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Troy’s 'Night Before' poem trial [is] subject of Hallmark movie
Troy Times Union ^ | Dec. 14, 2022 | Paul Grondahl

Posted on 12/17/2022 12:41:36 PM PST by mairdie

I sat at the Livingston table for this 2013 trial while a Moore descendant sat at the other table.
Trial Before Christmas       The Trial in Photos
Hint: the good guys won in the real trial. No idea what Hallmark will do with it. First showing tonight: Hallmark Channel, Saturday, Dec 17, at 8 p.m.


TOPICS: TV/Movies
KEYWORDS: hallmarkmovie; livingstonmoore; mocktrial; nightbeforexmas
This trial took place after my research with Vassar professor Don Foster, but before my research with New Zealand emeritus professor Mac Jackson. Mac used statistical analysis of the movement of the tongue in the mouth between favorite sounds used by Henry Livingston, Clement Moore and the poet of Night Before Christmas to prove that Henry had the same favorite sounds as the NBC poet, while Moore's favorite poems were statistically outside the poet's favorite sounds.

Hallmark Channel

Saturday, Dec. 17, at 8 p.m.
Sunday, Dec. 18, at 6 p.m.
Tuesday, Dec. 20, at 10 p.m.
Saturday, Dec. 24, at 4 p.m.
Thursday, Dec. 29, at 12 a.m.
Sunday, Jan. 1, at 10 a.m.

Hallmark Channel movies are on live TV streaming apps including Peacock, Hulu and YouTubeTV.

I hired the actor that played Henry Livingston as the narrator of Henry's poetry that is up on my youtube channel.

Playlist of Henry Livingston Videos

1 posted on 12/17/2022 12:41:36 PM PST by mairdie
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To: mairdie

My rewrite of Mac’s proof of authorship by phonemes.
http://henrylivingston.com/data/index.htm#phonemes

Mac wrote in academic-peer-speak in his book:
http://www.amazon.com/Who-Wrote-Night-Before-Christmas/dp/1476664439

So I rewrote the research in people-speak, along with a large biography of Henry that told of the century of battle over authorship.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01NAGIDZL/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1481117959&sr=8-11&keywords=henry+livingston

We got into the phonemes when I tried to suck a friend into the research. I’d been chair of programming languages and she had been president of computational linguistics. I met her at a Dunkin’ Donuts and began reading to her from Moore and Livingston’s poetry. As I read Moore, I stopped, confused, and explained the words were having trouble coming out. She explained that it had to do with where my tongue was moving as I read, and described phoneme research. If the tongue didn’t move far, the words came out smoothly. If the tongue had a lot of jumps, the words came out awkwardly.

So I ran home and wrote Mac. He said he knew of the work but it was WAY to much work to ask us to do. That brought back memories of the difference academics take to work and that taken by the military/industrial complex that I came out of. So I said we’d do the work. And the rest is history.

Phoneme research looks at what happens between adjacent sounds - phoneme pairs. So what Mac was looking for was to identify the phoneme pairs that Henry and Moore used preferentially, and then compare those sets with the set of favorite pairs of the Christmas poet.


2 posted on 12/17/2022 12:54:57 PM PST by mairdie (Brother Beekman - Henry Livingston, Jr - https://youtu.be/hB-uHg9QTc8)
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To: mairdie

Do you know what title Hallmark is using for the movie? I’ve checked a few of the different Hallmark channels and son’t see this. Thank you.


3 posted on 12/17/2022 1:00:58 PM PST by MayflowerMadam
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To: MayflowerMadam

The new Hallmark movie is titled “ ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas” and is part of the channel’s extensive countdown to Christmas programming. The movie was shot in Canada and stars Torrey DeVitto and Zane Holtz. It was directed by Gary Yates. The film script, adapted from the earlier play, was written by C. Jay Cox and Yates.


4 posted on 12/17/2022 1:03:35 PM PST by mairdie (Brother Beekman - Henry Livingston, Jr - https://youtu.be/hB-uHg9QTc8)
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To: MayflowerMadam; mairdie

I think I found it. “’Twas the Night Before Christmas”.

Plot: “A former actress takes charge of a town’s annual Christmas Eve courtroom production, in which the true authorship of the famous poem ‘A Visit From St. Nick’ is debated.”


5 posted on 12/17/2022 1:03:38 PM PST by MayflowerMadam
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To: MayflowerMadam

Hallmark movie preview on YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCyonAWlEHQ


6 posted on 12/17/2022 1:05:40 PM PST by mairdie (Brother Beekman - Henry Livingston, Jr - https://youtu.be/hB-uHg9QTc8)
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To: MayflowerMadam

Second preview:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpGv35Tlmu8


7 posted on 12/17/2022 1:09:23 PM PST by mairdie (Brother Beekman - Henry Livingston, Jr - https://youtu.be/hB-uHg9QTc8)
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A Christmas Donation would be nice
8 posted on 12/17/2022 1:54:19 PM PST by deport
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To: deport

>>GREAT TRUTHS ABOUT GROWING OLD:

Excellent list.


9 posted on 12/17/2022 2:02:32 PM PST by mairdie (Brother Beekman - Henry Livingston, Jr - https://youtu.be/hB-uHg9QTc8)
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To: mairdie

Please describe what this post is about?


10 posted on 12/17/2022 2:14:07 PM PST by higgmeister (In the Shadow of The Big Chicken!)
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To: higgmeister

Apologies for being unclear.

The article describes a movie that will show tonight on the Hallmark channel. It’s a romance (sigh) between the lawyers pleading the case for Livingston and for Moore as the author of Night Before Christmas. The movie is based on the 2013 mock trial at which I sat at the Livingston table as the Livingston descendant. (Admittedly, it was rather awkward when conversing with the Moore descendant out of the courtroom.)

The real mock trial had the jury verdict come back that the actual author of Night Before Christmas was Henry Livingston NOT Clement Moore. Troy NY declared a Henry Livingston Day for Troy.


11 posted on 12/17/2022 2:38:51 PM PST by mairdie (Brother Beekman - Henry Livingston, Jr - https://youtu.be/hB-uHg9QTc8)
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To: mairdie
Interesting.   Thanks.   I'll tell my wife about this one when she finishes playing her piano.   She has been watching a lot of those Hallmark channel contributions to the Christmas Season.   Merry Christmas, only a week away now.
12 posted on 12/17/2022 3:20:31 PM PST by higgmeister (In the Shadow of The Big Chicken!)
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To: higgmeister
A most Happy Christmas to you and to your wife.

Henry's 1811 New Year's Carrier's Address


13 posted on 12/17/2022 4:12:42 PM PST by mairdie (Brother Beekman - Henry Livingston, Jr - https://youtu.be/hB-uHg9QTc8)
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