Dear Mr. Britton and other fellow Twainians,

Thank you for your reply to my e-mail.  I would appreciate your sending a
copy of that Frontline transcript you mentioned to my e-mail address.

I checked the _Mark Twain Encyclopedia_, and it did, in fact, mention
Twain's interest in the Shakespeare/Bacon matter, but it only devotes a
single, short paragraph to it.  While mentioning Twain's writing a book,
_Is Shakespeare Dead?_ (which I haven't read, and previously thought to be
an essay), they did not mention Twain ever speaking or lecturing on the
subject.  At this point, I'm inclined to believe that the reporter I heard
talking about Twain (he was a reviewer offering alternate rentals to the
Disney video, _Tom & Huck_) was either mis-informed or, as Larry Marshburne
suggested in a reply on Saturday the 4th, thinking of a statement Twain
made in chapter 1 of _Is Shakespeare Dead?_.

In any case, I'm going to look into this matter some more when I have some
extra time during the summer.  I will report any interesting tid-bits to
the Mark Twain Forum as I come across them.

Oh, and if my attention to that reporter's statement and the, at this time,
inaccuracy of it, hasn't spoiled any of his credibility, he suggested
renting _The Adventures of Mark Twain_ or some of the older film versions
of Twain's books instead of _Tom & Huck_ (he also compared the film's
version of Huck to a skateboarding teen from the Valley!).  My opinion is
this:  Since the film, or at least its star (the kid from _Home
Improvement_), served as an introduction to, and sparked an interest in,
Mark Twain for my younger sister (age 11), it is  worth a viewing.  Still,
there's no substitute for the book.

Anyway, Mr. Britton, I hope you'll send me a copy of that transcript.  I'm
looking forward to reading it.

Thank you,
John