Date: Fri 13-Jun-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: DOTTIE

Quick Words:

Mark-Twain-St-Rose-Gerth

Full Text:

`Young Authors Day'- Mark Twain Inspires St. Rose Writers

(with photos)

BY DOROTHY EVANS

As it happened, "Young Authors Day" at St. Rose School on Monday, June 9, was

a rollicking success, mainly because the main event included a visit by

someone who (despite rumors to the contrary) died 87 years ago: Mark Twain.

Well, it wasn't really Mark Twain or the mythical writer's real-life creator,

Samuel Clemens, who visited to St. Rose.

It was his lookalike, modern-day reincarnation, actor and entertainer James

Gerth.

Dressed and made up for the part, Mr Gerth spent the morning with the St. Rose

youngsters in their all-purpose room, telling them a number of Mark Twain

stories in a non-stop, animated monologue.

His delivery contained so much energy and humor that nobody cared if he wasn't

the real thing.

The Mark Twain stories, as related by Mr Gerth, were spoken using the author's

words complete with dramatic gestures and facial grimaces.

As the actor strode back and forth in front of his audience, alternately

shouting, cajoling, thundering and whining, the St Rose children became

completely engrossed.

They imagined life on the Mississippi 150 years ago, and they learned about

the fine difference between a Lecture and a Speech. For a Lecture, you got

paid, Mark Twain wrote. For a Speech, you got "not a cent."

(After some consideration, Mr Gerth decided the St. Rose event was a Little

Talk, and the delicate issue of money wasn't raised.)

The students laughed out loud during the Tale of The Mexican Plug, about a

cranky old Carson City horse that succeeded in totally discombobulating its

rider.

And they shuddered in revulsion while imagining Roughing It, which involved a

bunk house encounter with an entire band of tarantula spiders, each having an

array of "large, hairy, muscular legs."

Mr Gerth's one-man show was part of an educational enrichment program at St

Rose designed to stimulate students' imagination. Teacher Kathy Whinton said

she also hoped his performance might entice the students to pick up a Mark

Twain novel on their own and start reading those famous tales for themselves.

Youngest Writers Dictate Stories

Mrs Whinton said that to prepare for their morning with Mark Twain, the St.

Rose sixth and seventh graders have been writing and illustrating their own

tales of humor and imagination.

On Monday morning, they read their stories to the first and second graders,

who were also taking part in "Young Authors Day."

"We've even had some sharing among siblings" across different classes, Mrs

Whinton remarked.

In addition to that activity, the older students helped the youngest ones by

writing down stories for them, as dictated.

Printing slowly and carefully on the faded blue-lined paper, the older

students took painstaking care to record the details as they heard them.

They knew that, eventually, those stories would be read by these budding

authors who had plenty of tales to tell, but couldn't read or write yet.