iOTWay Back Machine: Mark Twain Smokes a Cigar and Drinks a Cuppa Tea – IOTW Report

iOTWay Back Machine: Mark Twain Smokes a Cigar and Drinks a Cuppa Tea

https://youtu.be/mqaSOw1WhjI

VintageEveryDay— TFG Film & Tape has performed a digital restoration to the film shot by Thomas Edison in 1909, this is the only known footage of the great author Mark Twain. Twain is shown walking around his home in Redding, Connecticut, and playing cards with his daughters Clara and Jean. The image has been flipped left to right to correct the camera-to-subject orientation. It has had it’s speed corrected from the camera frame rate of the day. The detail has been enhanced dramatically bringing out visuals never before seen. The fluctuations in the exposure have been reduced markedly making the image much more pleasing to watch.

10 Comments on iOTWay Back Machine: Mark Twain Smokes a Cigar and Drinks a Cuppa Tea

  1. That is a funny video. It looks like Mark Twain sets a senior citizen record for walking around the house, and then everyone sits down in a howling wind to drink tea. What the heck? Where is the choreography?

  2. From Wikipedia
    In December 1909, Jean Clemens (aged 29) was staying at her father’s home, Stormfield in Redding, Connecticut and had decorated the home for the upcoming Christmas holiday. On the morning of December 24, 1909, she was found dead in the bathtub. She had apparently suffered a heart attack brought on by a seizure and drowned. Clemens was buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in Elmira.

  3. One of the cool things about getting old is the prospect that I may soon get to meet Mr. Twain, assuming we are in the same general area. From my years reading about him, I can’t wait to meet him. I hope history was kind and correct, but I have no doubt he still has story a plenty he never told. It’ll be our little secret!

  4. Say what you will about Edison vs Tesla (mostly true), the Edison-Ford Winter Estates in Fort Myers are nice. They show part of this clip there.

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