Local Celebrity Louis Bromfield Highlights Special Chautauqua Event
Louis Bromfield was a well-known and accomplished writer, having won a Pulitzer Prize in 1927 for his novel, Early Autumn. He had been a successful Hollywood writer. He had lived 13 years in France and visited India. He knew influential and glamorous people. But in 1938 he chose to return to the place of his childhood, Richland County, Ohio. There he established Malabar Farm and devoted his life and fortune to conservation farming.
Louis Bromfield will return to this area April 25-27 in the person of Chautauqua scholar John Dennis Anderson. Anderson will make two appearances in Ashland and one at Malabar Farm. All begin at 6:30 p.m., are free, and open to the public. This special visit is sponsored by Ashland
Chautauqua as part of its 25th year Silver Celebration.
Thursday evening, April 25, Anderson will speak at the Ashland County Historical Society’s speaker series. His talk on Bromfield’s conservation efforts is entitled, “The Sinatra of the Soil,” the comparison to Frank Sinatra’s fame in the 1940’s indicating Bromfield’s star-power in agricultural reform. Location is the Freer Home, 1260 Center Street, Ashland.
Friday evening, April 26, Anderson will be joined by Chautauqua scholar Karen Vuranch for “A Cultivated Friendship,” a dramatic reading of letters between Bromfield and novelist Edith Wharton. Their topic is mainly the lavish gardens they each have created around their French homes, spiced with a bit of gossip about their well-known mutual acquaintances. That program will be at the Ronk Lecture Hall, inside the College of Education on the Ashland University campus, 340 Samaritan Ave, Ashland. Those attending should use Parking Lot C on College Blvd.
Saturday evening, April 27, Anderson will perform “An Evening with Louis Bromfield,” the traditional Chautauqua first-person monologue, followed by the traditional Q&A session, with questions directed first to the character and then later to the scholar. This program will be held at Malabar Farm State Park inside the barn, 4050 Bromfield Rd, Lucas. Malabar Farm Foundation is providing sponsorship support.
Saturday morning, April 27, at 9 a.m. there will be a “Coffee with the Scholar” at the Ashland Area Chamber of Commerce, 211 Claremont Ave, Ashland. Everyone is welcome to join in this informal discussion with Dr. Anderson for a behindthe-scenes look at the Chautauqua experience.
Anderson is retired as a professor of Communications at
Emerson College. He earned a PH.D. from the University of Texas, Austin. He is a popular Chautauqua scholar, appearing most recently in Ashland Chautauqua as Ernest Hemingway in 2021. Anderson researched Bromfield and created his Bromfield monologue especially for Ashland Chautauqua in 2015.
Ashland Chautauqua’s Silver Celebration has as its theme “A Trip Down Memory Lane,” a tribute to popular performances in the past. In addition to Anderson portraying Bromfield in April, five scholars will reprise their performances July 16-20: Karen Vuranch as Julia Child, Hasan Davis as
Joe Louis, Ilene Evans as Ethel Waters, Jeremy Meier as John Dillinger, and Elsa Wolff as Amelia Earhart. Up-to-date information can be found on the website at ashlandchautauqua.org.
Ashland Chautauqua offers Ashland County and surrounding areas an opportunity to celebrate history in an educational and entertaining manner. Ashland Chautauqua is supported by Ohio Humanities, the Ohio Arts Council, the City of Ashland’s Parks & Recreation Department, Explore Ashland, local businesses and organizations, and by local residents who want to see this vibrant celebration of history thrive. Ashland Main Street is the fiscal agent. Ashland Chautauqua programming is planned and implemented by a committee of local citizen volunteers.