Some insight on Willie Winter

I researched the question: is Willie Winter real, and if so, who is he? After doing some quick searches on Google I came across marktwainproject.com, a very useful site. Under the tab “letters” I found some interesting information on a fellow named William Winter (which is obviously connected to Willie Winter). Another quick Wikipedia search on William Winter revealed that he was in fact a dramatic critic and author. He was a literary critic for such papers as Saturday Press, Albion, and most importantly (to my cause) Tribune.

Going back to Twain’s speech, we find that when he first introduces Winter he states: “Willie Winter for these past thousand years dramatic editor of the New York Tribune, and still occupying that high post in his old age) was there.” I’m sure we can safely assume that Willie Winter is in fact the author William Winter.