''Bert & I'' is the name given to numerous collections of

humor Humour (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English) or humor (American English) is the tendency of experiences to provoke laughter and provide amusement. The term derives from the humorism, humoral medicine of the ancient Gre ...

stories set in the "

Down East "Down East", also "Downeast", is a term for parts of eastern coastal New England and Canada, particularly the U.S. state of Maine and Canada's Maritime Provinces, an area that closely corresponds to the historical French territory of Acadia. Th ...

" culture of traditional Maine. These stories were made famous and mostly written by the

humorist A humorist (American) or humourist (British spelling) is an intellectual who uses humor, or wit, in writing or public speaking, but is not an artist who seeks only to elicit laughs. Humorists are distinct from comedians, who are show business e ...

storytelling team of

Marshall Dodge Marshall Dodge (1935–1982) was a Maine humorist. Early life Dodge was born in New York City, attended high school in New Hampshire, and graduated from Yale University with a degree in philosophy. Career Dodge and his associate, Robert Bryan ...

(1935–1982) and Bob Bryan (1931-2018) in the 1950s and the 1960s and in later years through retellings by Allen Wicken. The stories communicate the quirkiness of rural New England and Maine culture, told in the traditional folksy New England storytelling vein with a dry wit that would later inspire the Lake Wobegon stories that would begin appearing in 1974.Rob Nelson
"The Long Goodbye -- Garrison Keillor's Prairie makes a fine pasture for Altman"
June 08, 2006. The title characters are fishermen by trade, operating a motor vessel named ''Bluebird'' (and later ''Bluebird II''), based out of Kennebunkport. Many of the longer stories of Bert & I collections involve incidents during a day's work, with careful detail given to the intricacies of the trade (especially through sound effects vocalized by Dodge). One story, ''Which Way to Millinocket?'', adapts the "You can't get there from here" trope of the 19th-century " Arkansas Traveler" tradition to a

New England accent New England English is, collectively, the various distinct dialects and varieties of American English American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of varieties of the English language native to the U ...

. The similarly titled ''Which Way to East Vassalboro?'' has a different, anti-urbanite theme. The stories spread beyond New England during the 1970s and 1980s and introduced many parts of the country and world to the regionally distinct Maine (or "Yankee") accent. In 1982, Bryan released a ''Bert & I'' mock language tape, ''How to Talk Yankee,'' with fellow Maine humorist

Tim Sample Timothy J. Sample (born ) is a New England humorist, famous both for his presentation and his Maine accent. He has sold well over a million copies of his books, albums, and videos, including four albums and a video for the Bert and I company. I ...

Discography

* ''Bert and I... And Other Stories from Down East'' (1958) * ''More Bert and I... And Other Stories from Down East'' (1961) BI-5 * ''The Return of Bert and I: How the Bluebird II Plugged the Hole in the Machias Maru, Thus Saving the Coast of Maine and Other Stories'' (1961) BI-9 * ''Bert and I Stem Inflation'' (1961) BI-11 * ''Bert and I... On Stage'' (1977) BI-12 * ''from Bert and I... How to Talk Yankee'' (1977) BI-14 * ''Bert and I presents... Tim Sample - Back in spite of Popular Demand'' (1985) BI-16 * ''A Maine Pot-Hellion''

References

External links

Bert and I homepage

by Tim Sample
Marshall Dodge entry
at Discogs Maine culture American short story collections {{story-collection-stub