A simple speech from a man who rightly can be called the first humorous keynote speaker – a man who brought joy and laughter to thousands. If you are seeking a humorous keynote speaker for your next conference, event or gathering, contact Chicago based Irishman (Yup, he's got a brogue and the Gift of GAB) at 630 718 1643. Conor keynotes to audiences across a wide range of industries and countries.

Enjoy this speech from Mark Twain.

EDUCATING THEATRE-GOERS

          The children of the Educational Alliance gave a performance of

          "The Prince and the Pauper" on the afternoon of April 14, 1907,

          in the theatre of the Alliance Building in East Broadway.  The

          audience was composed of nearly one thousand children of the

          neighborhood.  Mr. Clemens, Mr. Howells, and Mr. Daniel Frohman

          were among the invited guests.

I have not enjoyed a play so much, so heartily, and so thoroughly since I

played Miles Hendon twenty-two years ago.  I used to play in this piece

("The Prince and the Pauper") with my children, who, twenty-two years

ago, were little youngsters.  One of my daughters was the Prince, and a

neighbor's daughter was the Pauper, and the children of other neighbors

played other parts.  But we never gave such a performance as we have seen

here to-day.  It would have been beyond us.

My late wife was the dramatist and stage-manager.  Our coachman was the

stage-manager, second in command.  We used to play it in this simple way,

and the one who used to bring in the crown on a cushion--he was a little

fellow then--is now a clergyman way up high--six or seven feet high--and

growing higher all the time.  We played it well, but not as well as you

see it here, for you see it done by practically trained professionals.

I was especially interested in the scene which we have just had, for

Miles Hendon was my part.  I did it as well as a person could who never

remembered his part.  The children all knew their parts.  They did not

mind if I did not know mine.  I could thread a needle nearly as well as

the player did whom you saw to-day.  The words of my part I could supply

on the spot.  The words of the song that Miles Hendon sang here I did not

catch.  But I was great in that song.

          [Then Mr. Clemens hummed a bit of doggerel that the reporter

          made out as this:

                   "There was a woman in her town,

                    She loved her husband well,

                    But another man just twice as well."

          "How is that?" demanded Mr. Clemens.  Then resuming]

It was so fresh and enjoyable to make up a new set of words each time

that I played the part.

If I had a thousand citizens in front of me, I would like to give them

information, but you children already know all that I have found out

about the Educational Alliance.  It's like a man living within thirty

miles of Vesuvius and never knowing about a volcano.  It's like living

for a lifetime in Buffalo, eighteen miles from Niagara, and never going

to see the Falls.  So I had lived in New York and knew nothing about the

Educational Alliance.

This theatre is a part of the work, and furnishes pure and clean plays.

This theatre is an influence.  Everything in the world is accomplished by

influences which train and educate.  When you get to be seventy-one and a

half, as I am, you may think that your education is over, but it isn't.

If we had forty theatres of this kind in this city of four millions, how

they would educate and elevate!  We should have a body of educated

theatre-goers.

It would make better citizens, honest citizens.  One of the best gifts a

millionaire could make would be a theatre here and a theatre there.  It

would make of you a real Republic, and bring about an educational level.