Mark Twain tonight!

I've owned the two LPs from which these CDs were made for many years. I digitized the tracks a decade ago and, when one of them comes around on the iPod, I have to stop whatever else I'm doing and listen to Holbrook's magnficent performance. Today, it was "Huck Finn and the Lynching Bee". If you have never experienced Mark Twain Tonight - in person, on DVD, or through the audio recordings, give yourself a treat. And then go read some Twain.

I have owned all 3 LPs for many, many years. I own the VHS of the 1967 CBS broadcast. I recent bought The Best of Mark Twain Tonight CD that pulled from all 3 recordings, but is not complete by any means. What this Double CD offers is the complete first 2 recordings. I pulled out the LPs and checked everything. The lists match. So for the price below a full price single CD, you get both recordings including one of my personal favorites, My Encounter with an Interviewer. Now there are no liner notes, but unless you want to learn about the preparation for the role or see photos as he transforms into Twain (some do), the performance needs little introduction. I have seen Hal Holbrook perform Mark Twain Tonight several times, recently a couple years ago at the Moore Theater in Seattle. He is now closer to the age when Twain went on his world tour. The history is that he had lost a fortune investing in a Print Setter. It failed and Twain owed over $200,000. His friends and financial advisors told him to declare bankruptcy, but Twain refused. Instead he declared he would pay back everyone he owed. This is how the lectures came to be. He lectured across the country and around the world. He was America's Ambassador - and yes, he amassed another fortune and paid back every penny. For a book to read that is not on the traditional reading list, I strongly recommend Letters From the Earth. Here is where the a different Twain exists. For people who love Twain, this is an essential.

This, as stated elsewhere, is a masterly recording of a master actor doing the material of a master writer. It is as funny and true today as when Twain was alive. Contrary to the editorial comments above, this two-cd set combines recordings previously only issued on cassette or LP. They were recorded in stereo and issued on Columbia Masterworks. The sound is actually pretty good. It is from two different performances before live audiences. These performances are not taken from the video broadcast (now on DVD), although there is some overlap in the material covered. Both these 2 CDs and the DVD are well worth having.

I saw Hal Holbrook many years ago on the Kennedy Center stage, doing this one man show. After I saw Holbrook's performance, I bought both Columbia LPs of Mark Twain Tonight and More of Mark Twain Tonight. It rekindled that amazing show for me every time I heard these albums, until my record player died. The track list was "Hal Holbrook in Mark Twain Tonight!" (1959): "Introduction," "On Smoking," "Journalism on Horseback," "My Encounter With An Interviewer," "Huck Battles His Conscience," and "How To Be Seventy." and "More of Hal Holbrook in Mark Twain Tonight!" (1961): "Introduction," "Slow Train And Low Dog," "Dangers Of Abstinence," "Problems Of Missionarying," "Accident Insurance," "Requesting A Hymn Book," "Huck And The Lynching Bee," "My Ancestor Satan," and "Encore." All of the two LPS are transfered to this two disk CD collection, with clean masters Now on CD, the show is rekindled again for me and now my young nephew who I shared these with. He was studying Mark Twain and his works in school, so I played them on a car trip we had. He asked me as we listened to these CDs "Is this recording new, Uncle Bennet?" I said No, but they are new to you. As much as that sounds like drvel, If you have not heard these recordings, it is worth you time to hear Holbrook orating Twain. He capture Twain the man, the author and the humorist Enjoy Bennet Pomerantz AUDIOWORLD