History Extravaganza at BV - 2015 - Stierch 07

Mark Twains legacy includes awards, events, a variety of memorials and namesakes, and numerous works of art, entertainment, and media.

Amusement parks and attractions

* An

audio-animatronic Audio-Animatronics (also known as simply Animatronics, and sometimes shortened to AAs) is the registered trademark for a form of robotics animation created by Walt Disney Imagineering for shows and attractions at Disney theme parks, and subsequent ...

of Mark Twain acts as co-host of a show named " The American Adventure" at

Epcot Epcot, stylized in all uppercase as EPCOT, is a theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida. It is owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company through its Parks, Experiences and Products division. Inspired by an unreal ...

Walt Disney World The Walt Disney World Resort, also called Walt Disney World or Disney World, is an entertainment resort complex in Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista, Florida, United States, near the cities of Orlando and Kissimmee. Opened on October 1, 1971, ...

Mark Twain Riverboat The Disney riverboats are paddle steamer watercraft attraction ride vehicles operating on a track on a series of attractions located at Disney theme parks around the world. The first was the ''Mark Twain'' Riverboat, located at the Disneyland t ...

in Hannibal, Missouri; a local attraction *

, an attraction at the

Disneyland Disneyland is a theme park in Anaheim, California. Opened in 1955, it was the first theme park opened by The Walt Disney Company and the only one designed and constructed under the direct supervision of Walt Disney. Disney initially envision ...

theme parks in

Anaheim, California Anaheim ( ) is a city in northern Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States Census, the city had a population of 346,824, making it the most populous city in Orange County, the 10th-most ...

(on which passengers embark on a scenic, 12-minute journey around the Rivers of America this one had her maiden voyage on July 13, 1955),

Disneyland Paris Disneyland Paris is an entertainment resort in Chessy, Seine-et-Marne, Chessy, France, east of Paris. It encompasses two theme parks, resort hotels, Disney Nature Resorts, a shopping, dining and entertainment complex, and a golf course. Disney ...

Tokyo Disneyland (local nickname ''TDL'') is a theme park at the Tokyo Disney Resort in Urayasu, Chiba Prefecture, Japan, near Tokyo. Its main gate is directly adjacent to both Maihama Station and Tokyo Disneyland Station. It was the first Disney park to ...

, and

Arts and entertainment

Artwork

* Twain is among the historical figures depicted in '' Our Nation's 200th Birthday, The Telephone's 100th Birthday'' (1976) by Stanley Meltzoff for Bell System.

Comics

* In ''

The Five Fists of Science ''The Five Fists of Science'' is a steampunk graphic novel created by writer Matt Fraction and artist Steven Sanders. It was published in 2006 by Image Comics. Plot Nikola Tesla, Mark Twain and Bertha von Suttner combine forces to try to br ...

'' ( 2006) Twain teams up with

Nikola Tesla Nikola Tesla ( ; ,"Tesla"
''

Thomas Edison Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847October 18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These inventi ...

. * Twain appeared in a comic strip story featuring ''

The Phantom ''The Phantom'' is an American adventure comic strip, first published by Lee Falk in February 1936. The main character, the Phantom, is a fictional costumed crime-fighter who operates from the fictional African country of Bangalla. The char ...

''. The story featured the 16th Phantom meeting Twain in the

Wild West The American frontier, also known as the Old West or the Wild West, encompasses the geography, history, folklore, and culture associated with the forward wave of American expansion in mainland North America that began with European colonial ...

. * In the 2009 webcomic

Homestuck ''Homestuck'' is an Internet fiction series created by American author and artist Andrew Hussie in the first half of the 2010s. The fourth and best-known of Hussie's four ''MS Paint Adventures'', it originally ran from April 13, 2009 to April ...

, Mark Twain is depicted as Colonel Sassacre. * Clemens appears in "Three Septembers and a January", issue 31 of '' The Sandman''. Set in September 1864, Clemens is a journalist in San Francisco who strikes up a friendship with Emperor Norton I. After Clemens tells Norton his story about a jumping frog, the Emperor encourages Clemens to publish it.

Film

* James Bush portrayed Twain in the 1937 film '' Battle of Greed''. *

Fredric March Fredric March (born Ernest Frederick McIntyre Bickel; August 31, 1897 – April 14, 1975) was an American actor, regarded as one of Hollywood's most celebrated, versatile stars of the 1930s and 1940s.Obituary '' Variety'', April 16, 1975, ...

portrayed Twain in the 1944 film '' The Adventures of Mark Twain''. *

Forrest Taylor Edwin Forrest Taylor (December 29, 1883 – February 19, 1965) was an American character actor whose artistic career spanned six different decades, from silents through talkies to the advent of color films. Early years Taylor was born in B ...

portrayed Twain in the 1945 film ''

Rockin' in the Rockies ''Rockin' in the Rockies'' is a 1945 American musical western feature film starring the Three Stooges (not to be confused with their 1940 short subject '' Rockin' thru the Rockies''). The picture was one of the Stooges' few feature-length film ...

''. * ''The Adventures of Mark Twain'' (1985), a

Claymation Clay animation or claymation, sometimes plasticine animation, is one of many forms of stop-motion animation. Each animated piece, either character or background, is "deformable"—made of a malleable substance, usually plasticine clay. Tra ...

fantasy film, focuses on Twain trying to "keep his appointment" with Halley's Comet, as he was born under Halley's Comet and said he would die upon its return, which he did. Twain was voiced here by

James Whitmore James Allen Whitmore Jr. (October 1, 1921 – February 6, 2009) was an American actor. He received numerous accolades, including a Golden Globe Award, a Grammy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, a Theatre World Award, and a Tony Award, plus two Ac ...

. * Disney made a 1991 film titled ''Mark Twain and Me'', based on his acquaintance with young girl Dorothy Quick, during the final years of his life. Twain inspired Dorothy to later become an author.

Jason Robards Jason Nelson Robards Jr. (July 26, 1922 – December 26, 2000) was an American actor. Known as an interpreter of the works of playwright Eugene O'Neill, Robards received two Academy Awards, a Tony Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and the Cannes ...

played Twain. * Dennis O'Connor voiced Twain in the 1998 IMAX documentary ''Mark Twain's America'', directed by Stephen Low. * Kevin Conway voiced Twain in the 2002 documentary ''Mark Twain'', which was produced and directed by Ken Burns. * Rapper

Vanilla Ice Robert Matthew Van Winkle (born October 31, 1967), known professionally as Vanilla Ice, is an American rapper, actor, and television host. Born in South Dallas, and raised in Texas and South Florida, Ice released his debut album, ''Hooked'', ...

played Twain in the

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

The Ridiculous 6 ''The Ridiculous 6'' is a 2015 American Western action comedy film directed by Frank Coraci and written by Tim Herlihy and Adam Sandler, and starring Sandler, Terry Crews, Jorge Garcia, Taylor Lautner, Rob Schneider, and Luke Wilson. As Happy ...

''. *Nathan Osgood portrayed Twain in the 2018 comedy '' Holmes & Watson''.

Literature

* Singer/songwriter Jimmy Buffett gives Twain a nod in his own literature, most notably by naming a main character's horse Mr. Twain. * Sam Clemens is one of the main characters of the

Riverworld Riverworld is a fictional planet and the setting for a series of science fiction books written by Philip José Farmer (1918–2009). Riverworld is an artificial "Super-Earth" environment where all humans (and pre-humans) are reconstructed. The ...

science fiction series by

Philip José Farmer Philip José Farmer (January 26, 1918 – February 25, 2009) was an American author known for his science fiction and fantasy novels and short stories. Obituary. Farmer is best known for his sequences of novels, especially the ''World of Tiers ...

( 1971–

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning ...

), depicting the posthumous career of various famous people resurrected at the banks of a mighty river in a mysterious world . In particular, the second book of the series, '' The Fabulous Riverboat'', describes the quest of the character Clemens to build a paddle-boat to travel the vast river, with many echoes from the life of the real Clemens. *

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from ...

recounts being introduced by Mark Twain during his American lecture tour following the

Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the Sou ...

, and writes of making his friendship. *

William Saroyan William Saroyan (; August 31, 1908 – May 18, 1981) was an Armenian-American novelist, playwright, and short story writer. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1940, and in 1943 won the Academy Award for Best Story for the film ''T ...

wrote a short story entitled Samuel L. Clemens in his 1971 book, '' Letters from 74 rue Taitbout or Don't Go But If You Must Say Hello To Everybody''. * Clemens is a major character in Peter J. Heck's series of historical mysteries in which Clemens hires a travel secretary before leaving on a lecture tour, which provides a variety of settings (such as New Orleans and London) through the course of six books. The secretary, Wentworth Cabot, is the series' narrator as well as a prime player/suspect in each adventure. With Cabot, or to clear him, Clemens gets involved and uses detective skills, his intelligence and his insight into human nature to solve each mystery. The title of each volume is a spin on a work by Twain: ''Death on the Mississippi'' (1996), an homage to '' Life on the Mississippi''; ''A Connecticut Yankee in Criminal Court'' (1997) for ''

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court ''A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court'' is an 1889 novel by American humorist and writer Mark Twain. The book was originally titled ''A Yankee in King Arthur's Court''. Some early editions are titled ''A Yankee at the Court of King Art ...

''; ''The Prince and the Prosecutor'' (1998) for ''

The Prince and the Pauper ''The Prince and the Pauper'' is a novel by American author Mark Twain. It was first published in 1881 in Canada, before its 1882 publication in the United States. The novel represents Twain's first attempt at historical fiction. Set in 1547 ...

''; ''The Guilty Abroad'' (1999) for ''

The Innocents Abroad ''The Innocents Abroad, or The New Pilgrims' Progress'' is a travel book by American author Mark Twain. Published in 1869, it humorously chronicles what Twain called his "Great Pleasure Excursion" on board the chartered vessel ''Quaker City'' ( ...

''; ''The Mysterious Strangler'' (2000) for ''

The Mysterious Stranger ''The Mysterious Stranger'' is a novel attempted by the American author Mark Twain. He worked on it intermittently from 1897 through 1908. Twain wrote multiple versions of the story; each involves a supernatural character called "Satan" or "No. ...

''; and ''Tom’s Lawyer'' (2001) for ''

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer ''The Adventures of Tom Sawyer'' is an 1876 novel by Mark Twain about a boy growing up along the Mississippi River. It is set in the 1840s in the town of St. Petersburg, which is based on Hannibal, Missouri, where Twain lived as a boy. In the no ...

''. * Mark Twain appears in ''

To Sail Beyond the Sunset ''To Sail Beyond the Sunset'' is a science fiction novel by American writer Robert A. Heinlein, published in 1987. It was the last novel published before his death in 1988. The title is taken from the poem " Ulysses", by Alfred Tennyson. The stan ...

'' (1987), part of

Robert A. Heinlein Robert Anson Heinlein (; July 7, 1907 – May 8, 1988) was an American science fiction author, aeronautical engineer, and naval officer. Sometimes called the "dean of science fiction writers", he was among the first to emphasize scientific accu ...

's Lazarus Long cycle, as a family friend of the protagonist. * Sesh Heri's novel, '' Wonder of the Worlds'' 2005, depicts Twain joining Harry Houdini and

Nikola Tesla Nikola Tesla ( ; ,"Tesla"
''

Kirk Mitchell's novel ''Never the Twain'' (1987), in which Howard Hart, the last living descendant of Western writer

Bret Harte Bret Harte (; born Francis Brett Hart; August 25, 1836 – May 5, 1902) was an American short story writer and poet best remembered for short fiction featuring miners, gamblers, and other romantic figures of the California Gold Rush. In a caree ...

, a contemporary of Twain, travels back in time in an attempt to prevent Twain's literary career from taking off and overshadowing his ancestor's. * Samuel Clemens is a main character in

Dan Simmons Dan Simmons (born April 4, 1948) is an American science fiction and horror writer. He is the author of the Hyperion Cantos and the Ilium/Olympos cycles, among other works which span the science fiction, horror, and fantasy genres, sometimes wi ...

's '' Fires of Eden'' (1994). The main protagonist, Eleanor, follows in her aunt's footsteps, recreating a journey Aunt Kidder took with Clemens to the volcanoes on the Big Island of the then-

Sandwich Islands The Hawaiian Islands ( haw, Nā Mokupuni o Hawai‘i) are an archipelago of eight major islands, several atolls, and numerous smaller islets in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some from the island of Hawaii in the south to northernmost Ku ...

(now Hawaii). The book alternates between Eleanor's modern day experiences and the events described in the diary. * Samuel Clemens appears in the alternate history novel ''

How Few Remain ''How Few Remain'' is a 1997 alternate history novel by Harry Turtledove. It is the first part of the Southern Victory saga, which depicts a world in which the Confederate States of America won the American Civil War. It is similar to his earlier ...

'' (

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

) as part of the ''

Southern Victory Series The ''Southern Victory'' series or Timeline-191 is a series of eleven alternate history novels by author Harry Turtledove, beginning with ''How Few Remain'' (1997) and published over a decade. The period addressed in the series begins during the ...

'' by

Harry Turtledove Harry Norman Turtledove (born June 14, 1949) is an American author who is best known for his work in the genres of alternate history, historical fiction, fantasy, science fiction, and mystery fiction. He is a student of history and completed hi ...

, in which one of the side-effects of the Confederacy's winning the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

(known as the War of Succession in the series) in 1862 is that Clemens remains in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

and becomes a newspaper editor there rather than an author, and never takes up a literary career or the pen name Mark Twain. When the

Union Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...

and

Confederate States The Confederate States of America (CSA), commonly referred to as the Confederate States or the Confederacy was an unrecognized breakaway republic in the Southern United States that existed from February 8, 1861, to May 9, 1865. The Confeder ...

go to war again during the Second Mexican War from 1881-1882 with the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

and

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

siding with the Confederacy, he writes many a scathing editorial. In this history he marries a different wife than in our history and has different children - one of whom, a daughter named Ophelia, appears in a sequel as a famous journalist herself.

Music

* Singer/songwriter Jimmy Buffett has written three songs based on Twain's travelogue, ''

Following the Equator ''Following the Equator'' (sometimes titled ''More Tramps Abroad'') is a non-fiction social commentary in the form of a travelogue published by Mark Twain in 1897. Twain was practically bankrupt in 1894 due to investing heavily into the failed ...

'' ("That's What Livin' is to Me", "Take Another Road", and "Remittance Man") and has paraphrased Twain in other songs. * Twain is mentioned in

Tom Petty Thomas Earl Petty (October 20, 1950October 2, 2017) was an American musician who was the lead vocalist and guitarist of the rock band Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, formed in 1976. He previously led the band Mudcrutch, was a member of the la ...

's song "Down South" from his album '' Highway Companion'' (2006).

Online

;Google * On November 30, 2011,

Google Google LLC () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company focusing on Search Engine, search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, software, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, ar ...

celebrated Mark Twain's 176th birthday with a

Google doodle A Google Doodle is a special, temporary alteration of the logo on Google's homepages intended to commemorate holidays, events, achievements, and notable historical figures. The first Google Doodle honored the 1998 edition of the long-running an ...

. The Google logo depicted the famous whitewashing scene from ''

''. ;Webcomics * The

webcomic Webcomics (also known as online comics or Internet comics) are comics published on a website or mobile app. While many are published exclusively on the web, others are also published in magazines, newspapers, or comic books. Webcomics can be c ...

series '' Achewood'' features Mark Twain as a character in one of the strip's story arcs. This arc features a narrative written in an imitation of Mark Twain's style, as Twain journals his encounter with two of the strip's central characters, who time-traveled from the modern day to the late 19th century. *Colonel Sassacre, a character heavily inspired by Mark Twain, appears in

Andrew Hussie Andrew Hussie (born August 25, 1979) is an American author and artist. He is best known as the creator of ''Homestuck'', a multimedia webcomic presented in the style of a text-based graphical adventure game, as well as other works in a similar ...

's webcomic ''

''. *Another

, '' Thinkin' Lincoln'', features a zombified Mark Twain as a frequent character.

Postage stamps

*Twain appeared on a 1960 Soviet Union stamp. *On December 4, 1985, the

United States Postal Service The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or Postal Service, is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for providing postal service in the U ...

issued a stamped envelope for "Mark Twain and Halley's Comet", noting the connection with Twain's birth, his death, and the comet. *On June 25, 2011, the Postal Service released a Forever stamp in his honor.

Sculptures

*A statue of Mark Twain stands in his native town of Hannibal, Missouri, and was erected in 1913, three years after his death. *A statue of Mark Twain, and another of his wife Olivia, stands at

Elmira College Elmira College is a private college in Elmira, New York. Founded as a college for women in 1855, it is the oldest existing college granting degrees to women that were the equivalent of those given to men. Elmira College became coeducational in a ...

. The college library also has a statue of Twain seated on a bench. *A seated state of Twain on a bench was installed outside of the Finney County Library in Garden City, Kansas

Stage productions

* Actor

Hal Holbrook Harold Rowe Holbrook Jr. (February 17, 1925 – January 23, 2021) was an American actor, television director, and screenwriter. He first received critical acclaim in 1954 for a one-man stage show that he developed called '' Mark Twain Tonight!'' ...

performed his one-man show ''

Mark Twain Tonight! ''Mark Twain Tonight!'' is a one-man play devised by Hal Holbrook, in which he depicted Mark Twain giving a dramatic recitation selected from several of Twain's writings, with an emphasis on the comic ones. Background The recitation's genesis was ...

'' annually from 1959 to 2017, with each show presenting somewhat different Twain content. * Meteorologist Mike Randall has performed his own one-man show, ''Mark Twain Live!'', since the early 1970s. * Actor

Val Kilmer Val Edward Kilmer (born December 31, 1959) is an American actor. Originally a stage actor, Kilmer found fame after appearances in comedy films, starting with ''Top Secret!'' (1984) and ''Real Genius'' (1985), as well as the military action film ...

played Mark Twain in a traveling one-man show in 2017 that was turned into film presentation called Cinema Twain.

Television

Kevin McCarthy Kevin Owen McCarthy (born January 26, 1965) is an American politician, serving as House Minority Leader in the United States House of Representatives since 2019. A member of the Republican Party, he served as House Majority Leader under spea ...

played Mark Twain on ABC's ''

The Rifleman ''The Rifleman'' is an American Western television program starring Chuck Connors as rancher Lucas McCain and Johnny Crawford as his son Mark McCain. It was set in the 1880s in the fictional town of North Fork, New Mexico Territory. The show ...

'' in the 1961 episode " The Shattered Idol". *

Biography A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just the basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or ...

first profiled Mark Twain in 1962
A full episode
and other material are available on Biography.com. *

Royal Dano Royal Edward Dano Sr. (November 16, 1922 - May 15, 1994) was an American actor. In a career spanning 46 years, he was perhaps best known for playing cowboys, villains, and Abraham Lincoln. Dano also provided the voice of the Audio-Animatronic L ...

played Mark Twain in the 1975

television film A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made for ...

Huckleberry Finn Huckleberry "Huck" Finn is a fictional character created by Mark Twain who first appeared in the book ''The Adventures of Tom Sawyer'' (1876) and is the protagonist and narrator of its sequel, ''Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'' (1884). He is 12 ...

''. *

Jack Warden Jack Warden (born John Warden Lebzelter Jr.; September 18, 1920July 19, 2006) was an American character actor of film and television. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for ''Shampoo'' (1975) and '' Heaven Can Wait' ...

played Mark Twain in the 1984

made-for-television A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made fo ...

biographical film '' Helen Keller: The Miracle Continues''. * Mark Twain/Samuel Clemens is played by

Christopher Connelly Christopher Connelly (September 8, 1941 – December 7, 1988) was an American actor, best known for his role as Norman Harrington in the successful prime time ABC soap opera '' Peyton Place''. He stayed with the series during its entire f ...

in the 1977 made for TV film ''The Incredible Rocky Mountain Race'', in which Twain is pitted in a rivalry against legendary "King of the Keelboaters"

Mike Fink Mike Fink (also spelled Miche Phinck)O'Neil, Paul. ''The Old West: The Rivermen''. Time-Life Books, New York. 1975 p. 71 (c. 1770/1780 – c. 1823), called "king of the keelboaters", was a semi-legendary brawler and river boatman who exempli ...

in a cross-country scavenger hunt, although the real-life Mike Fink died twelve years before Twain was born. Much of the story and its humor is culled from Twain's various works. * Irish actor Dan O'Herlihy portrayed Mark Twain in the 1979 television drama ''Mark Twain: Beneath the Laughter''. * Three episodes of '' Bonanza'' are about Samuel Clemens publishing ''The Territorial Enterprise'' in Virginia City. They were "Enter Mark Twain", from October 10, 1959; "The Emperor Norton", from February 27, 1966, and "The Twenty-Sixth Grave", from October 31, 1972 * The ''

Histeria! ''Histeria!'' is an American animated series created by Tom Ruegger and produced by Warner Bros. Animation. Unlike other animated series produced by Warner Bros. in the 1990s, ''Histeria!'' was an explicitly educational program created to ...

'' episode "Super Writers" featured a sketch about Samuel Clemens taking on the Mark Twain identity on suggestion from Chit Chatterson. Twain also appears in the same episode as a member of the Legion of Super Writers. * '' Late Show with David Letterman'' occasionally features a segment titled "Mark Twain Tonight", in which a man dressed as Mark Twain does a short comedy solo while sitting on a rocking chair. *The two-part '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'' episode " Time's Arrow Pt. 1 & 2" (1992), features a fictionalized version of Mark Twain, played by

Jerry Hardin Jerry Hardin (born November 20, 1929) is an American actor. Hardin has appeared in film and television roles, including the character nicknamed Deep Throat in ''The X-Files''. Hardin was born in Texas and studied acting at London's Royal Academ ...

, in which the crew of the starship ''Enterprise'' pursues malevolent alien life forms through a time portal to 1893 San Francisco, where their secretive actions arouse the suspicions of Samuel Clemens. *

John Cullum John Cullum (born circa 1930) is an American actor and singer. He has appeared in many stage musicals and dramas, including '' Shenandoah'' (1975) and '' On the Twentieth Century'' (1978), winning the Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Mu ...

plays Twain in a Season 4 episode of ''

Touched by an Angel ''Touched by an Angel'' is an American fantasy drama television series that premiered on CBS on September 21, 1994, and ran for 211 episodes over nine seasons until its conclusion on April 27, 2003. Created by John Masius and executive produced ...

'', “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear.” The story was published as an illustrated novel on December 26, 1999. *

Cameron Daddo Cameron Peter Daddo (born 7 March 1965) is an Australian actor, musician and presenter. From 1987 to 1988, he hosted dating game show '' Perfect Match Australia''. He won two Logie Awards for his performances in '' Golden Fiddles'' and ''Track ...

plays Samuel Clemens in the 2003

feature-length pilot for the SciFi Channel. Mark Deklin plays Samuel Clemens in the 2010 reboot, a

miniseries. See Literature, above, for the

novels. * An episode of '' The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!'', titled "Rolling Down the River", had

Mario is a character created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. He is the title character of the ''Mario'' franchise and the mascot of Japanese video game company Nintendo. Mario has appeared in over 200 video games since his cre ...

and

Luigi is a fictional character featured in video games and related media released by Nintendo. Created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto, Luigi is portrayed as the younger fraternal twin brother and sidekick of Mario, Nintendo's masc ...

helping a caricature named Mark Twang win a riverboat race against

Bowser , or King Koopa, is a fictional character, the primary antagonist in Nintendo's ''Mario'' franchise, and the arch-nemesis of Mario. In Japan, the character bears the title of . Bowser is the leader of the turtle-like Koopa race. Despite the ...

. * Clemens appears in the season 3 episode of ''

The Venture Bros. ''The Venture Bros.'' is an American adult animated action comedy TV series created by Chris McCulloch (also known as "Jackson Publick") for Cartoon Network's late night programming block Adult Swim. Following a pilot episode on February 16, 200 ...

'' titled "ORB" as an original member of ''The Guild'' alongside Col. Lloyd Venture, Fantomas,

Aleister Crowley Aleister Crowley (; born Edward Alexander Crowley; 12 October 1875 – 1 December 1947) was an English occultist, ceremonial magician, poet, painter, novelist, and mountaineer. He founded the religion of Thelema, identifying himself as the pr ...

Eugen Sandow Eugen Sandow (born Friedrich Wilhelm Müller, ; 2 April 1867 – 14 October 1925) was a German bodybuilder and showman from Prussia. Born in Königsberg, Sandow became interested in bodybuilding at the age of ten during a visit to Italy. After a ...

Nikola Tesla Nikola Tesla ( ; ,"Tesla"
''

Oscar Wilde and the Avon ladies. *

Craig Wasson Craig Wasson (born March 15, 1954) is an American actor. He made his film debut in ''Rollercoaster'' (1977). He is best known for his roles as Jake Scully in Brian DePalma's ''Body Double'' (1984), and Neil Gordon in Chuck Russell's '' A Nightm ...

portrayed Twain in ''The Innocents Abroad'' (1983), an adaptation of the author’s 1869 travel book featured on ''

Great Performances ''Great Performances'' is a television anthology series dedicated to the performing arts; the banner has been used to televise theatrical performances such as plays, musicals, opera, ballet, concerts, as well as occasional documentaries. It is p ...

''. *

William Shatner William Shatner (born March 22, 1931) is a Canadian actor. In a career spanning seven decades, he is best known for his portrayal of James T. Kirk in the ''Star Trek'' franchise, from his 1965 debut as the captain of the starship ''Enterpris ...

portrayed Twain in "Marked Twain", a ninth season episode of the Canadian TV show'' Murdoch Mysteries''. In the story, Twain is nearly assassinated while giving a speech at the

Empire Club of Canada The Empire Club of Canada is a Canadian speakers' forum. Established in 1903, the Empire Club has provided a forum for many thousands of different speakers. Through a variety of presentation formats, the Empire Club invites local, national and in ...

. * A character named after Twain appears in '' Bungou Stray Dogs'' (2012), first debuting in chapter 18. The character has an ability named after Twain's Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn novels called "Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer".

Hiroyuki Yoshino is a Japanese voice actor and singer affiliated with Sigma Seven. On leading roles, he played Yoshimori Sumimura in ''Kekkaishi'', Yuji Kagura in ''Tona-Gura!'', Takumi Nishijō in ''Chaos;Head'', Yusuke "Bossun" Fujisaki in '' Sket Dance'', ...

voices him in the anime adaptation. * Christopher Stone guest starred as Sam Clemens in the season two " Father Murphy" episode "Stopover in a One Horse Town" as a visiting newspaper editor who befriends two boys from the Gold Hill orphanage and gathers story ideas from their antics.

Awards

Awards in his name proliferate: * The

Mark Twain Award The Mark Twain Readers Award, or simply Mark Twain Award, is a children's book award which annually recognizes one book selected by vote of Missouri schoolchildren from a list prepared by librarians and volunteer readers. It is now one of four M ...

is an award given annually to a book for children in grades four through eight by the Missouri Association of School Librarians. *The Mark Twain Masonic Awareness Award was named in his honor; Twain was a Freemason. *In 1998, The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts created the

Mark Twain Prize for American Humor The Mark Twain Prize for American Humor is an American award presented by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts annually since 1998, excepting the years 2020 and 2021. Named after the 19th-century humorist Mark Twain, it is prese ...

, awarded annually.

Events

Stetson University Stetson University is a private university with four colleges and schools located across the I–4 corridor in Central Florida with the primary undergraduate campus in DeLand. The university was founded in 1883 and was later established in 1887 ...

DeLand, Florida DeLand is a city in central Florida. It is the county seat of Volusia County. The city sits approximately north of the central business district of Orlando, and approximately west of the central business district of Daytona Beach. As of the 2020 ...

sponsors the Mark Twain Young Authors' Workshop each summer in collaboration with the

Mark Twain Boyhood Home & Museum The Mark Twain Boyhood Home & Museum is located on 206-208 Hill Street, Hannibal, Missouri, on the west bank of the Mississippi River in the United States. It was the home of Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known as author Mark Twain, from 18 ...

in Hannibal. The program is open to young authors in grades five through eight. The museum sponsors the Mark Twain Creative Teaching Award. * The signature event of Calaveras County Fair and Frog Jumping Jubilee is the Frog Jump, a competition based on Twain’s work "

The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" is an 1865 short story by Mark Twain. It was his first great success as a writer and brought him national attention. The story has also been published as "Jim Smiley and His Jumping Frog" (its orig ...

Places

In space

* Asteroid 2362 Mark Twain was named after him.

Geography

*The Mark Twain Bret Harte Historic Trail in

Tuolumne County, California Tuolumne County (), officially the County of Tuolumne, is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 55,620. The county seat and only incorporated city is Sonora. Tuolumne County comprises th ...

, is named after both writers. A plaque (Marker Number 431) was erected in 1948 by the California Centinal Commission. * Mark Twain Cave in Hannibal, Missouri, the real-life cave that inspired Twain's tale of a lost Tom and Becky * Mark Twain Historic District, Hannibal, Missouri, listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in 1978. *

Mark Twain Lake Mark Twain Lake is a reservoir located in Ralls and Monroe Counties in the U.S. state of Missouri. It was created by the Clarence Cannon Dam (formerly called ''Joanna Dam'') impounding the Salt River and is located about southwest of Hanniba ...

is located in Mark Twain State Park, near the Mark Twain Birthplace State Historic Site * Mark Twain State Park is a state park located in Monroe County, Missouri. * Mark Twain Village is a United States Army installation located in the Südstadt district of

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...

, Germany. It is one of two American bases in the United States Army Garrison Heidelberg that house American soldiers and their families (the other being

Patrick Henry Village Patrick Henry Village (PHV), was a United States Army family housing area located in the vicinity of Heidelberg, Germany, adjacent to and just south of the small town of Eppelheim. It opened in 1947 after World War II and was named after P ...

). * A street in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

's located on Detroit's North Westside was named originally after Mark Twain.

Plants

* The Mark Twain Tree was a giant sequoia tree located in the Giant Forest of

Sequoia National Park Sequoia National Park is an American national park in the southern Sierra Nevada east of Visalia, California. The park was established on September 25, 1890, and today protects of forested mountainous terrain. Encompassing a vertical relief ...

that was felled in 1891 and put on display at the American Museum of Natural History in New York and the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

in London.

Schools

Several schools are named after him, including: * Mark Twain Elementary School in Houston, Texas, which has a statue of Twain sitting on a bench. * Mark Twain Elementary School in

Wheeling, Illinois Wheeling is a village in Cook and Lake counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. A suburb of Chicago, it is primarily in Cook County, approximately northwest of downtown Chicago. Per the 2020 census, the population was 39,137. Wheeling is named f ...

, and There is also Mark Twain Intermediate School in New York. *There are several schools named Mark Twain Middle School in different states *Samuel Clemens High School in

Schertz Schertz ( ) is a city in Guadalupe, Bexar, and Comal counties in the U.S. state of Texas, within the metropolitan area. The population was 42,002 at the 2020 census, up from 31,465 at the 2010 census. Schertz was settled by Alsatian emigrants ...

, near

San Antonio, Texas ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , subdivision_t ...

*Mark Twain High School operated from 1921 to 1965 in Stotesbury, West Virginia. The school was named by the junior high school students who would be attending the school. Its sports teams were the Authors. U. S. Senator Robert C. Byrd was the valedictorian in 1934.

Structures

Many sites have been named after Twain. Many buildings associated with the writer, including some of his many homes, have been preserved as museums. *

Mark Twain Birthplace State Historic Site The Mark Twain Birthplace State Historic Site is a publicly owned property in Florida, Missouri, maintained by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, that preserves the cabin where the author Samuel Langhorne Clemens was born in 1835. The ...

is preserved in

Florida, Missouri Florida is a currently uninhabited village in Monroe County, Missouri, United States. It is located at the intersection of Missouri Route 107 and State Route U on the shores of Mark Twain Lake. The population was 200, per the census data in the 1 ...

*The

Hannibal, Missouri Hannibal is a city along the Mississippi River in Marion and Ralls counties in the U.S. state of Missouri. According to the 2020 U.S. Census, the population was 17,312, making it the largest city in Marion County. The bulk of the city is in Mar ...

preserves the setting for some of the author's best known work; it was designated a National Historic Landmark on December 29, 1962. * Mark Twain Cabin on Mark Twain Bret Hart Trail (erected by Tuolumne County Chamber of Commerce in 1926), was a stopping place for packers carrying supplies to miners and the site where Twain wrote "

", from notes made at Angels Camp Tavern. * Mark Twain Family Cabin, believed to have belonged to Twain's father, John Marshall Clemens, and may have been where the author's older siblings were born and where Twain was conceived (the Clemens family moved to Missouri a few months before he was born). The cabin was originally located in the Possum Trot community in

Fentress County, Tennessee Fentress County is a county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 census, the population was 18,489. Its county seat is Jamestown. History Fentress County was formed on November 28, 1823, from portions of Morgan, Overton a ...

, where John Clemens served as a postmaster and circuit court clerk. The cabin's chimney was added around 1905. The

Museum of Appalachia The Museum of Appalachia, located in Norris, Tennessee, north of Knoxville, is a living history museum that interprets the pioneer and early 20th-century period of the Southern Appalachian region of the United States. Recently named an Affili ...

purchased and moved the cabin to the museum in 1995. *

Mark Twain House The Mark Twain House and Museum in Hartford, Connecticut, was the home of Samuel Langhorne Clemens (Mark Twain) and his family from 1874 to 1891. It was designed by Edward Tuckerman Potter and built in the American High Gothic style. Clemens bi ...

and Museum, the family home Samuel Langhorne Clemens (a.k.a. Mark Twain) had built in Hartford, Connecticut and where he and his wife Olivia ("Livy") raised their three daughters from 1874 to 1891, is preserved and open to visitors. In 1962, it was declared

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

. * Mark Twain Memorial Bridge, the name for two bridges over the Mississippi River at Hannibal, Missouri, Twain's childhood home * Mark Twain Memorial Lighthouse in Hannibal, Missouri; this only lighthouse built inland features a panoramic view of Hannibal and the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it fl ...

*" Thatcher House", said to be the inspiration for his fictional character

Becky Thatcher Mark Twain's series of books featuring the fictional characters Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn include: #'' The Adventures of Tom Sawyer'' (1876) #''Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'' (1884) #''Tom Sawyer Abroad'' (1894) #'' Tom Sawyer, Detective ...

, is the home of Twain's childhood friend Laura Hawkins *In May 2007, a painstaking reconstruction of the home of Tom Blankenship, the inspiration for

, was opened to the public.

References

{{Mark Twain Popular Culture