Ida Benfey Judd
Ida Benfey Judd (c. 1858 – February 14, 1952) was an American educator, elocutionist and monologist, billed as "The American Storyteller".[1] She founded the Mark Twain Association, and was its first president.
Early life
Ida Benfey was born in Detroit, Michigan and raised in California.[2] She studied elocution at the Michigan State Normal School in Ypsilanti, Michigan. She graduated from the University of California in 1883.[3]
Career
Judd was a popular speaker at community events, schools, and in theaters, especially in New York City, where she was based, but also on national tours.
Judd taught public speaking and elocution at Teachers College, Columbia University; among her students was political strategist Belle Moskowitz.[10]
In 1926, Judd founded the Mark Twain Association, to promote the study and reading of Twain's work. She was the association's longtime president,[11] organizing contests, raising funds, and corresponding with writers and publications.[12] In the 1930s, she organized Great Literature Across the Footlights, to promote cultural literacy through dramatic presentation in prisons and reformatories and summer camps.[3][13]
Personal life and death
Ida Benfey married George W. Judd, a lawyer. She died in
References
- ^ a b "Miss Ida Benfey, The American Storyteller" (brochure, 1900-1910) in Traveling Culture: Circuit Chautauqua in the Twentieth Century (University of Iowa Libraries).
- ^ What Women Can Earn: Occupations of Women and Their Compensation (Frederick A. Stokes 1899): 52-55.
- ^ a b c Ida Benfey Judd papers, Billy Rose Theatre Division, The New York Public Library.
- ^ Joseph Dana Miller, "Women Elocutionists" National Magazine (November 1900): 55.
- ^ "Miss Ida Benfey" The Parisian (February 1898): 195-196.
- ^ "Ida Benfey's Reading" The New York Times (January 22, 1899).
- ^ "The Public Readers" The New York Times (February 5, 1896).
- ^ "To Commemorate Eliot at Institute Tonight" Columbia Daily Spectator (February 6, 1920): 1.
- ^ "Mrs. Judd Gives Recital" The New York Times (March 9, 1931): 28.
- ISBN 9781555534240
- ^ "Mark Twain Group Honors Mrs. Judd" The New York Times (March 10, 1935): N4.
- ^ "Award Offered for Ten Best Quotations from Twain's Books" Stanford Daily (May 20, 1927): 6.
- ^ Meyer Berger, "About New York" The New York Times (December 1, 1939): 20.
- ^ "Mrs. Ida Judd Dies; Noted Monologist" The New York Times (February 15, 1952): 25.
- ^ Andrew L. Yarrow, "Weekender Guide" The New York Times (April 6, 1990).