> 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.

I saw somebody do that once, back in 1985. The National Geographic Society 
had some kind of Twain celebration or exhibition, and one of the events 
featured a burly actor whose name I have long since forgotten doing a 
two-part portrayal of M.T. The first half of the show, about an hour long, 
featured Twain at the age of 35, dressed to match the photo used on the 
cover of "The Authentic Mark Twain" (and other places); after an 
intermission, he appeared as a 70-year-old dressed in white for the second 
act.

As I said, I can't recall the name of the actor, but I thought he did a good 
job in each role -- good enough that I can't imagine this was a one-shot 
performance. But I've never seen him or heard of him since.

-- Bob G.