Ebbie,

I think your comments shows how successful Burns was with this documentary - he left you with a desire to learn more about the the man. OF course he happens to have a companion book that will offer answers to many of those questions -shrewd marketing!!!

The one problem I have with Burns is the fact that I was right in how Episode 2 was going to shape up. Earlier I mentioned that he "never lets the facts get in the way of a good story". Burns shaped the whole documentary to build to a crescendo dwelling on the tragic decline of his fortune and family. Clemens life was full of peaks and valleys, but the documentary painted his life pretty much as a bell curve. While he did make note that Clemens did re-build his fortune to a large degree, the show spent more time painting a picture of a sad old man and almost matter-of-factly mentioning that he was enjoying the company of the early 20th centuries movers and shakers.

I still think it was a brilliant production, certainly better than the hatchet job he did on baseball (with all the research you think he would have checked some basic facts) and jazz (one man's opinion). Even with those flaws he at least is responsible for opening up doors and renewing interest in his subjects.

Ebbie, you mentioned wanting to see or read something with a different emphasis. One of the girls that was part of his "angels" group near the end of his life wrote a book which later became a decent TV movie. I seem to remember Jason Robards playing Clemens. It really gave an interesting perspective of Clemens, his daughter, and his later years. Perhaps some Mudcatter will shed some light on this.

Ron