There are two or three versions of Life on the Mississippi in this collection and yesterday I read about steamboat racing - that was something that was always kind of on the periphery of my understanding as a youth, and now I have learned a bit more about it, specifically the race between the Robert E. Lee and The Natchez, in 1870. And while nostalgia ain't what it used to be, I had a notion to call my brother and ask him if he still has the plastic model of the Robt. E. Lee steamboat that my father put together 60 years ago or so. Turns out he does and he sent me this picture of how it looks today:
It's not in bad shape after spending decades sitting on various shelves. Here a link to the story of the original ship. I can't even imagine what riding on one was like, much less piloting something like that in the wilds of the Mississippi as Samuel Clemens did. I also can't figure out what they did with all that cotton in St. Louis, but such are the mysteries of life.
In succeeding chapters Mr. Clemens tells the story of how his brother Henry died when the boat he was on blew up. Very tragic story, and not a story for the faint of heart.
But back to the storyline we have been following today -- since we have already reviewed Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's, at this point there is no way that anyone can be offended, triggered, put off, upset or otherwise require a safe space by any racially insensitive role played by Mickey Rooney. His Mr. Yunioshi is far more offensive than this, right?
Say, is that Lena Horne or Judy Garland? My eyesight is not too good, I can't tell from here.
Now that I review this post I find that I am offended. I hereby denounce myself for knowing history.
15 comments:
And here I thought the song was going to be Swanee River.
I have heard that Huckleberry Finn is a superior book to Tow Sawyer. Thoughts?
I have read neither. I imagine that Huck's story is superior based on the excerpts that Mr. Clemens included in his non-fiction work. That man knew the river and what life was like pre-war. He accurately reported what he saw hence the need to banish his works forever. More's the pity - Jim seems to be a reasonable man with the same goal that any sentient being desires - freedom.
Now I am reading about his Twain's visit to the Mississippi 30 years after the peak of riverboat traffic. Just as river boats killed the keelboat, tugs and barges, not to mention the railroad, killed the steamboat. Time marches on.
I might have gone with The Band's The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down, as the Robert E. Lee is mentioned in that, but it's been done here.
It must be great discovering America's greatest writer a little later in life.
I read a lot of Mark Twain in school, including Life On The Mississippi and drank in all the riverboat stuff. Look up Burt Reynolds' first TV series and a thing Troop mentioned, "Yancy Derringer".
A lot of steamboats on the tube around 1960.
deborah said...
And here I thought the song was going to be Swanee River.
I have heard that Huckleberry Finn is a superior book to Tow Sawyer. Thoughts?
Tom Sawyer is all fun and games. A boyhood idyll written by a man who had a chance to let America relive the days before the Civil War through the memories of his life.
Huck is The Great American Novel. The one thing to remember is all the white men in the book, with the exception of Colonel Sherburne, are worthless fakes. The only real man, again, Sherburne excepted, is Jim, the slave, and it's Jim who teaches Huck what it is to be a man.
Considering the times in which it was written, it's a miracle it ever saw the light of day.
And, for God's sake, get a version with all the N words in it. That punctuates the irony of the story.
Thanks, Sixty, the travels of Twain sound fascinating. That model is beautiful and in great shape.
Ed, thanks. That's more or less what I had read. Recently I listened to the first chapter of Huck on youtube. Lots of great books free. Though I got caught listening to a superb reading of East of Eden. Then it cut off half way through and I had to buy a kindle version and read the rest of it with my eyeballs.
Huck Finn Libravox recording
I was the one who wrote about Yancy Deringer, no double r, after I watched the entire series on Netflix or Prime recently. That show was, shall we say, interesting.
Henry Deringer was the man who invented the gun.
Yancy had 2 rs.
And carried a Sharps 4 shot.
You are correct - I realized that after I wrote my comment. I should never comment before caffeine. As Mark Twain said, there were only two dangerous places around a Sharps 4 shot - in front of them and behind them - they were known for blowing up.
But before I swear to that I am going to go drink some tea.
I say, what are the gangplanks doing up on the hurricane deck?
Resting.
Extra points for the Foghorn Leghorn quote - he and my father sounded a lot alike.
I'll bet Sam was most comfortable sitting on the porch of his home in Connecticut, after all that traveling. I know I would've been.
Have to admit I haven't opened Huckleberry Finn in decades. That said, there are passages of lyricism - like when he describes first light on the river, first where nothing but a general lightening can be detected, then the tips of sunk trees and other river detritus, then islets, the distant shore, the distant tree line - that are unrivaled in American Lit. But, and this is the important thing, he doesn't push the lyricism, just sets the scene and then moves on. You can see why Hemingway was so indebted to him.
Ah say, ah say, ah thought you wuh goin' fuh a British accent.
BTW, the “Mark Twain” has always been my favorite ride at Disneyland.
I was once lucky enough to climb up to the wheelhouse with the kids. There’s a little hidden cabin under the wheelhouse where Walt used to snooze(or do what ever require a small bed) during the day.
A boat like that would have ferried cotton downriver from plantations to New Orleans where it would be shipped to NYC or Boston or to Europe. Her entire lower deck was cargo space. A return trip upriver would have brought finished goods and aspiring lasses to St. Louis. I suppose there was alway a fair amount of passenge4 freight both ways.
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