Errol Craig Sull concluded with --

[...snip...]  While Burns may not have delivered Twain at his gourmet best,
>he did do one nice job in serving up the ol' boy so millions could walk
away
>just a bit happier about and a tad more informed of the who and what of
M.T.
>For me, that rates "satisfied" on my customer comment card.
>

dee c -- Fifty years ago, theological scholars were probably disappointed by
some of the remarks and omissions of Bishop Sheen in his television
programs.  Twenty-five years ago, some astrophysicists and biologists were
probably disappointed by some of the remarks and omissions of Carl Sagan in
his television programs.  Now some historians and other flavors of scholars
are disappointed in bits of Ken Burns' television programs.

The remedy in all of this is two-fold -- better scholarship by the
presenters, and better presentership by the scholars.  Should make for some
interesting partnerships and cooperations.

In my personal experience, there is my father's reaction to having his
picture made beside "the Tom Sawyer fence" in Hannibal in the 1960's.  It
transformed him from a discouraged, under-employed, aging man with personal
problems and disappoints to a man refreshed by the  remembrance of  "Tom
Sawyer" from earlier days.  The difference is obvious in the vacation
pictures made before-and-after.  No scholarship involved, just the
transforming power of a good presentation at a good time.

r d colvett
florence  al
[log in to unmask]
http://home.hiwaay.net/~deec -- an amateur's presentation