Because I’ve made audio recordings of almost all of Mark Twain‘s works… folks who use LibriVox and Archive have come to call mine: “the voice of Mark Twain” .
I’ve never tried to copy the one recording I found, the Yale University one, in which his voice was emulated... and I’ve never claimed ANY similarity (so I don’t apologize)
🤓
-j

John Greenman
207-974-9911 
My Archive.org audio recordings
My Audiobooks from Librivox


> On Jul 10, 2019, at 2:24 PM, Hal Bush <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> 
> Friends:  stirring the pot even more:  MT's speaking voice.  How did he sound: a slow drawl--or was that a performance voice only?  Did in fact all 6 recordings (that we know about) get destroyed?  What exactly is that old tape at Yale (I once made a wild suggestion that, for all we know, it is in fact MT; or that some kind of recording may actually exist/or that somewhere is a version of a version, etc.) ??  How accurate is William Gillette's mimicry?  Or Frederick Packard's? Or even Hal Holbrook's??
> 
> Food for thought...But I happen to know that Kevin Mac Donnell is giving his talk in Hannibal later this month, on precisely these issues... sorry no spoilers just yet!
> 
> 
> https://blogs.loc.gov/now-see-hear/2014/10/mark-twain-sort-of-speaks-to-us/
> 
> [https://blogs.loc.gov/now-see-hear/files/2014/10/Twain3a-e1414182860483.jpg]<https://blogs.loc.gov/now-see-hear/2014/10/mark-twain-sort-of-speaks-to-us/>
> Mark Twain Sort of Speaks to Us | Now See Hear!<https://blogs.loc.gov/now-see-hear/2014/10/mark-twain-sort-of-speaks-to-us/>
> blogs.loc.gov
> Mark Twain was known to have made recordings on three occasions; unfortunately none of them are known to have survived. The earliest recording was made by Thomas Edison in 1888. In 1891, the author himself made a number of cylinder recordings of himself dictating portions of a new novella, The ...
> 
> 
> 
> http://twain.lib.virginia.edu/onstage/voice.html
> 
> MT's Voice - Mark Twain in His Times Homepage<http://twain.lib.virginia.edu/onstage/voice.html>
> twain.lib.virginia.edu
> Most of the newspaper reporters who covered MT's live performances commented on his "inimitable" or "unmistakable" voice. Early in his career a very few thought it was distracting, but the rest found it an irresistible and vital part of the humorous spell that he cast over his audiences.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Dr. Hal Bush
> 
> Dept. of English
> 
> Saint Louis University
> 
> [log in to unmask]
> 
> 314-977-3616
> 
> http://halbush.com
> 
> author website:  halbush.com