SeanM: Burns didmention Clemens's autobiography during the latter half of the PBS TV special. He did not, however, mention "The Death of Jean"; thanks for letting us know about it. What is the title of the autobiography?

Also, I didn't get the impression that Burns "barely mentions that Clemens undertook the task of paying off all of his creditors". On the contrary, I think he covered it quite well. He included several quotes by Clemens, made during the Following the Equator tour, that refer to his paying off his debt, and of course the purpose of the tour itself was stated to be the elimination of that debt. I agree that Clemens's "elation" at being debt-free wasn't touched on much, except to say that he dared to start speculating again, but did say that he gained favor in the eyes of the world for working himself out of debt.


Ebbie (about Clemens's daughter Clara): In addition to the mention of Clara's wedding, at which her father tried to draw attention to himself by wearing his Oxford robes (a major faux pas on his part – upstaging the bride!), Burns says elsewhere in the documentary that Clara chafed under her father's domineering ways, and that while she lived with him n Redding, CT before her wedding she spent as little time as possible in his company. Sure, she spoke well of him after his death, but that would've been expected of her as the only surviving family member, and she'd shown that she could be the dutiful daughter (accompanying her parents on their round-the world trip while the other girls stayed in the US, hurrying home from England to be with Clemens at his deathbed, and so on).


One thing Burns didn't mention at all, that I was left wondering about, was this: Initially, the bio said that Samuel was the 6th of 7 children, that 2 had died as children, that Henry had died after an explosion aboard a steamboat, and that Orion had taken Sam west to Nevada. But what became of Orion, and what of the other two kids who weren't mentioned by name at all??? Did any of them go on to have children of their own? Did Twain stay in contact with any of them?