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Subject:
From:
Kevin Mac Donnell <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Mon, 9 Sep 2013 21:28:05 -0500
Content-Type:
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I vaguely recall that Barb Schmidt and I played with this a few years back, 
but I don't recall the result.

There was a tall thin stenographer on premises (William E. Grumman, who 
appears in one group photo taken in the library; he was hired in Feb or 
March 1909 by Lyon). The butler was Claude Beuchotte. I don't think it was 
Claude. Another butler?

Kevin
@
Mac Donnell Rare Books
9307 Glenlake Drive
Austin TX 78730
512-345-4139
Member: ABAA, ILAB
*************************
You may browse our books at
www.macdonnellrarebooks.com

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Arianne" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, September 09, 2013 8:32 PM
Subject: Re: The only known MT film footage


> Just read an account of Twain's butler today and it was said HE
> was the one in the video.  So frustrating.  I'm going over to youtube and
> see if I can see an unflipped video.
>
> I guess we should be happy there is any video at all of anybody there 
> then.
> Arianne Laidlaw
> Sacramentol
>
>
>
> On Mon, Sep 9, 2013 at 5:33 PM, Kevin Mac Donnell <
> [log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>> It's clearly Jean on the far right and Clara in the middle. It's a 
>> handsome
>> young fellow with a shock of hair, not Ashcroft, who brings Clara her 
>> hat.
>> It was filmed aiming the camera east toward the rear slope (toward
>> Redding)--the profile of a tree top between the columns matches a tree 
>> seen
>> in other photos of that spot, besides some smaller details. I wonder if 
>> the
>> hat-bringer was Ossip? I'll have to make some comparisons. He was around 
>> in
>> late 1909, at least until he and Clara left after their October wedding. 
>> I
>> have pre-1910 photos of him and he had a shock of hair like that before
>> male
>> pattern baldness set in. But not quite his profile at first glance.
>>
>> I have several versions of the film and at least one is not flipped. In 
>> at
>> least one version on youtube, the tea-sipping scene is not flipped. 
>> Besides
>> Twain's vest buttons, the window placements give it away as being 
>> flipped.
>>
>> Although Jean and Isabel had once been cordial, they were not sipping tea
>> together in late 1909 --Isabel had been fired in the Spring (April?) and
>> later "evicted" from the Lobster Pot. Read the newspaper accounts and
>> allegations being made at the time. Lots of high drama but no high teas.
>>
>> I have the original first Stormfield guestbook, and a good copy of the
>> second made by Twain's lawyer (the original is at Hartford), and I don't
>> recall any Edison crews being in those pages, but not everybody signed 
>> the
>> guestbook(s) and they could be recorded merely as names with no
>> identification. I do think if Thomas Edison himself had shown up he would
>> have been asked to sign the guestbook and his visit would have been
>> otherwise recorded, and he and Twain would likely have been filmed or at
>> least photographed together, like others of note who came to visit 
>> (Keller,
>> Howells, Laura Hawkins Frazer, various angelfish, Paine, Coburn, 
>> Henderson,
>> Whitmore, Eliz. Wallace).
>>
>> Kevin
>> @
>> Mac Donnell Rare Books
>> 9307 Glenlake Drive
>> Austin TX 78730
>> 512-345-4139
>> Member: ABAA, ILAB
>> *************************
>> You may browse our books at
>> www.macdonnellrarebooks.com
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Arianne" <[log in to unmask]>
>> To: <[log in to unmask]>
>> Sent: Monday, September 09, 2013 3:33 PM
>> Subject: Re: The only known MT film footage
>>
>>
>> >I also read somewhere that the ladies at the table weren't Jean and 
>> >Clara,
>> > but Jean and Isabel Lyon.  Not sure which caption is correct.  Please
>> > advise.
>> > Have you actually seen the correct movie?  I didn't know one could be
>> > "flipped."
>> > Arianne Laidlaw
>> > Sacramento
>> >
>> >
>> > On Mon, Sep 9, 2013 at 6:36 AM, Kevin Mac Donnell <
>> > [log in to unmask]> wrote:
>> >
>> >> Interesting that this video is flipped just like the one on youtube, 
>> >> and
>> >> it
>> >> makes me wonder who copied from whom, or if they share a common flawed
>> >> source. I'm used to seeing flipped negatives on photos printed from
>> glass
>> >> plate negatives or modern repros, but I wonder how often an entire 
>> >> video
>> >> of
>> >> that vintage has been flipped. It's no big deal that somebody messed 
>> >> up
>> >> on
>> >> youtube, but too bad the Smithsonian got sloppy. They should fix it 
>> >> just
>> >> to
>> >> be historically accurate, if they really give a hoot. In truth, Twain
>> was
>> >> holding the cigar in his left hand not his right, and he was walking
>> >> around
>> >> from the "cellar side" of Stormfield rather than the "loggia side." 
>> >> This
>> >> flipped film makes him appear left-handed since he's holding the cigar
>> in
>> >> his right hand, and of course misrepresents the architecture of
>> >> Stormfield.
>> >> G-r-r-r-r-r...
>> >>
>> >> Kevin
>> >> @
>> >> Mac Donnell Rare Books
>> >> 9307 Glenlake Drive
>> >> Austin TX 78730
>> >> 512-345-4139
>> >> Member: ABAA, ILAB
>> >> *************************
>> >> You may browse our books at
>> >> www.macdonnellrarebooks.com
>> >>
>> >> ----- Original Message -----
>> >> From: "Tony Verhulst" <[log in to unmask]>
>> >> To: <[log in to unmask]>
>> >> Sent: Sunday, September 08, 2013 6:38 PM
>> >> Subject: The only known MT film footage
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> > I've seen this before - we probably all have. But, I just ran across
>> it
>> >> > again and thought is was worth posting.
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >>
>> http://www.smithsonianmag.com/video/The-Only-Footage-of-Mark-Twain-in-Existence.html
>> >> >
>> >> > Tony
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >> > -----
>> >> > No virus found in this message.
>> >> > Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
>> >> > Version: 2013.0.3392 / Virus Database: 3222/6649 - Release Date:
>> >> > 09/09/13
>> >> >
>> >>
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > --
>> > Arianne Laidlaw A '58
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > -----
>> > No virus found in this message.
>> > Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
>> > Version: 2013.0.3392 / Virus Database: 3222/6649 - Release Date: 
>> > 09/09/13
>> >
>>
>
>
>
> -- 
> Arianne Laidlaw A '58
>
>
>
> -----
> No virus found in this message.
> Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
> Version: 2013.0.3392 / Virus Database: 3222/6649 - Release Date: 09/09/13
> 

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