Mark Twain's 70th Birthday party * November 30, 1905
Let me start by saying "How the heck have y'all been?" I know it's been quite some time since I've been on the writing end of blogging, but, don't think I haven't kept up with my blogmates comings and goings. I've had a lot going on lately, and seem to need more rest. But, I'm still here, and I appreciate your friendships more than I can say. I am behind on some of your posts, but, I will get to them soon!
I couldn't let November just fly by without saying a few words about the weather, and the price of gas, lol! Gas has gone down quite a bit, hasn't it? We've had a few days recently, of drizzle and rain...oh, I see Florida has gotten some rain too!
Soooo...Mark Twain, eh? He has a birthday coming up, and I was just doing my usual nosing around and found the above photo of him at his 70th Birthday party. This party was held at Delmonico's restaurant in New York! Twain was to make a speech that night, and a particular Colonel George Harvey (who was actually Mark Twain's editor) didn't want to miss the event. It seems that the birthday party was to take place on the same day as Thanksgiving, and Harvey believed that Twain's birthday affair should take precedence over the annual Thanksgiving holiday. Can you believe the Colonel actually went to the United States President to ask that the holiday be changed to another day, or postponed for another year? Colonel Harvey's rationale for this request was that nothing significant had occurred during the previous year, and Thanksgiving is just a habit designed to advertise for something to be thankful for-imagine that!
Well, I really have no idea what transpired from this meeting, except Thanksgiving hasn't changed any, and I have no idea whether or not the Colonel got to attend Mark Twain's birthday party!
***
What a lavish menu for this party. I did find a copy of the menu for this occasion, which, of course is quite antiquated-I'll put it up here for you to see...
* So...what do you think? What a fun looking menu!
Here is a list of the courses on the menu-they are very interesting!
Oysters-Consommè Souveraine, Green Turtle
note: the author questions 'green turtle'-he presumes it is soup,
either of green turtles, or just green in color!
* Then we have Saddle of Lamb Colbert, Stuffed Tomatoes, Baltimore Terrapin,
* Quail, Red Head Duck, Fried Hominy and Currant Jelly
* Whew! Timbales Perigourdine, Filets of Kingfish Meunière, Cucumbers
* Salad: Celery Mayonnaise, Fancy ice Cream and assorted Cakes, Bonbons, Coffee
Served with Sherry, Sauterne, Champagne, Mineral Water, and Liqueurs.
Well, it is my understanding that Twain delivered one heck of a speech that night, of his 70th Birthday. I have listened to just a bit of it as narrated by none other than Val Kilmer! You can find that speech on www.literarymanhattan.org Val does a good job!
***
And, did you know there is actually a Mark Twain Prize for American Humor? I guess it's to recognize artists who have made significant contributions to American comedy. It was created in 1998 by the Kennedy Center. Just a few of the recipients include: Carol Burnett, Ellen DeGeneres, George Carlin, Lily Tomlin, Richard Pryor, Bob Newhart, and Richard Pryor. This year's recipient of the award goes to Jay Leno-congratulations Jay for your contributions to fun entertainment!
Having said all of that, I guess it's time to wish my old buddy Mark Twain
a Happy Birthday post Thanksgiving!
~Mark Twain * November 30, 1835 - April 21, 1910
"Part of the secret of success in life is to eat what you like,
and let the food fight it out inside."
~Twain
*** Let me say this...I hope all of my gracious readers are having a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday thus far. Thank you for your friendships and I hope we can stay in touch for many more years! Please stop and say 'Hello' if you can. I'm so glad I found such a great picture of Mark Twain, aren't you? Please be safe, and laugh often!
***
Oh, by the way...our little Scooter got to spend a few days with us earlier in the month, and, we had some Thanksgiving fun...that little Turkey!
* photo by Suzanne * November 15, 2014
Thanks going out to:
yahoo
wikipedia
www.newyorker.com
www.literarymanhattan.org
Thank you Mark Twain
*See You!♥
Here is a list of the courses on the menu-they are very interesting!
Oysters-Consommè Souveraine, Green Turtle
note: the author questions 'green turtle'-he presumes it is soup,
either of green turtles, or just green in color!
* Then we have Saddle of Lamb Colbert, Stuffed Tomatoes, Baltimore Terrapin,
* Quail, Red Head Duck, Fried Hominy and Currant Jelly
* Whew! Timbales Perigourdine, Filets of Kingfish Meunière, Cucumbers
* Salad: Celery Mayonnaise, Fancy ice Cream and assorted Cakes, Bonbons, Coffee
Served with Sherry, Sauterne, Champagne, Mineral Water, and Liqueurs.
Well, it is my understanding that Twain delivered one heck of a speech that night, of his 70th Birthday. I have listened to just a bit of it as narrated by none other than Val Kilmer! You can find that speech on www.literarymanhattan.org Val does a good job!
***
And, did you know there is actually a Mark Twain Prize for American Humor? I guess it's to recognize artists who have made significant contributions to American comedy. It was created in 1998 by the Kennedy Center. Just a few of the recipients include: Carol Burnett, Ellen DeGeneres, George Carlin, Lily Tomlin, Richard Pryor, Bob Newhart, and Richard Pryor. This year's recipient of the award goes to Jay Leno-congratulations Jay for your contributions to fun entertainment!
Having said all of that, I guess it's time to wish my old buddy Mark Twain
a Happy Birthday post Thanksgiving!
"Part of the secret of success in life is to eat what you like,
and let the food fight it out inside."
~Twain
*** Let me say this...I hope all of my gracious readers are having a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday thus far. Thank you for your friendships and I hope we can stay in touch for many more years! Please stop and say 'Hello' if you can. I'm so glad I found such a great picture of Mark Twain, aren't you? Please be safe, and laugh often!
***
Oh, by the way...our little Scooter got to spend a few days with us earlier in the month, and, we had some Thanksgiving fun...that little Turkey!
Thanks going out to:
yahoo
wikipedia
www.newyorker.com
www.literarymanhattan.org
Thank you Mark Twain
*See You!♥
Hi, Suzanne! It's wonderful to see you posting again, my dear friend. Yessum, I have noticed the price of gas dropping. It has been mentioned several times on the news. There's at least one thing for which to be thankful, right?
ReplyDeleteThis was an interesting piece on Mark Twain. I would like to have been a fly on the wall when Twain's editor met with POTUS and asked that Thanksgiving be moved or canceled for the year so that all the attention could be focused on Twain and his 70th birthday celebration. That took a lot of nerve although it wouldn't have surprised me if he had got his wish.
That is a strange menu. I remember turtle soup mentioned quite often when I was a boy but I don't think I ever tasted it. I have eaten very little game fowl over the years but as a boy my father and brother hunted pheasant and I remember my mother serving it for dinner. I also remember biting into shot that was still embedded in the meat. Not fun!
Of the comedy legends who have won the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor my favorites are the men, George Carlin, Richard Pryor, Bob Newhart, Did you catch any of Newhart's guest appearances on The Big Bang Theory?
Little Scootie Potter is growing up right before my eyes. It's nice to see him again. Please take good care of yourself, dear friend Suzanne. You and I are friends to the end and I will continue to keep you and Karo in my prayers and hope that better days are ahead in the coming weeks and the new year. God bless!
Hi Shady, so you think it was very possible that Thanksgiving could have been postponed? What a ruckus it would have caused! And, you're right...what nerve! I would like to have been at the party to look at all the food! I never tasted turtle soup,nor have I seen it. Back in Kansas, there were some pheasant hunters, but I think they traveled to another state to hunt the bird...I didn't make it to the dinner that my mom fixed pheasant, lol!
DeleteI always loved watching Bob Newhart,but did not see him in The Big Bang Theory. My son has the DVDs for a season of that show, I'll have to ask him about it. Bob is one of the best comedians ever, I was always amazed at his comedy!
Yes, our little Scootie Potter is really growing up. I was told he lost his first tooth last week, he's been telling me it was loose. Thank you so much for you prayers Shady, I'm pretty sure they're helping. I'm so glad you came by to see what the famous Twain was up to this time around! Take care, Shady, and God Bless!
What fun it must have been to be at the birthday party. Green turtle soup! Can you imagine how the table must have been decorated? And the clothes? What the ladies wore...must have been quite a sight.
ReplyDeleteI see where Austin had trouble with a random shooter last night. So sad that one isolated incident brings out the media blitz.
Hope your day was a happy one yesterday, and looks like it was added to cheer by looking at Scooter, even though it was earlier in the month.
Hi Nancy, I'm with you...wish we could have been there! Looks like the table was magnificently decorated, and the ladies wearing beautiful gowns!
DeleteI saw that Austin shooting business on the news this morning. I wish folks would just try not to vent their anger so violently. It only leads to innocent people getting hurt.
We had a nice sunny day yesterday for Thanksgiving. My husband has been ill, but we got through just fine. And, Scooter is so much fun, he's game to try anything new. Thank you Nancy, for coming by-I hope your holiday was great-we sure have the Friday shoppers out in mounds today. Have a great weekend! ♥
Hi Suzanne, it's nice to catch up with you again.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your post. Was knocked out when reading that menu - the Fancy Icecream really appealed!!
Love that you had your Scootie stay for a while. Aren't those times so precious. He looks so proud of his beautiful artwork too. Well done.
Keep well and until next time, hugs and cheerio for now :D)
Oh my goodness Susan! I'm so excited to see you here...I've missed you. Well, I only post once in a while myself. Karo has not been well lately, so I've not done a lot of writing. I'm so glad you liked my post-yes, what a menu that was on Twain's birthday, and, I wonder just what Fancy Ice cream really is? Maybe it had nuts and chocolate on it?
DeleteOur little Scootie is 6 yrs old now, and in kindergarten. I finally co-erced him into drawing for me, and was so proud. I did let him take the picture home to his mother, drats!!! But he graciously did another one for me. I will try to get him to do a Christmas one.
So, I hope you and your family are doing well. Thank you so much for coming by-I'm so glad to hear from you. Take care, hugs to you! ♥
Thanks for printing your Mark Twain article off for me, I really liked it.
ReplyDeleteThat was a cute picture of Shawn holding up the turkey drawing, it was
really cute. I tried to run off a copy of the whole blog, but the print has come out so small, I can hardly read it, I did watch the Mark Twain awards, try to do it each year, and Jay was a good choice, many a night I stayed up to watch him. though Bob thought he catered to the young folks, I loved it whenever he went on the road and questioned the people, I couldn't believe that some of their answers were so stupid, were they actually that dumb? or just play acting?
And, the lavish meal that was served, made my mouth water, must have been the french influence.
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