u/DEveJPK

Hey folks,

Back with another dispatch from the David Milch papers at Yale.

This time it’s something a bit more on topic – the plan for Mark Twain to appear in Deadwood.

The write up is here: https://davidmilch.substack.com/p/mark-twain-was-to-appear-as-a-character

However, I know Substack gets up some people’s nostrils, so here’s the TL;DR:

• Mr. Milch talked about Twain appearing around episode 7 of Season 2
• He was to come to town to interview George Hearst
• He’d realize Hearst was essentially a 2-dimensional personality: obsessed with “the color”
• He’d find common ground with Swearengen
• Then manage to fall victim, figuratively, to his "Samuel Clemens" nature (i.e. be attracted to fly-by-night investments).

 

So, why didn’t it happen? It’s unclear, but, my speculation:

• Hearst ended up not appearing until episode 12 of Season 2.
• Twain and Hearst were actually at least acquaintances in real life, and thus an interview where Twain “discovered” Hearst’s nature would be pushing the historical record a little too far.
• Some aspects of Twain’s position vis a vis Hearst and Swearengen appeared in the Jack Langrishe character.

That’s it for now. I’m now working on a short guide to the Deadwood materials at Yale, and hope to share it here soon.