DVD Review: Hal Holbrook -- Mark Twain Tonight!

Hal Holbrook: Mark Twain Tonight

a one-man stage show featuring Hal Holbrook (not currently in the Lincoln City Libraries’ collection — I strongly encourage you to try our InterLibrary Loan service to get this one!)

 

From 1954 until his retirement in 2017, American actor Hal Holbrook was forever linked to the role of Mark Twain, in the one-man show he originated in 1954 at the age of 29. Based on the extensive fiction and essays of legendary American writer Samuel Clemens, who took on the “stage name” of Mark Twain, this show varied from performance to performance, depending on Holbrook’s whims on each performance night. Holbrook as Twain was a favorite of variety show host Ed Sullivan, who brought him on show repeatedly, which increased public interest in the traveling one-man show. Holbrook eventually won a Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Play for the one-year stint that Mark Twain Tonight appeared on Broadway.

 

This recording is of a CBS television recording/airing of the show, produced in 1967, for which Holbrook received an Emmy Award nomination. I enjoyed this one very much — Holbrook’s performance as Twain is simply uncanny. The show is broken up into three acts, in between which Holbrook takes a brief intermission. In the first act, Twain shares some personal recollections about his own life and the people he knew and interacted with. The second and third acts draw directly from Twain’s printed tales, including The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. I’ll have to admit, Twain seems like a senior with memory problems in the first act — lots of pauses and searching for what he means to say. But the remaining two thirds of the show, he is on fire.

 

If you are a fan of the works of Twain, or of the performances of Holbrook in other productions, this is an unforgettable show. I really wish the Lincoln City Libraries had this in our collection. Since we don’t, I strongly urge you to seek it out as an InterLibrary Loan request. It’s worth the $2.50 request fee through our ILL service! Otherwise, you can find clips of Holbrook as Twain on YouTube.

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try any of the works of Mark Twain (a.k.a. Samuel Clemens), or any of the other films or TV series starring Hal Holbrook.]

[ Internet Movie Database entry for this film ] | [ 3-hour video interview with Hal Holbrook for the Television Academy Foundation ]

 

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

Have you watched this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

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