Holbrook listened to the Gillette recording, which was often represented
years ago as being a recording of Twain himself. He may have been told that
at the time, so he could have made the statement you recall reading --I
dunno. But he's later made clear that it was the Gillette recording, and I
think he suspected at the time it was not Twain and consulted Norman Holmes
Pearson (Yale prof) who told him it was Gillette performing for a small
group at Harvard in the 1920s.
Holbrook has now been "Mark Twain" longer than Sam Clemens was "Mark Twain."
Twain died at 74; Holbrook is older.
The white suit has been a constant source of confusion. Twain wore white
suits in season in the 1870s. He did not begin wearing them out of season
and in public until his appearance before the Congressional Committee on
Copyrights. It is sometimes said he did not wear a white suit on stage after
that appearance. It is also said he never held a cigar while on stage.
However, I have two unpublished photos of Twain just moments after he
stepped off the stage in Baltimore in June, 1909, at his last public
appearance (not counting his Sept 1909 comments at Clara's concert at
Stormfield) and he is wearing a white suit and holding a cigar (and wearing
glasses, possibly the pair of his glasses I have). This was at St Timothy's
School (aka Miss Tewkesbury's School) where he showed up as a favor to
Frances Nunnally. The night before he'd had his first really serious angina
attack, witnessed by Paine. Paine is hovering nearby in both photos with
Twain and both are surrounded by young ladies heavily festooned with
flowers. Cf Paine's biography for his account, and MT Speaking 195 for the
famous speech about not smoking, drinking or marrying to excess, how Twain
collected a reward for a stolen dog and thereby learned to be honest, etc.
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: "Carl J. Chimi" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, August 29, 2012 3:57 PM
Subject: Re: Mark Twain's Voice
>I have no doubt you are right. But help me out here, as my memory probably
>i=
> sn't even what it never used to be.
>
> I remember reading a book I borrowed from a friend. This would have been
> in=
> the mid-1980s that I read it. I think it was a paperback. It was by Hal
> H=
> olbrook and I think it was called Mark Twain Tonight. It was a kind of
> acto=
> r's memoir of how he became an actor and how he developed the Mark Twain
> cha=
> racter over a period of years. I have a memory that he talked about his
> fir=
> st wife and another that he hated Ernest Tubb's singing voice.
>
> But my most salient memory of that book is that he says in the book that
> lis=
> tened to a recording of Samuel Clemens' speaking voice to get the
> inflection=
> s and sound quality right. I don't remember that he mentioned Gillette or
> a=
> ny other imitator, but rather claimed to have heard Twain's recorded
> voice.
>
> Now, I am probably memory-deficient here. Or perhaps Mr. Holbrook later
> cla=
> rified or recanted that statement. But is there not such a statement in
> tha=
> t book, assuming there is such a book and I am not just dreaming all of
> this=
> ? I remember when I read that being tremendously excited at the idea that
> a=
> recording of the voice existed and could be heard.
>
> I saw Mr. Holbrook twice in the 70s as Mark Twain, and have tickets to see
> h=
> im again this October in Wilkes-Barre, PA. I've always wondered, did Mark
> T=
> wain ever actually lecture on the stage at the approximate age that Mr.
> Holb=
> rook portrays him at, and in that white suit? I've always assumed that
> Holb=
> rook's Twain character was portrayed as older than any age at which
> Clemens w=
> as still lecturing for money. And I've wondered why Holbrook chose that
> age=
> to portray. I'd really enjoy seeing a good actor portray the Mark Twain
> of=
> the early lecturing years, assuming the research and production values
> were=
> good.
>
> Carl
> Not a Twain Scholar, Damn It. But Only Because I Had No Idea Growing Up
> It W=
> as Possible To Be One. So all I do is read lots of books by Twain
> scholars a=
> nd toil away in other corridors of academe.
>
> Sent from my iPad
>
> On Aug 29, 2012, at 4:03 PM, Kevin Mac Donnell
> <[log in to unmask]
>> wrote:
>
>> I've conducted a systematic search in all of the logical places for
>> each=20=
>
>> recording event for which I could find any information, and this has led
>> m=
> e=20
>> down a lot of rabbit-holes, into numerous archives, and ultimately to=20
>> deadends. The loose ends that are left are so loose I've not bothered
>> to=20=
>
>> spend the time or money pursuing them. All of the recordings I can
>> documen=
> t=20
>> involved wax cylinders and these were probably lost or destroyed during
>> hi=
> s=20
>> life or shortly after.
>>=20
>> Gillette performed his imitation of Twain in front of Twain and had
>> Twain'=
> s=20
>> approval. Hal Holbrook copied Gillette's recording and interviewed
>> many=20=
>
>> people who knew Twain (Lyon, Pond Jr, Clara, and many others less=20
>> well-known) and Clara herself gave Hal her stamp of approval. I think
>> the=20=
>
>> voice you are after hovers somewhere between Gillette and Holbrook.
>>=20
>> But good luck with a reward. I think you'd get a lot of people chasing
>> the=
> ir=20
>> tails over the Gillette recordings and a lot more people with no idea
>> wher=
> e=20
>> to look or even how to recover a sound from a wax cylinder (if you play
>> th=
> em=20
>> like other cylinders you destroy what's on them). But you never know!
>>=20
>> 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
>>=20
>> ----- Original Message -----=20
>> From: "Rod Rawlings" <[log in to unmask]>
>> To: <[log in to unmask]>
>> Sent: Wednesday, August 29, 2012 1:40 PM
>> Subject: Re: Mark Twain's Voice
>>=20
>>=20
>>> Thank you, Kevin, for your responses to my question about
>>> authentication.=
>
>>>=20
>>> The several written descriptions of Twain's voice I've read, including
>>> his own, do not assemble into one recognizable model. Some depict his
>>> long-talk style as bothersome, nearly intolerable, others think it
>>> charming. Some say he mumbles and then that he sounds strong and
>>> clear. A deep voice that sings soprano? A southern twang with a
>>> western lilt and a Yankee clip? And while it is tantalizing hearing
>>> the 1934 recording of William Gillette imitating Mark Twain imitating
>>> the garrulous old fictional character, Simon Wheeler, it is three
>>> times removed -- too much of a stretch.
>>>=20
>>> You asked why I asked the authentication question. It was to find the
>>> answer (Yes), to find if anyone cared enough to answer (Yes, you!), to
>>> find if the general acceptance of there being no surviving recording
>>> is due to some systematic or directed search around Europe and the
>>> English-speaking world that turned up nothing (No, apparently), and
>>> finally to rattle the silence a bit regarding his missing voice.
>>>=20
>>> Being able to authenticate a Twain voice recording is necessary to
>>> permit offering a reward to the discoverer. If a reward is
>>> sufficiently enticing and well publicized, for quite some time it
>>> could put hundreds of hands to work around the globe hoping to earn
>>> the bounty.
>>>=20
>>> Given Twain's celebrity and his frequent speechifying during a time of
>>> new recording technology, chance would credibly allow the survival of
>>> the random unmarked box of wax cylinders in a dark corner of some
>>> forgotten attic. Example: German Chancellor Otto von Bismark's voice
>>> recording from the 1880s that was found behind Thomas Edison's desk
>>> and played about 120 years later. We are past the century mark for the
>>> age of any Twain recording, so searching sooner is better than later.
>>>=20
>>>=20
>>>=20
>>> On Wed, Aug 29, 2012 at 9:56 AM, Dave Davis
>>> <[log in to unmask]>=20=
>
>>> wrote:
>>>> If anyone ever finds this "Holy Grail" of Twain studies, it will be=20
>>>> Kevin,
>>>> I predict.
>>>>=20
>>>> And, whoever does find it -- if ever such a thing is found -- will be
>>>> on=
>
>>>> the front page of the NYT and the WSJ.
>>>>=20
>>>> DDD
>>>>=20
>>>> On Wed, Aug 29, 2012 at 9:34 AM, Kevin Mac Donnell <
>>>> [log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>>>=20
>>>>> I've spent hours and hours researching this subject over the last
>>>>> thirt=
> y
>>>>> years. I've found quite a few times when Twain was recorded --twice
>>>>> as=20=
>
>>>>> many
>>>>> as are generally known-- and spent many more hours (and money) trying
>>>>> t=
> o
>>>>> track down those recordings in archives and among descendants of those
>>>>> involved in the recordings. There are still loose ends (in the US and
>>>>> Europe) and I will probably put it into an article eventually, so,
>>>>> no,=20=
>
>>>>> I'm
>>>>> not inclined to give away my research. Sorry. I do wish you luck with
>>>>> whatever that "something" is that you are working on!
>>>>>=20
>>>>> Kevin
>>>>> @
>>>>> Mac Donnell Rare Books
>>>>> 9307 Glenlake Drive
>>>>> Austin TX 78730
>>>>> 512-345-4139
>>>>> Member: ABAA, ILAB
>>>>> *************************
>>>>>=20
>>>=20
>>>=20
>>>=20
>>> --=20
>>>=20
>>> Rod Rawlings
>>> 941-713-4446 Direct
>>> MarkTwainPerforms.com
>>>=20
>>>=20
>>>=20
>>> -----
>>> No virus found in this message.
>>> Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
>>> Version: 2012.0.2197 / Virus Database: 2437/5232 - Release Date:
>>> 08/29/12=
>
>>>=20
>>=20
>>=20
>>=20
>> -----
>> No virus found in this message.
>> Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
>> Version: 2012.0.2197 / Virus Database: 2437/5232 - Release Date: 08/29/12
>
>
>
> -----
> No virus found in this message.
> Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
> Version: 2012.0.2197 / Virus Database: 2437/5232 - Release Date: 08/29/12
>
-----
No virus found in this message.
Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
Version: 2012.0.2197 / Virus Database: 2437/5232 - Release Date: 08/29/12
|
