WILD HUMORIST OF THE WEST

[Editor's Note: The following is a combined review with LETTERS FROM THE EARTH.]--In these two short volumes of Twain writing the author is impersonated by McAvoy Layne. HUMORIST consists of various autobiographical works woven together as an evening's entertainment and recorded before a studio audience. Here one hears age as well as the state of Missouri in the actor's voice. In EARTH, edited from the posthumously published letters from a terrestrial exile, his tone has more clarity and less of the South. In both, he does a creditable job reproducing the author's personality and holding the audience, though one could wish for more expressiveness. Y.R. (c) AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine [Published: APR/MAY 02]