posted on January 15, 2002 09:53:28 PM new
Just turned off the TV. I've always cared about Mark Twain and loved Hal Holbrook's portrayals (have his two albums, autographed). I feel so sad about the last years of Twain's life. What a genius he was.
Only odd note in the two-night series was the main narrator, the round-faced guy with the chapped lower lip (never got his name right). I never could cotton to him and thought he was a bit out of his depth describing a giant like Twain.
posted on January 16, 2002 08:09:18 AM new
I'm so sorry that I missed that I missed the Mark Twain show! Twain has always been a favorite of mine.
I thought that I had read everything that he had written until recently. While I was at an estate sale in Potomac, Maryland, I found a book "The Love Letters of Mark Twain".
After reading the Love Letters of Victor Hugo, I lost respect for Hugo as a human being and a writer. I realize that this doesn't make any sense but I have decided not to read a similar type book about Twain.
If you are interested, let me know and I will give it to you. It's a first edition and out of print.
posted on January 16, 2002 09:13:36 AM new
Oh, Helen, I would *love* to have that book! I'd gladly pay for the shipping, too. It's very very kind of you to offer. (And I haven't heard of it either.) Should I e-mail you my mailing address?
However, I'd like to give you an opportunity to dip into it and perhaps change your mind and keep it. You may well find that it doesn't cause you to lose respect for Twain. At least, the letters to his wife that they quoted in the programs were just wonderful and very moving. He just loved her to pieces, and that only increases my respect for him as a man.
If you know someone who really appreciates Twain, the programs on video would be a wonderful gift idea. Even for yourself!
posted on January 18, 2002 07:12:34 PM new
That's right!
When he was speaking about Congress at the height of the Credit Mobilier scandal (the Watergate of the 1870s) he said, "It could probably be shown by facts and figures that there is no distinctly native American criminal class except Congress." And "I think I can say and say with pride that we have some legislators that command higher prices than any in the world."
