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New York Post
18-05-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Post
Inside the mind of Mark Twain: Obsessive author and arrogant genius
In the late 19th century, Mark Twain was arguably the most famous author in the world, with classics like 'The Adventures of Tom Sawyer' (1876) and 'Life on the Mississippi' (1883) cementing his status as a cultural icon. But despite his accomplishments, Twain seethed at the idea that anyone might criticize him. 9 Mark Twain around the time he wooed and wed Olivia 'Livy' Langdon in 1869. A sprawling new biography details his brilliant, yet often arrogance-filled, career. Courtesy of The Mark Twain House & Museum, Hartford, Connecticut For future editions of the book that rocketed him to fame, 'Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,' Twain planned a 'classic author's revenge fantasy,' writes Ron Chernow in his new, sprawling biography, 'Mark Twain' (Penguin Press), out now. Twain insisted on including a 'prefatory remark' that identified two newspaper editors that he particularly loathed as inspiration for his young fictional protagonist. 'In character, language, clothing, education, instinct, & origin,' wrote Twain, Huck Finn was meant as a 'counterpart of these two gentlemen as they were in the time of their boyhood, forty years ago.' Twain was eventually talked out of the vindictive plan by his wife. It's a side of the author that rarely gets remembered. During his life, Twain wrote 30 books, several thousand magazine articles and some 12,000 letters, but Twain's foremost creation 'may well have been his own inimitable personality,' writes Chernow. He's become an 'emblem of Americana . . . a humorous man in a white suit, dispensing witticisms with a twinkling eye, an avuncular figure sporting a cigar and a handlebar mustache.' 9 Twain standing before his boyhood home in Hannibal in May 1902. The house, he said, was much smaller than he remembered it. Courtesy of Mark Twain Papers and Project, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley. But the truth wasn't quite so sanitized. Twain also had a 'large assortment of weird sides to his nature,' writes Chernow. Long before he became Mark Twain, he was born Samuel Langhorne Clemens, born in 1835 and raised in Hannibal, Mo., a 'white town drowsing in the sunshine' on the banks of the Mississippi, as Twain would later immortalize. He created the Mark Twain pen name not just as a way to escape his many creditors but as 'the ultimate act of reinvention, the start of an attempt to mythologize his life,' writes Chernow. 9 Twain playing billiards in 1908 with some of the young woman who became his obsession during his later years. Courtesy of Mark Twain Papers and Project, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley. His books became huge bestsellers, but nothing compared to his live performances. He could command a crowd with a mastery that was unmatched, once claiming that he would play with a dramatic pause during a reading 'as other children play with a toy,' writes Chernow. During a speech in Utica, NY, in 1870, he stood silently on stage for several uncomfortable minutes. 'After a prolonged, anxious interval, the audience erupted in laughter and applause, and Twain felt the full force of his power over them,' writes Chernow. But offstage, he was consumed with petty grudges and paranoia. Twain once told his sister that he was a man of 'a fractious disposition & difficult to get along with.' He would collect insults, waiting for the perfect moment to unleash them on anyone who'd wronged or disappointed him. 'He could never quite let things go or drop a quarrel,' writes Chernow. 'With his volcanic emotions and titanic tirades, he constantly threatened lawsuits and fired off indignant letters, settling scores in a life riddled with self-inflicted wounds.' 9 Mark Twain and fellow novelist George Washington Cable in 1884, when they shared top billing in a lecture series later dubbed the 'Twins of Genius' tour. Courtesy of The Mark Twain House & Museum, Hartford, Connecticut. Twain also had a bad habit of making terrible investments. 'Again and again, he succumbed to money-mad schemes he might have satirized in one of his novels,' writes Chernow. Most infamously, in 1880, he became convinced that a new typesetting machine, a 'fiendishly complex' device called the Paige Compositor, would become the future of publishing. 'The typesetter does not get drunk,' Twain wrote of the contraption in his personal notebook. 'He does not join the printer's union.' He invested $300,000 (about $10 million in today's money), and believed so strongly that the machine would lead to riches that he toyed with buying all of New York state with his future riches. 9 A photo of Twain when he was still known as Sam Clemens, posing in his hometown of Hannibal, Missouri in 1850, when he turned 15. Courtesy of Mark Twain Papers and Project, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley 'He was asking how much it would take to buy all the railroads in New York, and all the newspapers, too—buy everything in New York on account of that typesetting machine,' remembered his housekeeper and maid Katy Leary. 'He thought he'd make millions and own the world, because he had such faith in it.' But the Paige Compositor, with its thousands of moving parts, proved to be a colossal failure. Only two of the machines were built, one of which is currently displayed at the Mark Twain House in Hartford, Conn. Strangest of all, Twain developed a fondness for teenage girls as he grew older. In his 40s, he began giving private lectures at the Saturday Morning Club, an all-girls' private club in which he was an honorary member. But this soon evolved into something decidedly creepier. 9 An embossed book cover for Adventures of Huckleberry Finn showing Huck, friend of Tom Sawyer. One of many iconic Twain tomes. Corbis via Getty Images At 70, he met 15 year-old Gertrude Natkin while attending a Carnegie Hall recital. They became pen-pals, with Twain writing to her six times a month, 'discarding any inhibitions about expressing affection toward a teenage girl who was a complete stranger,' writes Chernow. His only disappointment was that she wouldn't stop aging. On her 16th birthday, he wrote to her that 'you mustn't move along so fast . . . Sixteen! Ah, what has become of my little girl?' He was afraid to send her a kiss now, he declared, because it would come 'within an ace of being improper!' Twain eventually cut off ties with her, but Gertrude was just the beginning of his obsession with adolescent girls. He created a 'club of handpicked platonic sweethearts,' writes Chernow, dubbing them his 'angelfish.' As Twain explained in one of his letters, 'I collect pets: young girls — girls from ten to sixteen years old; girls who are pretty and sweet and naive and innocent.' 9 Jane Lampton Clemens, the eloquent and vivacious mother of Mark Twain in a photo from her later years. Courtesy of Mark Twain Papers and Project, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley Remarkably, the public didn't look upon Twain's angelfish as the 'sinister hobby of a lecherous old pedophile, but as the charming eccentricity of a sentimental old widower,' writes Chernow. While it certainly looks less than innocent, Chernow points out that there were never any accusations of predatory behavior from any of the girls, and mothers or grandmothers were always present as chaperones. 'The girls never reported forbidden sexual overtures from Twain,' writes Chernow. 'They played billiards and hearts and engaged in innocent pastimes. Twain insisted until the end that he'd merely 'reached the grandfather stage of life without grandchildren, so I began to adopt some.' He had a bottomless need for unconditional love, which he never received from his own daughters. Beyond the obvious inappropriateness, his adolescent teenage female fixation was a symptom of Twain's larger obsession with youth. The older he became, the more he believed 'that only the young were capable of true happiness,' writes Chernow. His 'angelfish' allowed him to disappear 'back into his vanished youth, to stop time, to blot out all the disappointments of adult life.' Twain's writing was in many ways an attempt to capture the innocence of youth. As some critics noted, despite the Huck Finn character being fourteen, his mind was 'devoid of sexual thoughts or fantasies,' writes Chernow. 9 Author Ron Chernow. The older and more famous he became, the more Twain pined for 'the vanished paradise of his early years,' writes Chernow. 'His youth would remain the magical touchstone of his life, his memories preserved in amber.' Twain eventually wrote sequels in which both Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn reappeared, but he had no interest in exploring them as adults. It was as if 'Twain could not bear to imagine them stripped of their youthful appeal,' writes Chernow. For him, youth was a gift and old age was a sham. 'I should greatly like to relive my youth,' he once wrote. 'And then get drowned.'
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Jeremy Allen White, Taraji P. Henson and More at Willy Chavarria's 2025 Met Gala After Party
Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience. Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience. Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience. Generate Key Takeaways Once the epic Met Gala red carpet is wrapped and the final bathroom selfie has been snuck inside the museum, the night is only really just beginning. We're talking about after parties of course — and this year there were more than ever. The strategy generally relies upon logistics, so uptown parties nearby the museum and the big hotels where celebrities stay are often the first stop. This year, Willy Chavarria took over The Mark hotel for an after party, cohosted with celebrity stylists Wayman Bannerman and Micah McDonald of Wayman + Micah and tequila brand Don Julio. It was a reunion of Met magic for Chavarria and Wayman + Micah, who collaborated on 2025 Met cohost Colman Domingo's look for last year's Met Gala, which was Domingo's first. More from WWD Following the actual Met Gala, celebrities either stayed loyal to their red carpet look and headed straight for The Mark, or zipped up to their hotel rooms for an outfit change before heading down into Chavarria's after party. Maluma at the Willy Chavarria Met Gala after party cohosted with Wayman + Micah held at The Mark on May 5 in New York Chavarria, who dressed Maluma for this year's gala, was at the night's center, and welcomed famous friends like Jeremy Allen White, Taraji P. Henson, Michael Kors, Maluma, Alton Mason and more. Sliders, bowls of french fries and trays of doughnuts were sent around the room as tiny bottles of Don Julio were on offer. As the night wore on, the scene inside the lobby of the hotel blended more and more with the actual party. From The Mark it was off to any number of stops: there was of course the Boom Boom Room annual bash at The Standard, the third annual Apres Met party at WSA, cohost A$AP Rocky's party at Jean's, Doechii's and Janelle Monae's Public Hotel bash and many more. Launch Gallery: Willy Chavarria at The Mark Hotel Met Gala 2025 After-Party Photos Best of WWD Sign up for WWD's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Geek Tyrant
06-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Geek Tyrant
Jessica Alba Set to Lead Action Spy Thriller THE MARK from Director Justin Chadwick — GeekTyrant
Jessica Alba is heading back into action with her next big project. The Trigger Warning star has officially signed on to headline The Mark , an upcoming spy thriller that's gearing up to shoot in Australia this July. Directed by Justin Chadwick ( Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom ), the film sees Alba taking on the role of Eden, 'an enigmatic spy on a covert and dangerous mission. When Eden pulls single father Ben Dawson into her world of high-stakes espionage, his life is turned upside down.' According to the film's synopsis: 'Mistaken for the world's deadliest assassin, Ben becomes the perfect decoy for Eden. She uses the mix-up to expose a powerful network of corrupt politicians, placing Ben in the crosshairs of the CIA, Interpol, and ruthless crime syndicates. 'With enemies closing in from all sides, Eden must keep Ben alive long enough to complete her mission — while Ben must summon his inner action hero to stay alive and return to the person who matters most: his daughter.' The script for The Mark was written by Ronnie Christensen ( Passengers, Incarnate ). Arianne Fraser ( Land of Bad ) and Delphine Perrier ( Arcadian ) are producing for Highland Film Group, alongside Kia Jam ( The Misfits, Lucky Number Slevin ) of K. Jam Media. Henry Winterstern is also on board as an executive producer. Highland Film Group is co-financing the project with Aperture Media Partners, while Hoodlum will handle local production services. Alba has been busy lately. She executive produced and starred in Netflix's Trigger Warning . She's also set to appear in Maserati: The Brothers opposite Anthony Hopkins and Andy Garcia. On top of that, Alba recently launched her own production company, Lady Metalmark Entertainment, earlier this year. Chadwick, who brings a strong dramatic sensibility to the table, has directed films like Tulip Fever , The Other Boleyn Girl , and Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom . With Alba diving into full spy thriller mode under Chadwick's direction, The Mark is shaping up to be one worth keeping an eye on. Source: Deadline
Vogue
04-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Vogue
Pre-Met Gala, Tyla Is Dialing Up the Fashion Heat
Tomorrow, the 2025 Met Gala in New York City will see a variety of A-listers hit the red carpet with their most extravagant and head-turning fashions. But even in the weekend ahead of the grand event, celebrities are already running around town in their best statement fashions. Post yourself up at hotels like The Carlyle or The Mark, and you're bound to catch a glimpse of one of your favorite singers or actors. Tyla is one such star who was sighted at the latter hotel. In fact, all weekend long, the South African star has been delivering one knockout outfit after another. Manhattan is her runway! Styled by Law Roach, Tyla emerged this weekend wearing a vintage Roberto Cavalli dress that made the paparazzi flashbulbs go wild. The brocade and lace mini dress, with a ruffled bubble hem, is from the label's fall 2004 collection—and even more than two decades later, it still feels totally fresh and relevant. It's not the first time Tyla has embraced vintage fashion, of course. Fans will remember that the star wore Y2K-era Dolce & Gabbana for her Coachella set just last month.
