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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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!
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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
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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]>
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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
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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]>
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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
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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
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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
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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]
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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
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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
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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
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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]>
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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
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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
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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
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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?
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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.
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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
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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
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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
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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?
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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>
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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]>
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I read that essay, it was very enlightening :)
Thanks for writing it!
Jules
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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]>
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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]>
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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
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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
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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
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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!
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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
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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?
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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
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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?
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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
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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>
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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
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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]>
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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
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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?
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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
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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
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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
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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]>
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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.
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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]>
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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
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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?
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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.
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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]>
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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
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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]>
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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
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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?
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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
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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 .....
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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
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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?
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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
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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?
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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
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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?
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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
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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?
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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
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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?
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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
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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?
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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
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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
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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
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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"
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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]
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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"
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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...)
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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]>
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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
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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..."
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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
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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
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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
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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)
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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
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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?
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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 .....
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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]>
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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)
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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)
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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]>
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>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)
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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?
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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>
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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
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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
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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]>
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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>
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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
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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
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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]>
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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
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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]
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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Date: Tue, 27 Jun 2006 20:41:18 -0400
Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]>
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From: "Long, Kim" <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: Racism, Huck Finn, refusing to read it
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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
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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
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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)
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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.
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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)
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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
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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
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Date: Thu, 29 Jun 2006 10:08:06 -0500
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From: Charles Boewe <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Holbrook
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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