(Very Rare!) O.Henry's Message to His Readers (C. 1908)

William Sydney Porter, or better known as the famous American writer, O.Henry ( 1862.9.11 ~ 1910.6.5) gives some messages to his readers(or "folks", as he says) on a Edison Cylinder recording made around 1908.

"People ask me how I manage to come up with that 'fine little twist' to my stories......I always tell 'em that the unusual is the ordinary, rather than the unexpected." Now that's what I call a sense of literature!

This is a transfer of the cylinder dubbed to LP around 1970s. I don't know what happened to the original cylinder. Anyway, nobody (including I, at the first time) wouldn't expect to hear one of the greatest American writers from early 1900s.

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[rlandano]

Can someone please CC (Closed Caption) this!

[thaxdouglas]

he would have made a good voiceover artist

[amac1511]

One hundred years after this recording was made, O. Henry's voice speaks to us with all the color and personality contained in his stories. What a fabulous bit of Americana. Thank you for making it available.

[SirCyrano]

Fantastic discovery! I thought I had heard every known "celebrity" recording from the early sound era, but I never knew about this one. He sounds the way I'd expect Mark Twain to sound, which surprised me. (I always associated O. Henry with New York.) Then I read that he was born in NC and raised in Texas. That explains the drawl. Thanks for posting this rare recording!