Mark Twain

Students,
Here are 3 videos about Mark Twain.
    The first shows Hal Holbrook in his one-man show (Mark Twain Tonight, 1967) dressed up as Twain and imitating Twain's Southern speech drawl as well as possible. That talk that Pei-Yu quoted in class, would have sounded even funnier with the tactical pauses that Twain almost certainly used to build up to his punch lines.
    Twain wrote some famous lines, some of which are in Holbook's presentation.
    "Man is the only animal who has the true religion--several of them."
    "First God made idiots. That was for practice. Then he made school boards."
    "We can never stand prosperity--another man's I mean."
    "If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous he will not bite you. This is the principle difference between a dog and a man." And it goes on.
    "A person who doesn't read has no advantage over the person who cannot read."
    "Man is the only animal who blushes--or needs to."
    I quoted these from memory. A google search will turn up many more.
    The great Austrian psychoanalyst heard Twain speak in America and said he never laughed louder in his life. Yet despite his humor, Twain died an embittered old man, ranting about "the damn human race."

    The second video is an authentic Edison video, though silent, of the real Mark Twain at his home (Stormfield, 1909).

    The third video is a video documentary of Twain. They're all short and dserve a viewing.