WHEN AN EARLY, SILENT-MOVIE WAS PRODUCED IN 1909  of the Mark Twain classic novel The Prince and the Pauper, it was produced by none other than Tomas Edison.  The story was condensed so that it could be told on a two-reeler (roughly 20 – 22 minutes).  As part of the production, Mr. Edison wanted to have some footage of Mark Twain Samuel Langhorne Clemens) to introduce the movie.  So he went to Twain’s home in Redding, Connecticut, and shot this brief film himself. 

It is believed to be the only film ever made of Mark Twain, and certainly the only one that survived. 

The pixilation and much of the light variations are a result of the digitalizing compression when the film was converted to the .flv formatting of the YouTube.  Still, when you consider the superior quality of motion picture films today, it is hard to believe that this film was made just 100 years ago.