I have no doubt you are right.  But help me out here, as my memory probably isn'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 Holbrook and I think it was called Mark Twain Tonight.  It was a kind of actor's memoir of how he became an actor and how he developed the Mark Twain character over a period of years.  I have a memory that he talked about his first 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 listened to a recording of Samuel Clemens' speaking voice to get the inflections and sound quality right.  I don't remember that he mentioned Gillette or any other imitator, but rather claimed to have heard Twain's recorded voice.

Now, I am probably memory-deficient here.  Or perhaps Mr. Holbrook later clarified or recanted that statement.  But is there not such a statement in that 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 him again this October in Wilkes-Barre, PA.  I've always wondered, did Mark Twain ever actually lecture on the stage at the approximate age that Mr. Holbrook portrays him at, and in that white suit?  I've always assumed that Holbrook's Twain character was portrayed as older than any age at which Clemens was 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 Was Possible To Be One.  So all I do is read lots of books by Twain scholars and 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 
> recording event for which I could find any information, and this has led me 
> down a lot of rabbit-holes, into numerous archives, and ultimately to 
> deadends. The loose ends that are left are so loose I've not bothered to 
> spend the time or money pursuing them. All of the recordings I can document 
> involved wax cylinders and these were probably lost or destroyed during his 
> life or shortly after.
> 
> Gillette performed his imitation of Twain in front of Twain and had Twain's 
> approval. Hal Holbrook copied Gillette's recording and interviewed many 
> people who knew Twain (Lyon, Pond Jr, Clara, and many others less 
> well-known) and Clara herself gave Hal her stamp of approval. I think the 
> voice you are after hovers somewhere between Gillette and Holbrook.
> 
> But good luck with a reward. I think you'd get a lot of people chasing their 
> tails over the Gillette recordings and a lot more people with no idea where 
> to look or even how to recover a sound from a wax cylinder (if you play them 
> like other cylinders you destroy what's on them). But you never know!
> 
> 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: "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
> 
> 
>> Thank you, Kevin, for your responses to my question about authentication.
>> 
>> 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.
>> 
>> 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.
>> 
>> 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.
>> 
>> 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.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> On Wed, Aug 29, 2012 at 9:56 AM, Dave Davis <[log in to unmask]> 
>> wrote:
>>> If anyone ever finds this "Holy Grail" of Twain studies, it will be 
>>> Kevin,
>>> I predict.
>>> 
>>> And, whoever does find it -- if ever such a thing is found -- will be on
>>> the front page of the NYT and the WSJ.
>>> 
>>> DDD
>>> 
>>> On Wed, Aug 29, 2012 at 9:34 AM, Kevin Mac Donnell <
>>> [log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>> 
>>>> I've spent hours and hours researching this subject over the last thirty
>>>> years. I've found quite a few times when Twain was recorded --twice as 
>>>> many
>>>> as are generally known-- and spent many more hours (and money) trying to
>>>> 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, 
>>>> 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!
>>>> 
>>>> Kevin
>>>> @
>>>> Mac Donnell Rare Books
>>>> 9307 Glenlake Drive
>>>> Austin TX 78730
>>>> 512-345-4139
>>>> Member: ABAA, ILAB
>>>> *************************
>>>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> -- 
>> 
>> Rod Rawlings
>> 941-713-4446 Direct
>> MarkTwainPerforms.com
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> -----
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>> 
> 
> 
> 
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