The Leland Powers School, also known as the Leland Powers School of Communication, Leland Powers School of Radio, Theatre, and Television, Leland Powers Theatre School, the Leland Powers School of Expression, Leland Powers School of the Spoken Word, and originally called the Leland Powers School of Elocution, was originally located in the Fenway neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, and later in

Brookline, Massachusetts Brookline is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, Norfolk County, Massachusetts, in the United States, and part of the Greater Boston, Boston metropolitan area. Brookline borders six of Boston's neighborhoods: Brighton, Boston, Brighton, A ...

. Speaker and author Leland Powers founded the school in 1904. The school educated several notable speakers and authors of the early 20th century, including drama educator

T. Earl Pardoe Thomas Earl Pardoe (1885–1971) was the first head of the Brigham Young University (BYU) drama program. One of the main theaters in the Harris Fine Arts Center at BYU is named for him and his wife, Kathryn Bassett Pardoe, who was also an influent ...

, actress

Reta Shaw Reta Shaw (September 13, 1912 – January 8, 1982) was an American character actress known for playing strong, hard-edged, working women in film and on many of the most popular television programs of the 1960s and 1970s in the United Sta ...

, and journalist

Wendall Woodbury Wendall J. Woodbury (June 20, 1942 – October 20, 2010) was an American television journalist and news anchor. He spent much of his career as a reporter for WGAL-TV in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, from 1968 until his retirement from broadcast news ...

.Tibbetts, M.M. (1954) ''Random recollections: Commemorating the 50th anniversary of Leland Powers School, 1904-1954''. Boston: Leland Powers School.

History

Leland T. Powers founded the school after teaching with the Redpath Lyceum Bureau, a

Chautauqua Chautauqua ( ) was an adult education and social movement in the United States, highly popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Chautauqua assemblies expanded and spread throughout rural America until the mid-1920s. The Chautauqua bro ...

circuit business. While working for the bureau, Powers was assigned as a reader during chautauquas, and as a coach to other readers. Powers also edited scripts for usage, focusing on readability and performance. During this time Powers was an associate of

Carl Sandburg Carl August Sandburg (January 6, 1878 – July 22, 1967) was an American poet, biographer, journalist, and editor. He won three Pulitzer Prizes: two for his poetry and one for his biography of Abraham Lincoln. During his lifetime, Sandburg ...

. In 1904, Powers' school cost $200 for a semester's tuition. Joining his wife and more than a dozen staff members in teaching 140 students annually, Powers had a building constructed in 1914 at 31 Evans Way in the Fenway neighborhood next door to the

Girls' Latin School Boston Latin Academy (BLA) is a public exam school founded in 1878 in Boston, Massachusetts providing students in grades 7th through 12th a classical preparatory education. Originally named Girls' Latin School until 1977, the school was the ...

. The School was credited with being on the leading edge of technology when in 1944 it started broadcasting a show called "The Great American Home" on local station WIXG.Tuttle, Marguerite. (1952) ''A Guide to education for professional careers.'' p 36.

Graduates

Annette Carell Annette Karen Carell (variously Carrell; born Anneliese Erlanger; 7 January 1926 – 20 October 1967) was a German-born American actress of stage, screen, and television who lived in the United States and Britain at various stages of her career. ...

, actress *

Fay Davis Fay Davis (December 15, 1872 – March 1, 1945) was an American stage actress from Boston, Massachusetts who was a star of many Shakespearean plays. Early life Fay Davis was born December 15, 1872 in Boston, Massachusetts. She attended the W ...

, actress *

Jeff Donnell Jean Marie "Jeff" Donnell (July 10, 1921 – April 11, 1988) was an American film and television actress. Early years Donnell was born in South Windham, Maine, to Harold and Mildred Donnell, when her father was superintendent at a boys' reform ...

, actress *

Mary Freeman Byrne Mary Freeman Byrne (née Keith) (4 October 1886 – 18 January 1961) was an American author who sometimes wrote under the pen name Marie Byrne. Byrne was born in Brockton, Massachusetts, and trained for the stage at the Leland Powers Theatric ...

, author * Rod Fritz, newscaster, Boston (WBZ and WRKO) and New York (Fox) (as per this excerpt from the WRKO article) *

Ernest Holmes Ernest Shurtleff Holmes (January 21, 1887 – April 7, 1960) was an American New Thought writer, teacher, and leader. He was the founder of a spiritual movement known as Religious Science, part of the greater New Thought movement, whose spir ...

, religious leader * Don Gillis, sportscaster * Neil MacNevin (Tom Evans), radio/tv announcer (see

Creature Double Feature ''Creature Double Feature'' was a syndicated horror show, broadcast in the Boston and Philadelphia area during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. It sometimes also aired under names like ''Sci-Fi Flix'' and ''Creature Feature''. The show aired classic ...

) * J T Nichols, playwright (Porktown, Taming the Savages, Jesus & the Pirates, etc.) * Palmer Payne, newscaster, NYC
anecdote from his days
at WCBS (880 AM)) *

Glynn Ross Glynn Ross (December 15, 1914 – July 21, 2005, Tucson, Arizona) was an American opera impresario. Ross was the first general director of the Seattle Opera, serving that company from 1963 to 1983, and the second general director of the Arizona Oper ...

, opera impresario * Bob Wilson, sportscaster

References

External links

* Powers, L. and Powers, C.H. (1911)
Leland Powers School
' booklet. {{authority control Private universities and colleges in Massachusetts Educational institutions established in 1904 Performing arts education in the United States 1904 establishments in Massachusetts