I'm only too glad to receive corrections and another other suggestions.
I'm only an aficionado not a scholar.  I don't have the letters.  I got
that reference from Cardwell.   I need to clean up some of the
references on that page.  Given that overall the review was very
positive, especially in regards to Twain, I was wondering the same
thing.  Given that it was only the third stop on the tour and that he
had decided to diverge from the program, perhaps he was self-conscious
about the show.
 
On Fri, 2015-03-13 at 12:28 +0000, Sharon McCoy wrote:
> Scott,
> 
> Your transcriptions are wonderful, as are the reviews you're sharing -- I d=
> idn't mean to make you self-conscious.  But, by all means, everyone interes=
> ted should visit the site!  I deeply enjoy it and appreciate your work.
> 
> I have a quick question, because several points in the review pertain direc=
> tly to some things I've been working on lately.  On the site you cite the L=
> ove Letters, saying that Clemens wrote to his wife concerned that it was a =
> "poor reading" and that the program was "experimental."  I don't have a cop=
> y of Love Letters handy, and was wondering if you (or any one else) would p=
> lease share that passage.  What, specifically, did he feel made it a "poor =
> reading," aside from the distracting street noise?
> 
> Many, many thanks,
> Sharon
> 
> 
> PS -- And, again -- sorry if I made you self conscious about the transcript=
> ion; I was simply self conscious about what seemed to be my own error.  I i=
> ntended nothing more.
> 
> 
> ________________________________________
> From: Mark Twain Forum [[log in to unmask]] on behalf of Scott Holmes [scott@=
> BSCOTTHOLMES.COM]
> Sent: Friday, March 13, 2015 4:31 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Twain and Cable in Springfield MA, Nov 7, 1884
> 
> Maggie Humberston of the Springfield Museums was of great help to me by
> locating and sending me material from the Springfield Republican,
> notices from November 2nd and 5th and a review of the show from the
> November 8 edition.  The announcements are jpg and the review is a pdf.
> It is not of the best quality but I've made an attempt at transcribing
> it.  As has been demonstrated previously, I am capable of making
> mistakes in transcription so by all means go to my Springfield page and
> download your own copies of these documents.
> 
> Springfield Republican, Nov. 8, 1884 page 4.
> >
> The Twain-Cable Evening
> >
> "The joint venture of Mr. Cable and Mr. Clemens at the Opera House last
> evening was greeted by a very considerable audience, and bothered by the
> very considerable noise on the streets, to a degree. But it was a
> successful entertainment, the principal regret felt being that Mr. Cable
> did not appear in such variety of effects as [??] previous visits here,
> and as the program [promised?]. He presented himself first and impressed
> every one as a romantic figure, a sort of knightly ideal, with his broad
> and over[bear?]ing forehead, his brilliant eyes and his long moustache
> over his full [brown?] beard. He was warmly cheered, and after
> gracefully [???]ing the "[???] of Place Congo" in deference to the
> superabundant music outside, he [re?lied] the story of "Possou June." It
> was done with far greater elocutionary effect than when he first read it
> here, but he has introduced into the text certain little variations (to
> make it more intelligible to his audience, perhaps,) which hurt the
> artistic quality. Mr. Cable's voice has strengthened by practice, and he
> is now able to fill the house with his slenderest tone, and to produce
> what effect he will by a development of his dramatic power. After he had
> concluded the narrative of the Florida parson he gave the specimen of
> the music of "Place Congo", and sang it with such fine expression and so
> good a voice that the audience felt defrauded to hear no more of it.
> When "Mark Twain" appeared there was a hearty welcoming applause, as
> there must always be for one whose humor has delighted more people than
> that of any other man. Mr. Clemens, in evening dress rather more
> pronounced than Mr. Cable's, and with a fine exaggerated air of fluidity
> at his entrance upon the stage, was a great contrast to his associate.
> He can hardly be described, with his head of roughened curling hair, his
> vigorous nose, his sardonic moustache and cleft chin, - but he looked
> the humorist, as he no doubt he intended to. He at once informed the
> audience that the programs which had been distributed at great cost for
> their convenience were of no particular use, and he explained why they
> were not, at some length. Then he proceeded to prove that he was right
> about it by giving a number of readings not one of which was mentioned
> on the program. He gave a discussion between "Huckleberry Finn" and the
> negro boy Joe (in the new book): he narrated and illustrated his
> struggles with the German language and its unreasonable genders; he
> related one of Col Sellers[?] projects--there were millions in it--and
> slightly adapted it to the immediate exigencies of the political
> situation; he described his adventure with the young woman whom he
> pretended to know and didn't, and who came up with him so [handsomely],
> and he wound up with telling a ghost story after the manner of an old
> negro. He positively convulsed his hearers with the deliberate fashion
> of his speech and the peculiar ways in which he indicated their proper
> emotions by the inflections of his voice. Mr. Clemens is undoubtedly as
> much a humorist in the reading as in the writing of his extraordinary
> contributions to our literature, and he gave to the familiar narratives
> an added touch of character."
> 
> http://bscottholmes.com/content/gilmores-opera-house-springfield-ma
> 
> http://bscottholmes.com/content/promoting-huck-finn-twain-cable-tour-188485
> 
> 
> --
>  There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of
>                           in your philosophy.
>                         http://bscottholmes.com