To edify Mr. Griffin, I found when Twain & Cable came to Washington City
they weren't billed as the "Twins of Genius."

*Evening Star*, 15 Nov, 1884

5th column, mid-way

http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1884-11-15/ed-1/seq-8/

On Tue, Jan 13, 2015 at 4:04 PM, Benjamin GRIFFIN <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:

> I'd like to mention that, so far as I can tell, it's a myth that Twain and
> Cable were ever billed as "Twins of Genius." I'm preparing a little article
> about this often-repeated mistake.
>
> James B. Pond did advertise Bill Nye and James Whitcomb Riley as "Twins of
> Genius," in 1889-1890.  By 1900, when Pond wrote his memoir Eccentricities
> of Genius, his memory slipped and he transferred that label, retroactively
> and wrongly, to his earlier Twain-Cable tour (Eccentricities of Genius, p.
> 231).
>
> No doubt that is where Guy Cardwell picked up the phrase which he used as
> the title of his book on the Twain-Cable tour, which has made it a
> commonplace of MT scholarship. (In that book he does not cite any source
> for the "T. of G." phrase at all.)
>
> Of course this is the right forum to ask that, if anyone knows of anything
> suggesting that Twain and Cable were billed as Twins of Genius, in 1884-85
> or any other time, I'll provide my customary rueful retraction.
>
> Ben Griffin
> Mark Twain Project
> Berkeley
>
> On Tue, Jan 13, 2015 at 11:04 AM, Benjamin GRIFFIN <[log in to unmask]>
> wrote:
>
> > I'd like to mention that, so far as I can tell, it's a myth that Twain
> and
> > Cable were ever billed as "Twins of Genius." I'm preparing a little
> article
> > about this often-repeated mistake.
> >
> > James B. Pond did advertise Bill Nye and James Whitcomb Riley as "Twins
> of
> > Genius," in 1889-1890.  By 1900, when Pond wrote his memoir
> Eccentricities
> > of Genius, his memory slipped and he transferred that label,
> retroactively
> > and wrongly, to his earlier Twain-Cable tour (Eccentricities of Genius,
> p.
> > 231).
> >
> > No doubt that is where Guy Cardwell picked up the phrase which he used as
> > the title of his book on the Twain-Cable tour, which has made it a
> > commonplace of MT scholarship. (In that book he does not cite any source
> > for the "T. of G." phrase at all.)
> >
> > Of course this is the right forum to ask that, if anyone knows of
> anything
> > suggesting that Twain and Cable were billed as Twins of Genius, in
> 1884-85
> > or any other time, I'll provide my customary rueful retraction.
> >
> > Ben Griffin
> > Mark Twain Project
> > Berkeley
> >
> >
> >
> > On Mon, Jan 12, 2015 at 12:38 PM, Scott Holmes <[log in to unmask]>
> > wrote:
> >
> >> I just received a copy of this book two days ago and I've become
> >> immersed in the broad topic of cultural milieu, then and now.  I'm
> >> rather disappointed in myself for not paying much attention to Andrew
> >> Levy's points all these years.  I don't particularly fit the profile he
> >> draws of most readers today in that I never thought of Huck Finn as
> >> centered on racism.  My own take has always been that this was a story
> >> of an outsider, a waif on the edge of society.  I considered that
> >> Twain's intention was to use this as a vantage point for criticizing
> >> that society.
> >>
> >> I've only just begun a close reading and I've already been distracted by
> >> my own research into The Twins of Genius Tour.  I must have read about
> >> it in passing but it was not until now that I've thought about it.  My
> >> first big find in this research was
> >> http://twain.lib.virginia.edu/huckfinn/hftourhp.html
> >> Wonderful job.
> >>
> >> Anyway, there seem to be a large number of reviews appearing and all are
> >> very positive.  I'm anxious to hear what Twain-Lians have to say about
> >> this.  I think it's going to stir that pot about the ending of the book.
> >> It seems Tom Sawyer's complex escape plans for Jim may have been the
> >> most popular part of The Twins of Genius Tour, at least Twain's part of
> >> the tour.  Just the reverse view is now held.  My thought on the matter
> >> is that if the racist elements of this segment were eliminated it would
> >> be considered a success.  It would be pure slap stick/vaudeville type
> >> humor, minstrelsy without the blackface, just replace Jim with Laurel or
> >> Hardy or one of the Stooges.
> >>
> >> Just some thoughts...
> >>
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Benjamin Griffin
> > Associate Editor, Mark Twain Project
> > The Bancroft Library
> > University of California, Berkeley 94720-6000
> > (510) 664-4238
> >
>
>
>
> --
> Benjamin Griffin
> Associate Editor, Mark Twain Project
> The Bancroft Library
> University of California, Berkeley 94720-6000
> (510) 664-4238
>



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