Mark Mark marches to Columbus on Wednesday

PD and former BJ entertainment critic Mark Dawidziak will take his national tour to Columbus on Wednesday, July 1.

He’ll perform at the Thurber House, 77 Jefferson Avenue, from 5:30 to 9 p.m. That’s the historic former home of author, humorist and New Yorker cartoonist James Thurber, who, to my knowledge, has not been impersonated by Dawidziak. Maybe that’s for another show someday.

Mark has been at this critic stuff for more than 35 years, including when I was his editor in the Features Department at Ol’ Blue Walls.

Mark looks like Mark Twain’s twin brother, or a reincarnation of Samuel Langhorne Clemens himself, and does a Twain show and writes a Twain book about every 30 days, or so it seems.

Dawidziak first became Twain at age 22. He’s a lot older than that now.

His latest book is “Mark Twain's Guide to Diet, Exercise, Beauty, Fashion, Investment, Romance, Health and Happiness.” That’s his 12^th book.

He squeezed a book about “Columbo” in there somewhere. My shining moment was when Peter Falk phoned and wanted to talk to Mark.

I explained that Mark wasn’t there, chatted a bit, and said, “One more thing . . . “ Falk laughed as if he had never heard anyone use Columbo’s famous line to him before. Hey, I take my brushes with fame where I can get them.

Mark came to the BJ from Tennessee and brought along his show-biz wife, Sara Showman, who often joins him in their performances at every library that will have them. They founded the Largely Literary Theatre Company in 2002.

When they need a Twain break, they break out in Edgar Allan Poe or Charles Dickens performances.

Dawidziak also has been the featured speaker at the Mark Twain Museum in Buffalo and the keynote speaker at the National Endowment for the Arts Big Read initiatives devoted to Twain.

And the other nationally known Twainer, actor Hal Holbrook, puts his arm around Dawidziak for frequent photo ops with a giant picture in the background beTwain them.

Dawidziak this month performed at the Mark Twain House & Museum in Hartford, Connecticut. He got a standing ovation. Either that or there was a stampede to get out the door.