The Lost Art of the Great Speech: How to Write It * How to Deliver It

Surprise! Surprise!

Some speakers like to spring dramatic surprises on their audiences. Here, as an example, is a quotation from a speech delivered at a Loyola University graduation banquet. The subject is ''In Search of Heroes'':

I was fortunate to have had a friend and business partner who I believe was a hero. His upbringing was probably less promising than yours. His name was Marion Morrison. He was born of simple surroundings in a small Iowa town. His father was a druggist; his mother a telephone operator. He moved to California when he was young. He went to Glendale High School, then to USC. He took a summer job at a movie studio in the late 1920s and later started acting in movies for Raoul Walsh, who changed his [the young actor's] name ...