Considering the state of motion picture technology in 1893, the chances of Clemens having access to a kinetoscopic camera were just about nil.

Gregg

Sent from my iPad

> On Mar 5, 2014, at 8:01 PM, "Lee, Judith" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> 
> Larry and Jim,
> 
> Joe Slade opened his copy of Donna Carlton=92s Looking for Little Egypt (Bl=
> oomington, IN:  IDD Books, 1994), so here is more of the paragraph that is =
> apparently excerpted out of context in the link.  Carlton gives an account =
> of =93the hooch coochy Little Egypt=94 (as distinct from the Horatio-Algere=
> sque legend of Fahreda Mahzar) on p. 93:  =93This Little Egypt belonged to =
> a sensualist, degenerate, pleasure-seeking demimonde of freaks and cheap th=
> rills.  She was both harem queen and concubine to the sideshow sheiks . . .=
> Ladies and gentlemen, direct from the Chicago World=92s Fair, see the hooc=
> h coochy dancer!  She walks!  She talks! She crawls on her belly like a rep=
> tile!  This Little Egypt strutted about wearing practically nothing.  Her n=
> ame even became a slang expression for a loose woman.  Finally, in a  fabri=
> cated legend, her contortions resulted in a coronary for mark Twain, who co=
> llapsed after viewing a performance.=94
> 
> Carlton clearly cites the tale as a myth, although she appears to be cited =
> as if supporting it.
> 
> Judith
> 
> 
> On Mar 5, 2014, at 6:21 PM, Lawrence Howe <[log in to unmask]<mailto:LHowe=
> @ROOSEVELT.EDU>> wrote:
> 
> Jim--
> 
> I've never heard this story, but it has all the earmarks of a fabrication. =
> =3D
> Your recollection that he was ill when visiting Chicago is correct.  He wa=
> =3D
> s here (Chicago's my current home) to negotiate with Paige on separating hi=
> =3D
> s interests on the typesetter.  In addition to the letters, David Fears Mar=
> =3D
> k Twain Day-By-Day gives the details of his movements--or lack of them, he =
> =3D
> was laid up in the the Blackstone hotel, if I remember correctly.  Clemens =
> =3D
> recovered enough from his illness to visit the fair on the afternoon of the=
> =3D
> last day he was in the city.  As for him shooting a film of Little Egypt, =
> =3D
> I don't know of any accounts of him ever taking a photograph (though certa=
> =3D
> inly more were taken of him than perhaps any other living person).  We know=
> =3D
> about his interest in the typewriter and the dictaphone.  I suspect if he'=
> =3D
> d actually used a movie camera, we'd know about it. =3D20
> 
> I've long been curious about whether he had ever seen a film.  It's widely =
> =3D
> known that the Edison crew made one of him at Stormfield, but I know of no =
> =3D
> reference from him of ever having seen one.  In "Italian Without a Grammar"=
> =3D
> (1903) he includes some newspaper clippings that feature two ads for films=
> =3D
> being shown in Florence, and they were adaptations of classic stories--Qui=
> =3D
> xote was one, if I recall correctly.  It's hard to imagine that he wouldn't=
> =3D
> have been interested in a new way of telling stories.  But nothing has tur=
> =3D
> ned up.  So the idea that he actually shot a film of an exotic dancer is fa=
> =3D
> scinating, though it seems unlikely.  If you learn anything about the sourc=
> =3D
> e of this story, I'd be interested.
> 
> --LH
> 
> 
> Larry Howe
> Professor of English
> Chair, Department of Literature and Languages
> Roosevelt University
> ________________________________________
> From: Mark Twain Forum [[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>] On Behal=
> f Of James Edstrom [jedst=3D
> [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>]
> Sent: Wednesday, March 05, 2014 5:22 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Mark Twain, the World's Columbian Exposition, and belly dancing
> 
> In the course of reading an item on Salon today with the arresting
> title, "Why I Can't Stand White Belly Dancers" (
> http://www.salon.com/2014/03/04/why_i_cant_stand_white_belly_dancers/),
> this sentence caught my eye:  "(fun trivia: Mark Twain made a short film
> of a belly dancer at the 1893 fair)."  This was a new one to me.
> Although he was in Chicago during the Fair, I don't think Twain had a
> chance to visit, as he was ill (if my recollection is correct).  As for
> the story that he filmed Little Egypt--I'd be curious to learn the
> source of that myth.  Another source--a book titled "Looking for Little
> Egypt," which is excerpted at
> http://www.allaboutbellydance.com/book.html --claims that Little Egypt
> "supposedly caused Mark Twain to suffer a coronary and starred in one of
> the first motion pictures, filmed at the fairgrounds by Mark Twain
> himself."  Wikipedia repeats the story as well and cites a 1965
> documentary titled The Love Goddesses as its source.  Has anybody ever
> heard this story before?
> 
> Jim Edstrom=3D
> 
> Judith Yaross Lee
> Professor & Director of Honors Tutorial Studies
> Editor, Studies in American Humor
> Co-director, Central Region Humanities Center
> School of Communication Studies
> Ohio University
> Lasher Hall
> Athens, OH 45701
> 
> T:740-593-4888
> F:740-593-4810
> [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
> http://www.coms.ohiou.edu/judith-yaross-lee
> 
> My newest book:  Twain's Brand: Humor in Contemporary American Culture <htt=
> p://www.ohio.edu/people/leej/Twains_Brand.html>