"Now is the time to let it go."
September 17, 2017 5:20 PM Subscribe
Hal Holbrook is still alive, but has decided to end his 63-year run as Mark Twain in a one-man show Holbrook created and has toured around the world. Mark Twain Tonight! won Holbrook a Tony in 1966 and an Emmy nomination in 1967. Holbrook was scheduled to tour the show again this fall until he abruptly announced its end, cancelling the remaining performances.
Bonus: Val Kilmer (yes, that one) is apparently a gigantic fan of Holbrook and is all over this Reddit thread that Kilmer himself started, exhorting people to support live theater in any way they can.
Bonus: Val Kilmer (yes, that one) is apparently a gigantic fan of Holbrook and is all over this Reddit thread that Kilmer himself started, exhorting people to support live theater in any way they can.
Val Kilmer has repeatedly contributed thoughtful and reflective comments on Reddit and significantly improved my opinion of him as a result.
Also, Goddamn that's impressive Hal Holbrook, doubly so because I swore he was dead. Berenstain Bears moment there.
posted by leotrotsky at 5:34 PM on September 17, 2017 [4 favorites]
Also, Goddamn that's impressive Hal Holbrook, doubly so because I swore he was dead. Berenstain Bears moment there.
posted by leotrotsky at 5:34 PM on September 17, 2017 [4 favorites]
Holy shit he was performing a long form one-man stage show at the age of 92! He's earned the right to take a break for any damn reason he feels like.
Found in Wikipedia: "He has portrayed Twain longer than Samuel Langhorne Clemens did."
posted by ardgedee at 5:56 PM on September 17, 2017 [56 favorites]
Found in Wikipedia: "He has portrayed Twain longer than Samuel Langhorne Clemens did."
posted by ardgedee at 5:56 PM on September 17, 2017 [56 favorites]
I... I... think I went to this show in the 1970s as part of my elementary school education?
I have fragmentary memories of watching Mark Twain live on stage, and later memories of being very interested in Twain stuff, to the point of insisting my family visit Hannibal on a trip to Missouri sometime around 1975.
Then, later on, any random encounter with Hal Holbrook (A Boy and His Dog, The Day After) in time-based media met with inexplicable feelings of warmth toward the actor. No, make that period a question mark. Holbrook is deeply enmeshed in my lifelong interest in and amusement at Samuel Clemens' improbable like, work, tragedies, and humor... But somehow he may also actually be responsible for it!
posted by mwhybark at 6:08 PM on September 17, 2017 [4 favorites]
I have fragmentary memories of watching Mark Twain live on stage, and later memories of being very interested in Twain stuff, to the point of insisting my family visit Hannibal on a trip to Missouri sometime around 1975.
Then, later on, any random encounter with Hal Holbrook (A Boy and His Dog, The Day After) in time-based media met with inexplicable feelings of warmth toward the actor. No, make that period a question mark. Holbrook is deeply enmeshed in my lifelong interest in and amusement at Samuel Clemens' improbable like, work, tragedies, and humor... But somehow he may also actually be responsible for it!
posted by mwhybark at 6:08 PM on September 17, 2017 [4 favorites]
(I also own at least four white suits, and wear them. God help me.)
posted by mwhybark at 6:09 PM on September 17, 2017 [4 favorites]
posted by mwhybark at 6:09 PM on September 17, 2017 [4 favorites]
Fourteen hours of material! I hope he's game to get it all lensed.
posted by mwhybark at 6:13 PM on September 17, 2017
posted by mwhybark at 6:13 PM on September 17, 2017
Link to post by Val Kilmer on Reddit, please.
posted by seawallrunner at 6:57 PM on September 17, 2017
posted by seawallrunner at 6:57 PM on September 17, 2017
Link to post by Val Kilmer on Reddit, please.
It's the Reddit link in the FPP.
posted by Candleman at 7:18 PM on September 17, 2017 [2 favorites]
It's the Reddit link in the FPP.
posted by Candleman at 7:18 PM on September 17, 2017 [2 favorites]
I have the greatest respect for Hal Holbrook, (...and Val Kilmer, who briefly dated a very good friend of mine, and is smarter, kinder and weirder than his reputation might suggest.) so I don't mean to derail, or undermine what will probably be his legacy work, but I really can't not post this 4-dimensional performance, which is truly a love letter and tribute to Mark Twain, Hal Holbrook, Hal Holbrook as Mark Twain, Maurice Evans, Dr. Zaius, and Maurice Evans as Dr. Zaius. I am, of course referring to Dana Gould's tour-de-force performance as MAURICE EVANS AS DR. ZAIUS AS HAL HOLBROOK AS MARK TWAIN.
posted by Anoplura at 9:43 PM on September 17, 2017 [8 favorites]
posted by Anoplura at 9:43 PM on September 17, 2017 [8 favorites]
I wore out a CD of Hal Holbrook as Mark Twain. So good! Somehow Holbrook depicted Twain, depicting a character who was falling asleep, while telling a story about somebody ELSE, completely compelling.
posted by goofyfoot at 11:31 PM on September 17, 2017
posted by goofyfoot at 11:31 PM on September 17, 2017
Hal Holbrook is still alive
I submit this is the optimum way to start an FPP about a nonegenarian celebrity, lest people have a moment of panic.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 11:33 PM on September 17, 2017 [8 favorites]
I submit this is the optimum way to start an FPP about a nonegenarian celebrity, lest people have a moment of panic.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 11:33 PM on September 17, 2017 [8 favorites]
You might even say reports of his death were ... greatly exaggerated.
(sunglasses, Baba O'Riley scream)
posted by chavenet at 12:09 AM on September 18, 2017 [15 favorites]
(sunglasses, Baba O'Riley scream)
posted by chavenet at 12:09 AM on September 18, 2017 [15 favorites]
This made my Monday morning!!
posted by I_Love_Bananas at 2:45 AM on September 18, 2017
posted by I_Love_Bananas at 2:45 AM on September 18, 2017
"He has portrayed Twain longer than Samuel Langhorne Clemens did."
I came here to make sure this was said. Glad it was. What an amazing career, can't wait to see who the new Mark Twain is.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 5:30 AM on September 18, 2017 [4 favorites]
I came here to make sure this was said. Glad it was. What an amazing career, can't wait to see who the new Mark Twain is.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 5:30 AM on September 18, 2017 [4 favorites]
I'm amazed this was still running; I would've said it ended 20 years ago. That's seriously astounding.
posted by LobsterMitten at 7:01 AM on September 18, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by LobsterMitten at 7:01 AM on September 18, 2017 [1 favorite]
CBS televised this show on air in 1967. THAT'S HALF A CENTURY AGO. And he did the show on Broadway three different times, do I have that right That's more times than "Phantom" has been resurrected, I think!
(He didn't look any younger in '67: https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/hal-holbrook/7/ -- which I guess is both a plus and a minus of playing someone else, frozen in time.)
posted by wenestvedt at 7:25 AM on September 18, 2017
(He didn't look any younger in '67: https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/hal-holbrook/7/ -- which I guess is both a plus and a minus of playing someone else, frozen in time.)
posted by wenestvedt at 7:25 AM on September 18, 2017
Somehow Holbrook depicted Twain, depicting a character who was falling asleep, while telling a story about somebody ELSE, completely compelling.
That's Jim Blaine's remarkable story of his grandfather's old ram.
By the way, for those who are interested, you can listen to The Best of Hal Holbrook in Mark Twain Tonight! on Spotify. It includes the material on the aforementioned Old Ram.
Halbrook as Twain was something that I saw as a real little boy decades ago, and it made a huge impression on me. I was fortunate enough to catch him when he passed through Dallas a few years back. I was amazed at Holbrook's stamina and performance at his age. I was hopeful to catch it one more time, but I won't hold it against Mr. Holbrook if he decided to retire. God bless him and his contributions to the arts.
posted by dios at 8:32 AM on September 18, 2017 [1 favorite]
That's Jim Blaine's remarkable story of his grandfather's old ram.
By the way, for those who are interested, you can listen to The Best of Hal Holbrook in Mark Twain Tonight! on Spotify. It includes the material on the aforementioned Old Ram.
Halbrook as Twain was something that I saw as a real little boy decades ago, and it made a huge impression on me. I was fortunate enough to catch him when he passed through Dallas a few years back. I was amazed at Holbrook's stamina and performance at his age. I was hopeful to catch it one more time, but I won't hold it against Mr. Holbrook if he decided to retire. God bless him and his contributions to the arts.
posted by dios at 8:32 AM on September 18, 2017 [1 favorite]
I also saw Holbrook do it on Broadway - in the 1960s. I had no idea he was still performing as Twain.
wg
posted by wendyg at 3:25 PM on September 18, 2017 [1 favorite]
wg
posted by wendyg at 3:25 PM on September 18, 2017 [1 favorite]
Charles Nelson Reilly on Hal Holbrook doing Mark Twain.
posted by MiltonRandKalman at 4:15 PM on September 18, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by MiltonRandKalman at 4:15 PM on September 18, 2017 [2 favorites]
So this is how one can arrange the pleasure of reading your own obituaries. Portray someone else, well, for a lifetime.
On man, the reasoning animal .
On lies, slavery and hypocrisy.
posted by TreeRooster at 8:04 PM on September 18, 2017
On man, the reasoning animal .
On lies, slavery and hypocrisy.
posted by TreeRooster at 8:04 PM on September 18, 2017
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