Well said, Mark.  Well said, indeed.  I've seen "Mark Twain Tonight!"
several times (though not nearly 12).  Each time, inspiring and
exhilarating.

Add my applause to the grateful standing ovation of the many.  Hal has had
an enormous impact on the American public's awareness of and admiration for
Mark Twain, and for our own Twain circle's appreciation, as well.

Thanks for reminding us and for leading the cheers.

Terry


On Wed, Mar 19, 2014 at 12:09 PM, Mark Dawidziak <[log in to unmask]>wrote:

> Today marks the 60th anniversary of "Mark Twain Tonight!" The very first
> performance of this remarkable one-man show was on March 19, 1954, at the
> State Teachers College in Lockhaven, Pennsylvania. At 89, the amazing Hal
> Holbrook still regularly performs the show that he constantly reshapes and
> revises to keep relevant.
>      Hal estimates that he has gone through about 16 hours of Twain
> material during these 60 years. Since 1975, I've seen "Mark Twain Tonight!"
> about 12 times, and I've never seen the same show twice. So, a round of
> applause, please, for one of the greatest achievements in theater history
> and one of the most important and influential slices of Mark Twain
> scholarship. I long ago lost count of how many Twain scholars and
> biographers have told me that they got fired up about Twain by seeing this
> show performed live or when CBS broadcast it on March 6, 1967 (30 million
> people watched that night).
>     He always has been generous in crediting and celebrating the work of
> Twain scholars. "You are the teachers," he told the assembled Twain
> "family" in 2009. Let us be generous in recognizing how much his efforts
> have meant to us.
>
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