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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