I am posting this review on behalf of Joseph McCullough who wrote it.

-- Barbara Schmidt

~~~~~~~

REVIEW

_Ken Richters as Mark Twain, America's First Stand-up Comedian_.
Connecticut Public Broadcasting, 2002.  58 min. 48 sec., VHS.  Pricing
information not yet available.

Reviewed by:
Joseph B. McCullough
University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Copyright (c) 2002 Mark Twain Forum. This review may not be published or
redistributed in any medium without permission.

In _The Little, Brown Book of Anecdotes_ Clifton Fadiman relates an
anecdote about Charlie Chaplin, perhaps one of most imitated actors of his
day.  It seems that Chaplin entered a Charlie Chaplin look-alike
competition in Monte Carlo.  He came in third.  Whether this story is true
or not is, of course, debatable, but it does have a certain metaphorical
truth.  Famous Las Vegas imitators are frequently asked to provide the
"voices" of well-known, living celebrities, because they sound more like
the celebrity than does the celebrity himself!  Perhaps no other writer has
been more impersonated than Mark Twain.  Scores of actors have recreated
Mark Twain in one-man stage shows.  But unlike impressionists recreating
other famous people--Will Rogers, Dorothy Parker, Charlie Chaplin, Harry
Truman, Clarence Darrow, to name only a few--we have no memory or examples
of the "real" Mark Twain, save for a brief piece of a silent film.  While
Twain made copious notes about his public lectures, and we have available a
record of many of his speeches, we have had to imagine Twain as he would
appear if he were with us.  Indeed, it is not so much that Twain himself
casts a large shadow over those devotees who wish to impersonate him; that
role appears to have been left to Hal Holbrook.  So ubiquitous is Holbrook
that virtually every other impressionist is compared not to the "real"
Twain, but to Holbrook's re-creation of Twain.

_Ken Richters as Mark Twain, America's First Stand-up Comedian_ presents
yet another rendition in a long line of accomplished impressionists
bringing Mark Twain back to life.  Richters' one-man stage show is based on
his stage performances as Twain, which first earned national acclaim in
1981.  Mercifully, Richters gives his own interpretation of Twain, rather
than simply providing a weak imitation of Holbrook's well-known routines.
He does, of course, present himself, as nearly all Twain impressionists do,
as an elderly Twain, reminiscing about experiences from his childhood on,
and wearing his signature white suit.  I guess that this image of Twain is
so dominant in the public imagination that few, if any, impersonators wish
to present themselves on stage as a younger Mark Twain.  Also, and perhaps
a minor quibble, the title itself _America's first Stand-up Comedian_ is
not, in fact, accurate.  Simply titling the work _Stand-up Comedian_ would
be closer to the mark, since even Twain acknowledged other well-known
platform performers, notably Artemus Ward, Petroleum V. Nasby, and James
Whitcomb Riley, as influencing his own platform humor. But it is accurate
to say that Twain was probably the most famous 19th Century stand-up comedian.

Richters gives us a genial Twain, whose biting humor is often at odds with
his seemingly innocent presentation.  What I especially liked about this
performance was the fact that Richters used material not often found in
performances by other impressionists.  It's true that some of the
particular stories may be of dubious origin (such as the bobcat story or
the routine dealing with mathematics)), while others alter Twain's original
telling (such as the treatment of Brigham Young), but all in all the
performance is credible and enjoyable to watch.  Richters seems to get
Twain's dead-pan humor just about right.  While I would have preferred
having the camera focus less on the audience in order to gage their
reaction to Twain's humor, Richters himself remains in character throughout
the entire performance.  Perhaps his most sustained story, and the one
which provides the best example of Twain's own criteria of storytelling, is
the unhurried treatment of the Cadets of Temperance.

Finally, since Richters is a Connecticut actor, and since the program takes
place in Connecticut, it is fitting that he includes near the end of the
show Twain's well-known, and outrageously funny, story about Harford's Colt
Arms Factory, its Accident Insurance Company, and the Fire Insurance
Companies.

Richters ends his program with a touching and wistful speech about the
importance of having a sense of humor, and ties humor to a quality
associated with childhood, while suggesting the importance of holding on to
both.  This was finally a solid and engaging performance, and it's just
possible that if Mark Twain showed up in Hartford the night of the show, he
may well have come in second.