« Four Stone Hearth Is Up
Main
Visiting Major Intellectual Monuments »
January 5, 2009
Mark Twain at Stormfield, the Film
Sunday evening I read long neglected (by me) threads from the Mark Twain Forum. Much of the discussion was on a YouTube film clip of Twain and two women at Stormfield in 1909. One of the women, the one on the right, is certainly his daughter Jean. The one to in the center is likely his daughter Clara just like the title frames tell us. But some knowledgeable observers are not so sure it is Clara.
Actually, there are two or three clips spliced together. I don't know if Edison, who made the clips, did the splicing or if someone else did it more recently. A member of Edison's staff rather than Edison himself likely operated the camera.
Aside from the intrinsic interest in the film and the question of the woman in the middle, the participants in the forum discussed an abnormally interesting question of handedness. If you look closely you'll see that Twain, the middle women (Clara?) and Jean all hold their tea cups in their left hands while drinking. Twain was right handed. Some forum members speculated that the clip was flipped. But, as others pointed out, a careful inspection of the lapping of Twain's clothing shows this may not to be the case. I agree with those who see this way of drinking as a social convention. Notice that they pickup both the cup and saucer in their right hands and then take the cup itself with their left while still holding the saucer with their right. Some see it differently, flipped.
There are better copies of this film clip but I don't think any of them are on the internet. And it turns out that one of these copies is flipped (or not).
Posted by Duane Smith at January 5, 2009 9:03 AM | Read more on Mark Twain |
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.telecomtally.com/mt/mt-tb.cgi/2742