November 15 Wednesday – In N.Y.C. Isabel V. Lyon wrote for Sam to John Larkin to complain about the new steam heating system installed in the house. The five men who had investigated the problem had not solved it; the main problem being a “constant singing” in the front bedroom radiators, even when cold, which forced his daughters to put beds in their sitting rooms. He requested the matter be brought before the contractor, James A. Renwick, as soon as possible [MTP].
In the evening Sam (and likely his daughters) attended Daniel Frohman’s dramatization of James M. Barrie’s Peter Pan at the Empire Theatre, starring Maude Adams (1872-1953). Sam praised the play in his note to Nov. 16 to Frohman, and also at the end of the Nov. 16 interview with the newspaper syndicate, making this evaluation:
I saw a play last night [Nov. 15] in which you will find this seeming paradox. In that play all the implacable rules of the drama are violated, yet the result is a play which is without defect. I refer to Peter Pan. It is a fairy play. There isn’t a thing in it which could ever happen in real life. That is as it should be. It is consistently beautiful, sweet, clean, fascinating, satisfying, charming, and impossible from beginning to end. It breaks all the rules of real life drama, but preserves intact all the rules of fairyland, and the result is altogether contenting to the spirit.
The longing of my heart is a fairy portrait of myself: I want to be pretty; I want to eliminate facts and fill up the gaps with charms [Scharnhorst 528].
Note: along with Ethel Barrymore (1879-1959) and Billie Burke (1884-1970), Adams was one of several young actresses that sparked Sam’s interest, and with whom he became friends.
Sam inscribed his photo to an unidentified person: “Very Truly Yours, / Mark Twain / Nov. 15/05” [MTP: R&R Enterprises, 18 June 2003, no. 274, lot 607].
Isabel Lyon’s journal: “Jean and I went up to hear Mr. Thayer demonstrate his protective coloration theory” [MTP TS 110]. Isabel Lyon’s Journal # 2: “Mr. Doubleday” [MTP TS 34].
N.W. Halsey & Co. Bankers wrote to Sam, enclosing a “check for $6.67 for one day’s interest at 6% on his $40,000, loaned for your account yesterday. We called this loan this morning and put it out at 10%. We shall remit you for the interest each time the loan is paid” [MTP].
C.M. Lincoln for the N.Y. Herald wrote to thank Sam for giving his views to Mr. Pratt “concerning the result of the municipal election” [MTP].
Alice Whittemore Upton Pearmain wrote to thank Sam for “his kind letter of Nov. 7 ,” and for a hat pin that arrived from NY “with word that you had requested to have me try it.” She was grateful for his offer to spend a night at his house in NY, but was afraid it would be some time before she might go. She thanked him for the “beautiful photographs” of him that came all framed the prior week, and asked him to keep her informed about Miss Lawton [MTP].
In the evening Sam (and likely his daughters) attended Daniel Frohman’s dramatization of James M. Barrie’s Peter Pan at the Empire Theatre, starring Maude Adams (1872-1953). Sam praised the play in his note to Nov. 16 to Frohman, and also at the end of the Nov. 16 interview with the newspaper syndicate, making this evaluation:
I saw a play last night [Nov. 15] in which you will find this seeming paradox. In that play all the implacable rules of the drama are violated, yet the result is a play which is without defect. I refer to Peter Pan. It is a fairy play. There isn’t a thing in it which could ever happen in real life. That is as it should be. It is consistently beautiful, sweet, clean, fascinating, satisfying, charming, and impossible from beginning to end. It breaks all the rules of real life drama, but preserves intact all the rules of fairyland, and the result is altogether contenting to the spirit.
The longing of my heart is a fairy portrait of myself: I want to be pretty; I want to eliminate facts and fill up the gaps with charms [Scharnhorst 528].
Note: along with Ethel Barrymore (1879-1959) and Billie Burke (1884-1970), Adams was one of several young actresses that sparked Sam’s interest, and with whom he became friends.
Sam inscribed his photo to an unidentified person: “Very Truly Yours, / Mark Twain / Nov. 15/05” [MTP: R&R Enterprises, 18 June 2003, no. 274, lot 607].
Isabel Lyon’s journal: “Jean and I went up to hear Mr. Thayer demonstrate his protective coloration theory” [MTP TS 110]. Isabel Lyon’s Journal # 2: “Mr. Doubleday” [MTP TS 34].
N.W. Halsey & Co. Bankers wrote to Sam, enclosing a “check for $6.67 for one day’s interest at 6% on his $40,000, loaned for your account yesterday. We called this loan this morning and put it out at 10%. We shall remit you for the interest each time the loan is paid” [MTP].
C.M. Lincoln for the N.Y. Herald wrote to thank Sam for giving his views to Mr. Pratt “concerning the result of the municipal election” [MTP].
Alice Whittemore Upton Pearmain wrote to thank Sam for “his kind letter of Nov. 7 ,” and for a hat pin that arrived from NY “with word that you had requested to have me try it.” She was grateful for his offer to spend a night at his house in NY, but was afraid it would be some time before she might go. She thanked him for the “beautiful photographs” of him that came all framed the prior week, and asked him to keep her informed about Miss Lawton [MTP].
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