What a wonderful review! Thank you. Caroline x http://www.carolinelawrence.com > Date: Thu, 15 Sep 2011 11:25:50 -0400 > From: [log in to unmask] > Subject: BOOK REVIEW: _Harold, the Boy Who Became Mark Twain_. Hal Holbrook. > To: [log in to unmask] > > BOOK REVIEW > > _Harold, the Boy Who Became Mark Twain_. Hal Holbrook. Farrar, Straus and > Giroux, 2011. Pp. 468. Hardcover. $30. ISBN 978-0374281014 > > Many books reviewed on the Forum are available at discounted prices from the > TwainWeb Bookstore, and purchases from this site generate commissions that > benefit the Mark Twain Project. Please visit <http://www.twainweb.net> > > Reviewed for the Mark Twain Forum by: > Kevin Mac Donnell. > > > Hal Holbrook has explained that he is drawn to Mark Twain because Mark Twain > tells the truth and because we all need somebody who tells the truth. Even > Huck Finn fails to give Mark Twain such high praise as Holbrook, pointing > 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 was > Mark Twain, but it took decades for Harold Holbrook to become Hal Holbrook, > and then find Harold again. Holbrook's book, the first volume of a planned > two-volume autobiography, chronicles the first thirty-four years of that > often painful and sometimes hilarious journey. > > 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, leaving him and his > sisters to be raised by grandparents. The little guy is continually beaten > and abused by a schoolmaster, 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 killed > 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, but you've just met Hal Holbrook, > who describes in a matter-of-fact manner how these events shaped his life. > He recalls his feelings at the time, and brings you back in time with him as > he evokes the sounds and smells, the very texture of being in each of these > moments. Mark Twain once described biography as the "clothes and buttons" of > a man, not the man himself. Holbrook gives himself. > > Faced with cruelties and tragedies beyond his understanding, Holbrook tries > to escape into mere "clothes and buttons." He craves attention, at one point > holding his breath under water until frightened onlookers dive in to save > him, pushes himself to run beyond his limits in track, and fears meeting a > fate like that of his own father. But two things save his life. During the > 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. > > Holbrook recalls a simple hug by a piano teacher who sensed that her young > student had reached the end of the tether and could not go on. So, she sat > quietly beside him as any mother would, hugging him as he cried out his > heart, a moment her student has never forgotten. These small moments of > kindness punctuate Holbrook's story with a power far beyond their temporal > allotment in the narrative. There is the poised girl at the dance who has > the priceless grace to pretend not to notice that Holbrook, her dancing > partner, can barely dance and is stepping on her feet. There is Holbrook's > buddy Ace, who talks him through a crisis like a true friend. All are > testaments to the power of kindness. > > In the cellar of his grandparent's house Holbrook made a discovery that > would change his life. First, he found his mother's record collection and > established a connection to her as he listened to her favorite music. Next > 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, with long road trips, frequent > rejections, and some hilarious blunders. The funniest moment in the book may > be when Holbrook, playing an army captain delivering a telegram to President > Wilson, rushes onto the stage to make his delivery, forgetting to bring the > telegram with him, dashes back off-stage to get it, and then returns to the > stage so flustered that he forgets to give it to the other actor, and all > the while the other actors are adlibbing their lines to cover for him, and > trying not to laugh as a thoroughly bewildered Holbrook sweats off his > makeup, bringing down the house. For thespians, Holbrook also provides > candid insights into how an actor practices his art. Mark Twain became part > of Holbrook's repertoire when he included Twain among the pieces he and his > first wife performed in a traveling show for schools in 1949. > > Before Holbrook, there had been a history of Mark Twain impersonators and > 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, > impersonators were not exactly flattery personified. A Brooklyn dentist, J. > Jay Villers (1836-1912) made a career of performing "twenty-five comic > impersonations" including Mark Twain. In 1874, Alfred P. Burbank was doing > the same in Saco, Maine, and about that same time a self-styled "Professor," > R. L. Cumnock, was killing audiences in Great Falls, Montana with his > impersonations presented under the banner "a night with Shakespeare and > Dickens." Twain got third billing. In 1878, George Lyon was doing the same > in Iowa, with the help of supposed testimonials from appearances in New > York, Missouri, Nebraska, and Kansas from the previous two years. One W. W. > Cranes of Kansas City advertised his Mark Twain impersonations in the 1880s, > promising to make his audiences "laugh or cry!" > > On the evening of June 5, 1877, at the Seminary Hall in Hartford, 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, Mark > Twain himself sat in the audience, and said Gillette's performance gave him > "one more reason for being sorry I [Gillette] was born" (Zecher, _William > Gillette_, pp. 528). This was a compliment. Twain and Gillette were friends > and neighbors, and spent a good deal of time together. The combination of > Gillette’s talent at mimicry and his familiarity with Mark Twain’s speech, > were a boon. Twain and his wife helped Gillette in his stage career, loaning > him $3,000 to get started, and got him a role in the stage version of "The > Gilded Age" with John T. Raymond. Gillette went on to more enduring fame, > but continued performing his impersonation of Mark Twain into the 1920s and > 1930s. > > When Holbrook heard a recording of Gillette’s impersonation of Twain for the > first time, he’d recently debuted his own show, "Mark Twain Tonight!" He'd > met Bim Pond, the son of Mark Twain's lecture agent, James B. Pond, who'd > once worked for James Redpath, Twain's previous lecture agent, and who later > managed the Twain-Cable tour of 1884-85, and the first leg of Twain's world > tour in 1895. Bim had known Twain and he helped Holbrook with his act. Bim > 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, Bernard DeVoto, Arthur L. Scott, > Philip Foner, and Fred Lorch. A ride on a steamboat gave Holbrook insight > 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, who had known Twain in Vienna. She reminded Holbrook that > Twain's humor was drawn from a deep well of seriousness. Until then, > Holbrook’s impersonation of Twain was just a generic imitation of a funny > old man. It wasn’t long before Holbrook was using Twain’s own words to deal > with hecklers and choosing pieces for his show that would relate to then > current issues like McCarthyism and Civil Rights. > > In 1958, Holbrook met with the elderly Isabel Lyon several times in her > Greenwich Village home, where she would prop herself up with a pillow, pour > a Scotch, and smoke a pipe given to her by Twain as she told Holbrook things > that she made him promise never to "publish." She denied being in love with > Twain, or his being in love with her, but Holbrook has previously said it > was from Lyon that he got a better feel for Mark Twain than from any other > person he ever met who had known the great author. On April 12, 1961 > Holbrook visited Clara Clemens, who praised his impersonation and then > startled him with the suggestion that after mastering Mark Twain he should > give Jesus a try. Accounts of these encounters with Bim Pond, Isabel Lyon, > and Clara Clemens have been published elsewhere and although this book adds > some information about his meetings with Bim Pond beyond what Holbrook had > already written in his first book, _Mark Twain Tonight!_ (1959), he does not > mention his meetings with Clara or Isabel. Those encounters will hopefully > be described when Holbrook publishes the planned second volume of his life > covering the years 1959-2011. > > This first volume of Holbrook’s life story is rightly subtitled "the boy who > became Mark Twain" and deserves a reading by every Twainian. The events of > Holbrook's early life led him to the act that has brought him an enduring > fame for more than fifty years, a recognition that stands entirely separate > from his many distinguished achievements on stage, television, and motion > pictures. In this single volume Holbrook does for himself what it took the > last four decades of Mark Twain biographies to accomplish for Mark Twain -- > he humanizes himself. He does this by bravely stepping out from behind the > mask that every actor uses as a shield. And like Mark Twain, who is more > fully understood thanks to the biographies by Hamlin Hill, Ron Powers, Karen > Lystra, Jerry Loving, Laura Trombley, and Michael Shelden, 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 in > _The Adventures of Tom Sawyer_, and when Holbrook tells the rest of his life > story, that next book could be his own _Adventures of Huckleberry Finn_. > > <end>