Word: holbrook
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1950-1959
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Particularly effective is Holbrook's timing. He takes time out to light a fresh cigar, flick some ashes off, or just blow smoke into the air--and often takes this time off just before the punch line of a story, a pause that makes the tag all the funnier. And, after the first punch line, Holbrook often takes a second puff or so, followed by another line, inciting a fresh burst of laughter...
...thus seems strange that Holbrook finds it necessary to summarize or abbreviate some of Twain's best tales, for example the episode of Huck Finn and the runaway slave Jim on a Mississippi raft. Some local men, searching for escaped slaves, ask Huck if his companion is "white or black." Huck invokes the old tall-tale weapon, and convinces the men that his companion is his smallpox-afflicted "pop." The tale takes on fantastic proportions, but the authorities take in every word and even give Huck two $20 gold pieces before fleeing the pestilence...
...Holbrook adequately portrays the paradoxical and inverted morality that makes Huck conscience-striken over his assistance to a runaway; but he unfortunately omits the central yarn, which provides humor and reveals a distinctive Twain touch...
Another abridgement of a scene from the Innocents Abroad--titled in Holbrook's program. "I Took Along the Window Sash"--unfortunately left out many of the finely drawn reactions of a boy who discovers a corpse in the room in which he is sleeping...
Though the cutting could be better in places, "Mark Twain Tonight" is well worth seeing. Holbrook does a convincing job of acting, talking and looking like Twain, and he manages to present a fairly accurate picture of Twain's often bitter outlook and yet preserve a genuinely funny show...