The Return of Bert and I

Marshall Dodge Robert Bryan

9781944762292

1 pages

Islandport Press

CD-Audio $12.95

Add to Cart

Overview

The iconic "Bert and I" stories were first created by Yale University students Marshall Dodge and Robert Bryan in the late 1950s and performed around campus. The two amateur storytellers soon recorded a short 10-inch album of 11 stories for friends and family, but ultimately pressed just a few hundred. However, growing popularity prompted them in 1958 to record and release the seminal commercial album of New England humor and storytelling – "Bert and I . . . And Other Stories from Down East." Featuring 19 stories, the album depicted Maine fishermen and woodsmen with dry, classic humor and set the tone of direction of the genre for decades. In the early 1960s, the duo followed with "More Bert and I,” an album featuring 14 more stories, including the title track as well as “Tin Roof,” and “The Plane Ride."

Track List for More Bert and I:

1. More Bert and I

2. Tin Roof

3. President Harding

4. Not Just Yet

5. The Lament of Age

6. The Sleeping Porch

7. The Punt

8. Old Blue

9. The Plane Ride

10. Poorly

11. The Return of Virgil

12. The Government Fly

13. The Little Gull

14. Harry's Return

Author Bio

Marshall "Mike" Dodge stands undeniably as a godfather of Down East humor, bringing an energy and imagination to the stage that took him from a small Connecticut studio to his standing as the premier "New England" humorist of his era, before he was tragically killed by a hit-and-run driver in Hawaii in 1982. He was just 45. Mike was born in New York, attended high school in New Hampshire (where he first heard "Down East humor"), and graduated from Yale, where he studied philosophy. It was at Yale in 1958 that he and Bob Bryan cut the first Bert and I album and launched what is now a Maine icon.Robert Bryan helped launch Bert and I with Dodge in part by drawing upon his memories from childhood summers spent at his beloved Tunk Lake, where he was fascinated by the area's stories and storytellers. Like Dodge, Bob was born and raised in New York and graduated from Yale. Unlike Dodge, who continued as full-time performer, Rev. Robert A. Bryan used earnings from the early records in the 1960s to help launch and grow another dream – the Quebec-Labrador Foundation, which provides support to remote communities mainly in Quebec and Labrador. Bob continues as a major force at QLF and remains involved in the continued life of Bert and I.