I cam across this "review" of the show quite by fortuitous circumstance.
I was inquiring of the archivist at Northwestern University, Evanston,
IL about the show in that town on January 18, 1885.  They did a number
of searches and came up with several references about the students
preparing for the show but found nothing on the actual venue nor a
review of the show but they did find a review of the Ann Arbor show
published in their own newspaper.

Northwestern: Date 12-19-1884, Page 2; Evanston, Illinois (copyright
NewsBank 2011)

The Academy says that Mr. George W. Cable shares with Nathaniel
Hawthorne, Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Mr. Bret Harte, the
distinction of striking out a vein of indigenous American fiction, which
is no mere provincial copying of English literature, as the major part
of American fiction, which has not already copied these three, has
hitherto shown itself to be.  Mr. Cable and Mark Twain seem to be making
a marked success of their new joint-combination venture, the author of
Creole Days providing the sober, and pathetic, and acting as a
safety-valve for the exuberant humor of his companion.  All selections
are taken from the works of the lecturers.  A week ago to-night they
succeeded in entertaining an audience of three thousand at University
Hall, Ann Arbor.  It is reported that the audience not only greeted the
lecturers, but slapped them on the back, as it were, so enthusiastic was
its cordiality.  The students generally, of whom the audience was
largely composed, abandoned themselves to the most thunderous laughter
every time Twain appeared on the stage; staid members of the University
Faculty, who always maintained a twenty degrees below zero countenance
in the classroom, laughed till they were out of breath; law professors,
wrapped up in ponderous legal volumes, and who have not been known to
smile in twenty-one years, fairly rolled off their seats from laughter
at every point Twain made.  Even a couple of Japanese students, who,
although having a fair command of English, could not readily see the
incongruities of Twain's remarks, felt in duty bound to join in the
general feeling, and undoubtedly did their best, although several times
they broke forth in the wrong place to the astonishment of those about
them.  Mr. Cable gave several selections from Dr. Sevier, and sung in a
fine tenor voice two Creole songs.  He was well received, but Mark's
famous whistling story, and his wierd[sic] unearthly “Who-o-o-o's got my
go-o-o-o-old-en arm?” with its unexpected denouement brought down the
house.

The Senior class has this popular combination billed for the evening of
January 19 next.  Be sure and get your tickets.  A limited number of
reserved seats is on sale at $1.00 per ticket.  Unreserved tickets are
to be obtained for 75 cents.  A. F. Mathews, Cornell University, '83, is
acting manager for Messrs. Twain and Cable.

Courtesy of
Janet C. Olson
Assistant University Archivist
Northwestern University Library




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