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The Return of
Bert and I /
Bert and I Stem Inflation
by Robert Bryan and Marshall Dodge

$18.95
1 CD, Maine Humor
ISBN: 978-1-934031-10-0
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Listen to these audio clips from:
"Bert and I Stem Inflation"
Lewis Bayard and the Judge


Check out these other Bert and I CDs:
The Best of Bert and I
Bert and I ... And Other Stories
Bert and I ... On Stage
More Bert and I

 

There's a book:
Bert and I ... The Book
And there's a DVD too:
A Downeast Smile-In
Watch a sample clip from this DVD (5 min., 4 sec.).

Check out Bert and I on Facebook
ABOUT THE CD
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.

The duo then made three more Bert and I albums. "More Bert and I" added 14 more stories, telling tales of New England characters and situations with extra-dry wit and subtle humor. This CD combines "The Return of Bert and I" (1972) and "Bert and I Stem Inflation" (1976). The 35 rib-tickling tracks include "Gagnon," "Harry Startles Wiscasset," and "Frost, You Say."

ABOUT THE STORYTELLERS
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.


TRACK LIST for The Return of Bert and I
1. The Return of Bert and I
2. Directions
3. Gagnon
4. The Return of Virgil Bliss
5. Harry Sleeps at L.L. Bean
6. By a Fluke
7. The Silent Chain Saw
8. M'am Hacket's Compost Heap
9. At the Graveyard
10. The Stove with the Powerful Draft
11. The Captain and the Lady
12. The Chicken Truck
13. Harry Startles Wiscasset

 TRACK LIST for Bert and I Stem Inflation
14. Bert and I Stem Inflation
15. No News
16. Bear in the Spring
17. The Pet Turkey
18. Too Late, Mr. Perkins
19. Texas vs. Maine
20. Frost, You Say?
21. Life Insurance
22. Lewis Bayard and the Judge
23. Bert and I and the Bricks
24. Bert and I Solve the Energy Crisis
25. Buryin'
26. The Whole Load
27. Suicide
28. The Insect Powder Agent
29. Cutler Harbor
30. Bear and the Slicker
31. Conversation on a Train
32. The Clam Quarter
33. Birth Control
34. Bottle Squatting
35. Harry Whitfield Flies to NY