"Her life was so dynamic. It so uniquely represents this crucial time in America's history and in the world's history."   ~Val Kilmer, Christian Science Sentinel

See Kilmer's Performance at the MBEL

You can watch Kilmer's performance at the Mary Baker Eddy Library on their webiste.  It is, like Mark Twain himself, very charming. Click here to check it out.

There is a great question and answer segment after the performance.

Big News from Val Kilmer 12-19-09

Kilmer's hard work has paid off and the new year will be starting with a bang. 

His project Mark Twain and Mary Baker Eddy will not only start pre production in late 2010, Kilmer will be taking this remarkable story to the stage in a one man show as early as this coming spring.

This project has been in the works for a few years now. In 2007 Kilmer produced a ten minute trailer in which he portrays Mark Twain sharing his thoughts on "Mother Eddy",  giving us some insight into Kilmer's impressive film and theatrical production.

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Mary Baker Eddy founded the controversial  Church of Christian Science in 1879.   Mark Twain, author and colorful commentator had a rather capricious relationship with Eddy and was very outspoken about his feelings for her and her works.

Kilmer who is a devout Christian Scientist will produce as well as star in this extraordinary venture.  

2011 Mark Twain (Forever) commemorative stamp

As part of its Literary Arts series, the US Postal Service™ recognizes America's greatest humorist with this Mark Twain (Forever®) commemorative stamp. Twain (1835-1910) is the author of beloved works such as The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. His Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is widely considered one of the greatest novels in American literature. The stamp portrait shows Twain as an older man; the steamboat in the background evokes a way of life along the Mississippi River that played a huge role in many of Twain's works, as well as in his own life.

Born Samuel Clemens, Mark Twain took his name from his time working as a riverboat pilot on the Mississippi. Big steamboats needed about 12 feet of water—two fathoms, or "mark twain" in the cry of the leadsman who measured the river's depth—to float safely. In 1863, Clemens used the byline "Mark Twain" for the first time, signing it to a newspaper article; two years later, he shot to national fame with a widely reprinted comic tale—known today as The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County—about a man who cleverly rigs a contest between two frogs.

Throughout his life, Mark Twain demonstrated his ability to learn, change, and recognize the limitations of views he had previously embraced. A child of slaveholders who became a profound critic of racism, and an early supporter of American expansionism who became a leader of the Anti-Imperialist League, he was not afraid to admit that he had been wrong or to reject values he had once accepted. Twain thought seriously about how these transformations happened—or failed to happen—and shared his insights in a rich body of work that is as thought-provoking today as when he wrote it.