"Given that both writers' referenced him, I've assumed that Smiley was a real person"? Interesting. My assumption would be that Harte was having a little fun at MT's expense. On Dec 11, 2016 2:13 PM, "Darryl Brock" <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > Well, you may have a point. Given that both writers' referenced him, > I've assumed that Smiley was a real person, but what evidence I find now > does not necessarily support my assumption. Maybe somebody can settle > the question. > > This is from Mark Rasmussen's wonderful /Mark Twain A-Z: > > /*Smiley, Jim*/. /Character in the JUMPING FROG STORY. A former > resident of Angel's Camp, Smiley was notorious for being willing to take > either side of any bet, and he was uncommonly lucky. He once even > offered odds to the Parson Walker that the parson's wife would not > recover from her illness. Smiley owned many animals on which he > wagered, including a broken-down horse known as the 'fifteen minute > nag,' a fighting dog named Andrew Jackson, chicken cocks and tomcats. > His prize possession, however, w2as his jumping frog, Dan'l Webster, > which he spent three months teaching to jump. He often took the frog > with him to town on the chance of getting up a getting up a bet . . . . > When Mark Twain first heard the jumping frog story from Ben Coons, the > Smiley character was called Coleman. > > So, is Smiley /only/ a character? Or was he all of these things beyond > his character role? > / > / > On 12/10/16 7:57 PM, Clay Shannon wrote: > > Was Jim Smiley a real person? The cat who told the "Jumping Frog" story > was= > > named Ben Coon. I think he was "Simon Wheeler" but don't recall Jim > Smiley= > > being the name of an actual historical personage.=C2=A0- B. Clay > Shannon > > > > From: Peter Salwen <[log in to unmask]> > > To: [log in to unmask] > > Sent: Saturday, December 10, 2016 12:12 PM > > Subject: Re: Jim Smiley > > =20 > > Nice find. Bears some meditation. But probably -- at that relatively > early > > stage -- just some more-or-less gentle ribbing? > > > > *_________________________________* > > > > *Peter Salwen /* salwen.com > > *114 W 86, NYC 10024 | 917-620-5371* > > > > > > On Sat, Dec 10, 2016 at 2:53 PM, Darryl Brock <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > > > >> Re-reading Bret Harte's "How Santa Claus Came to Simpson's Bar" (1872), > >> I was interested to find this passage referencing the narrator of MT's > >> jumping frog tale (1867): > >> > >> It was a figure familiar enough to the company, and known in Simpson's > >> Bar as the "Old Man." A man of perhaps fifty years; grizzled and scant > >> of hair, but still fresh and youthful of complexion. A face full of > >> ready, but not very powerful, sympathy, with a chameleon-like aptitude > >> for taking on the shade and color of contiguous moods and feelings. He > >> had evidently just left some hilarious companions and did not at first > >> notice the gravity of the group, but clapped the shoulder of the nearest > >> man jocularly, and threw himself into a vacant chair. > >> "Jest heard the best thing out, boys! Ye know Smiley, over yar -- Jim > >> Smiley -- funniest man in the Bar? Well, Jim was jest telling the > >> richest yarn about -- " > >> "Smiley's a ---- fool," interrupted a gloomy voice. > >> "A particular ---- skunk," added another in sepulchral accents. > >> A silence followed these positive statements. The Old Man glanced > >> quickly around the group. Then his face slowly changed. "That's so," he > >> said reflectively, after a pause, "certingly a sort of a skunk and > >> suthin' of a fool. In course." He was silent for a moment as in painful > >> contemplation of the unsavoriness and folly of the unpopular Smiley. > >> > >> > >> I wonder if this might have annoyed Twain.=C2=A0 Later in the 70s, his > >> relationship with Harte deteriorated.=C2=A0 Could this have been an > early > >> harbinger?=C2=A0 Harte had spent time in Angel's Camp and presumably met > >> Smiley, or at least knew of him, but it was Twain who'd made him a > >> popular figure.=C2=A0 The two writers were keenly aware of their > respecti= > > ve > >> sales; each paid close attention to the other.=C2=A0 Might MT have > viewed > >> Harte as trying to ride his coat-tails? > >> > > > > =20 > > >