
and where, when her recitals are an
nounced, the theaters are too small
to hold the people. A committee of
public spirited and representative cit
liens of the last named city formed
themselves into a stock company to
build theater, and named it "The
Ridgeway." in her honor.
Many people ask, "Why is Miss
Ridgeway so popular? VIII, has she
such a hold on audiences? Why is
she so repeatedly recalled every
where?" The reasons are not diff
cult to find. Ia the first place, Miss
Ridgeway enjoys her work, and the
most conscientious effort is put into
preparing her programs. Her de-
It'd 4 III
than she has done before. Not con-
tent to rest on her well-earned sue
cess, she spends the summer search
ing for new material and preparing
it for the next seasons program. In
this regard she leads all others. If
she cannot find what she wants she
has it written for her. Her selec-
tions are never hackneyed but the
freshest, choicest and most pleasing
that can be found. Besides this, Miss
Ridgeway is successful because she
works to please her audience. Her
greeting is cordial, hearty and sin
cere. She makes herself at home
with her audience. and Immediately
there is a sympathetic response from
the people before her
Yet one other thing must be ap-
parent to a person who tries to ac-
count for her success. She has un-
erring judgment in deciding what the
people like. Then she has the taste
to choose the best that will please,
while her programs always stimulate
to better living. Hers is the Gospel
of Good Cheer. Her continued policy
to bring to the platform only the
choicest, newest and best readings,
her joy in pleasing people; her abil-
ity as a reader-these are some of
the reasons why Katharine RadSeway
is successful.
Miss Fac LAGRANGE, a celebrated
pianist, and Donald Chalmers, re-
markable basso, will assist Miss
Ridgeway in the great program to be
rendered at the Congregational
church Friday evening as number
of the lecture course.