Long John Silver
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- For the restaurant chain, see Long John Silver's.
- For the album by Jefferson Airplane, see Long John Silver (album).
Long John Silver is a fictional character in the novel Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson. Silver is also known by the nicknames "Barbecue" and "the Sea-Cook" (which is also an alternate title for Stevenson's novel).
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[edit] Profile
In Treasure Island, Long John Silver is a pirate and was the ship's quartermaster under the notorious Captain John Flint. Silver was said to have been the only man whom Flint ever feared. Like many of Stevenson's characters, there is more than a modicum of duality in the character; ostensibly Silver is a hard-working and likeable seaman, and it is only as the plot unfurls that his villainous nature is gradually revealed. His relationship with Jim Hawkins, the novel's protagonist, is interesting, as he serves as a mentor and eventually father-figure to Jim, creating much shock and emotion when it is discovered that he is in charge of the mutiny, and especially when Jim must confront him and fight later on. When Silver escapes at the end of the novel, he takes "three or four hundred guineas" of the treasure with him, thus becoming one of only two former members of Captain Flint's crew to get his hands on a portion of the treasure. (The repentant maroonee Ben Gunn is the other, but he spends it all in nineteen days.) Jim's own ambivalence towards Silver is reflected in the last chapter, when he speculates that the old pirate must have settled down in comfortable retirement: "It is to be hoped so, I suppose, for his chances of comfort in another world are very small."
Stevenson's portrayal of Silver has greatly influenced the modern iconography of the pirate. Silver has a parrot, named Captain Flint in honor of his former captain, who generally perches on Silver's shoulder. Silver has lost one of his legs, and uses a crutch to help him get around. He is married to a woman of African descent.
According to Stevenson's letters, the idea for the character of Long John Silver was inspired by his real-life friend William Henley, a writer and editor. Stevenson's step-son, Lloyd Osbourne, described Henley as "..a great, glowing, massive-shouldered fellow with a big red beard and a crutch [Henley was crippled]; jovial, astoundingly clever, and with a laugh that rolled like music; he had an unimaginable fire and vitality; he swept one off one's feet". In a letter to Henley after the publication of Treasure Island Stevenson wrote "I will now make a confession. It was the sight of your maimed strength and masterfulness that begot Long John Silver...the idea of the maimed man, ruling and dreaded by the sound [voice alone], was entirely taken from you".
[edit] Modern portrayals
Actors who have portrayed Long John Silver in the various motion picture adaptations of Treasure Island include Wallace Beery, Orson Welles, Charlton Heston, Robert Newton, Anthony Quinn, Tim Curry, Jack Palance, Brian Murray and Brian Blessed and British actor Ivor Dean in a televised version of the novel. Robert Newton followed up his two Long John Silver movies with an Australian produced TV series.
Ivor Dean played the character in an acclaimed European filmisation for television in 1966. After the end of that 4-part mini-series he intended to reprise the role in another series with more adventures of Silver. He began writing an exposee with director Robert S. Baker, but his sudden death in 1974 stopped all further plannings. In 1985 this script was used as foundation for a 10-part TV-series called "Return to Treasure Island". There is also a book called "Long John Silver", which is a fictional biography written by Bjorn Larsson (ISBN 1-86046-538-2).
[edit] Trivia
- Philip Jose Farmer has postulated that Silver is the father of Paladin from the 1950's series Have Gun - Will Travel. Farmer gives Paladin the name Lancelot Silver.
- The fast food restaurant chain Long John Silver's was named after this character.
- In J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan, it is said that Captain Hook is the only man "the Sea-Cook" ever feared. It later suggests that Silver/Barbecue was killed by Pan, though Pan himself can't remember exactly...which is Pan's habit.
- In the song Mother Goose by Jethro Tull, there is a line "I don't believe they knew that I was Long John Silver".
[edit] External links
- Info on the Australian Long John Silver TV series. http://www.classicaustraliantv.com/advljs.htm
