When I reviewed Gary Scharnhorst's Mark Twain: The Complete Interviews, 
I took careful notes on reporters who described Twain's appearance 
(white suits, eyes, hair, posture, gait) and mentioned some of that in 
my review. The reporters noted he had blue eyes. No gray, or hazel, or 
blue-green reports. It seems Clara agreed.

The photo I have has excellent color register and he's wearing his 
Oxford robes (which survive at Hannibal). Years ago Tom Tenney and I got 
very serious about documenting the precise colors of Twain's Oxford 
robes which he was putting on a cover of the MTJ. We consulted Henry 
Sweets who examined the original robes carefully. I consulted 
photographic experts on autochrome photos, and even obtained 
color-swatches from the original firm that made those robes for Oxford 
University. The colors in the robes in my color photo are accurate, so I 
think his blue eyes, yellowed mustache, and pink cheeks are accurate as 
well, all being captured in the same light. I'd take eye-witness 
testimony and photographic evidence over whatever Twain wrote on any 
forms. In that connection, I must mention that when I was a fire 
commissioner it was a constant source of amusement that applicants lied 
on forms. Both men and women lied about their weights (about 40% of 
applicants subtracted 5 or more pounds), and men lied about their 
heights (about 40% rounded up or added an inch). We didn't ask about eye 
or hair color.

Somebody in an unsigned posting said Twain's hair was auburn, not red. 
Twain made no such distinction. In CY he said "When red-headed people 
are above a certain social grade their hair is auburn."  In a 
conversation between Twain and Susy Clemens witnessed by Henry Fisher 
(who is not always reliable, it should be said) Twain supposedly said "I 
was born red-headed." By 1879 reporters said his hair was graying. 
Howells, who knew him ten years before his hair turned gray, didn't just 
call his hair red; he called it a "splendid shock of red hair." Now, if 
Howells suffered from red-green color-blindness, it's possible Twain had 
a splendid shock of green hair, but I'm doubtful.

Most of my Irish friends with red hair and blue eyes have watched their 
hair darken to red-brown, then more brown, then gray, then white, and 
then none at all. An older friend of mine who'd had red hair in his 
youth had cancer and underwent radiation treatments and lost his white 
thinning hair. But it grew back thick and bright day-glow orange, almost 
apricot, and then slowly turned red. But by the end of the first year it 
had darkened to red-brown, then brown, and then thinned out just as 
before. His eyes stayed blue, before and after.

The descriptions I've seen indicate that Twain's hair followed the same 
trajectory as most of my Irish friends, but did not thin out much.

Kevin
@
Mac Donnell Rare Books
9307 Glenlake Drive
Austin TX 78730
512-345-4139
Member: ABAA, ILAB, BSA

You can browse our books at:
www.macdonnellrarebooks.com


------ Original Message ------
From: "Mallory Howard" <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: 7/9/2019 2:49:37 PM
Subject: Re: carrot-top Twain

>We have a copy of "The Love Letters of Mark Twain" edited by Dixon Wecter that was owned by Clara. In the introduction SLC is described as having "blue-green eyes." You can see Clara's alteration in the attached photo!
>
>
>
>
>Mallory
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> On Behalf Of Barbara Schmidt
>Sent: Tuesday, July 09, 2019 2:36 PM
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: carrot-top Twain
>
>As to eye color, Clemens’s 1891 passport application is also online at ancestry.  It matches the 1867 passport application regarding eye color.
>The eye color is stated as gray in both applications.
>
>Barb
>
>On Tuesday, July 9, 2019, Alan Kitty <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>>  I completely disagree about conflicting eye color evidence. You have a
>>  photograph depicting apparent blue. My eye color is hazel. But
>>  depending upon the weather, sky and landscape tone, and clothing
>>  color, they reflect gray, blue or green. And I have had more than one
>>  audience member comment about my blue eyes.
>>
>>  Also, I would say that Twain’s own comment about his “auburn” hair
>>  (although I do not recall where I read the remark) is a more credible
>>  source than commentary by any less involved observer.
>>
>>  Sent from my iPhone
>>
>>  > On Jul 9, 2019, at 1:02 PM, Mac Donnell Rare Books <
>>  [log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>  >
>>  > The evidence is in conflict on the matter of Twain's hair color.  W
>>  > D
>>  Howells, who met Twain in 1869 had this to say about his hair color ca.
>>  1885 when Twain was 50 (My Mark Twain p. 29):
>>  >
>>  > "Clemens was then hard upon fifty, and he had kept, as he did to the
>>  end, the slender figure of his youth, but the
>>  > ashes of the burnt-out years were beginning to gray the fires of
>>  > that
>>  splendid shock of red hair."
>>  >
>>  > There is no conflicting evidence about the color of his eyes. They
>>  > were
>>  blue. Not hazel, or blue-green, but very blue. I have an unpublished
>>  color photo (autochrome) of Twain taken on December 13, 1908 that
>>  clearly shows his blue eyes, the yellow cast on his mustache (caused
>>  by smoking), and his pink cheeks.
>>  >
>>  > Kevin
>>  > @
>>  > Mac Donnell Rare Books
>>  > 9307 Glenlake Drive
>>  > Austin TX 78730
>>  > 512-345-4139
>>  > Member: ABAA, ILAB, BSA
>>  >
>>  > You can browse our books at:
>>  > www.macdonnellrarebooks.com
>>