tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3841623687035547521.post3689461847577913387..comments2023-12-12T12:54:32.121+00:00Comments on la vie boheme: GriechenbeislAnnette Freemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11078075767352387819noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3841623687035547521.post-34977113758033268412013-07-19T12:15:31.471+01:002013-07-19T12:15:31.471+01:00Brilliant background, Vincent - thank you. That al...Brilliant background, Vincent - thank you. That all sounds very likely. My inner skeptic is feeling smug :-)Annette Freemanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11078075767352387819noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3841623687035547521.post-59428244935733586732013-07-19T10:35:03.174+01:002013-07-19T10:35:03.174+01:00I suspect that Mark Twain's was the first auth...I suspect that Mark Twain's was the first authentic signature there, thus validating the room's name and providing the precedent for later celebrities to add their own. That would have been in 1897-98.<br /><br />I cannot imagine that earlier patrons of the restaurant would have been motivated or persuaded to write their signatures on a wall. One would have signed a letter, a legal document, or a manuscript which one was proud to acknowledge as one's own. To have signed a wall would have been a vulgar debasement. But as Arthur Digbee writes (in a book review on Amazon), "In 1897-1898, Samuel L. Clemens (Mark Twain) lived in and around Vienna for almost two years. As one of the world's most famous writers, he was an instant celebrity. He also experienced the city deeply, becoming acquainted with many of the personalities who made up remarkable fin-de-siecle Vienna." By that year, one could well imagine the proprietor of the restaurant asking him to leave an autograph for all to see.Vincenthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18297306807695767580noreply@blogger.com