A Whale's Tale
and Other Stories from Down East
by Marshall Dodge and Robert Bryan
$18.95
CD, Maine Humor
ABOUT THE CD
Introduce a new generation to the magic and humor of Down East storytelling! "The Bert and I Song" kicks off this fun CD, which includes a rendition of all the stories in the children's book Bert and I for Kids as well as seven other wonderful stories sure to amuse listeners of all ages.
Complete track list
About Bert and I
"Bert and I come down to the dock about six'clock in the early morning. Bert went into the boathouse to fetch the pots and the slickers and I went out to the dock to start up the Bluebird."
And so begins the first story on the first album in 1958 that not only launched Bert and I as conceived by Marshall Dodge and Bob Bryan, but essentially marked the keystone event of the modern "Down East" Humor Era. Some estimate that Bert and I has sold more than one million records in the past 50 years, and nearly everyone who has spent time in Maine knows someone who quotes Bert and I or struggles to mimic Dodge's iconic sound effects. Let's not forget that these two popularized the now-ubiquitous, "You can't get they-ah from he-ah" and established the dry humor template that would be used again and again across New England.
Bert and I are now almost as synonymous with Maine as L.L. Bean and lobsters – they are engrained in the culture and the lexicon. They may not have invented the genre, but they cleaned it up, popularized it, and pushed it into the mainstream. Nearly every Maine comedian or humorist who has performed in the past five decades owes a debt to Dodge and Bryan. Bert and I. That says it all.
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 A Whale's Tale ... And Other Stories from Down East
1. The Bert and I Song
2. Fred's Welcome
3. By A Fluke
4. The Pet Turkey
5. Gagnon
6. The Clam Quartet
7. Bear and the Slicker
8. Harry's Return
9. The Lighter than Air Balloon
10. Which Way to Millinocket? (Click the title to hear this track)
11. Fred Signs Off
12. The Bert and I Song
"A Whale's Tale" has
The Best of Bert and I