PREVIOUS BOOK     NEXT BOOK

Bert & I by Marshall Dodge and Robert Bryan CD, 1 CD per title Bert and I and More Bert and I ($18.95) The Return of Bert and I and Bert and I Stem Inflation ($18.95) Bert and I for Kids ($18.95) Bert and I On Stage by Marshall Dodge ($16.95) Bert and I and More Bert and I The Return of Bert and I and Bert and I Stem Inflation Bert and I for Kids Bert and I . . . ON STAGE by Marshall Dodge ($16.95)

The legendary Bert and I land at Islandport

Nearly 50 years after Bert and I first burst on the scene, the fictional fishermen duo remain as synonymous with Maine as L.L. Bean and lobsters. All of today's top Maine storytellers from Kendall Morse to John McDonald to Tim Sample owe a debt to Marshall Dodge and Robert Bryan, whose “characters” and stories—this is where “You can't get there from here” all started—not only helped create a cottage industry but have become a part of the Maine culture and lexicon. Sadly, the Bert and I partnership, which began in 1958, was cut short by the tragic hit-and-run death of Dodge in 1982. The four original albums that were released starting in 1961 have been remastered into two CDs, and a new CD has been recorded for children. This year, Bert and I On Stage will be converted to CD format. These wonderful CDs recapture all the dry wit and subtle humor of Bert and I that you remember or have undoubtedly heard about.

About the Storytellers Marshall Dodge was a philosopher and folklorist totally devoted to the arts. He first started telling Maine stories in 1953 and then produced the first Bert and I record in 1958. At the height of his popularity as America's premier New England humorist Marshall Dodge was killed in a January 1982 hit-and-run accident, while riding a bike in Hawaii. Bob Bryan, speaking of his friend, recalls that when they first met "we quickly found that we had something in common and that was a love of the stories, the anecdotes, the oral tradition of Maine and New England." How did they work together? "Informally, totally without direction, spontaneously." Bob Bryan first heard Maine stories at Tunk Lake, Maine, when he was a small boy and storytelling has been a major part of his life ever since. He teamed up with Marshall Dodge at Yale University in 1958 where they made the first recordings of Bert and I. For over 40 consecutive years he has flown the Northern Atlantic coastline from Massachusetts to Labrador, and points in between, for the Quebec-Labrador Foundation, which he founded in 1961. Though technically in semi-retirement he still puts in more than 300 hours a year flying his Cessna 185 - he estimates that he has logged somewhere around 17,000 hours.