The Best Of Hal Holbrook in Mark Twain Tonight! || ! Double Write-Off Entry !
Written: Nov 28 '03 (Updated Nov 28 '03)
Product Rating:
Pros: Hal Holbrook is Mark Twain.
Cons: Requires thought and concentration. But that is a bad thing ??
The Bottom Line: Mark Twain speak to subjects/attitudes that resonate to this day. Race relations, social status, suffering fools, politicians, lawyers, aging, smoking. Holbrook brings Twain to life, for those who listen.
Hal Holbrook was a mere 22 years old when he first slipped into the persona of Mark Twain. A few short years later he was performing his one-man show in a Greenwich Village club, developing and honing his Mark Twain. For nearly fifty years Holbrook has defined Mark Twain, from the crisp white linen suit to the puffs of cigar smoke to the 'trademark' throat-clearings and pauses for his audience to catch up.
Over the years several audio recordings of his show have been produced. From those three collections (one from 1959, another from 1961 and a third, excerpts from his CBS-TV special in 1967) Sony Music has excerpted over an hour of Holbrook's portrayals of Twain to create The Best Of Hal Holbrook in Mark Twain Tonight!. A study so strong, so convincing, so real that after fifty years and over 2000 performance you are convinced that Hal Holbrook is Mark Twain.
This collection is a wonderful compilation of Holbrook's performance as Twain. It is said that Holbrook has many hours of Twain material that he uses in his shows. No two shows are alike, as Holbrook responds to the chemistry of the audience and his own feelings at any given performance. Indeed, some have complained that this 'best of' collection does not include their favorite pieces from the three earlier recordings. They should be grateful for what is here.
Selections: Introduction
On Smoking
Problems of Missionarying
Congress
His Grandfather's Old Ram
Huck Battles his Conscience
A Helluva Heaven
The Creator's Pet
Sunrise on the Mississippi
How to be Seventy
-- --- -- -- -- --- - - --- -- -- -- --- --
Total running time: 1:13:15
Some of the material in Holbrook's performance of Mark Twain Tonight! is original material. Huck Battles his Conscience is largely intact from Twain's Huckleberry Finn. While other selections above are 'amalgams' of various works of Twain. Indeed some are cobbled together from many Twain works and ". . .original material 'spliced in' by Holbrook, to use his phrase." Only the serious Mark Twain scholar will know which is which.
There are longer, sober, reflective pieces and shorter belly-laugh comedic pieces contained in this collection. All work very nicely and are interwoven neatly. The audience is apparently very 'tuned-in' to the performance. Laughing at the right places, applauding at the correct points. And the _lack_ of background coughing, wheezing and noise in general is amazing.
Holbrook's performance is much more than simple recitation or regurgitation. Mark Twain lives through the emotive and heavily-textured performance of Holbrook, his investment in the character of Twain discernible even in this audio-only performance.
— The Bottom Line —
Mark Twain's words speak to subjects and attitudes that resonate to this day. Race relations, social status, suffering fools, politicians, lawyers, aging, smoking. Holbrook brings these words to life, brings Mark Twain to life, for those who choose to listen to The Best Of Hal Holbrook In Mark Twain Tonight!.
Title:The Best Of Hal Holbrook In Mark Twain Tonight! Performer: Hal Holbrook
Record Label: Sony Music Entertainment Inc.
Original Release Date: January 8, 2002
Copyright: 2002 by Sony Music
Ages recommended: Teen to Adult
Playing Time: 1:13:15
Write-offs have a long and storied tradition here at Epinions. They serve the simple function of giving individual writers the opportunity to interact with their fellow writers through a review or an essay.
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.