Letter to the editors: Remember Holbrook’s ‘Twain’? No phones at shows is still the right idea

AP Photo by John Raoux / In this Monday, Dec. 3, 2018, photo, a lockable pouch that guests can put their cell phone in at a mobile phones free zone at the Wyndham Grand Orlando Resort Bonnet Creek, in Orlando, Fla.

By Community submissions May 2, 2026 2 min read

No phones at shows is still the right idea

My better half and I got a chuckle out of your recent “no phone” experience (Perspective, 4/26). That called to mind an incident several years ago when we were attending “Hal Holbrook Presents Mark Twain” at the Tivoli.

As I recall, this was in the early days of transition from personal pagers to mobile phones. I remember there was the cautionary announcement about electronic devices in general just before the program.

At one point, in Holbrook’s “Twain,” he ambles over to our left side of stage (his right) as if to engage the audience.