MARK TWAIN TO TELL STORES AT AREA UNITED WAY FESTIVITIES

Mark Twain's stories about a lost sock and a trouble-plagued bridegroom will help kick off the Area Wide United Way's 1999 fund-raising campaign.

Jim Waddell will perform his impersonation of Mark Twain at the kickoff luncheon at noon Thursday at Broadway and Water.

"The United Way tries to help those who are having problems, so I decided on two of Twain's anecdotes about people dealing with difficulties," Waddell said by phone from the theater he runs in Hannibal. "Of course, the United Way deals with serious issues, but these stories will be humorous to lighten the event."

In addition to Waddell's performance as Twain, Thursday's event will feature a barbecue lunch and Dixieland band music, plus the American Queen riverboat is scheduled to dock near the Broadway floodgate to the Mississippi River that day. Craig Wells, 1999 campaign chairman, will introduce the "Make Someone Happy" campaign theme and announce this year's campaign goal.

The event is open to the public, but organizers ask those coming to call with reservations today at 334-9634.

"The kickoff is a public announcement that it's that time of year again when the United Way campaign has begun," said Nancy L. Jernigan, executive director of United Way. "It's to let people know the United Way will be contacting them and to give them information on what the money we raise is used for to get them to participate."

Jernigan said the riverfront was chosen for this year's kickoff to play up Cape Girardeau's river heritage. Part of Missouri's river heritage is the Hannibal-born author who wrote about the Mississippi, Mark Twain.

Several people on the kickoff organizing committee had seen Waddell perform and had been impressed with his presentation.

Waddell has performed as Mark Twain for nearly six years and has used pieces from the Twain's lyceum tours that Twain performed around the world.

"Twain was a fabulous speaker," Waddell said. Though at his first speaking engagement, Twain was so unsure about his abilities he hired people to sit in the audience and laugh at the appropriate times, Waddell said.

While Twain wrote and spoke during the late 1800s, his humor and social satire are ageless, and his stories and books are still popular, not just in this country, but around the world.

At the Mark Twain Outdoor Theater in Hannibal, which Waddell owns, people visit from as far away as Japan, Germany and the Ukraine.

"Mark Twain is considered the most popular American author," Waddell said. "His books are mandatory reading in schools in nearly every civilized country in the world."

The theater, in its 20th season, is in a valley where the Hannibal of Twain's time has been re-created with replicas of such things as Becky Thatcher's house, a red school building and a cemetery. A stream has been dammed to create a 900-foot-long, 90-foot-wide substitute for the Mississippi River, complete with a 50-foot-long riverboat.

With a cast of about 20 local performers ages 7 to 70, the production is based on "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer," with scenes from "The Adventures of Huck Finn" and "Life on the Mississippi." It's presented nightly from Memorial Day through Labor Day.