Motion Picture Classic (Jan-Aug 1919)

How “Silent Simms” Became a Master of Speech :ire exasperuling beyond I words," sliot out Air. Worden. "Why didn’t you keep Air. Truesdale here? You knew I would he back in ten minutes.” Harry Simms gulped hard, and replied weakly, "I did try to keep him here, Air. Worden, hut he wouldn't stay." "What? W'ouldn’t stay even ten minutes? Why, you could have kept him that long without his realizing it. Why didn’t you talk to him about the weather, tibout peace, about the price of potatoes, about anything?’’ This wasn’t the first calling down I had heard Simms get. He had been with the firm for eight years and had reached the point where he was as much a fi.xture around the office as the desk or the chairs. He was a slow-going, steady plugger, earning $40 a week. He managed to keep busy in the Sales Department, keeping records of salesmen’s reports. No one around the office seemed to notice him. He was so quiet that the only idlings that would start him talking w'ere puch momentous events as the beginning of the war or the end of the war. Even ivhen his baby was horn, Harry said only hree words — "It’s a boy." It wasn’t long before we nicknamed Iiim ‘.'silent Simms.”. \ ct the ‘‘Silent Simm.s” of two years ago is low oiir Sales Manager, regarded as one of the nost brilliant men in our organization, getting in annual salary that runs close to five figures, itid is slated for the vice-presidency ! ^ How all this happened in so short a time iiakes one of the most rcmarkahle stories of access I have ever heard. But let Harry tell he story as he told it tcj me when 1 asked him iioint-hlank what sort of magic he used in ransforming himself. ‘‘Well,” said Harry, “son remember when Ir. Truesdale came in that day and I could ot hold him for ten minutes until the Chief ot back? And when the Chief came back and ound Truesdale gone, how he bawled me out! hat incident marked the turning point of )ny fc. I made up m\' mind that I was going to ve down the nickname of ‘Silent Simms,’ that ' ad fastened itself upon me to a point where 1 ardly spoke to my wife. I was just afraid. : had almost forgotten how to use my tongue. I I'erhaps I got that waj' because every time I I pened my mouth I ‘put my foot in it.’ I was >(lways getting in wrong. I would give instrucI ons and then have to spend twenty minutes rying to explain them. I would dictate a letter I id then have to write five more to explain the ! |rst one. I would try to explain an idea to . le Chief and would get so flustered tha' ’ I ptildn’t make myself understood at all. In ir* i 'icial life I became almost a hermit. 'We nev. y lent out because I was like a sphinx among ; ‘ople. I was the best listener you ever saw t jid the worst talker. ! “W ell, when the Chief called me down that ( Seventy-three) By MARTIN M. BYRON d;i\ it was the ‘straw that liroke the camel’s b.ack.’ It was the most humiliating experience I e\ er went through. 1 had been with the firm 8 \ ears — was getting $-K) a week — and was the office ‘football.’ I went home that night determined to learn how to talk coinincingly, interest ingle, and forcibly, so that 1 could hold Iteople spellbound, not only for 10 minutes, but by the hour. Xo more of the silent stuff for me, 1 had no more idea of how to do it than I haw of how to jump across the ocean, but 1 knew that 1 wanted to do it, and I knew that 1 would never get anywhere until I did do it. It took a shock to make me realize what it was that was holding me dcjwn to the grind of detail work, but when I finally realized wh\ I was called ‘Silent Simms’ I began to inve.stigatc all that had been written on the subject of talking. I did not want to become a public speaker — what I wanted was the ability to talk as a business asset. I bought numberless hooks on public speaking, but they all taught oratory, and were so complicated that I gave up almost in discouragement. I continued my search, however, and was rewarded a few weeks later by hearing about the work of Dr. Frederick Houk Law’ of New' York University, w’ho was conducting a course in business talking and public speaking. ‘‘You may be sure that I lost no time in attending the lectures. I w'cnt after them as eagerlj as a hungry wolf goes after food. To msgreat surprise and pleasure I grasped the secret of being a convincing talker — ^the secret I had needed all my life — almost in the first lesson. ‘‘.Mmost at once I learned why I was afraid to stand up and talk to others. I learned howto talk to a number of people at the same time. 1 learned how to make people listen to ever\ word I said. I learned how to say things interestingly, forcibly and convincingly. I learned how to listen while others talked. I learned how to say exactly what I meant. I learned when to he humorous with telling effect, and how to avoid being humorous at the wrongtime. “More important than these vital fundamentals were the actual examples of what things to say and when to say them to n-ieet every condition. 1 found that there was a knack in making reports to m> superiors. I found that there was a right and wrong way to make complaints, to answer complaints, to gi\e estimates, to issue orders, to give opinions, to bring ])eople around to my way of thinking without antagonizing them, and about how to ask banks for a loan. Then, of course, there were also lessons on speaking before lar.ge audiences, ad\-ice on how to find material for talking and speaking, actual rules on how to talk to friends, to servants, aiul even to children. ‘‘And the whole thing was so simple that in a single evening I learned the secrets that turned me into a \-ery dynamo of ambition. 1 knew that I had at last found the road to Mastery of Speech. I began to apply the principles at once, and found that my words were electrif,\ ing people. 1 began to get things done. 1 began to put a new kind of ginger into my letters, into my memoranda, into my talks -with customers, and with people in the office. In a little three minute talk with the Chief I nearly floored him with some ideas that had been in my mind for years, but which I had always been afraid to mention. It wasn’t lon.g before I was taken off my old desk and put at the city salesman’s desk. Yon know how 1 made good. Seems almost like a dream now. Then, a short time later. I was given Roger's job on the road, in the hardest territory w-e have. -\nd when 1 began to break recorcL there the Chief wired me to come back and gave me Morgan’s job as the sales manager when Morgan was put in charge of the Seattle office. "This great change came over me simplj as a result of my having learned how to talk. I imagine there are thousands of others w ho are in the same boat in which I found myself and who could become big money-makers if the> only learned the secret of being a convincingtalker.” W hen Harry Simms finished, I asked him if I could not have the benefit of Dr. Law’s Course and he told me that only recently Dr. Law had prepared a complete course in printed form which contained exactly the same instructions as he had given in his lectures. 1 sent for it and found it to be exactly as he stated. After studying the eight simple lessons I began to realize that Simms’ successs was the natural outcome of real ability to talk, for m\ own success with the Course has been as great as his. I can never thank Simms enough for telling me about Dr. Law’s Course in Business Talking and Public Speaking. SEND NO MONEY So confident is The Independent Corporation, publishers of ‘‘Mastery of Speech.” Dr. Law’s Course iu Business Talking and Pul)lic Speaking, that once you have an opportunity to sec in your own home how you can, in one hour, learn the secret of speaking and how you can apply the principles of effective speech under all conditions, that they are willing to send you the Course on free examination. Don’t send any money. Merely mail the coupon or write a letter and the complete Course will he sent, all charges prepaid, at onc('. If yon are not entirely satisfied send it back at any time within five days after you receive it and you w’ill owe nothing. On the other hand, if i'ou are as pleased as are the thousands of other men and women who ha\e used the Course, send only $5 in full payment. You take uo risk and you have e\erythin,g to gain, so mail the coupon now before this remarkable offer is withdrawn. FREE EXAMINATION COUPON Independent Corporation Publishers of The Independent Weekly Dept. L.575, 119 W.;40tli St., New York Please send me Dr. Frederick Houk Law’s “Mastery of Speech, “ a Course in Business Talking and Public Speaking in eight lessons. I will cither rernail the C'oiirse to you within five days after its receipt, or send you $5. Xanie Addres.s .NFution Ihcutrc ( 'lassic-5-1 *'