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" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
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" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> 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" <[log in to unmask]>
>>> To: <[log in to unmask]>
>>> 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" <[log in to unmask]>
>>> >> To: <[log in to unmask]>
>>> >> 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
>
|
