Greetings Fellow Twainiacs, Warning: This post has nothing to do with Ann Coulter, George Bush, or current politics. I need five or six additional proposals/abstracts (250-500 words) for a volume of essays (3,500-6,000 words each) tentatively titled _Mark Twain's Geographical Imagination_. Last year's Mark Twain Circle/SAMLA session used this title, and the participants from the panel (plus two other Twain scholars) have agreed to contribute to the proposed volume. Cambridge Scholars Press (in UK but not affiliated with Cambridge University) expressed interest in such a volume, pending, of course, a proposal package that will satisfy its editors. Proposals so far received discuss _Life on the Mississippi_, _A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court_, _Tom Sawyer Abroad_, and Twain's Hawaiian travels. I would prefer proposals that discuss other works by Twain under the proposed title, which could include other travel books by Twain, place and local cultural contexts in specific texts (fiction or nonfiction), or figurative use of geographical concepts and spaces, or some other imaginative application of the title to a Twain text. Note that the publisher prefers the Chicago Manual of Style author-date system, so if you use references in your proposal, please document them appropriately. In addition, I would like to see proposals that help us understand the text(s) under discussion without, necessarily, a "heavy" over-reliance on theory, which is not to say that you should avoid theory, but that it should be applied to help potential readers understand a Twain text within the title concept. The audience for the proposed volume will include individuals with an interest in Mark Twain (scholars and non-scholars alike), public libraries, and, of course, college libraries. Deadline for proposals is August 1, 2006, preferably by appropriately formatted e-mail attachment. Assuming the book proposal will be accepted for publication, the full essay will be due January 31, 2007. Please send a biographical sketch with your proposal. If you have any questions, please send them to me directly; do not reply to the Mark Twain Forum. Joe Alvarez 900 Havel Court Charlotte, NC 28211-4253 Telephone: 704.364.5090 Cell Phone: 704.564.2082 FAX: 704.364.9348 ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 16 Jun 2006 21:44:41 +0200 Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> From: camy <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Twain's lectures MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Dear Group: As a newcomer, I only possess a BA in English Literature, so please = excuse me if my questions are rather trite, but I love Twain. Being = totally blind, I cannot quite as easily peruse the sections of a public = library looking for Twain's lectures. Are their actually scripts of the = lectures he used on his lecture tour? If so, where may they be = procured. Also, are there any actors on this list who have portrayed = Twain? Thank you. Camy ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 15 Jun 2006 22:41:45 EDT Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> From: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: The New Mark Twain MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit The scary thing about that long-legged bottle blonde is that where Sam — and Art Buchwald, Russell Baker and more than a few others — wisely and carefully used a very sharp scalpel, she's using a sledgehammer. Rather like the Rev. Coughlin and Joe McCarthy before her. Think about that. Kathy O'Connell ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 15 Jun 2006 22:33:08 -0500 Reply-To: [log in to unmask] Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> From: bushhk <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Re: Twain's lectures Camy; They are available in: Mark Twain Speaking edited by Paul Fatout. --Hal Bush ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 15 Jun 2006 22:55:03 -0500 Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> From: Barbara Schmidt <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Re: Twain's lectures MIME-version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT I have compiled a lengthy list of Twain's known speeches, lectures and public appearances along with links to some of the texts that can be found online. This list is at: http://www.twainquotes.com/SpeechIndex.html Yes, there are some actors who have portrayed Twain on the Forum mailing list. Perhaps they will respond to your inquiry. Barb ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 16 Jun 2006 06:58:14 -0500 Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> From: tdempsey <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Re: Twain's lectures MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1"; reply-type=original Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Dear Camy, Never apologize for being where you are in life. With a couple of notable exceptions everyone in this forum was illiterate and could not eat solid foods at one time. (Hal Bush was born perusing the Oxford English Dictionary and Barb Schmidt cataloged and cross-indexed all of the paperwork at the nurses' station in the maternity ward of the Texas hospital where she was born before her parents took her home.) Everyone is a mere mortal -- some of us more mortal than others and some more mere. Welcome. Terrell Dempsey ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 17 Jun 2006 10:07:37 +0200 Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> From: camy <[log in to unmask]> Subject: An absolute fiasco! MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Dear Group: About two years ago, after having attended a performance of Holbrook as Twain back in college, I decided that since he was still performing it, I wanted to "see" it again. Since the only area performance for that year was in Baltimore, (about a two-hour drive from bucks County where I live), I moved heaven, earth and then some to arrange transportation to get there, paid $165 for tickets, $75 to be driven there, and another $25 for parking. The performance was horrendous! In all of my 48 years of attending theater, I never had to struggle so vociferously to understand what an actor was saying. During intermission, much of what was being said by everyone was that he could not be understood, yet they gave him a standing ovation which he absolutely did not deserve. To add insult to injury, afterwards, always being curious about Twain's costume, we went backstage to meet him and were told that "Holbrook doesn't want her to touch him", when I requested to be shown his costume. What on God's green earth must this guy be like? That's my story on "Mark Twain Tonight". Camy struggled ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 16 Jun 2006 10:23:30 -0400 Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> From: Alex Effgen <[log in to unmask]> Subject: The repetition of history In-Reply-To: <[log in to unmask]> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed" Stop me if this has been uttered before, but does the US involvement in liberating Cuba that eventually led to an unpopular occupation of the Philippines with imperial overtones more than superficially mirror the liberation of Afghanistan from the Taliban and the eventual occupation of Iraq? I'm looking for all perspectives, and if possible, direct relations with writings like "To the Person Sitting in Darkness." Alex Effgen ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 16 Jun 2006 10:10:14 -0700 Reply-To: Alan Rosenthal <[log in to unmask]> Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> From: Alan Rosenthal <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Looking for a quote In-Reply-To: <[log in to unmask]> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Hi, I am currently in a debate with a conservative, orthodox, Christian friend about gay rights and gay marriage (don't laugh - it keeps me from getting senile). I am trying to make the point that in all of history there are, perhaps, no cases of a group in the majority or in power that embraced the differences of a group that was in the minority or that lacked power. I've given examples of Christians, Protestants, Catholics, Mormons, Jews, Women, Blacks, Mexicans, Environmentalists, Mentally Ill, AIDS Patients, Senior Citizens, Irish Immigrants, Okies, Ugly People, Fat People, Native Americans, and more. I claim that Homosexuals are just another group in a long, long, long line of people who want their "God" given rights, dignity and humanity. Anyway here's my question - I remember a quote from somewhere (maybe Twain) that said, "anytime a village on one side of a river looks across and sees another village on the other side of the river the first village immediately assumes that the second village is the enemy." Does that ring a bell for anybody out there? I'd love to find the original because I'm sure that the author said it much better than I have. Best Regards, Alan Rosenthal ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 16 Jun 2006 16:13:03 -0400 Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> From: "Ballard, Terry Prof." <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Re: The repetition of history MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Alex, To quote Ron White, "I have the right to remain silent but not the ability." Such a connection has been suggested in the past. You might enjoy reading a blog I published two years ago with a pertinent selection from 'Letters from the Earth." http://terryballard.blogspot.com/2004/06/more-things-change.html I won't say much more than that because this list is overheating - not between Left and Right, but between scholars who treat Twain as an author who has passed on, whose writings are a reflection of 19th Century American culture, and people like myself (and apparently Horace), who get the sense that Mark Twain is talking to us from the grave about the things that are going on around us, and he's not happy. Terry ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 16 Jun 2006 16:26:49 -0400 Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> From: David Foster <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Re: Looking for a quote Comments: To: [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask] Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline Alan, I don't know about Twain, but a similar sentiment plays an important part in the argument for Union in the Federalist Papers. Commenting on the almost inevitable propensity of bordering nations to become hostile to one another, Hamilton writes "that it has from long observation of the progress of society become a sort of axiom in politics, that vicinity, or nearness of situation, constitutes nations natural enemies" (end of Federalist #6; more generally, see numbers 5-8. As for the question of minorities, the authors of the Federalist certainly don't expect that majorities will be nice to minorities; but they do try to arrange things so that it is as difficult as possible for the majority to oppress the minority (see especially, Federalist 10). David ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 17 Jun 2006 19:17:29 +0200 Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> From: camy <[log in to unmask]> Subject: A circuitous route MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Dear Group: Interestingly enough, my introduction to Twain was via a circuitous = route. The library for the blind happened to send me a book entitled = "Dear, Dear Livy", and I absolutely loved it, and was sorry that I = needed to return it. I found myself fascinated by Twain, his family, = and his life and failures, and eager to get to know his literary works, = and I as a 13-year-old girl deeply admired Livy. Thank you for reading this. Camy ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 16 Jun 2006 17:53:30 -0400 Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> From: Ben Wise <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Re: The repetition of history In-Reply-To: <[log in to unmask]> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed" Not so much repetition as continuation. Expansion (i.e., imperialism) has been the theme of the growth of this country from the beginning, and control of resources and markets is the requirement of an unbridled capitalist juggernaut which cannot exist without expanding indefinitely. It's all about getting a good return on your investment, whatever it takes. Mark my words! (there's the Twain connection, in case you were wondering.) Ben ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 16 Jun 2006 20:01:57 -0400 Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> From: Wesley Britton <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Re: A circuitous route MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Camy, As I too read many books through the Library of Congress and other recording services, I'm glad you found Twain on tape. I know you can find many other titles to keep you busy for years to come. However, I've never heard of this volume. It's not listed on any catalogue I know of. Was this a special recording for a local library or something made for a country other than the U.S.? Wes Britton ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 17 Jun 2006 20:03:04 +0200 Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> From: camy <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Who else has portrayed Twain? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Dear Group: Who else has portrayed Twain? I know there was an actor named John = Chappell who performed the role at the Walnut Street Theater in = Philadelphia. I also know Will stutts has done it. Does anyone know of = Holbrook's daughter, (yes you read it correctly), portraying Twain? I = cannot imagine it, but I've heard it. Thank you. No more messages this evening, I promise. Camy ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 16 Jun 2006 21:38:22 EDT Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> From: Howard Harrelson <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Re: Dear, dear Livy. MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hi Twain List, I found this: Dear, dear Livy; the story of Mark Twain's wife by _Adrien Stoutenburg_ (http://www.worldcatlibraries.org/wcpa/search;jsessionid=F03C519C045D96E9854 E0646562FC538.three?q=au:Adrien+au:Stoutenburg&qt=hot_a uthor) ; _Laura Nelson Baker_ (http://www.worldcatlibraries.org/wcpa/search;jsessionid=F03C519C045D96E9854 E0646562FC538.three?q=au:Laura+au:Nelson+au:Bake r&qt=hot_author) * Type: English : <NOB * Publisher: New York, Scribner [1963] * OCLC: 1018911 * Subjects: _Clemens, Olivia Langdon,_ (http://www.worldcatlibraries.org/wcpa/search;jsessionid=F03C519C045D96E9854 E0646562FC538.three?q=su:Clemens,+ su:Olivia+su:Langdon,&qt=hot_subject) | _Twain, Mark,_ (http://www.worldcatlibraries.org/wcpa/search;jsessionid=F03C519C045D96E9854 E0646562FC538.three?q=s u:Twain,+su:Mark,&qt=hot_subject) Hope this is helpful, Howard Harrelson ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 17 Jun 2006 02:23:36 -0500 Reply-To: [log in to unmask] Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> From: bushhk <[log in to unmask]> Subject: my apologies > (Hal Bush was born perusing the Oxford English Dictionary. . . . Terrell; For your information, I cut my teeth, like any decent Americanist should, on AMERICAN dictionaries: specifically, two of them, one by Noah Webster, the other Ambrose Bierce. And now, for the record, I would like to send my apologies for whatever heartache my little posts have caused anyone on the LIST. I admit to being a little taken aback by some of the responses I got; hopefully, however, I am not scarred for life. And, just to be perfectly clear to one and all, I think I am fairly angry about certain things, too--maybe as angry as anyone, maybe not. For example, I write these posts from southern Japan, where I have been reading whatever I want to, hiking in the mountains, watching world cup soccer, sipping tea, eating lots of fish, and generally avoiding almost everything about the entire western hemisphere. It is food for the soul to leave America occasionally and pretend to be an expatriate--at least for brief periods of time. Really one of the best things about our profession. I guess I should know better, but one American vice that keeps sneaking insistently into my Japanese sojourn is the internet and e-mail. I also should know better about the way things can come across on e-mail LISTS, most of which are far less civilized than the dear old Twain LIST, by the way. Anyway, again--my apologies for boring you with my glib political observations. Keep it real over there until my return. For now, signing off from Nippon. Sumi massen, Otsukare sama deshita (bowing), matta-ne? --Hal Bush ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 17 Jun 2006 15:04:50 EDT Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> From: Bob Drury <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Re: Coulter MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Well Spoken Dennis. It seems that Coulter's enemies have inadveritly elevated her to godesss status. Now, she may not be the smartest kid in the class, but she seems grades ahead of said enemies. Now let's get back on Sam and stay there, on that, you have my "educated" vote. Mr. Bob ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 17 Jun 2006 10:56:25 -0500 Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> From: "Charles Yates, LCSW" <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Re: Who else has portrayed Twain? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1"; reply-type=original Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I don't remember his name but we caught a performance at TCU in the late '70's of a piano playing actor who did a great job sitting at the piano performing "Punch Brothers Punch". Charles Yates Arlington, TX ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 18 Jun 2006 10:59:29 +0200 Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> From: camy <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Racism MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Dear Group: Do most or many African-Americans still see Huck Finn as racist? In retrospect, if Huck had not lied in several instances, Jim would have been lynched. No, I am not advocating lying, but I do think it must be remembered that Huck risked his own safety to save a "Negro", even if he referred to him in what would be considered pejorative terminology. Camy ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 17 Jun 2006 15:02:55 -0500 Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> From: tdempsey <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Re: Hal's apologies MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1"; reply-type=original Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Oh, the tweed-jacket life of you academic Twainists When last I saw brother Hal, he was in an airport in New York Heading home from a semester in Italy I can remember thinking What grown man measures life in semesters? And I'm in court in Peoria on Monday With a bipolar, suicidal woman trying to get disability So I'm spending my Saturday afternoon with a Dutch beer Reading Ogden Nash in between gazing out at the Mississippi Watching all the drunks on Jackson's Island Thinking of Hal sitting in Southern Japan And wishing I could compose a Haiku Thanks a lot, Hal Terrell ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 16 Jun 2006 23:39:39 -0700 Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> From: "Horace J. Digby" <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Re: The repetition of history MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="Windows-1252"; reply-type=original Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Professor Terry, I agree. Twain still does speak to us. Book are the rudimentary form of telepathy. Well-written books are clairvoyance. Reading Twain's work is the same as reading his mind, as it was decades earlier. Thanks for including me in the group that feels this. Horace ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 17 Jun 2006 17:41:28 -0500 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: Hal's apologies Terrell covets tweed Forum Coulterless Mastercard Priceless Kevin Mac Donnell Austin TX ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 17 Jun 2006 21:55:23 -0400 Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> From: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: The repetition of history In-Reply-To: <017e01c691d8$cf5c3d50$6401a8c0@Joe> MIME-version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Content-disposition: inline I completely agree. Many times when I go to the Quarry Farm lectures, I later dream that Sam is trying to tell me where he hid a manuscript that was never seen by anyone. Jules ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 19 Jun 2006 09:21:48 +0200 Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> From: camy <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Wanting to smack Tom Sawyer MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Dear Group: Was I the only person in the world who became impatient with Tom Sawyer = throughout the novel Huck fin? When Huck was trying desperately to free = Jim, Tom was inventing all these antics which were so incredibly = immature and ridiculous, when the poor guy could have been a free man = much sooner. I wanted to slug the kid. Camy ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 18 Jun 2006 10:28:39 -0700 Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> From: Hilton Obenzinger <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Re: Wanting to smack Tom Sawyer In-Reply-To: <[log in to unmask]> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed Camy, You're not the only one. I explore that response in an essay called "Going to Tom's Hell in Huckleberry Finn" that's in the recently published Blackwell Companion to Mark Twain edited by Peter Messent and Louis Budd. It's a pricey volume, but perhaps your library can get a copy. Hilton Obenzinger ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 19 Jun 2006 13:42:53 +0200 Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> From: camy <[log in to unmask]> Subject: A specimen for child psychologists MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Dear Group: I cannot help but think that in the person of hock, here is a perfect = example of the kind of kid many a child psychologist sees every day. He = was abused by his father, had an extreme inferiority complex, and in = fact was the epitome in many ways of true goodness, even though he told = a few "stretchers". Camy ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 18 Jun 2006 15:16:51 -0400 Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> From: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: Wanting to smack Tom Sawyer In-Reply-To: <[log in to unmask]> MIME-version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Content-disposition: inline I read that essay, it was very enlightening :) Thanks for writing it! Jules ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 18 Jun 2006 16:06:42 -0500 Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> From: Janice McIntire-Strasburg <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Re: Who else has portrayed Twain? In-Reply-To: <[log in to unmask]> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline Hi, All, I do know of one other, MacAvoy Lane (apologies to him if I've misspelled his name--unlike Twain, I'm not always a great speller). I saw him perform at UNLV when I was there, and thought he did a very good job in delivering stock Twain platform pieces, and a "reading" from Huck Finn; but the best of his performance for me was that at its close he opened the floor for questions, answering them "in character." Though his answers might not have been Twain's, he did an excellent job of "being" Twain for that time...something I think is much more difficult than what Holbrook and others do. Best, Jan McStras ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 18 Jun 2006 16:02:00 -0700 Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> From: Cal Pritner <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Re: Who else has portrayed Twain? In-Reply-To: <[log in to unmask]> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit When I do my "serious" piece, MARK TWAIN UNLEARNING RACISM, I have the person who introduces me say that at the end of the performance Mr. Twain will leave the stage & the actor, Cal Pritner will return to respond to questions. I've tried reacting to questions as Twain, & found it was more a circus trick than anything else. But that's just me. I found early on that if I do Q/A as Twain there's attention on the trick. Cheers, Cal Cal Pritner New York, NY ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 19 Jun 2006 20:40:08 +0200 Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> From: camy <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Answering questions as yourself MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Dear Group and especially Cal: I honestly prefer the actor's answering questions as him/herself, as it gives the audience more leeway. I attended a wonderful interpretation of the music hall artist Ella Shields as performed by Harriet Lynn, but at the end, she came out and answered questions as Ella. It didn't work for me, especially since someone asked her when she died. Camy ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 19 Jun 2006 10:47:49 -0700 Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> From: Hilton Obenzinger <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Re: An absolute fiasco! In-Reply-To: <[log in to unmask]> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed Camy and All, I don't doubt you had a horrible experience, but you should know that people have had other experiences. I saw Hal on Broadway 40 years ago and 4 years ago, and both times he was delightful, inspiring -- and easy to hear. It sounds, from your description, that there must have been some terrible problem with the acoustics in the hall or the sound system. Or Hal was terribly ill and should not have performed at all -- and since he is very meticulous about his performances, that would have been an unfortunate misjudgment. In any case, if the audience was irritated by the acoustics, I'm sure that he was too -- it's not as if he wouldn't be able to tell -- and I'm sure that would have thrown him into a funk. I have twice invited him to lecture at my university and to meet students and community members, and he was informative and gracious, a real easygoing person to be with. I don't know about his response to touching, except that I do know that it takes him hours to put on his make up and additional hours to take it off, and it's painful. He often meets people after performances in costume and make up (which accounts for why students are perplexed to see me in a photo standing next to Mark Twain). However, given the situation, I can understand him being terribly irritated. Also, even though Hal is no Brad Pitt in terms of celebrity hoo-hah, he does get strange encounters with people. If you've ever been with people like movie actors who inspire crazy responses (I once had Patrick Stewart lecture, and though we tried to keep it mum, there were a few odd squeals and several students so rattled they drove their bikes into walls), you can imagine the fear of looniness that many actors develop, perhaps excessive. In any case, this does not eliminate the badness of your experience -- or the amount of dough you laid out -- but it could perhaps bring you a different perspective. I would suggest listening to the video of his 1967 Hallmark TV performance -- the audio should be clear. He received his standing ovation the night you attended because he has done so much to keep Twain in people's hearts, even if that night was a bomb. He keeps a journal of every performance, and each one is different, none precisely the same, the material always at least slightly different, and his evaluations as accurate as he can make it. I'd like to see his notes on that one. Hilton ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 20 Jun 2006 06:36:04 +0200 Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> From: camy <[log in to unmask]> Subject: 28 cigars? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Dear Group: I've heard and read that Mark Twain smoked something to the tune of "48 cigars" a day. Is this an exaggeration? Was this one of Twain's stretchers? In speaking with avid cigar smokers, they cannot imagine how anyone could manage to smoke so many cigars, unless he didn't sleep for more than four or five hours. I'm glad I wasn't Livy. I wouldn't want to have embraced someone reeking of cigar! CAmy ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 20 Jun 2006 00:39:36 EDT Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> From: Tom Swenson <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Re: Who else has portrayed Twain? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/related; boundary="part1_528.1a8b22.31c8d608_rel_boundary" --part1_528.1a8b22.31c8d608_rel_boundary Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit As a Twain re-enactor, I would agree that it can be a circus act (a tight-wire act at that!) to answer in character. And like such acts, it can amaze, or you can fall flat on your as.... pockets. With children, it can really move them to do Q&A in character, because for most of them, you ARE the character. They really believe, and that can be very rewarding and humbling. Then there was the time, my first Twain show to be exact, when a 5th grader asked if I was wearing a wig! I was rather proud of my response, which was, "Well, young man, if it is a wig, it is certainly much better looking than the one you put on this morning!" Best Regards, Tom Swenson ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 20 Jun 2006 15:25:15 -0400 Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> From: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: 28 cigars? In-Reply-To: <000801c69423$0b085720$652f67cf@camval> MIME-version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Content-disposition: inline hi, I believe that this is true, but I think that they were smaller cigars than what we have today. I think that he tried to smoke away from Livy, but true, his clothes would have smelled bad. And if I recall correctly, there were times that he did not sleep all night or much of teh night. Jules ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 20 Jun 2006 12:55:42 -0700 Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> From: Jerry Vorpahl <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Re: 28 cigars? In-Reply-To: <[log in to unmask]> Mime-version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit You may recall in the 70th. Birthday speech, he said he always smokes in be and, wakes up in the night two or three times, never missing that opportunity to smoke. He "never bought cigars with life belts around them," only cheap cigars at $7 a barrel, "including the barrel." I've yet to find a referance to the exact number he puffed, but I doubt anyone cared what he smelled like (remember they only washed shirts once a month and changed collars weekly.) I remember my grandfather smoking pipes and cigars constantly, blowing smoke in our ears to cure an ache and no one seemed to mind. How tolerances change. JerryV ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 20 Jun 2006 15:19:03 -0500 Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> From: Larry Howe <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Re: 28 cigars? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1"; reply-type=original Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit If memory serves, this number comes from Andy Hoffman's research. And I believe that it was calculated from purchase records. A tobacconist's invoice would not accurately reflect how many cigars Clemens smoked, though, since he was no doubt buying cigars to offer to guests as well as for his personal consumption. Larry Howe ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 20 Jun 2006 16:08:18 -0500 Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> From: Alan Gribben <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Re: Cigars In-Reply-To: <[log in to unmask]> MIME-version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Content-disposition: inline Dear Friends, Some of you may recall that Everett Emerson wrote about Twain's inveterate smoking habits in "Smoking and Health: The Case of Samuel L. Clemens," NEW ENGLAND QUARTERLY 70 (1997): 548-566. Professor Emerson even went so far there as to blame SLC for Livy's heart problems, the first time anyone had ventured that opinion in print. He discussed this topic in much less detail in MARK TWAIN: A LITERARY LIFE (Philadelphia: U of Pennsylvania P, 2000), p. 266, noting that "for years . . . she had been breathing her husband's cigar and pipe smoke, even at night in their bedroom, where, by the practice of the day, the windows were usually closed. In fact, his favorite place to smoke was while he was in bed." Emerson also quotes William Dean Howells, who in MY MARK TWAIN (1910) observed, "I do not know how much a man may smoke and live, but apparently he smoked as much as a man could, for he smoked incessantly" (p. 39). As has been observed, the act of smoking was viewed much differently in an earlier century--or, for that matter, even three decades ago. I can remember the resentment of some smokers when they were instructed to extinguish their smoking materials in the movie theaters. Regards, Alan Gribben Auburn University Montgomery ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 20 Jun 2006 15:38:32 -0500 Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> From: Jerome Loving <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Re: 28 cigars? In-Reply-To: <[log in to unmask]> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed" According to what he told Livy in one of his courtship letters (shortly before quitting for a time after his wedding, I think; I don't have my copy of that volume of the published letters handy), he smoked 300 cigars a month; that would figure at around ten a day, not really above average for the typical male cigar smoker in the nineteenth century before the popularity of cigarettes. Remember, Grant died of throat cancer. ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 20 Jun 2006 21:47:44 +0000 Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> From: Graham Durham <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Re: 28 cigars? In-Reply-To: <[log in to unmask]> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed Allowing for distances in time - can we not agree Twains habit was ill-advised and threatened the health of others.we cannot simultaneously regard Twain as capable of puncturing the hypocrises of his time and defend his idiosyncracies which were typical of his time Smoking kills Graham London,England ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 20 Jun 2006 17:47:22 -0400 Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> From: Sue Harris <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Re: 28 cigars? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1"; reply-type=original Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit My grandmother who lived to be 102 used to tell me about how she got a lot of ear aches and how her father would blow pipe smoke into her ear to relieve the pain. This is only the second person I have ever heard that from. ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 20 Jun 2006 18:56:15 -0400 Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> From: Sandy S <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Re: 28 cigars? In-Reply-To: <[log in to unmask]> MIME-version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit Sue Harris wrote: > My grandmother who lived to be 102 used to tell me about how she got a lot > of ear aches and how her father would blow pipe smoke into her ear to > relieve the pain. This is only the second person I have ever heard that > from. > > Sue, Shades of the past! My grandfather, who lived to be 100, used to blow pipe smoke in my ear to relieve earaches. I wonder if the same old wife who discovered that remedy also found the one about putting soap under the bedsheet to relieve leg cramps? Sandy ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 20 Jun 2006 15:07:57 -0700 Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> From: Jerry Vorpahl <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Re: 28 cigars? In-Reply-To: <[log in to unmask]> Mime-version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit Graham, While I have little idea what you mean, saying, "Smoking Kills" in Twain's day would have got you thrown off the London Bridge - which is now in Nevada where smoking still reigns supreme. JerryV ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 20 Jun 2006 20:17:49 +0200 Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> From: camy <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Were any inventions successful? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Dear List: I know all too well, even with the limited knowledge of twain available to me, about the fiasco of the type-setting machine which drove Twain into bankruptcy. Were any of his inventions successful? If this has been discussed previously, please feel free not to circulate it. Thank you. Camy ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 20 Jun 2006 21:44:24 -0400 Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> From: Kit Barry <[log in to unmask]> Subject: 28 cigars ..... Mime-Version: 1.0 (Apple Message framework v619) Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed Just for perspective of the times, by 1900 cigar smoking was practiced by possibly 5 out of 7 men. The cigar industry was beyond anything we would imagine today. A town of 10,000 might be supporting 4 or 5 full-time cigar stores. By the 1950's we were seeing the last of this 19th century custom and their users. A new and separate generation of cigar smokers came in the mid-1980's to the 1990's. Boutique, custom, fancy, and expensive cigars, accompanied by seriously expensive glossy full color cigar magazines. But this new generation of cigar smokers never approached the numbers of followers as the 19th century group. Kit Barry ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 20 Jun 2006 22:19:43 -0700 Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> From: "B.A. van der Wel" <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Re: 28 cigars? In-Reply-To: <[log in to unmask]> Mime-Version: 1.0 (Apple Message framework v624) Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Greetings All: According to the book that accompanies the PBS documentary by Ken Burns, Twain smoked "Wheeling long-nines," which would have been made in Wheeling, West Virginia, by Marsh Wheeling & Co., beginning in 1840. They were indeed about nine inches long, about a 52 ring at least in diameter and were covered in a "maduro" wrapper which means they were likely nearly jet black. This means they were rather large, menacing cigars just sitting in the box even by the standards of the machine-made cigars produced in the post-Civil War era. Whether he smoked 28 of these "gigantics" every day seems not likely, as some of the extant pictures of Sam Clemens show him with much smaller cigars on and around his person. (And this isn't even close to the number of pipes he has been photographed holding and smoking.) The really big question, one dear to former President Clinton's sense of theater, was whether or not Clemens actually inhaled. The current medical literature posits a reduced risk of cancer for pipe and cigar smokers who do not inhale, at least versus regular cigarette smokers. (All not exactly at the top of the health charts!) A big mystery, as others have noted, is why smoking seems to affect and effect some people more than others. It almost seems, at least from the circumstantial evidence, that Clemens' smoking did Livy a far worse turn in life than Sam. As another related for instance, my great-grandfather (who was a medical doctor no less) chain-smoked unfiltered cigarettes all his life. He lived until he was 87, in excellent health until his final month. And all this on only one lung, his having lost one to mustard gas in World War I! Cordially, B. Adrian van der Wel, M.F.A. California, USA ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 21 Jun 2006 10:17:48 -0400 Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> From: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: 28 cigars? In-Reply-To: <000701c694b3$1c9ee4f0$3993e448@HarrisXP> MIME-version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Content-disposition: inline Both my grandfathers smoked, and they both blew smoke in everyone's ears that had an ear ache and it went away. to Graham Durham, yes all smoking is bad. back then, they did not know that. I do not smoke. Jules ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 21 Jun 2006 10:26:49 -0400 Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> From: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: Were any inventions successful? In-Reply-To: <000501c69495$d7267ea0$e63947d1@camval> MIME-version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Content-disposition: inline I just recenlty went to the Patient office in VA and found several items. One was a type of suspender and another was a skating rink that Twain had a patient on. Jules ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 21 Jun 2006 10:00:32 -0500 Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> From: Larry Howe <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Re: 28 cigars? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1"; reply-type=original Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Perhaps nicotine is a vaso-constrictor, so that blowing smoke in an infected ear would reduce the swelling temporarily. Gives a whole new meaning to the old expression about blowing smoke into an orifice. Larry Howe ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 21 Jun 2006 12:30:35 -0400 Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> From: Horn Jason <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Re: Were any inventions successful? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Camy, I believe Twain made a profit from a type of self-pasting scrapbook for photographs and such. I am not sure if he was solely responsible for this idea, however. Jason Jason G. Horn, Ph.D Gordon College Barnesville, GA 30204 ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 21 Jun 2006 18:16:00 +0000 Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> From: "Martin D. Zehr" <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Re: Were any inventions successful? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit I believe Twain must have made a profit from the self-pasting scrapbooks, which bear his name on the label. I do know that these were marketed for many years, beginning in the mid-1870s, in many cover styles and size formats. I have a few of these which were used for keeping newspaper clippings and advertising cards, and they do appear to be very practical. They do show up on ebay occasionally and typically do not command high bids compared with other Twain-related items of the era, leading me to believe that they were sold in suficient quantities to actually generate a profit. Unlike the Paige typesetter, the self-pasting scrapbook did not require an exorbitant capital investment, and, also unlike the Paige monstrosity, the scrapbooks actually worked. I believe Kevin MacDonnell could provide much more detailed information regarding the commercial success of the scrapbooks. Martin Zehr Kansas City, Missouri ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 21 Jun 2006 14:11:50 +0200 Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> From: camy <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Susan's wet nurse MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Dear Group: One of the first stories ever related to me concerning Mark Twain's family had to do with hiring a wet nurse for Susan as Livy couldn't breast-feed. They wondered why the baby, formerly so restless and crying, was suddenly sleeping quite soundly. Someone, My guess is Livy herself, discovered that the black woman whom they had hired was quite accustomed to a good bit of gin. I loved the story and embarrassed myself by telling it at an entrance tea held at my perspective college, not knowing the dean was present. She laughed and was good-natured about the whole incident, but my mother wanted to kill me. Camy ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 21 Jun 2006 17:04:50 -0700 Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> From: Kristina Garcia <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Twain Anecdote - "I Am My Own Grandfather" MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Hello, I am a librarian in the San Diego, California area with a patron who would like a confirmation on a supposed Mark Twain anecdote entitled: "I am My Own Grandfather". There is a humorous song by Dwight B. Latham and Moe Jaffe called "I am My Own Grandpa" (c.1947) that was supposedly based on the reading of the Twain anecdote in a book. I have searched the Twain-L archives. Also, I have searched in roughly 24 books here at the research library (all listed on the bibliography in the Twain-L "Survival Guide"). The only one I do not have access to that looked like it might be useful is: Rasmussen, R. Kent (ed.). _The Quotable Mark Twain: His Essential Aphorisms, Witticisms and Concise Opinions_. Chicago: Contemporary Books, 1998. I can't find reference to this particular anecdote. "His Grandfather's Old Ram" and "What Paul Bourget Thinks of Us" were the only two stories I could find with a grandfather connection. Would there be any information to give my patron to prove or disprove the existence of this anecdote in a Twain source? I thank you in advance for information and attention to this query. Kristina Garcia Kristina Garcia, Resource Librarian Serra Research Center [log in to unmask] ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 21 Jun 2006 23:10:14 -0400 Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> From: John Bird <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Re: Twain Anecdote - "I Am My Own Grandfather" MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1"; reply-type=original Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit As a bluegrass musician, I am familiar with the song, which was a standard for the group Lonzo and Oscar. ("Many many years ago when I was twenty-three, I was married to a widder who was pretty as could be..."). I have never considered a connection to Mark Twain, but I sure will be astonished if someone can uncover one! (If you work your way through the genealogy of the song, the singer really is his own grandpa...) ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 21 Jun 2006 10:25:06 -0400 Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> From: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: 28 cigars? In-Reply-To: <[log in to unmask]> MIME-version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Content-disposition: inline I always wondered why my grandmother put special shaped soaps in the bed. I thought it was to make the bed smell nice. I have one of the soaps, it's in the shape of a doll. Jules ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 22 Jun 2006 15:11:02 +0900 Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> From: "Dr. Ron Dutcher" <[log in to unmask]> Subject: "Cross by name and cross by nature..." MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-2022-jp"; reply-type=original Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit One of Mark Twain's school teachers was a Mr. Cross. AB Paine always refered to him as "Mr. Cross." in his various Twain biographies. Noted Twain researcher Ron Powers, in his book "Dangerous Waters" names this teacher as "Frank O. Cross";however, in Power's most recent book, "Mark Twain, A Life", he identifies this teacher as "Sam Cross." Errr....did Powers get his Crosses crossed? If any one out there actually knows the correct name, or anything else about this teacher, I would sincerely appreciate hearing from you. Stay Well RD ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 22 Jun 2006 07:02:22 +0200 Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> From: camy <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Grandfather's old ram MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Dear Group: The story about the grandfather's old ram is my absolute favorite, as Twain so quaintly describes the reaction of an animal to a man bent over. However, I thought the grandfather was Jim Blaine's grandfather not Twain's. In my dream to make acting and the actions of actors more accessible to blind persons, that scene is one through which I'd love to literally walked through and be shown. Does anyone on list perform it? Thank you. Crazy Camy ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 22 Jun 2006 07:47:36 -0700 Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> From: Robert Hirst <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Samuel Cross (1812-86) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed Ron Dutcher wrote: One of Mark Twain's school teachers was a Mr. Cross. AB Paine always refered to him as "Mr. Cross." in his various Twain biographies. Noted Twain researcher Ron Powers, in his book "Dangerous Waters" names this teacher as "Frank O. Cross";however, in Power's most recent book, "Mark Twain, A Life", he identifies this teacher as "Sam Cross." Errr....did Powers get his Crosses crossed? If any one out there actually knows the correct name, or anything else about this teacher, I would sincerely appreciate hearing from you. In the biographical directory published by Dahlia Armon in Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer among the Indians and Other Unifinished Stories, Clemens's teacher is identified as Samuel Cross: Cross, Samuel (1812-86), was seven years old when his family immigrated to Pennsylvania from Ireland. He moved to Missouri in 1837 and by 1840 was a teacher in Hannibal. With John Marshall Clemens [and others] he helped found the Hannibal Library Institute. A member of the First Presbyterian Church--like Jane and Pamela Clemens--he was also one of the church's elders. In the spring of 1849 he led a party of Hannibal citizens to California and settled in Sacramento, where he practiced law and eventually became a judge. Cross ran the school Clemens attended in the mid-1840s, after instruction by Elizabeth Horr and Mary Ann Newcomb. (Cross's older brother, William, was also a Hannibal schoolteacher, though not one of Clemens's instructors, as previously thought; see Wecter 1952, 131.) In an autobiographical dictation of 15 August 1906, Clemens recalled the "early days" when Hannibal had only two schools, both of them private. "Mrs. Horr taught the children, in a small log house at the southern end of Main Street; Mr. Sam Cross taught the young people of larger growth in a frame school-house on the hill" (CU-MARK, in MTW, 107). Clemens mentions Cross only in passing in "Villagers" (97). His working notes for "Schoolhouse Hill" (MSM, 436) show that he re-created the physical setting of Cross's school--a frame house on the public square facing Center Street, a "coasting hill"--in the opening chapter of that story, although he based the schoolmaster there on John D. Dawson . . . (p. 316, Indians). ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 22 Jun 2006 11:52:01 -0700 Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> From: Gordon Snedecor <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Re: Grandfather's old ram MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hello Camy & group, The story of the Ram is perhaps first imagined and noted in Hawaii and is told by Mr. Brown of "Dan's old ram" (N&J1,Notebook 5: March, June--September 1866, 154. Pascal Covici Jr. in Afterward, Oxford Mark Twain: How to Tell a Story and Other Essays (1996, has a good discussion of the animal as it was spoken rather than Roughing It written. Gordon Gordon Snedecor Portland, Oregon ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 22 Jun 2006 16:15:48 -0400 Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> From: Sue Harris <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Re: 28 cigars? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1"; reply-type=original Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I had never heard about the soap. Wonder how that works since my husband has them. (the leg cramps.) Do you place it under your leg or what? Thanks if anyone can enlighten me!! ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 22 Jun 2006 16:09:24 -0400 Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> From: Sue Harris <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Re: 28 cigars ..... MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1"; reply-type=original Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Well, today, people use cigars for other reasons if you get my drift...where I go to buy lottery tickets, they sell an awful lot of them, usually to younger persons including young women. ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 22 Jun 2006 18:51:17 -0400 Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> From: Sandy S <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Re: 28 cigars? In-Reply-To: <[log in to unmask]> MIME-version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit Sue, Google "Dr. Peter Gott" + soap + leg cramps. My husband swears by it and he uses only a generic brand. SandyS Sue Harris wrote: > I had never heard about the soap. Wonder how that works since my husband > has them. (the leg cramps.) Do you place it under your leg or what? > Thanks if anyone can enlighten me!! ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 22 Jun 2006 17:27:55 -0500 Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> From: tdempsey <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Re: Samuel Cross (1812-86) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1"; reply-type=original Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I went down today and went through the 1840 census records for Hannibal and was unable to locate a Cross of any kind. I do not think I overlooked it. I will go down when and if I have a time and ask the church clerk to retrieve the session minutes of the First Presbyterian Church. She has done this for me in the past. The complete record for this period exists. I only photocopied the first few years of the church when I was researching my book on slavery. I will see if there is a Cross listed. If he was a member, he will be there. I will post what I find. If anyone else wants to double-check the census, I would not be offended. Terrell Dempsey ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 22 Jun 2006 19:55:01 -0500 Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> From: Barbara Schmidt <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Re: Samuel Cross (1812-86) MIME-version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Samuel Cross (age between 20 - 30 years) is listed in the Missouri 1840 census for Mason township, Marion County, Missouri. Barb ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 23 Jun 2006 02:01:03 +0000 Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> From: gabi ford <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Re: 28 cigars? In-Reply-To: <[log in to unmask]> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed >From: Sandy S <[log in to unmask]> >Google "Dr. Peter Gott" + soap + leg cramps. > >My husband swears by it and he uses only a generic brand. Castile soap? :) People wear copper bracelets and swear it helps their arthritis. Probably will get what for...but it must be placebo. ;) Gabi ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 22 Jun 2006 21:33:43 -0500 Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> From: tdempsey <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Re: Samuel Cross (1812-86) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1"; reply-type=original Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit That's great. If anyone would find it it would be Barb -- the world's greatest researcher. Thanks. I blew through the stuff pretty fast as I walked over to the library during a break between clients. I obviously did overlook it. Barb, if there is a general-access web site with the 1840 and 1850 Missouri Census on it, I would like to hear about it. The genealogy site on the Hannibal Public Library page, Heritage Quest Online, skips from 1820 to 1860 for Missouri. I have to look through reels of microfilm that are pretty shabby. That is of course compounded by the penmanship of the census takers. The other years on the Heritage Quest site are searchable by name -- very quick and easy. Anyone else doing research should also be aware that a small part of Hannibal (south side) is in Ralls County. I will still try to drop by the church and get the info there. The clerk has to get the book from the safe. Usually requires the permission of the minister. Terrell ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 22 Jun 2006 23:29:13 EDT Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> From: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: Were any inventions successful? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Dear Fellow Twainiacs, I seem to remember another SLC invention, that of putting strips of elastic onto the corners of bedsheets so they wouldn't come all undone. The Patent Office's archive is rather vast. Anyone with the time to verify this is welcome. Kathy O'Connell P.S.: Camy, you're not crazy in the least. ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 22 Jun 2006 21:53:57 -0700 Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> From: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: 28 cigars ..... Comments: To: Sue Harris <[log in to unmask]> In-Reply-To: <001f01c69637$c208eb90$63f21842@HarrisXP> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit I've been reluctant to weigh in on the cigar issue with Twain, since as you all know my cigar devotion coincided with my acacemic (?) interest in MT. For the record, I smoke 3-4 cigars a day, usually accompanied with an accceptable Brandy (perhaps a couple more when I attend conferences), and so I can assume that Twain would at least smoke that many and more. The moral to this story that that Twain has been good (and profitable) for my career, but probably very bad for my health. Joe McCullough ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 23 Jun 2006 07:30:02 +0200 Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> From: camy <[log in to unmask]> Subject: The best biography MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Dear Group: After speaking with a third person at the library for the blind, and after being informed by the first two that no biographies of Twain existed in Braille or on tape, this efficient woman has come up wit four biographies of Twain. They've not arrived yet, which I know will send my mother into a tizzy, especially if they are all in Braille, as Braille is quite voluminous, but which biography of Clemens to you feel is the best and why? For that matter, which isn't very good? Is there anyone on this list who has written a biography of Twain? Thank you. Camy ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 23 Jun 2006 09:46:24 -0400 Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> From: John Bird <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Re: Own Grandpa MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1"; reply-type=original Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Allison Ensor sent me the following information, which I don't think he would mind sharing with the wider forum. I think he may have tracked down the culprit! I share his skepticism... Quoting Allison's message: John and Kristina, I read your posts concerning the "own grandfather." I'm not a member of the MT Forum, so I'm writing the two of you. In Robert L. Ripley's book "Believe It or Not," there is an item like this, signed "Mark Twain." The heading reads: "A Philadelphian committed suicide and left the following note." It is of course a convoluted thing, beginning, "I married a widow with a grown daughter. My father fell in love with my step-daughter and married her...." After all the relationships have been laid out, he concludes in all caps, "I AM MY OWN GRANDFATHER!" Then comes the attribution to Twain. Ripley gives no indication as to where this may be found in his work, and I am doubtful that it is genuine; I've certainly never seen it. This item of Ripley's may have appeared as far back as the 1929 original publication of the book; I can't say. "Believe It or Not" was issued as a Pocket Book paperback in 1941, and what I have is the 26th printing of that, 1945. It's on page 184. I do remember the song "I'm My Own Grandpa." Whether it was inspired by reading Ripley's item would be interesting to know. Allison Ensor Professor of English University of Tennessee John Bird ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 23 Jun 2006 09:50:58 -0400 Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> From: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: Were any inventions successful? In-Reply-To: <[log in to unmask]> MIME-version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Content-disposition: inline hi, I just recently spent the entire day at the Patent office and did not come across that one, I sat and read through the books from 1840 to 1912 twice. Jules ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 23 Jun 2006 09:56:26 -0400 Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> From: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: The best biography In-Reply-To: <001f01c69686$148b5ee0$fc3067cf@camval> MIME-version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Content-disposition: inline I thought that Ken Burn's book came out on CD I think I have a copy. I'll have to look this weekend. Jules ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 23 Jun 2006 07:15:37 -0700 Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> From: Robert Hirst <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Cross in census Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed T Dempsey wrote: I went down today and went through the 1840 census records for Hannibal and was unable to locate a Cross of any kind. I do not think I overlooked it. I will go down when and if I have a time and ask the church clerk to retrieve the session minutes of the First Presbyterian Church. She has done this for me in the past. The complete record for this period exists. I only photocopied the first few years of the church when I was researching my book on slavery. I will see if there is a Cross listed. If he was a member, he will be there. I will post what I find. If anyone else wants to double-check the census, I would not be offended. The entry in Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer among the Indians that I quoted from did in fact cite, among many other sources, the Marion Census for 1840, p. 89, and the Marion Census for 1850, p. 311. RHH ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 23 Jun 2006 10:49:04 -0500 Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> From: tdempsey <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Re: Cross in census MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1"; reply-type=original Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit That's great. I think in general a lot of confusion could be avoided by citing to primary sources instead of "authorities." Dr. Dutcher's dilemma is precisely what happens when people rely on authorities. Authors repeat errors and footnote to the authority they relied on. Lots of damage gets done. Just think of the poor first monk who omitted the letter "r" from celebrate. Terrell ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 23 Jun 2006 09:01:05 -0700 Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> From: Jerry Vorpahl <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Re: Grandfather's old ram In-Reply-To: <[log in to unmask]> Mime-version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit Is there record of Twain telling Grandfather's Ram on the lecture circuit? His rendering in his autobiography ("Eruption," p. 220 et al), which is the version Holbrook renders almost verbatim, is a complete rewrite of his version in "Roughing It." Even the names are changed and the laughs less strained. I recited the scene about accidents and Uncle Lem for an audition to a national theatre company - and got the part. JerryV ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 25 Jun 2006 08:14:18 -0600 Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> From: Mark Coburn <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Authorities vs. primary sources MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1"; reply-type=original Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Terrell Dempsey wrote: I think in general a lot of confusion could be avoided by citing to primary sources instead of "authorities." Dr. Dutcher's dilemma is precisely what happens when people rely on authorities. Authors repeat errors and footnote to the authority they relied on. Oh, do I ever agree! My favorite idiotic Twainian example apparently traces all the way back to Paine's biography. In his chapter on Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc, Paine wrote, "It was the only book of all he had written that Mark Twain considered worthy of this dedication: 1870 To My Wife 1895 This book is tendered on our wedding anniversary in grateful recognition of her twenty-five years of valued service as my literary adviser and editor. The Author " In fairness, Paine doesn't q-u-i-t-e say, "this is the only book Clemens dedicated to Olivia." But that is surely the most obvious reading. . . . And that bit of goop has marched its teary way down the decades. I've met it in at least three reputable books on Twain, and you can easily find it on the web. Now, the research in "primary sources" necessary to disprove that twaddle is actually not terribly difficult. One might even undertake it without an advanced degree. Here's what you do: 1. Go find yourself a copy of a reasonably well known Twain book titled The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. (I am using "The Oxford Mark Twain," but any half-way decent edition will do.) 2. Turn to the title page. You will find it very near the beginning of the volume. 3. Holding either the edge or a corner of the title page gently but firmly in your right hand, turn it over. 4. On one of the two pages now facing you, you should find a brief dedication. (In the Oxford edition, it is on the right-hand page.) 5. Read it. Mark Coburn ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 25 Jun 2006 11:08:29 -0700 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: Authorities vs. primary sources Comments: To: [log in to unmask] Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline Well, there's nothing so good as primary sources if the "authorities" aren't authoritative, but if we don't rely on each other, there's no point in doing scholarship at all. And when it comes to a trustworthy authority, I'll put my faith in Bob Hirst any time. He and his team have done painstaking and exhaustive primary research so the rest of us don't have to. For that matter, so has Terrell Dempsey. Yes, scholars make mistakes (so did Twain, as when in _Life on the Mississippi_ he said the State of Delaware is part of the Mississippi basin), but the point of a commuity of scholars is that we are--over the long run--self-correcting. I, for one, don't have the time or the institutional support to go to Missouri to dig into all of Terrell's primary resources and re-do his work. I'm sure that in the editorial process of putting the book together, Tom Quirk did a fair amount of checking, and I suspect other scholars who are local will do cross-checking in places. But on the whole, I'll take Terrell's word for it. Now, Terrell, if you were George Bush, I'd check the facts for myself. Are you telling me, in your pitch for primary sources, that I shouldn't trust your book? Gregg ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 25 Jun 2006 23:15:00 -0500 Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> From: tdempsey <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Re: Authorities vs. primary sources MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1"; reply-type=original Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Gregg, I guess I suffer from my professional training. The only two areas I've every really studied have been American Archeology and Law. (Okay, and now slavery in northeast Missouri.) I was taught scientific archeology -- dig for information, not the classical European dig-for-goodies approach. In law, you always want the best evidence. People invariably make mistakes. It is human. I have seen many examples of it in Twain research before. I guarantee you that Ron Powers did not make up the mistake in Dangerous Water. He had a source for it. I'm sure it was quite authoritative. I have not looked to see what he footnoted to. I think most academics think in a paradigmatic fashion. They divide up into schools of thought and squabble like politicians -- only for less money. They subscribe to positions with religious fervor and toss opponents on the rack faster than Torquemada. They pack about in herds until they encounter an irresolvable conflict. This triggers a revolution in thinking and the pack goes careening off in another direction. (I've been reading Harrold Bloom recently and thus am considering giving up reading all together.) For the above reason, I tried to include as much original material as possible in my work. The criticism I've received most from people is that I included too much in the way of quotes and examples. Somebody referred to it as more of a source book. I found that flattering. I think primary material is far, far more important than the machinations of my simple mind. So to answer your question, I have the utmost faith in you, Bob, Shelley, -- all of you. You are great, brilliant people. I would like to have a brain transfusion from any one of you. But I think the answer to the question as to which Cross was which isn't, "It is Samuel because Professor So-and-so says so." The better answer is, "It was Samuel Cross who Sam remembered as corroborated by census records and church records." Now, as regards my reliability, every word I wrote was spoken to me by an angel. Every citation was revealed through divine intervention. Next time you are in Hannibal, I will show you the golden plates. It is okay to question some things, Gregg, but leave revealed truth alone. Me and W are in agreement on that one. Amen, Terrell P.S. I wretch when other people use the word paradigm. ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 26 Jun 2006 11:20:01 -0700 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: Authorities vs. primary sources In-Reply-To: <[log in to unmask]> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline Terrell, I'm deeply hurt by the aspersions you cast on my humble profession. The idea that academics would fight over trivia for low pay pains me beyond belief. We fight over VERY IMPORTANT things for little money. And next week when everybody comes to accept MY view on everything that matters, we'll be singing the music of the spheres when we harmoniously announce how many angels dance on the head of the average pin. Now, there may still be disagreement over how many angels dance on the head of a push pin, or on the head of a pin that holds broken bones together, or on the summit of a pin-head, but those variants are truly trivial. There. I didn't use "paradigm" once. I'd quote what Twain said about not using the phrase "butchered to make a Roman holiday," but I'd be violating my P.C. contract. All jest aside, which seems a kind of blasphemy on a Twain list, I agree that academics in the humanities and social sciences school like fish, but their arguments tend to be over how to interpret facts less than over the facts themselves. To discourage any accusations of bias, I turn to a field other than literary criticism for an example. Consider the arguments of economic historians over those years that Twain so appropriately named the gilded age. Stuart Bruchey's histories basically extol the virtues of the "American Economic System" as it evolved then; Bruce Laurie shows the harm done to labor. Clearly, they are in different "camps," but they agree on the facts behind their interpretations. And the intellectual pleasure that comes from comparing their arguments is great. Given that our country is founded on the belief that we have the right to pursue happiness, I'm glad somebody is willing to pay a small number of us to engage in such pleasant argument. But pleasure aside, their modes of interpretation ARE important; the debates they engage over our history are still pertinent. If our leaders had any historical savvy, they'd be able to see the analogies between our own era and the period of 1865-1914. God help us if we don't take into account that reservoir of knowledge no matter how we interpret it! It may be a bit more difficult to find the value in those things literary critics argue about, but that's only because our culture denigrates the arts. If we were to acknowledge that the symbolic systems by which we organize and ascribe value to our world DO matter, then we'd see that when literary critics disagree, they are engaging a fundamental argument about what our culture is and should be. But we still don't get paid much. Gregg p.s. "I never had but two ambitions in life. One was to be a circus clown, and the other to be a preacher manque. I failed at the first because I lack balance, but that trait made me succeed beyond my wildest dreams at the second." (I'm quoting from memory; you might want to check that citation for accuracy.) ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 27 Jun 2006 01:37:59 EDT Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> From: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: The best biography MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Camy -- Easy-peasy. Ron Powers' is very, very good; Andy Hoffman's is OK, but suffers from that awful syndrome of judging the past by present standards (was Sam gay because he shared a bed with one, or possibly more, men in various boarding houses? It was not uncommon practice at the time.); ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 27 Jun 2006 02:00:32 EDT Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> From: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: The best biography MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Dang, this fershlugginer technology doth indeed exist in a vacuum. I'm tending to a friend who broke his foot, and am therefore not used to his computer's quirks. As I'd started to say, in my opinion the Burns film (he doesn't shoot on video) was a profound disappointment. I reviewed it for my newspaper at the time, the Hartford Advocate; if I can find a way to post it on the listserve, I shall. Though I knew what Ken was trying to do =E2=80=94 get new generations interested in important aspects of history =E2=80=94 I believe he relied too much on sentimental received opinion. In my opinion, the most precise capturing of Sam's duality is Will Vinton's "The Adventures of Mark Twain." It was done in Claymation in 1985 and dismissed as a children's movie. It's not, by any means. Keep up the good fight. Kathy O'Connell ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 27 Jun 2006 13:49:26 +0200 Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> From: camy <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Racism, Huck Fin, refusing to read it MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Dear Group: Since many of you on this list are professors or high school teachers, do you still encounter opposition from African-Americans regarding Huck Finn? Have you ever had a student adamantly refuse to read it? When I was in college, a class member actually refused to read "A Raisin in the Sun", stating it was too stereotypical of blacks and would not believe it was written by a black woman. If this is too sensitive an issue to be broached, I shan't bring it up again. Camy ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 27 Jun 2006 18:24:21 EDT Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> From: Errol Craig Sull <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Re: Racism, Huck Finn, refusing to read it MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I have been fortunate to teach H.F. as an only text for a semester, for nearly ten years. My estimate is that I've had about 1500 students in those classes, and of that approximately 20% have been African-American. Interestingly, I have never had any African-American student protest reading or discussing the novel because of the N word or because of the racism (let alone refuse to read the novel). However, I have had 27 white students (I decided, from year one, to count the number of students who made a fuss over the book because of the items just mentioned) -- ALL females -- raise questions or protests about reading the text. They all did read it, and once into the novel -- and understanding how and why Twain uses the N word and racism -- enthusiastically got involved in the discussion. I can only speak for me, of course, but I strongly believe the "secret" to diffusing student concerns about H.F. due to the N word and the racism is in a first day talk and discussion of how the N word was used in the South in the 19th c, its evolution into why its use stirs such violent reactions today, and its purpose / racism's purpose in the novel. Errol ERROL CRAIG SULL Department of English Buffalo State College ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 27 Jun 2006 20:41:18 -0400 Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> From: "Long, Kim" <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Re: Racism, Huck Finn, refusing to read it MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable My experience over 28 years, teaching the book in both high school and college, is very similar to Errol's. After the first-day, when I "sit-on-the-front-of-the-desk-and-talk-to-the-students," class meeting style, things have gone well. I've occasionally shown the PBS documentary Born to Trouble before beginning the novel. You have to know a class, and they have to trust you and each other. . . .but I've always found the risk of squarely facing the book and its issues totally worth it. Kim Kim Martin Long Interim Associate Dean of Arts and Sciences Shippensburg University ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 28 Jun 2006 15:57:39 +0200 Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> From: camy <[log in to unmask]> Subject: The saga of Twain and the insurance agent MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Dear Group: When I saw Holbrook as Twain, he related a story about being approached by an insurance agent which happened when he was living in Hartford Connecticut. To say the least, I was frustrated because I could not understand the punch line, but people up in the balcony were laughing. I asked those around me, even people behind me, if they understood it but they did not. Does anyone know such a story, and if anyone has access to "Mark Twain Tonight", have you read it? Thank you. ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 28 Jun 2006 19:18:59 -0400 Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> From: Bob Gill <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Re: TWAIN-L Digest - 18 Jun 2006 to 25 Jun 2006 (#2006-5) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I was at the Baltimore show too, and there certainly were problems, but as you suggest, my impression was that the sound system was at fault. Any time MT/HH spoke louder than a normal speaking voice, everything blurred together and it was very hard to distinguish words _ even for me, and I knew what he was saying. People who weren't very, very familiar with the material must have been lost much of the time. Just as an aside, I did think it was the weakest of the four shows I've seen (the first in 1977), from a content standpoint. Probably because the 2004 election was looming (this was in early May), Holbrook relied heavily on Twain's political commentary, which to my mind is generally not as strong or distinctive as his other writings. But I'd never experienced any problems of this kind at any of his shows, so I assume the difficulties were technical in nature. Bob G. ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 29 Jun 2006 04:29:46 -0700 Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> From: Michael Patrick Hearn <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Re: TWAIN-L Digest - 18 Jun 2006 to 25 Jun 2006 (#2006-5) In-Reply-To: <[log in to unmask]> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit I saw Holbrook both in New York and Philadelphia this last tour and was thoroughly charmed. I found him to be as clear as a bell. I thought the program was partiticularly pointed and poignant now that he is older than Mark Twain was when he died. I would not hesitate to see him again and again. ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 29 Jun 2006 09:53:59 -0500 Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> From: tdempsey <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Re: Authorities vs. primary sources MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1"; reply-type=original Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Gregg, You actually made me feel guilty with your last. I remember reading Hofstadter's Anti-Intellectualism in American Life years ago -- actually the summer before I was going to start teaching middle school social studies. It prepared me well. I didn't teach a month before one parent came in telling me I was teaching Godless humanism. I asked her why and she told me her preacher had told her. He, of course, had never met me or seen the text we used. One just knows these things. And now I have sunk to the depths of anti-intellectualism. How ironic. I don't think a week goes by when I don't think of Pudd'nhead Wilson and the real Samuel Glover. Seriously, last week a friend at Rotary told me, "everyone likes you, but we all think you're a kook." This is the burden of being a liberal lawyer in Hannibal. I am not aspiring to be PW, it is just that MT in his genius nailed the characters in the American pantheon. You guys on the left and lefter coast may not be living it, but those of us in the U.S. are still residing in the period 1865 - 1914. Time moves like a soap opera here. Miss a week and you're only 15 minutes down the storyline. (The rest of you are being dragged back to the period. Look what the congress did with the Estate Tax -- or as Karl Rove has spun it: the DEATH TAX! In another generation or two our kids are going to be calling the rich people's children Sire and Your Ladyship.) Believe it or not, Jane Clemens's First Presbyterian Church is rumbling about seceding from the Presbyterian Church USA because of ordination of gay folk. (The General Assembly did not allow it, in fact, reaffirmed traditional ordination standards -- it just appears the church is grudgingly tolerating local groups that have ordained gays in an attempt to avoid schism.) The arguments are amazingly similar to the 1840s and 50s arguments over slavery. In some cases the actors are descendants of the same people who were arguing at that time. Ripples in the pond. So, I agree with you. A good liberal arts education is terribly important -- as are all of you intellectuals. Just be sure you are scribbling as fast as you can. If Dick Cheney decides there is a 1% chance you are a threat to the republic, you're all going to end up in camps somewhere. Fortunately, you are not at too great a risk of anyone in the present administration actually reading anything. Terrell ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 29 Jun 2006 10:08:06 -0500 Reply-To: [log in to unmask] Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> From: Charles Boewe <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Holbrook MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII In the interest of adding to the historical record, perhaps it is time I narrate my first sighting of Holbrook’s Mark Twain performance--which, I believe, is the earliest of those posted so far. This was at the National Theatre in Oslo, Norway, in the autumn of 1960, when Holbrook was on a USIS tour to win “hearts and minds” and I was in Norway as a visiting Fulbright professor. As guests of the American cultural affairs officer, my wife and I had front-row seats for Holbrook’s performance. We were enthralled by the material he presented and impressed by the realism of his makeup. He truly looked the way we imagined Clemens must have looked, except for one detail our advantageous seating made evident. He had a young man’s hands--a flaw I am sure the passage of time has corrected. After this pleasure, how could I refuse the cultural affairs officer’s request that I give a public lecture on the occasion of Lincoln’s birthday? Unfortunately, the night of February 12 proved to be the coldest, snowiest, most miserable we had experienced up to that time in Norway. Although the venue for my talk was an embassy auditorium more modest than the National Theatre, when I looked out across a sea of seats vacant except for a handful of embassy shills ordered to attend, toward the back a single, bearded man appeared to be the only auditor who had chosen on his own to brave the weather. Well, if he was willing to make the effort, so was I. Looking him steadily in the eyes, I talked directly to this man, pouring out all the secondhand erudition I had been able to gather in the USIS library in preparation for my speech. He seemed pleased, and from time to time nodded agreement with my more telling observations. At the conclusion of the lecture, the shills roused themselves enough to clap politely and my real audience, the bearded man--who, I later learned, was a notable Oslo eccentric--walked out into the snow, barefoot, munching a raw carrot. Charles Boewe ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 29 Jun 2006 11:40:51 -0700 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: Authorities vs. primary sources Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline Terrell, My last may have inspired guilt, but your last inspires fear. After all, some righteous (is that why we call it the right wing?)groups are now attacking universities for their putative "liberal" bias, even though universities house economics departments and business schools, etc. that are far from "liberal" in the sense now so commonly used in political rhetoric. Clearly there is tremendous political diversity within universities. That diversity seems to bother many of the academy's detractors. Thus, I take your prediction seriously as a remote, but still real, possiblity. And don't for a minute think that the left coast is immune--just go visit the Crystal Cathedral in Orange County to take our measure. If you go, you don't have to fly into LAXXX; you can skip right over Gomorrah South by taking a direct flight to John Wayne International Airport. My problem, and you seem to share it so well that your are branded a kook, is that I just can't seem to take Twain's good advice and be an intellectual prude: "It is by the goodness of God that in our country we have three unspeakably precious things: freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, and the prudence never to practice either of them." So, when the thought police arrest me, let your guilt guide you into defending me pro bono. Unless they get you first. Gregg ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 29 Jun 2006 21:16:24 +0200 Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> From: camy <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Your opinion MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Dear Group: I have received two more biographies of Twain. The first is ""The making of Mark Twain" by Lauber, and the second is "Mark Twain the Bachelor" by Sanborn. Are you familiar with these biographies, and please render your opinion. For me, the "pickins is slim" regarding biographies of Twain. Thank you. CAmy ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 30 Jun 2006 10:22:26 -0400 Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> From: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: Your opinion In-Reply-To: <000d01c69bb0$84468000$113067cf@camval> MIME-version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Content-disposition: inline Hi Camy, They are both good, maybe a little dated. If I remember correctly, they both are on different parts of his life. So I would get them both to look at. Also if you can get Ron Powers 9 cd set they are good as well. Ken Burns did a movie of Twain's bio that is interesting. Good luck! Jules