BEHIND THE MIKE

Benjamin Franklin has had a profound impact on my life. No, not the celebrated Ben Franklin who we all know about. I am referring to two others who have connections to the name.

One was named Ralph Archbold at birth. He was an old and dear friend whom I met back in the 70s. He fashioned an entire speaking career by impersonating Benjamin Franklin. He was so good at the role that many, like USA Today, would identify him as the official Ben Franklin. When he died a few years back at age 75, America lost an institution.

Ralph was born on January 17, 1942. January 17 was the original Ben Franklin’s birthday. After moving to Philadelphia in 1982, Archbold eventually became known as the world’s most famous Benjamin Franklin impersonator through several high-profile speaking engagements and appearances at schools, events and television programs, including the Today Show and the History Channel. He also became the official Ben Franklin impersonator for the University of Pennsylvania, Freedom’s Foundation and the Franklin Institute.

In 2006, he was appointed by President George Bush to a Federal Commission overseeing the celebration of Ben Franklin’s 300th birthday.

Archbold married Betsy Ross impersonator Linda Wilde in 2008. The wedding took place at Independence Hall with Mayor Michael Nutter officiating in front of almost 10,000 people. In 2009, Archbold suffered a stroke but later recovered and continued working as an impersonator.

Ralph and I shared the platform scores of times and became close friends because we had similar goals—not wanting to travel. Ralph moved to Philadelphia because that was where the bulk of his speaking business was. “My goal is to walk to work every day,” he would say to me.

I came to a similar conclusion. About 40% of my speaking business was based out of Florida. In 1989, I decided to move my family to Florida because I got tired of going there. That was where my new business was coming from. My goal was simple—I want to sleep with my wife at night.

The other Ben Franklin in my life was named that at birth. Benjamin Barnum Franklin was one of my booking agents based in Topeka, Kansas, until his untimely death in 2005 from cancer at the young age of 60.

Ben was President and owner of the Associated Dinner Clubs, Inc., as well as Knife and Fork International. He was also well-travelled. He circumnavigated the world six times and visited 127 countries.

The network of dinner clubs that Franklin’s father founded and that he continued were spread all over North America, mostly in tiny towns. The club system mirrored the old Chautauqua Circuit, a highly popular movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The Chautauqua Circuit brought entertainment and culture into remote cities and towns that might not ever be exposed to speakers, teachers, musicians, showmen, preachers, and other specialists.

Mind you, the Chautauqua Circuit preceded television and radio for the most part and found its success in exposing refinement to rural America. The Associated Dinner Clubs and the Knife and Fork Circuit utilized that same path for success.

Ben would book the big-name speakers of the 70s and 80s like Earl Nightingale, Paul Harvey, Art Linkletter, Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, and scores of others. The clubs had an agreement to purchase all their speakers through Ben’s association.

To fill a year of monthly meetings, Franklin would have to place some “nobodies” like yours truly in many venues. I would often leave my home in Lexington and travel for weeks at a time from one small city to another, earning meager fees and plentiful experience.

From my perspective, I was paid to visit every corner and crevice of the country while garnering experience that I could gather in no other possible way.

It is fair to say these two Ben Franklins were impactful in my life.

Michael Aun is the author of “The Toastmasters International Official Guide to Public Speaking” (Dearborn Publishing).