Hear, hear! Ken On 9/15/2011 9:05 AM, Caroline Lawrence wrote: > What a wonderful review! Thank you. > > > Caroline x > http://www.carolinelawrence.com=20 > > >> Date: Thu=2C 15 Sep 2011 11:25:50 -0400 >> From: [log in to unmask] >> Subject: BOOK REVIEW: _Harold=2C the Boy Who Became Mark Twain_. Hal Holb= > rook. >> To: [log in to unmask] >> =20 >> BOOK REVIEW >> =20 >> _Harold=2C the Boy Who Became Mark Twain_. Hal Holbrook. Farrar=2C Straus= > and >> Giroux=2C 2011. Pp. 468. Hardcover. $30. ISBN 978-0374281014 >> =20 >> Many books reviewed on the Forum are available at discounted prices from = > the >> TwainWeb Bookstore=2C and purchases from this site generate commissions t= > hat >> benefit the Mark Twain Project. Please visit<http://www.twainweb.net> >> =20 >> Reviewed for the Mark Twain Forum by: >> Kevin Mac Donnell. >> =20 >> =20 >> Hal Holbrook has explained that he is drawn to Mark Twain because Mark Tw= > ain >> tells the truth and because we all need somebody who tells the truth. Eve= > n >> Huck Finn fails to give Mark Twain such high praise as Holbrook=2C pointi= > ng >> out that "there was things which he stretched" but Huck would approve of >> Holbrook's new book. It frankly tells some painful truths and attains a >> confessional level that Mark Twain himself never achieves in his own >> autobiography. Hal Holbrook has been Mark Twain longer than Sam Clemens w= > as >> Mark Twain=2C but it took decades for Harold Holbrook to become Hal Holbr= > ook=2C >> and then find Harold again. Holbrook's book=2C the first volume of a plan= > ned >> two-volume autobiography=2C chronicles the first thirty-four years of tha= > t >> often painful and sometimes hilarious journey. >> =20 >> Try to imagine a little boy whose mother leaves the family when he is six >> years old and whose father is soon sent to an asylum=2C leaving him and h= > is >> sisters to be raised by grandparents. The little guy is continually beate= > n >> and abused by a schoolmaster=2C and one of his sisters later dies from a >> botched abortion. As a young man during World War II he watches an army >> drill sergeant work an older recruit to death and his best friend is kill= > ed >> in action in Belgium. After the war he drinks too much and has an affair. >> His marriage fails and he belatedly realizes that he has failed his >> children. Years later he has an epiphany and realizes he was an abused >> child. I've skipped the grimmest details=2C but you've just met Hal Holbr= > ook=2C >> who describes in a matter-of-fact manner how these events shaped his life= > . >> He recalls his feelings at the time=2C and brings you back in time with h= > im as >> he evokes the sounds and smells=2C the very texture of being in each of t= > hese >> moments. Mark Twain once described biography as the "clothes and buttons"= > of >> a man=2C not the man himself. Holbrook gives himself. >> =20 >> Faced with cruelties and tragedies beyond his understanding=2C Holbrook t= > ries >> to escape into mere "clothes and buttons." He craves attention=2C at one = > point >> holding his breath under water until frightened onlookers dive in to save >> him=2C pushes himself to run beyond his limits in track=2C and fears meet= > ing a >> fate like that of his own father. But two things save his life. During th= > e >> long intervals of confusion and unhappiness he experiences brief acts of >> kindness by others and he discovers the contents of the trunk his mother >> left behind. >> =20 >> Holbrook recalls a simple hug by a piano teacher who sensed that her youn= > g >> student had reached the end of the tether and could not go on. So=2C she = > sat >> quietly beside him as any mother would=2C hugging him as he cried out his >> heart=2C a moment her student has never forgotten. These small moments of >> kindness punctuate Holbrook's story with a power far beyond their tempora= > l >> allotment in the narrative. There is the poised girl at the dance who has >> the priceless grace to pretend not to notice that Holbrook=2C her dancing >> partner=2C can barely dance and is stepping on her feet. There is Holbroo= > k's >> buddy Ace=2C who talks him through a crisis like a true friend. All are >> testaments to the power of kindness. >> =20 >> In the cellar of his grandparent's house Holbrook made a discovery that >> would change his life. First=2C he found his mother's record collection a= > nd >> established a connection to her as he listened to her favorite music. Nex= > t >> he found mementos of his mother's career in show business. He enrolled in= > a >> drama class and soon found comfort in pretending to be somebody else. His >> early life on stage was not an easy one=2C with long road trips=2C freque= > nt >> rejections=2C and some hilarious blunders. The funniest moment in the boo= > k may >> be when Holbrook=2C playing an army captain delivering a telegram to Pres= > ident >> Wilson=2C rushes onto the stage to make his delivery=2C forgetting to bri= > ng the >> telegram with him=2C dashes back off-stage to get it=2C and then returns = > to the >> stage so flustered that he forgets to give it to the other actor=2C and a= > ll >> the while the other actors are adlibbing their lines to cover for him=2C = > and >> trying not to laugh as a thoroughly bewildered Holbrook sweats off his >> makeup=2C bringing down the house. For thespians=2C Holbrook also provide= > s >> candid insights into how an actor practices his art. Mark Twain became pa= > rt >> of Holbrook's repertoire when he included Twain among the pieces he and h= > is >> first wife performed in a traveling show for schools in 1949. >> =20 >> Before Holbrook=2C there had been a history of Mark Twain impersonators a= > nd >> imposters. They plagued Sam Clemens from the 1860s to the very last years= > of >> his life. While the imposters were an affront to Twain's dignity=2C >> impersonators were not exactly flattery personified. A Brooklyn dentist= > =2C J. >> Jay Villers (1836-1912) made a career of performing "twenty-five comic >> impersonations" including Mark Twain. In 1874=2C Alfred P. Burbank was do= > ing >> the same in Saco=2C Maine=2C and about that same time a self-styled "Prof= > essor=2C" >> R. L. Cumnock=2C was killing audiences in Great Falls=2C Montana with his >> impersonations presented under the banner "a night with Shakespeare and >> Dickens." Twain got third billing. In 1878=2C George Lyon was doing the s= > ame >> in Iowa=2C with the help of supposed testimonials from appearances in New >> York=2C Missouri=2C Nebraska=2C and Kansas from the previous two years. O= > ne W. W. >> Cranes of Kansas City advertised his Mark Twain impersonations in the 188= > 0s=2C >> promising to make his audiences "laugh or cry!" >> =20 >> On the evening of June 5=2C 1877=2C at the Seminary Hall in Hartford=2C a= > Twain >> impersonator made a debut that changed everything. William Gillette >> (1853-1937) who later became famous playing Sherlock Holmes in the movies >> impersonated Twain that night and recited the story of the jumping frog. >> Having delayed his annual summer departure for Elmira for a few days=2C M= > ark >> Twain himself sat in the audience=2C and said Gillette's performance gave= > him >> "one more reason for being sorry I [Gillette] was born" (Zecher=2C _Willi= > am >> Gillette_=2C pp. 528). This was a compliment. Twain and Gillette were fri= > ends >> and neighbors=2C and spent a good deal of time together. The combination = > of >> Gillette=92s talent at mimicry and his familiarity with Mark Twain=92s sp= > eech=2C >> were a boon. Twain and his wife helped Gillette in his stage career=2C lo= > aning >> him $3=2C000 to get started=2C and got him a role in the stage version of= > "The >> Gilded Age" with John T. Raymond. Gillette went on to more enduring fame= > =2C >> but continued performing his impersonation of Mark Twain into the 1920s a= > nd >> 1930s. >> =20 >> When Holbrook heard a recording of Gillette=92s impersonation of Twain fo= > r the >> first time=2C he=92d recently debuted his own show=2C "Mark Twain Tonight= > !" He'd >> met Bim Pond=2C the son of Mark Twain's lecture agent=2C James B. Pond=2C= > who'd >> once worked for James Redpath=2C Twain's previous lecture agent=2C and wh= > o later >> managed the Twain-Cable tour of 1884-85=2C and the first leg of Twain's w= > orld >> tour in 1895. Bim had known Twain and he helped Holbrook with his act. Bi= > m >> Pond provided Holbrook his first direct link to Mark Twain. Pond >> demonstrated Twain's drawl for Holbrook and encouraged him. Soon Holbrook >> was reading all of Twain's books he could get his hands on as well as >> critical works about Twain by Dixon Wecter=2C Bernard DeVoto=2C Arthur L.= > Scott=2C >> Philip Foner=2C and Fred Lorch. A ride on a steamboat gave Holbrook insig= > ht >> into Twain's unusual gait which was confirmed when he later watched the >> Edison film of Twain sauntering around Stormfield. He also met Madame >> Charbonnel=2C who had known Twain in Vienna. She reminded Holbrook that >> Twain's humor was drawn from a deep well of seriousness. Until then=2C >> Holbrook=92s impersonation of Twain was just a generic imitation of a fun= > ny >> old man. It wasn=92t long before Holbrook was using Twain=92s own words t= > o deal >> with hecklers and choosing pieces for his show that would relate to then >> current issues like McCarthyism and Civil Rights. >> =20 >> In 1958=2C Holbrook met with the elderly Isabel Lyon several times in her >> Greenwich Village home=2C where she would prop herself up with a pillow= > =2C pour >> a Scotch=2C and smoke a pipe given to her by Twain as she told Holbrook t= > hings >> that she made him promise never to "publish." She denied being in love wi= > th >> Twain=2C or his being in love with her=2C but Holbrook has previously sai= > d it >> was from Lyon that he got a better feel for Mark Twain than from any othe= > r >> person he ever met who had known the great author. On April 12=2C 1961 >> Holbrook visited Clara Clemens=2C who praised his impersonation and then >> startled him with the suggestion that after mastering Mark Twain he shoul= > d >> give Jesus a try. Accounts of these encounters with Bim Pond=2C Isabel Ly= > on=2C >> and Clara Clemens have been published elsewhere and although this book ad= > ds >> some information about his meetings with Bim Pond beyond what Holbrook ha= > d >> already written in his first book=2C _Mark Twain Tonight!_ (1959)=2C he d= > oes not >> mention his meetings with Clara or Isabel. Those encounters will hopefull= > y >> be described when Holbrook publishes the planned second volume of his lif= > e >> covering the years 1959-2011. >> =20 >> This first volume of Holbrook=92s life story is rightly subtitled "the bo= > y who >> became Mark Twain" and deserves a reading by every Twainian. The events o= > f >> Holbrook's early life led him to the act that has brought him an enduring >> fame for more than fifty years=2C a recognition that stands entirely sepa= > rate >> from his many distinguished achievements on stage=2C television=2C and mo= > tion >> pictures. In this single volume Holbrook does for himself what it took th= > e >> last four decades of Mark Twain biographies to accomplish for Mark Twain = > --=20 >> he humanizes himself. He does this by bravely stepping out from behind th= > e >> mask that every actor uses as a shield. And like Mark Twain=2C who is mor= > e >> fully understood thanks to the biographies by Hamlin Hill=2C Ron Powers= > =2C Karen >> Lystra=2C Jerry Loving=2C Laura Trombley=2C and Michael Shelden=2C we are= > drawn to >> Hal Holbrook for the same reasons he is drawn to Mark Twain. Holbrook's >> experiences will remind readers of the joys and terrors Tom experiences i= > n >> _The Adventures of Tom Sawyer_=2C and when Holbrook tells the rest of his= > life >> story=2C that next book could be his own _Adventures of Huckleberry Finn_= > . >> =20 >> <end> > = >