Hal Holbrook in Mark Twain Tonight!

FRI

LIED CENTER PRESENTS

7:30 p.m.

OCT 25

HAL HOLBROOK in

Mark Twain Tonight!

Media Sponsor:

This event is made possible through the generous support of Robert K. & Dale Jellison Weary.

This event is sponsored, in part, by the Lied Performance Fund.

No audio or video transmitting or recording device of any kind shall be used in any manner to reproduce artist’s performance. Violators will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

Please be mindful of the following in the auditorium and the Pavilion: • Please silence cellular phones and electronic devices • No food or drink

Hal Holbrook in Mark Twain Tonight!

Hal Holbrook

in Mark Twain Tonight!

NOTE: While Mr. Twain’s selections will come from the complete list below, we have been unable to pin him down as to which of them he will do. He claims it would cripple his inspiration. However, he has generously conceded to a printed program for the benefit of those who are in distress and wish to fan themselves.

SELECTION

SOURCE

Compliments Collection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Miscellaneous Chaucer, Sailor, Tennessee Girl. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Miscellaneous Slow Train, Long Dog. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Following the Equator Charity, Reform, Cats. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Miscellaneous My Cigar Habit. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Miscellaneous The Marienbad Cure. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Essays A Cyclopedia of Sin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Miscellaneous Smoke Rings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Miscellaneous A Moral Pauper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Following the Equator Hunting the Water Closet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mark Twain’s Notebook Virginia City. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Roughing It Shoveling Sand. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Roughing It The An. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A Tramp Abroad The Great Landslide Case. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Roughing It The Lord Will Provide. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Autobiography The German Opera . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A Tramp Abroad A Genuine Mexican Plug. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Roughing It San Francisco . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Miscellaneous Crippling the Accordion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sketches The Anarchist Story. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Speeches Baker’s Bluejay. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A Tramp Abroad The Sweet Bye and Bye. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Essays: The Invalid Story His Grandfather’s Old Ram. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mark Twain’s Notebook Congress: The Grand Old Asylum. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Miscellaneous The Press. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Speeches Down There in Washington. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Miscellaneous Running For President . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Miscellaneous The Sandwich Islands. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Roughing It

LIED CENTER PRESENTS lied.ku.edu The Italian Guide. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Innocents Abroad My Encounter With an Interviewer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sketches Accident Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Speeches The Supreme Art. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Letters from the Earth White Suit. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Speeches Requesting a Hymn Book. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mark Twain in Eruption Money is God. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Notebooks Decay in the Art of Lying. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Essays & Miscellaneous Advice to Youth. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Speeches Taming the Bicycle. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Essays The Evolution of Man. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Biography Insanity: Elections, War and Petrified Opinions . . . . . . Miscellaneous Huck and Jim. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Huckleberry Finn Shooting of Boggs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Huckleberry Finn Huck, Jim and ‘Lizbeth. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Huckleberry Finn Huck’s Conscience. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Huckleberry Finn Lost in the Fog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Huckleberry Finn Lynching and China. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Essays A Helluva Heaven. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Letters from the Earth Slavery: A Holy Thing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Autobiography Man, That Poor Thing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Biography Noah’s Ark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Letters from the Earth Chief Love. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mark Twain in Eruption The Creator’s Pet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Letters from the Earth The War Prayer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Europe and Elsewhere The Christian Bible . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Miscellaneous Circumstances. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mark Twain In Eruption Our Civilization. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Autobiography A Ghost Story. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Short Stories Sunrise on the River . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Life On the Mississippi The Get Rich Quick Disease. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Miscellaneous The Thin Skin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mark Twain’s Notebook The Virgin Mary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ladies Home Journal Praying for Gingerbread. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Autobiography Boyhood on the Farm. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Autobiography Taking Along the Window Sash. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Innocents Abroad My Trained Presbyterian Conscience. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Autobiography How I Stole My Name. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Life on the Mississippi Livy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Autobiography How to Be Seventy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Speeches My Ancestor Satan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Short Stories The Hartford Home. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Letters Susy’s Prayer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Autobiography Halley’s Comet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Biography Mary Ann. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Speeches These selections are quotations directly from Mark Twain’s writings, edited together by Mr. Holbrook to create his performance.

Hal Holbrook in Mark Twain Tonight!

20-minute intermission MUSIC: A trombone player was engaged, but is unreliable and should not be expected.

NO DOGS ALLOWED IN THE DRESS CIRCLE

Production Supervisor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Richard Costabile Assistant to Mr. Holbrook . . . . . . . . . . . . . Joyce Cohen Exclusive Tour Direction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Klaus W. Kolmar, The Booking Group, Inc.

The TV Special of HAL HOLBROOK in MARK TWAIN TONIGHT! is available on DVD. Call 1-800-458-5887.

The entirety of Mr. Holbrook’s material is protected by copyright law and may not be transcribed or performed in any venue or context without the express permission of Mr. Holbrook. No audio or video transmitting or recording device of any kind shall be used in any manner to reproduce the artist’s performance. Violators will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

The Mark Twain Project at Berkeley, which houses Mark Twain’s papers, is perhaps the most ambitious publishing enterprise in the annals of American literature, issuing scholarly editions of Mark Twain’s work which include a wealth of newly discovered material. If you would like to help the Mark Twain Project continue its exciting research and publication, please send a taxdeductible contribution made payable to The Mark Twain Project, c/o Mark Twain Papers & Project, University of California, The Bancroft Library– Room 475, Berkeley, California 94720-6000.

Thank you. – Hal Holbrook

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HAL HOLBROOK’S BIOGRAPHY Hal Holbrook was born in Cleveland in 1925, but raised mostly in South Weymouth, Massachusetts. His people had settled there in 1635 and were, according to his grandfather, “some kind of criminals from England.” His mother disappeared when he was two, his father followed suit, so young Holbrook and his two sisters were raised by their grandfather. It was only later he found out that his mother had gone into show business.

Holbrook, being the only boy, was sent away at the age of seven to one of the finer New England schools to make a man of him. He was beaten regularly by a Dickensian headmaster who, when forced to retire, committed suicide saying “he could no longer live without boys.” When he was 12 he was sent to Culver Military Academy, where he discovered acting as an escape from his disenchantment with authority. He was not the model cadet, but he believes the discipline he learned at Culver saved his life.

In the summer of 1942, he got his first paid professional engagement playing the son in The Man Who Came To Dinner at the Cain Park Theatre in Cleveland at $15.00 per week. That fall, he entered Denison University in Ohio, majoring in Theatre under the tutelage of his lifelong mentor, Edward A. Wright. World War II pulled him out of there and put him into the Army Engineers for three years.

The Mark Twain characterization grew out of an honors project at Denison University after the War. Holbrook and his first wife, Ruby, had constructed a two-person show, playing characters from Shakespeare to Twain. After graduation they toured the school assembly circuit in the Southwest doing 307 shows in thirty weeks and traveling 30,000 miles by station wagon. On winter mornings in the Texas panhandle they opened their trunks to find frost on the costumes. Their audiences ranged widely in age, were often unruly, and they learned to survive on stage or perish.

Holbrook’s first solo performance as Mark Twain was at the Lock Haven State Teachers College in Pennsylvania in 1954. While hunting for a job in New York, the show was his desperate alternative to selling hats or running elevators to keep his family alive. By then he had a daughter, Victoria.

That same year, fortune struck by way of a steady engagement on a daytime television soap opera, The Brighter Day, but the following year Holbrook pursued the Twain character at night in a Greenwich Village night club while doing the soap daytimes. In seven months at the club he developed his original two hours of material and learned timing. He memorized lines for the soap opera on the rear platform of the 7th Avenue subway train between 104th Street and Sheridan Square. Finally, Ed Sullivan saw him and gave his Twain national television exposure.

In 1959, after five years of researching Mark Twain and honing his material in front of countless audiences in small towns all over America, he opened at a tiny theatre off-Broadway in New York. His overnight success was as stunning to Holbrook as

Hal Holbrook in Mark Twain Tonight!

everyone else. “The critics went wild.” (Associated Press). “Mr. Holbrook’s material is uproarious, his ability to hold an audience by acting is brilliant.” (New York Times). “Uncanny. A dazzling display of virtuosity.” (The New Yorker). “One of the treasures of the American Theatre.” (Life Magazine). The white hope of the family had finally arrived.

Holbrook quit the soap opera. After a twenty-two week run in New York he toured the country again, performed for President Eisenhower and at the Edinburgh Festival. The State Department sent him on a tour of Europe, during which he became the first American dramatic attraction to go behind the Iron Curtain following World War II. He was a star who had never appeared in a Broadway play, a nighttime television show or a movie. He was 35 years old and had to jump start a new career.

When David Merrick offered him co-star billing with Robert Preston playing an 80-year old Mexican bandit in a new Broadway musical, Holbrook turned it down in favor of younger roles, concerned that he would be typecast as an old man. He played Hotspur in Henry IV, Pt.I at the Shakespeare Festival Theatre in Stratford, Connecticut; then Lincoln in Abe Lincoln In Illinois off-Broadway. In 1963 he joined the original Lincoln Center Repertory Company in New York appearing in Marco Millions, After the Fall, Incident at Vichy and Tartuffe. Word got around that he could act his own age. Starring roles on Broadway came along: The Glass Menagerie, The Apple Tree, I Never Sang For My Father, Man of La Mancha, Does A Tiger Wear A Necktie? with the young Al Pacino.

Meanwhile, he continued to do Mark Twain every year and in 1966, on Broadway, his second New York engagement won him a Tony Award and a Drama Critics’ Circle Award followed in 1967 by a ninety-minute CBS television special of Mark Twain Tonight! which was nominated for an Emmy Award and seen by an audience of 30 million.

In 1970, after a dozen plays in New York, he was brought to Hollywood to star in a controversial television series, The Senator, which won eight Emmy Awards and was cancelled in one year. But his new career had taken off. In the 43 years since then Mr. Holbrook has done some 50 television movies and mini-series, been nominated for 12 Emmys and won 5 for The Senator (1971), Pueblo (1974), Best Actor Of The Year (1974), Sandburg’s Lincoln (1976), and as host and narrator of Portrait Of America (1989). He has appeared in two sitcoms: Designing Women and Evening Shade, and has made guest appearances on West Wing, the sitcoms Becker and Hope & Faith, The Sopranos, NCIS, ER, Sons of Anarchy, The Event, the newly released Monday Mornings and soon-to-be released Rectify.

Holbrook’s movie career began with The Group in 1966 when he was 41 years old.

Since then, moviegoers have seen him in more than 40 films including Magnum Force, Midway, All The President’s Men, Capricorn One, The Fog, Creepshow, Wall Street, The Firm, Men of Honor, The Majestic, Into the Wild for which he received an

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Academy Award nomination, That Evening Sun, Flying Lessons (premiered at the 2010 Santa Barbara Film Festival), Good Day For It (premiered at the 2011 Sonoma International Film Festival), Water for Elephants, and most recently in Steven Spielberg’s latest project Lincoln and Promised Land with Matt Damon.

Throughout his long career, Holbrook has continued to perform Mark Twain every year, including his third and fourth New York engagements in 1977 and 2005; and a world tour in 1985, the 150th anniversary of Mark Twain’s birth, beginning in London and ending in New Delhi. And he has constantly returned to the stage: in New York (Buried Inside Extra, 1983; The Country Girl, 1984; King Lear 1990; An American Daughter, (1997); at regional theatres (Our Town, Uncle Vanya, Merchant Of Venice, King Lear, A Life In The Theatre, Be My Baby and Southern Comforts, the last two with his wife Dixie Carter); and a National Tour of Death Of A Salesman.

But Holbrook has never been able to quit Mark Twain and probably never will.

He has toured the show in some part of every year since 1954 – giving his 2256th performance in December 2012 – making 2013 the 59th consecutive year for this remarkable one man show. Mark Twain Tonight! has become perhaps the longest running show in theatre history. Holbrook adds to his Twain material every year, editing and changing it to fit the times and has mined over sixteen hours of Twain with more coming all the time. He has no set program – he chooses material as he goes along.

Holbrook is a sailor. In June 1980, he competed in the Single-handed Transpac Race from San Francisco to Hawaii in his 40-foot sailboat, Yankee Tar, sailing 2400 miles alone. With one or two friends or his wife, Dixie, he has sailed through the South Pacific to Tahiti, Samoa, the Tongas, New Zealand and the Fiji Islands.

Holbrook has received Honorary Doctor of Humanities Degrees from Ohio State and the University of Hartford, an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Ursinus College, an Honorary Doctor of Letters from Elmira College and Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts Degrees from Kenyon and his alma mater, Denison University.

In 1996, he received the Edwin Booth Award; in 1998 the William Shakespeare Award from The Shakespeare Theatre, Washington, DC; in 2000 he was inducted into the New York Theatre Hall of Fame; in 2003 received the Nat’l Humanities Medal from the president; and in 2010 a medal from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

In September 2011, Harold, the first of two volumes of Holbrook’s memoirs was published. He continues to work on the second volume, covering the years since Harold ended.

He lives in Los Angeles and Tennessee, and with his late wife, actress/singer Dixie Carter, has five children.

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2013–2014 Calendar

OCTOBER 27 Naoko Takada Marimba soloist

NOVEMBER 9 red, black & GREEN: a blues A hybrid-theater production about race, class, culture and the environment

FEBRUARY 12 The Addams Family A magnificently macabre musical comedy

18 The Peking Acrobats® 26 The Cleveland Orchestra

MARCH 12 The Chamber Music

Society of Lincoln Center

14 MEMPHIS Tony Award-winning Broadway musical

DECEMBER

9 Gleb Ivanov Piano soloist 29 Soweto Gospel Choir

APRIL 3 & 4 Broadway’s Next H!T Musical An improvised musical comedy

13 Turtle Island Quartet with

jazz vocalist Tierney Sutton

Holiday traditions from around the world 8 Gold Medal Winner

JANUARY 2014 22 Watchtower, Turkish film 26

The Wonderful Wizard of Song: The Music of Harold Arlen

Vadym Kholodenko, 14th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition 11 The Cashore Marionettes Simple Gifts and Life in Motion 12 The Cashore Marionettes Simple Gifts and Life in Motion

17 Serkan Çağri Band Spirited Mediterranean folk band

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