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Thanks, Kevin, for the info on the film. I can always rely on you to put 
me right!
Cheers.
Heather.
 
 
 On Tue, Sep 10, 2013 at 02:36 PM, Kevin Mac Donnell wrote:
 
 > I'm glad Barb Schmidt sent in her notes. I really think it narrows 
down to
> Horace Hazen (about 20) or Claude Beuchotte (early 30s). There's a 
> youtube video that's set to 12 frames per second, which is a little 
> too slow, but more realistic than the usual speed and it's also easier 
> to pause frames when viewing. If you watch the fellow carefully, his 
> manner, dress, and body language are clearly those of a well-trained 
> "butler."
>
> Just to be certain I double-checked my photos of Ossip from this 
> period and it's clearly not him, as somebody else has pointed out. 
> Grumman appears in a group photo taken in the library, and this fellow 
> is not Grumman.
>
> I have a group photo of the butlers and other staff in Italy, in 
> Jean's Italian photo album, with each one named in Jean's hand. I 
> think it's online at Twainquotes, and perhaps in a book --I can't 
> recall without consulting my records-- and I've compared those faces 
> to those in other photos like the one of Twain being off-loaded from 
> the ship to return home to die, in hopes of figuring out which one 
> might be Beuchotte, but that did not work. The next step might be to 
> enlarge some of Sprague's photos of Clara's wedding to see if anybody 
> appears in the background, but if they are not identified, then what?
>
> So, if the logical choices are Hazen or Beuchotte does the fellow look 
> more 20ish or 30ish?
>
> If you really like a mystery, here are two more--
>
> 1. I want to know the who/what/why/how of the Stormfield cook who had 
> a drunken melt-down that required the local sheriff to haul her away. 
> Dan Beard headed over to see if he could help and Twain met him by the 
> pergula wearing a pink kimono. They went back inside and Twain got 
> dressed and they then strolled off to visit Paine, all the while with 
> Twain ignoring the cook's "appalling racket" according to Beard in his 
> autobiography.
>
> 2. Twain and reefer madness. I have a sealed one pound bundle of 
> Killickinnick smoking Tobacco, ca. 1860s, the very same brand Twain 
> took with him on the stage with Orion when they headed to Nevada. That 
> brand had a reputation for having all kinds of non-tobacco stems, 
> twigs, and leaves in it, and I have a friend who does drug testing on 
> hair and fiber samples. Hmmm....
>
> Kevin
> @
> Mac Donnell Rare Books
> 9307 Glenlake Drive
> Austin TX 78730
> 512-345-4139
> Member: ABAA, ILAB
> *************************
> You may browse our books at
> www.macdonnellrarebooks.com
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Susan Durkee" To: Sent: Tuesday, 
> September 10, 2013 8:20 AM
> Subject: Re: The only known MT film footage
>
>
>> The man is the film  bringing the hat is  not Grumman, I have a 
>> number of
>> photos of him with Ralph  Ashcroft  fooling around on the  Lobster 
>> Pot Patio.
>> Grumman was fairer  haired and slight.  Grumman was the first 
>> librarian of
>> the Mark Twain  Library
>> Susan Boone Durkee
>>
>> The Lobster Pot  Studio
>> 23 Mark Twain Lane
>> Redding Ct. 06896  203-938-2760
>> _www.SusanDurkee.com_ (http://www.susandurkee.com/)
>>
>> _Click the  link here to visit the Studio._
>> (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyUgtMN3Evk&feature=youtu.be)
>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FPcV4Qi9_E&feature=youtu.be
>>
>>
>> In a message dated 9/9/2013 10:27:48 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
>> [log in to unmask] writes:
>>
>> I  vaguely recall that Barb Schmidt and I played with this a few 
>> years
>> back,
>> but I don't recall the result.
>>
>> There was a tall thin stenographer  on premises (William E. Grumman, 
>> who
>> appears in one group photo taken in  the library; he was hired in Feb 
>> or
>> March 1909 by Lyon). The butler was  Claude Beuchotte. I don't think 
>> it was
>> Claude. Another  butler?
>>
>> Kevin
>> @
>> Mac Donnell Rare Books
>> 9307 Glenlake  Drive
>> Austin TX 78730
>> 512-345-4139
>> Member: ABAA,  ILAB
>> *************************
>> You may browse our books  at
>> www.macdonnellrarebooks.com
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Arianne" To:  Sent: Monday, September 09, 2013 8:32  PM
>> Subject: Re: The only known MT film footage
>>
>>
>>> Just read an  account of Twain's butler today and it was said HE
>>> was the one in the  video.  So frustrating.  I'm going over to 
>>> youtube and
>>> see  if I can see an unflipped video.
>>>
>>> I guess we should be happy  there is any video at all of anybody 
>>> there
>>> then.
>>> Arianne  Laidlaw
>>> Sacramentol
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Mon, Sep 9,  2013 at 5:33 PM, Kevin Mac Donnell <
>>>  [log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>>
>>>> It's clearly Jean  on the far right and Clara in the middle. It's a
>>>>  handsome
>>>> young fellow with a shock of hair, not Ashcroft, who  brings Clara 
>>>> her
>>>> hat.
>>>> It was filmed aiming the camera  east toward the rear slope (toward
>>>> Redding)--the profile of a tree  top between the columns matches a 
>>>> tree
>>>> seen
>>>> in other  photos of that spot, besides some smaller details. I 
>>>> wonder if
>>>>  the
>>>> hat-bringer was Ossip? I'll have to make some comparisons. He  was
>> around
>>>> in
>>>> late 1909, at least until he and Clara  left after their October
>> wedding.
>>>> I
>>>> have pre-1910  photos of him and he had a shock of hair like that 
>>>> before
>>>>  male
>>>> pattern baldness set in. But not quite his profile at first 
>>>> glance.
>>>>
>>>> I have several versions of the film and at  least one is not 
>>>> flipped. In
>>>> at
>>>> least one version on  youtube, the tea-sipping scene is not 
>>>> flipped.
>>>>  Besides
>>>> Twain's vest buttons, the window placements give it away  as being
>>>> flipped.
>>>>
>>>> Although Jean and  Isabel had once been cordial, they were not 
>>>> sipping
>> tea
>>>> together  in late 1909 --Isabel had been fired in the Spring 
>>>> (April?) and
>>>>  later "evicted" from the Lobster Pot. Read the newspaper accounts 
>>>> and
>>>> allegations being made at the time. Lots of high drama but no  high 
>>>> teas.
>>>>
>>>> I have the original first Stormfield  guestbook, and a good copy of 
>>>> the
>>>> second made by Twain's lawyer  (the original is at Hartford), and I 
>>>> don't
>>>> recall any Edison crews  being in those pages, but not everybody 
>>>> signed
>>>> the
>>>>  guestbook(s) and they could be recorded merely as names with no
>>>>  identification. I do think if Thomas Edison himself had shown up 
>>>> he
>> would
>>>> have been asked to sign the guestbook and his visit would  have 
>>>> been
>>>> otherwise recorded, and he and Twain would likely have  been filmed 
>>>> or at
>>>> least photographed together, like others of note  who came to visit
>>>> (Keller,
>>>> Howells, Laura Hawkins  Frazer, various angelfish, Paine, Coburn,
>>>> Henderson,
>>>>  Whitmore, Eliz. Wallace).
>>>>
>>>> Kevin
>>>>  @
>>>> Mac Donnell Rare Books
>>>> 9307 Glenlake  Drive
>>>> Austin TX 78730
>>>> 512-345-4139
>>>> Member:  ABAA, ILAB
>>>> *************************
>>>> You may browse  our books at
>>>> www.macdonnellrarebooks.com
>>>>
>>>>  ----- Original Message -----
>>>> From: "Arianne"  To:  Sent: Monday, September 09, 2013 3:33  PM
>>>> Subject: Re: The only known MT film  footage
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> I also read somewhere that the  ladies at the table weren't Jean 
>>>>> and
>>>>> Clara,
>>>>>  but Jean and Isabel Lyon.  Not sure which caption is correct. 
>>>>> Please
>>>>> advise.
>>>>> Have you actually seen the  correct movie?  I didn't know one 
>>>>> could be
>>>>>  "flipped."
>>>>> Arianne Laidlaw
>>>>>  Sacramento
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> On Mon, Sep 9,  2013 at 6:36 AM, Kevin Mac Donnell <
>>>>>  [log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>>  Interesting that this video is flipped just like the one on 
>>>>>> youtube,
>>
>>>>>> and
>>>>>> it
>>>>>> makes  me wonder who copied from whom, or if they share a common
>> flawed
>>>>>> source. I'm used to seeing flipped negatives on photos printed 
>>>>>> from
>>>> glass
>>>>>> plate negatives or modern repros,  but I wonder how often an 
>>>>>> entire
>>>>>> video
>>>>>> of
>>>>>> that vintage has been flipped. It's no big  deal that somebody 
>>>>>> messed
>>>>>> up
>>>>>>  on
>>>>>> youtube, but too bad the Smithsonian got sloppy. They  should fix 
>>>>>> it
>>>>>> just
>>>>>> to
>>>>>> be historically accurate, if they really give a hoot. In truth,
>> Twain
>>>> was
>>>>>> holding the cigar in his left hand  not his right, and he was 
>>>>>> walking
>>>>>> around
>>>>>> from the "cellar side" of Stormfield rather than the "loggia 
>>>>>> side."
>>>>>> This
>>>>>> flipped film makes him appear  left-handed since he's holding the
>> cigar
>>>> in
>>>>>>  his right hand, and of course misrepresents the architecture of
>>>>>> Stormfield.
>>>>>> G-r-r-r-r-r...
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Kevin
>>>>>> @
>>>>>> Mac Donnell Rare Books
>>>>>> 9307 Glenlake  Drive
>>>>>> Austin TX 78730
>>>>>>  512-345-4139
>>>>>> Member: ABAA, ILAB
>>>>>>  *************************
>>>>>> You may browse our books  at
>>>>>> www.macdonnellrarebooks.com
>>>>>>
>>>>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>>>>> From: "Tony Verhulst" To: Sent: Sunday,  September 08, 2013 6:38 
>>>>>> PM
>>>>>> Subject: The only known MT  film footage
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I've seen this before - we probably all have. But, I just ran
>> across
>>>> it
>>>>>>> again and thought is was worth  posting.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>
>> 
>> http://www.smithsonianmag.com/video/The-Only-Footage-of-Mark-Twain-in-Existence.html
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Tony
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> -----
>>>>>>> No virus found in this  message.
>>>>>>> Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
>>>>>>> Version: 2013.0.3392 / Virus Database: 3222/6649 - Release 
>>>>>>> Date:
>>>>> _> > 09/09/13
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>  --
>>>>> Arianne Laidlaw A '58
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> -----
>>>>> No virus found  in this message.
>>>>> Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
>>>>> Version: 2013.0.3392 / Virus Database: 3222/6649 - Release Date:
>>>>> 09/09/13
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> -- 
>>> Arianne Laidlaw A  '58
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> -----
>>> No virus found in this  message.
>>> Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
>>> Version: 2013.0.3392 /  Virus Database: 3222/6649 - Release Date: 
>>> 09/09/13
>>>
>>
>>
>> _ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FPcV4Qi9_E&feature=youtu.be)
>>
>>
>>
>> -----
>> No virus found in this message.
>> Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
>> Version: 2013.0.3392 / Virus Database: 3222/6652 - Release Date: 
>> 09/10/13
>>
>

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