Speaking of which, didnt the young Jackie Kennedy have something of this, along with a kinda dreamy, airy, Monroe-esque (though many degrees less contrived) essence to it? I just heard that George Plimpton has died. George Plimpton. He had it all going! Famed participatory journalist George Plimpton (1927-2003) was a writer, editor, amateur sportsman, actor, and friend to many. After St. Bernard's School, Plimpton attended Phillips Exeter Academy (from which he was expelled just shy of graduation), and Daytona Beach High School, where he received his high school diploma,[16] before entering Harvard College in July 1944. At Harvard, Plimpton was a classmate and close personal friend of Robert F. Kennedy. Orson Welles also comes to mind, though I noticed he spoke in this mode more often during his early days, on and off screen. I saw him [last] Wednesday night at a party; we rode home together, and he told me that he was planning to go down to Cuba, to revisit the site of his famous interview with Hemingway. It includes clear pronunciation of each and every consonant cluster. I only wish I could not tell him again, just one more time. *Originally posted by bordelond * Vault. He was one of her original supporters and had published an article about her work in The Paris Review. The responses fall into interesting categories: linguistic descriptions of this accent; sociological and ethnic explanations for its rise and fall; possible technological factors in its prominence and disappearance; explanations rooted in the movie industry; nominees for who might have been the last American to talk this way; and suggestions that a few rare specimens still exist. It was scary, because he was never mad, and to see this normally benevolent, white-haired figure of civility fill with pink steam, to hear this gentle man, who loved nothing more than to tell lighthearted stories and laugh, suddenly shout-whisper Dammit at some injustice on the other end of the telephone was unsettling. Read more in this thread (long). During a career that spanned the second half of the 20th century, Plimpton was a quarterback for the Detroit Lions, pitched at Yankee Stadium, sparred with Archie Moore, played the triangle with. No one realized till the next day that this was the weather that created the extreme blue skies of Sept. 11a condition I since learned that pilots call severe clear. The next day, friends called and said, That was the last party. But he came right down to our level. By George Plimpton. After her transformation, I noted that Mia sounds precisely like her mother, Maureen OSullivan, who had that patrician manner of speaking on and off screen. Realizing that I probably didnt know anyone, George took me around the room to introduce me to his guestsWilliam Styron, Norman Mailer, Robert Stone, and Gay Talese among them. That made him a great storyteller. It was a hot, sweltering day. Hed have that and a scotch on the rocks, his favorite drink. Whom is it spoken bymerely the elite, old-money types? Hes just trying it out and will come back and write a book about his experiences. Whether on the football field or on a golf course or in a poem or an essay, the notion of human talent in whatever form excited him. Its something different, and Ive not encountered that in the mid-Atlantic. Tom Nowatzke, fullback, Detroit Lions (In the 1960s, Plimpton briefly played with the Detroit Lions asresearch for the best-selling book Paper Lion, which was later made into a film):I was the No. Almost twenty years ago, writing quirky sports pieces for the Village Voice, I decided to enter the world of championship arm wrestling.Like many young writers, I was inspired by the sports adventures of the gaunt but game George Plimpton, who had made a literary career out of placing himself in . Charles McGrath, editor of the New York Times Book Review:I dont think George had played golf in years, but he used to save up oddball tips for me and others. The fake English announcer voice lingered on sporadically until the end of the Johnson administration in newsreels, which themselves ceased production around the same time, but Rod Serlings decision sounded the death knell for that accent. He was not himself interested in poetry, but he read all of the poems every quarter, and he would tell me what he thought of them. It was a great partyraucous and long. Jonathan Ames, author:Back in the fall of 1999, in preparation for my one and only boxing match, I read George Plimptons great book, Shadow Box, where he recounted his foray into the world of boxing and his famous encounter with Archie Moore. Manhattan DVD. **. And later I woke upat 6 a.m. Later I called up George, I said, What happened?, I thought it over, he said, and I took mercy on you. When he was on the scene, everything was a big happeningan event. He was previously married to Sara Whitehead Dudley and Freddy Medora Espy. Kennedy died the next day at Good Samaritan Hospital. Oh now, Im joking, Carnac ( see? Bill, who was from the South, kept saying to me, Can you believe Georges not English? His dish was Spaghetti Bolognese. (This is not to belittle Lowell Thomas, but to recognize the artifice that served him so well in his career). [21] The prank was so successful that many readers believed the story, and the ensuing popularity of the joke resulted in Plimpton's writing an entire book on Finch. I hope not. And his apartment, with those windows that looked out onto the East River, became a famous landmark in NYC. Read more. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to these men speak. He also appeared in the 1996 documentary When We Were Kings about the "Rumble in the Jungle" 1974 Ali-Foreman Championship fight opposite Norman Mailer crediting Muhammad Ali as a poet who composed the world's shortest poem: "Me? He is widely known for his sports writing and for helping to found The Paris Review. Another entertainment-related explanation for the shift, right about the time of the Eisenhower-Kennedy transition: The plumby announcer voice that hovers over the Atlantic midway between the Eastern Seaboard and England was mortally wounded in 1959. Elaine Kaufman, owner of Elaines restaurant:Over the 40 years I knew him, George came in often, sometimes twice a week, usually on his way back from a cocktail party. In no way do I recall Plimpton talking in a way that is typically associated with LLa style which, as I understand it, is associated with unclear pronunciation of most consonant cluster. Plimpton had a quasi-Brit patrician accent, which in no way corresponds with the official descriptions of LL that Ive read on the Net. On one website, I read about a Choate alumn saying one can still hear the LL (see above thread) accent on campus. **, In this case, Mid-Atlantic refers to speech in which the attributes of British English and American English meet halfway. Revolutionary musket, a stairwell and a housemaster), [37] His son, Taylor, described it as a mixture of "old New England, old New York, tinged with a hint of King's College King's English."[14]. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement and Your California Privacy Rights. [citation needed] Some of these events, such as his stint with the Colts, and an attempt at stand-up comedy, were presented on the ABC television network as a series of specials. (Why do I even bother?) expelled from the very expensive, very WASP-y Philips No matter where he was, or who he wasquarterback, trapeze artist, Philharmonic triangle-playerhis voice never changed, proving that you can be whomever you want to be without ever abandoning yourself. [28], Plimpton was a demolitions expert in the post-World War II Army. He knew we were just as good as he was, but in a different field. I always thought it sounded similar to the accent of William F. Buckley, Jr., who I believe was not reared in Boston. She was the daughter of writers Willard R. Espy[39] and Hilda S. Cole, who had, earlier in her career, been a publicity agent for Kate Smith and Fred Waring. How to find out, and whether you should care. George Plimpton. Well have a lot more to say about Buckley and Vidal for now the leaders in the race for Last American to Talk This Way (with George Plimpton in third)in the next installment. And so it seemed only fitting to commemorate his death with the form he made his own.Meghan ORourke. tweedy demeanor and Oxford accent. In that vein, here is an oral biography of George Plimpton. He got the personality totally wrong, too. When Plimpton, the co-founder of The Paris Review, died in 2003 at age 76, The New York Times . While I don't normally think of Lithgow as speaking with a Mid-Atlantic accent, he does a great job affecting one for the role. Im having a harder time coming up with clear examples from the other side of the Atlantic, but Ive heard Alfred Molina (Londoner), and Catherine Zeta-Jones (Welsh) put on a Mid-Atlantic accent from time to time.. LL is typified, I think, but an almost clenching of the teeth while talking, producing a mushy sound, if you will. I had George tell him the story of Sidd Finch. But it didnt define him, much the way he refused to be defined by the stiff, upper-crust world from which hed come. Middle class? Just when Jim and I thought we had finished, and we had been working a long time, George, who loved the result of our efforts, decided he wanted to talk to me as well. :rolleyes: Ive got news for you, buddy, youre not even second in line! George had three siblings: Francis Taylor Pearsons Plimpton Jr., Oakes Ames Plimpton,[15] and Sarah Gay Plimpton. Plimpton, George 1927-2003(George Ames Plimpton) Source for information on Plimpton, George 1927-2003: Concise Major 21st Century Writers dictionary. Actually, thats not far off from how my mom felt when she first met him. Ad Choices. Hed ask what was new in fireworks business and doodle around the facility with my dad, and he would always leave with a package of fireworks, to put on his own show. In that regard, Plimpton is the perfect candidate, and the proof is in "George, Being George," the compulsively readable oral biography edited by his friend Nelson W. Aldrich Jr. #1 was Who Was the Last American to Speak This Way, #3 is Class-War Edition, and #4 is The Origin Story., Who Was the Last American to Speak This Way. It includes clear pronunciation of each and every consonant cluster. He is widely known for his sports writing and for helping to found The Paris Review, as well as his patrician demeanor and accent. He rounded first as if he were about to go for a double, then glided back to the base, with fans waving and cheering. What fine manners he had! Ive rarely heard this accent in real life but its often used by actors doing a stereotype character based on other actors impersonations! It is the kind of study . Congratulations Carnac, for posting about George Plimptons death at 3:44 PM. She is the product of a line of the original Dutch settlers of New York and grew up in Tuxedo Park and the Gramercy Park area of Manhattan, very exclusive. If you are in the big league, God help us all. (Did Eisenhower speak the newsreel style? And George had written it straight. He just did it because Columbia was another literary magazine. He wrote, "I suppose in a mild way there is a lesson to be learned for the young, or the young at heart the gumption to get out and try one's wings". Isnt that what they call it. He is widely known for his sports writing and for helping to found The Paris Review, as well as his patrician demeanor and accent. I want you to go [to the shop] pull out the biggest firework you have and go out and light it up, because you just won the firework contest in Monaco!, I was so stunned, all I could think to say was, I dont think I can get a permit that fast!, Alice Quinn, director of the Poetry Society of America, poetry editor, The New Yorker:When I was an adviser at Columbia Magazine [a journal run out of Columbia University], we were scraping barrel, with no money in the bank, and I said to the students we should have a benefit auction. Jean Harlow, one of my favorites, is all over the map with this, sometimes sounding like a tough streetwalker, other times like a society matron, and, oddly, slipping in and out of both dialects in the same role, or even in one sentence. It was always as if one were setting out with him on a special adventure. If he couldnt be taken quite seriously, that was fine with him (he took himself lightly, and relished being in on the joke). Several readers wrote in with specimens of Americans who had gone to England and ended up speaking in this mid-Atlantic way. And so when it was time to say goodbye, we did so simplyno awkwardness, no strangled expressions of affectionand this is why, even though it was the last time we ever spoke, and I would never get the chance again, I do not regret not telling him that I loved him. [23] He was also notable for his appearance in television commercials during the early 1980s, including a memorable campaign for Mattel's Intellivision. Heres a sampling for today, with more planned in the days ahead. She was also the great-granddaughter on her father's side of Oakes Ames (18041873), an industrialist and congressman who was implicated in the Crdit Mobilier railroad scandal of 1872; and Governor-General of New Orleans Benjamin Franklin Butler, an American lawyer and politician who represented Massachusetts in the United States House of Representatives and later served as the 33rd Governor of Massachusetts. I can understand your frustration, but celebrities die every day. He saw athletes as heroes he. His experience was captured in the book Out of My League. [30] Plimpton later wrote the book Fireworks, and hosted an A&E Home Video with the same name featuring his many fireworks adventures with the Gruccis of New York in Monte Carlo and for the 1983 Brooklyn Bridge Centennial. And the role of Katharine Hepburn, whose Locust Valley Lockjaw accent was a cousin of announcer-speak: I was just discussing this not a week ago with a friend who has done voice work in film and television, and can adopt this accent in an instant to evoke that period, much to my amusement. He has the same type of patrician upper-class New Yorker accent as Jane Wyatt. Could it be fairly said that Plimptom had it? It was horrifying.. He was a Wasp (both of his parents came from old New England families, and had ancestors on the Mayflower). I received many notes like this one: The variety of English you are referring to has a name in linguistics: "Mid-Atlantic English". George Plimpton is beautifully connected. Powered by Discourse, best viewed with JavaScript enabled. $ 4.19 - $ 17.92. One reader writes: I've wondered whether that "announcer English" was at least partly caused by poor loudspeakers and microphones. **. George Plimpton (1927-2003) was a journalist and the first editor-in-chief of The Paris Review. (He intended to face both line-ups, but tired badly and was relieved by Ralph Houk.) George Plimpton, journalist extraordinaire, trains with and then performs as Quarterback for the Baltimore Colts. Vault. Are you saying that the denizens of Larchmont sound like Plimpton did? Prestigious prep schools and ivy league institutions (though Gore Vidal never went to college). I have decided, he said, that I have got to jump from a plane. Somehow Georgehad gotten it into his head that I was on the verge of becoming a pharmacist before he had called me up a year earlier to tell me the Paris Review was publishing a story I had submittedperhaps because of the pharmacological bent of the subject matter. Actors Nathan Lane (from Jersey City, NJ) and Robin Williams (grew up in SF Bay area) often adopt this accent. He also appeared in a featurette about Edie Sedgwick found on the Ciao! The funny thing about Harris was that he did not start out with that accent - as I suspect George Gershwin did not. My dad could never say what he feltnot reallyand neither can any of us. To me, it meant admission to this little exclusive club at the Paris Review. Off screen, George Plimpton and Gore Vidal come to mind. The limited frequency response of the recording technology of the late 19th and early 20th centuries has left us with only a pale, and sometimes caricatural image of the original sound. The Dudleys established the 36-acre (15ha) Highstead Arboretum in Redding, Connecticut. **Those of us whose families are from Larchmont (that would be me) just call it lockjaw. Truman Capote: In Which Various Friends, Enemies, Acquaintances, and Detractors Recall His Turbulent Career. Update: This post is #2 in the announcer-speak series. A lordly accent acquired at St. Bernard's and burnished later at Cambridge, in England, enhanced his distinguished aura, as did elevated stature and a silver head of hair which might have encouraged a career in politics but mercifully did not. What stood in our way? He plays the 'fancy pants' to our outhouse Americana," Flaherty asserted. Billy Collins, poet:Im one of these people who went from crashing Georges parties in the 70s to being invited in the 80s. **Thats a common name for such an accent. Felix Grucci Jr., of Fireworks by Grucci (Plimpton wrote about the Grucci family, widely held to be the first family of fireworks, in Fireworks: A History and Celebration):George had a very big passion for fireworks. And I, of course, was looking them over, too. From what other people had told me, I knew a little bit about itthat my father (and mother) had been right by Bobbys side in California when he was shot, that my father had tackled Sirhan Sirhan to the ground, and wrestled the gun from his handbut not a word of it came from my dad himself. 08:37 Dinner at Elaine's. by George Plimpton. When George told the story, DiMaggio laughed so hard I thought he was going to fall on the floor. [47][48] George . He had it, as does/did William Buckley, Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, and Julia Child. Vault. Since all we have are recordings of those long-vanished voices, we do not and cannot know whether people spoke "this way" when they were not being recorded, although I would be willing to wager that they did not. . Puss, and my father enjoyed nothing more than holding the beast high in the air and making strange, affectionate sounds in that distinguished voice: Yeanngghh, Puss Yeaannngh Puss Puss Puss.) He called my sister Puss, too, sometimes, though mostly I think with her it was Kiddo, which he also called me, though there was a period in which he occasionally called me Ernie, which was the dogs name. May a diseased yak squat in your hot tub. She would not even say goodbye. I'm not an expert, but Bill Labov from UPenn is, and he is quoted thusly: According to William Labov, teaching of this pronunciation declined sharply after the end of World War II. We worked at the Paris Review on the Rue Garanere for several years together. And being good at losing was one of Georges many gifts. See below!) Eerily enough, one of the messages on my answering machine was from George, with that distinctive accent of his: Hallo, its George Plimpton. This book is the party that was George's life-and it's a big one-attended by scores of famous people, as well as. Oh, I suppose we should all just lavish praise upon Carnac the Magnificent now for bringing this to your attention, is that it? Bill and I met in Rome, several months after the Paris Review was startedwe were, as they say, courtingand he drove me to Paris so George and Peter [Mathiessen] could look me over. Plimpton was an omnipresence for much of American cultural lifeboth high and lowin the last third of the 20th century. The Scout Is a Lonely Hunter. [35], Plimpton was known for his distinctive accent which, by Plimpton's own admission, was often mistaken for an English accent. For his grandfather, the publisher and philanthropist, see, Calvin Gay Plimpton and Priscilla G. Lewis were the parents of, He was widely reviled for years after the war by Southern whites, who gave him the nickname "Beast Butler." Louis Begley, novelist:Jim Atlas interviewed me for an Art of Fiction piece in the Paris Review, a feature of the magazine that George invented and brought to perfection. Alan Alda, portraying my dad in the movie version of Paper Lion (his book on playing quarterback for the Detroit Lions), didnt bother with his voice at all. (What else happened that year??? Future Poet Laureate Donald Hall, who had met Plimpton at Exeter, was Poetry Editor. [13], Plimpton's son described him as a White Anglo-Saxon Protestant and wrote that both of Plimpton's parents were descended from Mayflower passengers.[14]. "[27], Plimpton was a member of the cast of the A&E TV series A Nero Wolfe Mystery (200102). Norman Mailer said that George Plimpton was the best-loved man in New York. In finally hearing the great storyteller tell the one story he would not tell, I could hear, too, his long, reverent silence on the subjectand it reveals his integrity as a journalist, and as a man. **Oh, I suppose we should all just lavish praise upon Carnac the Magnificent now for bringing this to your attention, is that it? Plimpton[2] was born in New York City on March 18, 1927, and spent his childhood there, attending St. Bernard's School and growing up in an apartment duplex on Manhattan's Upper East Side located at 1165 Fifth Avenue. Please educate me. After several problems with transporting and preparing the fireworks, Plimpton and Grucci became the first competitors from the United States to win the event. Premiring on June 21st at the SilverDocs festival, in Washington, D.C., and directed by Tom Bean and Luke Poling, the film contains interviews with notable friends and peers like Hugh Hefner, Peter Matthiessen, and James Lipton, though the majority of this remarkable account is narrated by none other than George Plimpton. George Plimpton, who has died aged 76, became a best-selling author by not only writing about sporting heroes but by participating in those sports as well. The Writers won the game with a home run in extra innings, but the highlight was Plimptons hit. History / Biographical Note Biographical Note. Self-help author and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Marianne Williamson has a unique accent that, . Youll get another shot at the big time, trust me. Talking about sports with Georgeor, even better, reading George about sportswas more fun than sports themselves. He was immensely generous in every waygenerous about sharing the work and about giving one a chance to edit things. On Saturday Night Live, even the great impersonator Dana Carvey couldnt get it quite right. For such admissions to escape my fathers lips, they always had to be a little removed somehow. Big, tall, good-looking guy, easy-going. Anyhow, I asked Terry Gross from Fresh Air and George Plimpton to be auctioneers.