Way back in about 1977, before videotaping was easy, common, and inexpensive, I was talking with someone at the National Storytelling Festival about how good it would be to videotape storytellers so folks in the future could see the teller's performance instead of read a transcript, where facial expressions and gestures could be seen, and how they fitted in with the cadences of the performance. Well, it sort of works, but the stage presence is gone. There's an essence that cannot be captured on tape that goes beyond mere stage presence. My kids noticed the same thing when we watched a film of Eddy Cantor doing one of his vaudeville dance routines. It's a bit like watching a video of a wedding you didn't attend. Still...I wish it were possible to see a sound film of Edwin Booth doing the soliloquy from Hamlet, just to see what the style was like in the 1800's.