Dunn – Emma Dunn C.S. Biography and Category Index

Emma Dunn

Emma Dunn Introduction

Emma Dunn appeared onstage in her early teens, graduating to the London stage for several years and later became a noted Broadway actress.

She wrote two books on elocution and speech: Thought Quality in the Voice (1933) and You Can Do It (1947). – Wikipedia

Excerpt – Reminiscences of Reginald Kerry by Elaine Kerry

The broad scope of Mrs. Dunn’s talents, coupled with her love for Christian Science, gave her an extraordinary insight into reading the Bible aloud. Her family came originally from England, and she and her brother grew up a few blocks from Central Park in New York City. She be- came a truly great artist in the theater on Broadway and a great Christian Science healer. In her book, “You Can Do It!” Emma tells how the theater was in her case the primary school, and how all she learned through many years of acting converged toward this one point: reading the Bible aloud.

She wrote: “Sir Henry Irving, the famous English actor, was asked to give a list of what he regarded as the hun- dred best books, and he replied, ‘Before a hundred books, commend me to the study of two, the Bible and Shake- speare.’ Undoubtedly one reason why Shakespeare has remained so constantly with us is that he has used the Bible so understandingly—he quotes the Bible twelve hundred times.

“Reading the Bible aloud becomes a basic idea in one’s general culture—in fact, all other studies fall into line with much less labor when one knows how to read the Bible. I recommend reading the Bible aloud above all other books, as it reveals the faults and idiosyncrasies of the reader, and helps him to awaken to true values in reading. When one can read the Bible aloud understandingly, he can read Shakespeare or any of the great poets.

“Many of the greatest minds made a close study of the Bible. Tennyson studied the Bible daily. Tolstoy read and reread the Gospels, until he knew long passages from memory. Ruskin’s mother got him to memorize long chapters of the Bible. To that study Ruskin attributed his style and taste.

“Bunyan and Lincoln saw this. Few men since the age of Plato and Cicero have left such impress on the minds of men as Bunyan and Lincoln. The substance of their thought was robed in a style so noble, that scholars bow before its majesty, so simple that children and the untutored thrill to its rhythmic flow. They wrote and said what they meant with such perfection that their utterances challenge all imitation.

During the years that Emma Dunn was both an elocution teacher and mentor to Reginald Kerry in Science, she was a great inspiration to him. Although she felt he had a mission, she did not live to see the time when his mission was revealed to him.