Here’s a little nugget for you. The great inventor Thomas Edison visited the home of Mark Twain in 1909, and captured footage of “the father of American literature” (says Faulkner) walking around his estate and playing cards with his daughters, Clara and Jean. The film is silent and deteriorated. But it’s apparently the only known footage of the author who gave us Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer. Twain would die the next year. Quite the find by @ebertchicago
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The young girls pictured with M.T. would not be his daughters.All three of his daughters died before their father. Twain,however,did befriended many children in his later years.
Wikipedia has Clara living until 1962
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clara_Clemens
and Jean living until December 24, 1909.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Clemens
That would make it possible for both to be in the film, I guess. But I obviously can’t vouch for it.
If anyone else has some insights, they’re certainly appreciated.
Dan
Two of the daughters were alive at this time according to the Mark Twain House Museum. This is remarkable footage! THANK YOU!
http://www.marktwainhouse.org/theman/bio.shtml
“In 1903, after living in New York City for three years, Livy became ill and Sam and his wife returned to Italy where she died a year later. After her death, Sam lived in New York until 1908 when he moved into his last house, “Stormfield”, in Redding, Connecticut. In 1909, his middle daughter Clara was married. In the same year Jean, the youngest daughter, died from an epileptic seizure. Four months later on April 21, 1910, Sam Clemens died at the age of 74.”
According to the wiki, the “only known footage” of Twain was in the two-reel film “The Prince and the Pauper”, in 1905; so I guess both claims are wrong, and someone should amend the wiki and this article to that effect.
See here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Twain#Love_of_science_and_technology
The source of the article leads to a Google Books link that I can’t read, however.
Thank you for sourcing and referencing this rare footage.
I love Huckleberry Finn and The adventures of Tom Sawyer. I re-read them since childhood at 27 years of age again and enjoyed it tremendously.
I’m sure I’ll read it once again for my children and their children and enjoy it again, when that time arrives.
Thank you
Swa.
The first comment by ‘Mac’ shows how information can be misused. To throw out a comment that is so obviously wrong about all of Twain’s daughters dying before their father is downright misleading and the poster should check his facts before posting such a cavalier remark. If he were talking about the Bronte sisters – Charlotte, Emily and Ann – he would be right since all three sisters died before their father. sheesh.
This is great, but what I want more than anything is even a tiny scrap of Mark Twain audio…his voice…there’s gotta be a phonograph somewhere. Every-time I see Twain portrayed I think his accent and portrayal is way off..love your twitter posts.