And baseball. For an Iowa station that broadcast the Cubbies, Reagan 
(just out of college) did play-by-play off a wire-service which, giving 
only the bare statistics, allowed him to narrate an essentially made-up 
game. Famously (or famously enough, for those who follow this sort of 
thing), when the wire feed went down in the middle of a game, Reagan 
flawlessly described foul after foul, until service was resumed. And, it 
was when Reagan went to see the team in Spring Training - on Catalina 
Island - off the California shore, that he stopped in Hollywood, took a 
screen test... et. al.

As ever,
Sara



Sharon McCoy wrote:
> Reagan was a football announcer?  That one passed me by.
>
> One thing that needs to be kept in mind, though is that flatboats and rafts=
>   were different things.  Now that I've read the biographical sketches, it i=
> s clear that Lincoln's trips were on flatboats, or what Huck calls "trading=
>   scows," (Chs. 16 and 19), while Huck and Jim clearly have a piece of raft.=
>   =20
>
> A website called "The Steamboat Times" does a good job, so far as I underst=
> and the history of river traffic, of explaining the difference, using sourc=
> es and drawings from the era for each, along with photographs (some of whic=
> h are pretty harrowing!) -- including the stories of Lincoln's trips.  The =
> entry on flatboats actually cites Huck's reference to a "trading scow" in L=
> ife on the Mississippi (Ch. 3).  I'd forgotten it was included there. =20
>
> Anyway, here are two links that are short enough (I hope) to avoid the equa=
> l signs that I know will plague the rest of this post.
>
> http://steamboattimes.com/flatboats.html
> http://steamboattimes.com/rafts.html  =20
>
> Fascinating stuff.
>
> Cheers,
> Sharon
> ________________________________________
> From: Mark Twain Forum [[log in to unmask]] on behalf of Lawrence Howe [LHowe=
> @ROOSEVELT.EDU]
> Sent: Thursday, January 29, 2015 8:59 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Connection between Twain and Lincoln
>
> Hal--=3D0A=3D
> =3D0A=3D
> You may be right that "pretty much everyone knew about Lincoln's raft trips=
> =3D
> ," but all of the examples you list are presidents whose campaigns were in =
> =3D
> the era of modern media saturation.  Campaigns in the nineteenth century do=
> =3D
> n't really compare with those we experience now.  And even given that, I'm =
> =3D
> not sure "everyone knows" that Reagan was a football announcer; it's true t=
> =3D
> hat he was, but I suspect that people are more familiar with his early care=
> =3D
> er as a radio broadcaster recreating Cubs games from ticker-tape accounts. =
> =3D
> =3D0A=3D
> =3D0A=3D
> Is there evidence of how common the knowledge of AL's raft trips was?  =3D0=
> A=3D
> =3D0A=3D
> Best, =3D0A=3D
> =3D0A=3D
> --LH =3D0A=3D
> Larry Howe=3D0A=3D
> Professor of English=3D0A=3D
> Chair, Department of Literature and Languages=3D0A=3D
> Roosevelt University=3D0A=3D
> =3D0A=3D
> Fulbright Distinguished Chair in American Studies, Syddansk Universitet--Od=
> =3D
> ense, 2014-15=3D0A=3D
> ________________________________________=3D0A=3D
> From: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> on behalf of Hal Bush <bushhk@SLU=
> =3D
> .EDU>=3D0A=3D
> Sent: Thursday, January 29, 2015 7:31 AM=3D0A=3D
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Connection between Twain and Lincoln=3D0A=3D
> =3D0A=3D
> I think I should clarify something about this topic.  Pretty much everyone=
> =3D
> =3D0A=3D
> knew about Lincoln's raft trips -- as they knew about him as a "rail=3D0A=
> =3D
> splitter," or they knew that he grew up in southern Indiana, or lost his=3D=
> 0A=3D
> mother Nancy Hanks, etc.  Just like everyone reading this knows that Reagan=
> =3D
> =3D0A=3D
> was a football announcer on the radio and went to Hollywood to star in=3D0A=
> =3D
> movies; or that Clinton grew up in rural Ark. with a single Mom, that he=3D=
> 0A=3D
> "did not inhale," and that he shook the hand of Jack Kennedy; or that=3D0A=
> =3D
> Barack Obama had a white mother and and a Kenyan father, spent time in=3D0A=
> =3D
> Indonesia and Hawaii, and that he was a grassroots organizer in Chicago;=3D=
> 0A=3D
> etc., etc.  It was not necessary to read a book as a source for any of=3D0A=
> =3D
> these details; they are just sort of in the water of presidential=3D0A=3D
> campaigns.=3D0A=3D
> =3D0A=3D
> Twain would NOT have needed to "read a book" to know that AL took raft=3D0A=
> =3D
> trips down the Mighty Mississippi.=3D0A=3D
> =3D0A=3D
> On Wed, Jan 28, 2015 at 10:40 PM, Arianne <[log in to unmask]> wrote:=3D0A=
> =3D
> =3D0A=3D
>> Thanks Barbara.  I really appreciate your knowledgeable tips!=3D0A=3D
>> Chances are Mark Twain read Howell's work, for sure, and Lincoln's raft=
> =3D
> =3D0A=3D
>> trip might have been mentionied in it, too.  I'll check your archive link=
> =3D
> .=3D0A=3D
>> THANKS=3D0A=3D
>> Arianne Laidlaw=3D0A=3D
>> =3D0A=3D
>> On Wed, Jan 28, 2015 at 3:13 PM, Barbara Schmidt <[log in to unmask]>=
> =3D
> =3D0A=3D
>> wrote:=3D0A=3D
>> =3D0A=3D
>>> I don't think the fact that William Dean Howells wrote an 1860 campaign=
> =3D
> =3D0A=3D
>>> biography _Life of Abraham Lincoln_ should be overlooked.  This book is=
> =3D
> =3D0A=3D
>> not=3D0A=3D
>>> listed in Gribben's _Mark Twain's Library: A Reconstruction_.  However=
> =3D
> =3D0A=3D
>> in a=3D0A=3D
>>> letter dated 5 Aug. 1876, Howells reminded Clemens: "You know I wrote t=
> =3D
> he=3D0A=3D
>>> Life of Lincoln which elected him."  The text of Howell's book is also=
> =3D
> =3D0A=3D
>>> available online at archive.org.=3D0A=3D
>>> =3D0A=3D
>>> Barb=3D0A=3D
>>> =3D0A=3D
>> =3D0A=3D
>> =3D0A=3D
>> =3D0A=3D
>> --=3D0A=3D
>> Arianne Laidlaw A '58=3D0A=3D
>> =3D0A=3D
> =3D0A=3D
> =3D0A=3D
> =3D0A=3D
> --=3D0A=3D
> Prof. Harold K. Bush=3D0A=3D
> Professor of English=3D0A=3D
> 3800 Lindell=3D0A=3D
> Saint Louis University=3D0A=3D
> St. Louis, MO  63108=3D0A=3D
> 314-977-3616 (w); 314-771-6795 (h)=3D0A=3D
> <www.slu.edu/x23809.xml>=3D0A=3D=
>