Layman to Laymen

One day Mr. Paul George Dallwig of Chicago went to see Dr. Clifford Gregg, director of the Field Museum of Natural History, and asked if he, Mr. Dallwig, were getting to be a nuisance. Not at all, said Dr. Gregg. In fact, he would like nothing better than that Mr. Dallwig enlarge and organize his work, make it a regular Sunday feature. That was in 1936.Since then, spruce, grey Mr. Dallwig has become known to thousands of knowledge seeking Chicagoans as the museum's sprightly "Layman Lecturer." Last week, in top form, Mr. Dallwig swung into his fourth smash-hit season.

Mr. Dallwig describes himself as "a lawyer by profession, a businessman by accident, and a scientist by remote control." He used to sell insurance but has given that up almost entirely, still makes money from a special loose-leaf notebook which he invented for insurance salesmen. One day in 1935, oppressed by business cares and seeking distraction, he dropped into the museum, listened to a stock lecturer. When it was over he found that his cares had fallen away. He went to about 100 more lectures, began to bone up on geology, anthropology, mineralogy, meteoritics, zoology, paleontology.

Then Lawyer Dallwig began taking friends to the museum on Sunday afternoons, moving from hall to hall, from exhibit to exhibit, dispensing colloquial science. Rapidly his following grew. That was when he went to Director Gregg. With the director's blessing and ever increasing audience, the Layman Lecturer found it necessary to require reservations in advance for his whole 30-week series. Last year he tried to keep the groups down to 80 persons, this year lifted the limit to 100. "I give them," says he, "a smile, a fact, and move on to the next exhibit."

A layman himself, Mr. Dallwig knows what laymen are interested in. He relies on humor ("Anthropology is the study of man, embracing woman"), homely philosophy ("Anthropology is merely the science of human sympathy and understanding and thus it is through anthropology that we will do away with war"), and even nimble histrionics. He mimics a battle between Tyrannosaurus and Triceratops, two terrifying dinosaurs, jumping back & forth from one role to the other. He believes in snappy titles--"Mysterious Night-Riders of the Sky," for example, is more titillating than "Meteors & Meteorites." Science teachers from all over the Midwest have joined his Sunday throngs, seeking pointers on how to keep their own classes awake. For accuracy Mr. Dallwig checks his scripts, which he whips up evenings during the week, with the museum's learned curators. To keep his voice in trim, he gives up smoking during the 30-week season. He used to prefer being known simply as the "Layman Lecturer," but emerged from anonymity in a hurry after hearing that a woman in his group referred to him as that "wonderful Mr. Layman."

Jazzing up science is Mr. Dallwig's hobby; he neither gets nor asks for any compensation. Last week Hollywood and radio were reported to be angling for his services, for pay. These blandishments left the Layman Lecturer unruffled. "I am happy," said he, "here at the museum."

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