“A SPLENDID ORCHESTRA
Is in town, but has not been engaged.
Also, . . .
MAGNIFICENT FIRE WORKS
were in contemplation for this occasion, but the
idea has been abandoned.
A GRAND TORCHLIGHT PROCESSION
May be expected; in fact, the public are privileged
to expect whatever they please.”

—Mark Twain, from an advertisement for a postwar San Francisco performance; quoted in Printer’s Devil: Mark Twain and the American Publishing Revolution by Bruce Michelson, 2006.