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. - 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 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. Later in the 70s, his > relationship with Harte deteriorated. Could this have been an early > harbinger? 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. The two writers were keenly aware of their respective > sales; each paid close attention to the other. Might MT have viewed > Harte as trying to ride his coat-tails? >