Brevity of words served Lincoln well

As my time at the Lincoln Forum ends, I’m reminded of Abraham Lincoln’s brevity of words . I’m also tired, so keeping this short seems fitting and proper.

The Lincoln Forum was magnificent. Everyone who loves history, Lincoln, the Civil War or being among friends should go. Fair warning, though – it’s like a popular brand of potato chips. You won’t be able to stop at just one.

Author Fred Kaplan started this last day with “Lincoln’s Genius with Language” and showed his own genius as well.

Harold Holzer moderated a panel where Catherine Clinton, Jason Emerson and Charles Lachman disussed Lincoln “Family Matters.” From their ancestors to Lincoln’s grandchildren, it was obvious family did matter to Lincoln.

We had free time in the afternoon to explore Gettysburg, starting with the Wills House. I didn’t get my Wills tour in today, though. I had some Lincoln business to attend to in a couple downtown shops.

Our evening speaker was to be Associate Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, but since her husband passed away last week, Richard Dreyfuss filled in as the dinner speaker. His reading of the Second Inaugural Address would have made Lincoln proud. Our sympathy to Justice O’Connor and family.

I’m close to using up my word count and tired to boot, so I’ll be back with more on The Amazing Abe Adventure another day. In the meantime, keep the Lincoln legacy alive in your world.

First impressions

They say you never get a second chance to make a first impression. If that’s the case, I’m sure I’ve gone down in history as making a complete fool of myself upon meeting one of my favorite actors.

Why?

If you had a chance to meet a famous film star, one whose career spanned your entire adult life, who earned an Academy Award for Best Actor and a nomination for another, who won several Golden Globes and Screen Actors Guild Awards for Best Actor or Best Supporting Actor, what would your first words be? Probably not, “Dreyfuss, you outbid me!”

Well, I met Richard Dreyfuss and, oh my, did I ever blow it! When I should have said, “Mr. Dreyfuss, it’s such a pleasure to meet you. I’ve enjoyed following your career. I’m really looking forward to your presentation this evening,” instead I gave him crap - for outbidding me by 15 bucks on a batch of Lincoln books as a silent auction was about to end.

I’m lucky, I guess. That - or Dreyfuss is a good sport.

Instead of saying, “Who do you think you are, and what makes you think you can treat me so disrespectfully?” he struck up a conversation with me about another book on the silent auction block, a biography of poet Edgar Lee Masters, who once was Clarence Darrow’s law partner, and about a print of an early Illinois governor, John Peter Altgeld.

Dreyfuss really just seemed to be enjoying hanging out, being a regular person, looking at the same type of auction items you might see at any central Illinois fundraiser, except perhaps that the Lincoln and Illinois history themes were a bit more prevalent.

Lincoln Seen and Heard – and Dreyfuss honored
I met Dreyfuss at the March 27th silent auction and banquet for the Illinois State Historical Society’s 2009 Illinois History Symposium, “Abraham Lincoln in Ante-bellum Illinois, 1830-1861,” at Illinois College in Jacksonville (Ill.).

Dreyfuss was there to do a dramatic reading of “Lincoln Seen and Heard” with Lincoln scholar and U.S. Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial co-chair, Harold Holzer.

The production is a powerful work, created by Holzer. It uses images of Lincoln taken before his significant speeches and Lincoln’s words, with Holzer’s narrative to cement the two. Dreyfuss was powerful as he read Lincoln’s speeches, while Holzer’s soft-spoken narrative was as comforting as a favorite teacher lovingly reading a classic children’s book to a room full of fourth-graders in an old brick elementary school.

The evening began with a magnificent concert about which I’ll be sure to tell you later (when I find the program) and ended with Dreyfuss being awarded an honorary doctorate from Illinois College.

I’ve been a proud observer of such moments before – especially, when watching my daughters receive their diplomas - yet watching the excitement Dreyfuss felt as he received his robe, mortarboard and stole was pretty cool, too.

And getting my photo taken with him and Holzer was even cooler. Most of the other people were getting their photos taken with just Dreyfuss, but as I explained to the actor, I’m a Holzer groupie, too. After all, Holzer’s the quintessential Lincoln buff, and one who always inspires me to learn and share more about Lincoln, too.

A fond farewell
My final words to Dreyfuss may have seemed as silly as my first. As I got ready to walk away, I gave him a hug and said, “I’m proud of you.”

Why? Because I know what it feels like to wear that mortar board and toss that tassel late in life. I got my first degree when I was 41 and I’ll never forget looking up as I walked back from the stage and saw the pride in my parents’ faces.

Proud of someone for an honorary degree, you wonder? You bet!

Richard Dreyfuss has spent decades entertaining generations of Americans and today he’s spearheading an organization dedicated to making civics curriculum a mainstay* for American students from kindergarten through twelfth grade. I put a lot of hard work into earning my diploma. His path is different, but his distinction is clear. He’s a star student in my book – however you turn the pages.

* I’ll be writing about this effort in a future blog post. But first, I have to get the information from Dreyfuss. With the enthusiasm he feels for this, I don’t think the task will be too difficult.

© Copyright 2009 Ann Tracy Mueller. All rights reserved.

Don’t miss Holzer, Waterston Friday night

Do you have plans this Friday night? If not, how about spending it with Lincoln scholar Harold Holzer and actor Sam Waterston?

Okay, not in person, but in front of your TV in a special performance of “Lincoln’s Legacy and Legend” on Bill Moyers Journal. That’s 9 p.m., Friday, April 10, 2009. Be sure to check your local listing for the exact time in your area.

Moyers bills this as a “deeply moving and intimate performance of poetry and prose written by:

• Walt Whitman,
• Frederick Douglass,
• Allen Ginsburg,
• Langston Hughes,
• Harriet Beecher Stowe and
• many other American writers who have struggled to describe perhaps the greatest of American heroes.”

Wait a minute. What’s this “perhaps” stuff?

Why Moyers? Why now?
Moyers invited Holzer, co-chair of the U.S. Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission, and Waterston, who has played the role of Lincoln, after seeing a private performance of the production in February at New York’s Century Club.

“That was magnificent,” said Moyers. “This should be on television, and I intend to put it on.” When you’re Bill Moyers, it’s not too hard to make dreams like this one come true – and on a Good Friday, yet, which just happens to be when Lincoln became our American martyr.

You won’t want to miss it
Many of you have likely seen Holzer on any one of a number of Lincoln-related programs in recent years or read one of his many books – 33 to date. I’ve had the opportunity to review some of them. They’re good. And, you’ve probably seen Waterston on the stage or screen. If so, I don’t have to tell you you’re in for a real treat.

I’m still waiting for an opportunity to hear Waterston in person, but I did just recently spend a Friday night seeing Holzer live when he presented his program “Lincoln Seen and Heard” at Illinois College with Richard Dreyfuss. Wow!

Keep watching my blog. I hope to find time soon to tell you all about that event and some of the other Illinois History Symposium activities.

An incarnation
I will say this much. You can’t go wrong spending a Friday night with Holzer and his friends like Waterston. It’s almost as if Lincoln is there, too. Just ask Moyers, who shared this memory about one of Waterston’s earlier performances:

“Moyers: I saw you some years ago when you were portraying Lincoln at Lincoln Center, as Harold said earlier. And when we left, I was struggling with where when you ceased to exist and Lincoln appeared because--

"Waterston: Bless you.

"Moyers: --he did. He did appear. As I said, it was like an incarnation. How does that happen?”
To hear the answer, watch the show. Friday night, now. Don’t forget.

© Copyright 2009 Ann Tracy Mueller. All rights reserved.

Congratulations, Dr. Dreyfuss

There are times in life when you know you're in the right place at the right time, times when you experience something so magnificent and exciting you can think of no place you'd rather be - and you can't stop smiling when you think of it.

Seeing Richard Dreyfuss awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Illinois College in Jacksonville (Ill.) was one of those moments. Dreyfuss was in town for the 29th Annual Illinois History Symposium, "Lincoln in Antebellum Illinois: 1831-1860." Together, Dreyfuss and my favorite Lincoln scholar, Harold Holzer, presented "Lincoln Seen and Heard," a magnificent work which blends Lincoln images with Holzer's well-crafted narrative, as well as Lincoln's own words.

Anytime you can see Holzer present you know you're in for a treat, and the same is certainly true of any time Dreyfuss performs. Put the two together and you've got a dynamite show. I'll tell you more about the performance in a future post.

The one thing I want to share tonight before I fall asleep on my keyboard is how excited Dreyfuss was to receive this degree. I truly believe it meant the world to him. Witnessing his excitement made me almost as happy for him as I was upon receiving my own college degree at age 41.

You know, it was strange. I've admired this man's work for decades, yet meeting him tonight for the first time, he didn't come across as some great, unreachable movie star. He was warm, accomodating, appreciative of his fans and thankful for the honor he'd received. It was really cool to be there to experience his special moment.

So, I have to say it again: "Congratulations, Dr. Dreyfuss! I'm happy for you." Ann

On the road again

This history buff has always wanted to attend the Illinois History Symposium . Once again, wishes can come true. Tomorrow morning, I head to Jacksonville (Ill.) for the 29th Annual Illinois History Symposium, “Abraham Lincoln in Ante-Bellum Illinois: 1830-1861."

The schedule is very full, so I'm not sure if I'll have much blogging time. I may try to twitter if I can figure out how to make it work from my phone. You'll find me as LincolnBuff2 on Twitter. Here are just a few of the symposium highlights: Luncheon lectures with Wayne Temple and Michael Burlingame and a production of "Lincoln Seen and Heard" with my friend Harold Holzer and Academy Award winning actor, Richard Dreyfuss.

Now, I'm just trying to figure out how to drop enough hints to get Holzer to introduce me to Dreyfuss. I've admired that guy since Jaws. Getting down on my knees and begging is not an option!