Chautauqua Headliners
This list represents just a portion of the 31 years of speakers and entertainers at the Pontiac Chautauqua Assemblies. Hundreds of men and women presented on the stage at Riverside Park to thousands of audience members. To learn more about the Chautauqua Movement, additional information can be found at the Pontiac Public Library.
National Political Speakers
William Jennings Bryan
Former presidential candidate and reformer
Booker T. Washington
African American activist
Carrie Nation
National Temperance Movement leader
Samuel Gompers
Labor leader, founder of the AFL-CIO
Grace Wilbur Trout
President, Illinois Equal Suffrage Association
Gov. Robert “Bob” Love Taylor
Former Tennessee governor, lecturer, and magazine editor
Gov. Robert M. LaFollette
Former Wisconsin governor and activist
Evangelists
Bishop John H. Vincent
Founder of the original New York Chautauqua
Bishop William Alfred Quayle
Methodist lecturer and writer
Billy Sunday
Famous Evangelist preacher
Samuel Porter Jones
Lawyer, preacher, reformed drunkard
The Rev. Dr. Thomas DeWitt Talmage
Preacher, author, and well-known reformer
Entertainers
Sidney V. Landon
Impersonator
Joseph P. Freud, aka Joseffy
Magician and musician
Madame Schumann Heink
Opera star
The Honolulu Students
Guitar and ukulele group playing native music
Colangelo Band
Thirteen-piece band playing Latin music
The Williams’ World Famous Colored Singers
African American mixed octet
Edward Maro, aka Maro, Prince of Magic
Magician
New South Jubilee Singers
All-male African American quartet
Oxenham’s Moving Pictures
First motion pictures shown in Pontiac
Otterbien Male Quartet
The Zedeler Symphonic Sextette
Music of the Masters with commentary
The Kilties Band
Scottish music from Canada
Miss Caryl Cook
The Peter Pan Girl
Mallory Players
Full-length dramatic presentations
Weber Male Quartet
Popular songs and the classics
Mr. Samuel James Kennedy
Painter, cartoonist, and lecturer
The French Ladies Quartette
Songs, dramatic readings, and impersonations
Mr. and Mrs. Tony Godetz
Swiss entertainers
Grossman’s Orchestra
Ten-piece musical group
Scott’s Orchestra
Ten-piece musical group
The Schumann Quintet
Strings and harpsichord
Edwin Brush
Magician
Distinguished Speakers
Sylvester A. Long
Lecturer
Prince Ghosh
Native of India
Dr. Peter MacQueen
Adventurer, traveler, and World War I hero
Joseph K. Griffis
Author of Tahan, a Native American tale
R.G. Knowles
“The Humorous American Traveler” with stereopticon slides and moving pictures
Hon. Elmer J. Burkett
Educator, lawyer, and U.S. Senator from Nebraska
Dr. George E. Vincent
President, Chautauqua Association
Local Talent
Vermilion Orchestra
Seven-member group with strings
Pontiac Mixed Quartet
Pontiac Military Band
Formerly known as the 129th Regimental Band
Pontiac Choral Society
Pontiac Players
Local dramatic society, forerunner of today’s Vermillion Players
Annual Children’s Pageant
Boys and girls of the Chautauqua camp performing for parents and others