Thanks, everyone!  I'm going to keep my eyes peeled for wax cylinders!  Best,  --s

Susan K. Harris

Hall Professor of American Literature

University of Kansas

Author of God's Arbiters: Americans and the Philippines, 1898-1902

________________________________________
From: Mark Twain Forum [[log in to unmask]] on behalf of Effgen, A. B. [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Tuesday, November 29, 2011 6:51 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Twain Recording?

I did work out some of this story, with the help of Barb and Kevin, awhile =
back. Short answer is there are no known recordings, but if anyone finds a =
Bettlini cylinder of singer Nellie Melba you'll hear Mark Twain at the end =
of it.

More to come.

~+~+~+~+~
Mr. A. B. Effgen
Research Associate
Research Systems and Funding Information
Office of Sponsored Programs (CRC)
Boston University
25 Buick Street
Boston, MA 02215
ph:   (617) 353-4365
fax:  (617) 353-6660

On Nov 29, 2011, at 7:39 PM, "Harold Bush" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Hi Sue, those Edison recording were destroyed in a fire, and as far as is
> known, no verified recordings of MT have survived.
>=20
> I would add that Yale does have one recording, believed to be William
> Gillette (I think), who was an impersonator who know Twain personally and
> was supposedly quite accurate in his mimicry.  There must be others of hi=
m,
> which I would liken to someone like Rich Little doing Johnny Carson.  i.e=
.
> pretty accurate.  It is plausible that it is not Gillette, and in fact MT
> himself; I remember hearing that from someone in the Beinecke at Yale man=
y
> years back.  They just had no way of knowing.  My guess =3D it is also
> plausible that somehwere out there, somehow, a recording of MT may exist,
> like that old manuscript of Huck Finn....
>=20
> I also vaguely recall having a discussion on this LIST long ago, and I'd
> love to hear other views.
>=20
> --Hal B.
>=20
>=20
>=20
> On Tue, Nov 29, 2011 at 5:42 PM, Harris, Susan Kumin <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>=20
>> Today a colleague asked me if there were any extant recordings of Twain'=
s
>> v=3D
>> oice, and I realized that I have a memory of someone talking about an
>> Ediso=3D
>> n recording--but also that it may have been destroyed.  Can someone set =
me
>> =3D
>> straight on this?
>>=20
>>=20
>>=20
>> Thank you!  --susan harris
>>=20
> --=20
> Harold K. Bush, Ph.D
> Professor of English
> Saint Louis University
> St. Louis, MO  63108
> 314-977-3616 (w); 314-771-6795 (h)
> <www.slu.edu/x23809.xml>