Centennial Kick-Off at the Lobster Pot

June 6th, 2009 from 4:00pm to 6:30pm come to 23 Mark Twain Lane in Redding, Connecticut to kick off the Mark Twain Centennial. Reservations are required, as space is limited to 50 people and there is a $15 event fee. [rain date: June 7th]

The Lobster Pot in Redding is part of the original property Mark Twain purchased in 1906. This is where Isabel Lyon lived as she tended to the construction and interior decoration of Stormfield prior to Twain's arrival in 1908. We felt it would be fitting to kick off the local Mark Twain Centennial Celebrations here at the Lobster Pot seeing so much of Twain's life in Redding was influenced by the decisions made on this property.



The original Saltbox was lost to fire in 1953 but the foundation, patios, gardens and stonework still remain. The gardens, which Susan Durkee faithfully tend to, will be the colorful focal point of this event.



In addition to the garden tour, the Lobster Pot Studio will be open for viewing, there will be previews of Dangerous Intimacy, a new documentary on Isabel Lyon's relationship with Twain, Brent Colley will present a slideshow on Twain's days in Redding and Susan Durkee will speak on Isabel Lyon.



Reservations are required, as space is limited and there is a $15 event fee. For reservations and further details call Susan Durkee at sbdurkee@aol.com.

Mark Twain Centennial Collection Available

Mark Twain and a Friend
from the Mark Twain Centennial Collection
A Large, Matted, 20x24 Mahogany Framed Print is $295.00. Without a frame the Print is $95.00. 8x10 Matted Prints are $45.00. All come with Certificates of Authenticity.

As you can see, Portrait Artist Susan Durkee, has been hard at work this winter at her studio on Mark Twain Lane in Redding, Connecticut. Susan is a huge fan of Twain's life and over the years we have become good friends. This past Monday I was in Redding exploring options for Centennial Celebrations in 1910 and I stopped up to see Susan for her input.

I was greeted with a pleasant surprise, to say the least! The print above is one example of her work to-date, there will be others showcased online in the near future. I think all Twainiacs will love what she has done for a Centennial Calendar which includes the print above surrounded by vignettes of his life in Redding. I hope to post that soon.



If you are interested in acquiring one of these prints...

Lobster Pot Studio
23 Mark Twain Lane
Redding, Connecticut 06896
www.susandurkee.com
Sbdurkee@aol.com


The Centennial Calendar
Signed by the Artist
13 x 19
$24.95 plus shipping & handling

Lobster Pot Studio
23 Mark Twain Lane
Redding, Connecticut 06896
www.susandurkee.com
Sbdurkee@aol.com


Limited 500 Edition 16x12 Print,
Each Signed and Numbered by the Artist, and accompanied with Historical Pictorial reference guide
Available matted and ready to frame for.... $75.00
Available matted with 20x16 Mahogany Frame....$250.00

Shipping, Handling and Tax extra




Susan does amazing work, the print above is of Jean Clemens and belongs to the Mark Twain Library in Redding.

How I'm Going to Celebrate Twain's Life

Death is not a pleasant thing...for the living anyway. Next April when the 100th anniversary of Samuel L. Clemens' death rolls around I am going to celebrate with a multi-location tribute to his life and friends here in Fairfield County.

There are plenty of interesting individuals and towns to explore and it should be a grand way to showcase them all.

Over in Ridgefield there is Cass Gilbert's Keeler's Tavern Museum and the location of Col. Edward M. Knox's "Downesbury Manor", whose 300 acres included a 45-room mansion Mark Twain often visited. Learn more here: http://jackfsanders.tripod.com/names-D.htm

In Easton is Helen Keller.

"I am charmed with your book--enchanted. You are a wonderful creature, the most wonderful in the world--you and your other half together--Miss Sullivan, I mean, for it took the pair of you to make complete and perfect whole..." Letter to Helen from Twain at Riverdale - on - the - Hudson
St. Patrick's Day, 1903

In Bethel is P.T. Barnum...that connection is made via the "Stolen White Elephant" and "Christmas Elephant"

Should be great fun putting this together, if you have information on surrounding towns please share them.

Sam and Nina - Side-by-Side

Sam and Nina, side-by-side. The two never met but I thought it would be neat to have a comparison photo of them. There are not many photos of Nina Gabrilowitsch in circulation. This one is published at Hannibal Free Public Library (Hannibal, MO) from the collection of Mark Twain Home & Museum (Hannibal, MO).

Thank you to Vic Fischer from the Mark Twain Forum for sharing this information.

View full image and description of Nina at the Hannibal Free Public Library web site.

Nina was Clara's daughter, Sam's Granddaughter.

Mark Twain Library Launches Web Site on 99th Anniversary of Twain's Death

And we didn't even know it!

We launched the revised web site: http://www.marktwainlibrary.org at 3pm today and it wasn't until 8pm that I realized today was a special day times two!

Sam died on April 21, 1910.

Life was not a valuable gift, but death was. Life was a fever-dream made up of joys embittered by sorrows, pleasure poisoned by pain; a dream that was a nightmare-confusion of spasmodic and fleeting delights, ecstasies, exultations, happinesses, interspersed with long-drawn miseries, griefs, perils, horrors, disappointments, defeats,humiliations, and despairs--the heaviest curse devisable by divine ingenuity; but death was sweet, death was gentle, death was kind; death healed the bruised spirit and the broken heart, and gave them rest and forgetfulness; death was man's best friend; when man could endure life no longer, death came and set him free.

- Letters from the Earth

Read more Twain Quotes at TwainQuotes.com

Stormfield House Rebuilding Crew 1925

Stormfield House Rebuilding Crew at Clambake Picnic at Deep Hole in the Summer of 1925.

Front Row: L to R

William A. Reynolds, George W. Banks, William Banks, Lawrence W. Banks, Bernard Gagnon, Al Busser, Arthur Burr, Mason (Name Missing), William Busser, Sr.

Back Row: L to R

John Whitehead, William Busser, Jr., Clinton B. Hull, Steven Harker, Erwin Henderson, William J. Gagnon, George S. Banks, G. Samuel, Ricks, Oliver C. Banks, Jesse Banks, Mason (Name Missing)

Just as a point of information, George S. Banks was the Deputy Sheriff who, with the help of others, caught the two gentlemen who robbed Stormfield. His son, William Banks, was the General Contractor on the rebuilding of Stormfield, and his grandson, Lawrence Banks, was responsible for getting the giant mantle (which had been given to William Banks as partial payment for the construction work)into the hands of the Mark Twain House in Hartford. All are present in this photograph.

Many thanks to Gary Banks for forwarding this photo and the information associated with it!!

New Movie's Preview Released

http://digitalvideodynamix.com/twain

Visit above to view scenes from Dangerous Intimacy: The Untold Story of Mark Twain's Final Years.

Dangerous Intimacy tells the story of how, shortly after his wife's death in 1904, Mark Twain enjoyed the attentions of Isabel Lyon, his flirtatious - and calculating - secretary. Lyon desperately wanted to marry her boss, who was thirty years her senior. She manipulated the household into exiling Jean, Twain's youngest child and an epileptic, to a sanitarium. With the help of Twain's assistant, Ralph Ashcroft, who fraudulently acquired power of attorney over the author's finances, Lyon nearly succeeded in assuming complete control over Twain's household and estate.

Fortunately, Twain recognized the plot in time. In a still unpublished memoir he bemoans his fate as a "stripped and forlorn King Lear". So rife with twists and turns as to defy belief, the story comes to life via the voices of the participants and takes us into the heart of the Clemens household. In our documentary, based on the book by Karen Lystra, Jean Clemens emerges as a true heroine, one who struggled mightily to overcome her epilepsy and who was able to rejoin her father for the final, joyous months remaining in their lives.

Dangerous Intimacy: The Untold Story of Mark Twain's Final Years shows how Twain extricated himself from the lies, prejudice and self-delusion that almost turned him into an American Lear. Thanks to Karen Lystra's research, which liberates the author's last years from a century of popular misunderstanding, we see how, late in life, this American icon discovered a deep kinship with his youngest child and experienced the interplay of love and pain that is one of the hallmarks of his work.

Please View and Comment on the Preview.
~Brent
p.s. I have nothing to do with the film...just curious.

So far, One thumb down