All this slow-talk talk suddenly brought to mind one of my all-time favorite
Bob & Ray creations, "Slow Talker," from their 1970 Broadway show "Bob and
Ray--The Two and Only."  (That's Bob Elliott and Ray Goulding, for the
culturally deprived among you.)

In it, Bob plays one Harlow P. Whitcomb, the President and Recording
Secretary of the S.T.O.A., the Slow Talkers of America. Ray attempts to
conduct an interview, and the result is not only hilarious but also
amazingly aggravating, and it occurs to me now that it may perhaps, in an
oblique way, suggest something of what Twain's live audiences may have
experienced.

By the way, the collected interviews is a BRILLIANT idea, and I can't wait
to lay hands on a copy.

Peter Salwen