It is assumed one of the most difficult things to do in life is public speaking.
I started this activity before I started elementary school in Our Town. If my memory serves me correctly, I was about 4-years-old when my father, Col. C.H. Breedlove, arranged for his youngest child (me !) to regularly perform in front of small, select audiences.
Yes, readers in Our Town and far beyond, I was 4-years-old !!!
My dad was always a showman. He could have easily substituted for the famed entertainer, P.T. Barnum. My father was an on-stage actor in 26 local Town & Gown (T&G) Theatre Productions. As an audience member, I was in attendance during his latter years of performing in our local, theatre-in-the-round venue. The Colonel, as he was well-known to many people, would receive loud applause when he first walked out on the stage during each play. His acting abilities were legendary. Well, I also appeared in 2 T&G, productions, mostly due to his guidance and encouragement. Much of my older-age performing activities, however, certainly had to do with my 4-year-old stage-beginning, mentioned earlier.
How about some details about my early childhood entertaining?
I am not sure just how it began, but my dad coached me to recite American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's iconic 1842 narrative "Wreck of the Hesperus". I routinely recited it at parties, and other small social gatherings. He purchased some dressy clothing for me, complete with a fancy coat and a matching bow tie. So, not only did I look spiffy when I stood alone in front a dozen or so adults, my dad always blindsided the audience. He didn't tell the various groups ahead of time that I would be performing! He would merely get the group's attention, announce my upcoming talk, and then I would stand on a footstool, and began reciting Longfellow's famous narrative poem. During my 10-minute oration, I vividly remember making intense eye contact with various members of my audience, and varying the pitch of my voice, in order to emphasize important aspects of the poem. Since Longfellow wrote about a part factual, part fictional sailing ship that wrecks off Norman's Woe near Gloucester, MA, his iconic piece is emotionally written. Yes, I brought out all the emotion I could gather up when reciting the poem! It also helped I did this performance several times in the metro Washington, D.C. area where we were living, while my father was stationed at the Pentagon. I should also mention, my dad gave me a stage name of "Little Caesar" (as in the Roman, Julius?). To this day, I do not know how he decided on that nickname for his youngest son. Needless to say, my dad was truly one-of-a-kind person.
Well, what is also interesting now, 70 years later, I am still able to remember parts of that famous poem. I also know, however, I could not remember enough of it to stand up in front of a small group, and recite the entire thing. I also know my former bow tie and coat would certainly not fit!
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