Jules- for all i can tell the Plasmon-cookies that Twain not only ate but apparently also tried to market in the States are more or less in the original form still available from the surviving Italian branch of the company. I am attaching a pic of the box. Couldn't find a proper address, but they seem to belong to the Heinz multinational octopus ... During the late 19th c., many companies were trying to sail in the wake of Justus Liebig's Fleischextrakt broth-cubes, so gruesome stuff like "Torpon" (made from offal and other meat leftovers from slaughterhouses) got on the market ... Nutritionally enriched cookies and other foods were also experimented with. "Plasmon" seems to be / have been edible, but the company branch in the US apparently collaped through mismanagement: http://www.twainquotes.com/19071221.html. Hope this helps - wolfgang Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Hochbruck Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 24 Feb 2006 08:51:01 -0800 Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> From: Gregg Camfield <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Re: Twain recordings & cursing Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline Kevin, If you could send me a copy of the cassette, I can digitize it and post it to the list. Gregg ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 24 Feb 2006 14:14:11 -0600 Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> From: "Kevin. Mac Donnell" <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Re: Twain recordings & cursing I digitized it for a friend some years ago and will put you in touch with them offlist (since I'm not sure they'd want to be publicly identified and burdened with numerous requests for copies). Also, there are copyright uncertainties. Neither of us if sure if sound recordings are protected by the same term as books (75 years), and there is the added complication that the recording may date as early as 1920 or as late as 1935. But it would be great if it could be made widely available, at least in this Forum. After all, Clara's endorsement of Hal Holbrook (no disrespect to his wonderful performances intended) was by an elderly lady who had, to put it nicely, lost her focus on reality, and she had not heard her father's voice in nearly fifty years (moments after she pronounced his impersonation of Twain dead-on she told him he should impersonate Jesus). But Twain himself, while still focused and with no thoughts of Jesus to get things crosswise, thought Gillette nailed him (Twain, not Jesus).. Kevin Mac Donnell Austin TX ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 24 Feb 2006 13:45:16 -0800 Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> From: James Edstrom <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Re: Twain recordings & cursing MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit A copy of Gillette's recording is available at Michigan State University in the Vincent Voice Library, where it appears to have been digitized (not available online, however, as far as I can tell). To get more information about their copy, here is the direct link to the bibliographic record: http://vvl.lib.msu.edu/record.cfm?recordid=7456 Jim Edstrom, Harper College, Palatine, Illinois