Tuesday, December 20, 2016

Chalk Talk and Crayon Presentation

Charles L Bartholomew - Chalk Talk and Crayon Presentation (1922)

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Chalk talks are a lecture or presentation where the performer draws as they speak, typically using the images as more than just illustration of the words.  It was popular early in the 20th century, especially in the omnivorous world of vaudeville, and survives today in churches and motivational speaking.  More details and some other downloadable books are available at Golden Chalk Classics.

Chalk Talk and Crayon Presentation is both an overview and how-to guide, complete with info on materials and some sample scripts.  It's well illustrated with practitioners other than the author, the best-remembered today being Winsor McCay, Sidney Smith (The Gumps) and Hap Hadley (poster artist).

Charles L. Bartholomew (1869-1949), known as "Bart", was an Iowa-born cartoonist who spent most of his life in Minneapolis working for a local paper.  He was also involved in education of cartoonists at professional schools.

(Thanks to JGB for the tip on this topic.)