Huckleberry Finn on Stage & Screen

Among the supplemental materials that enhance the Rare Book Room’s Mark Twain-Huckleberry Finn collection are posters, lobby cards and press kits from some of the film and stage versions of this famous American novel.  Now on display in the Mark Twain Room are items of motion picture memorabilia from the films of 1931, 1960, 1974 and 1993, including copies of screenplays, pressbooks and lobby cards.  Also on display is the print edition of the Tony award-winning musical production, Big River, from 1985, with soundtrack recordings and the musical score.

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Actors such as Tony Randall, Jackie Koogan, Elijah Wood, Courtney B. Vance and John Goodman have all played various parts in the Huck Finn adaptations.  A personal favorite, Harvey Korman and David Wayne as the King and the Duke in the 1974 Reader’s Digest/Arthur P. Jacobs production.

Buffalo Kit Homes

You may have heard of Sears houses, the “kit homes” that prospective owners could select from a catalog and build themselves.  But did you know that Western New York was home to another company that designed and sold beautiful house plans and kits?  The Ray H. Bennett Lumber Company, established in North Tonawanda in 1902, manufactured a line of Bennett Homes — “Better-Built & Ready-Cut.”  Their catalogs featured cottages, bungalows, larger 3- and 4-bedroom Colonial and American Foursquare houses, and two-family homes.  The styles will look strikingly familiar to Buffalonians, especially those with homes built in the 1920s and 30s.

A Bennett Homes catalog from 1920 shows not only house plans, but also the interior options, such as styles of doors and bookcases.

Think your house could be a Bennett Home?  The Grosvenor Room has three Bennett Homes catalogs: 1920 (no.18), 1925 (no.35), and an undated catalog from circa 1940, each featuring over 50 house styles.

For more plan books, check out this helpful list: Architecture and Design Books: Listing by Architectural Style.