What exactly is a Boston Brahmin accent? That was the last party for a while., I just got back from a road trip from Michigan. If he couldnt be taken quite seriously, that was fine with him (he took himself lightly, and relished being in on the joke). George also approved, I think, of the fact that I lost. And I felt such love for my sweet old excited dad at that moment that I thought I would do him the favor of not telling him so, of leaving it unsaid. They were born to Plimpton and his second wife, Sarah Dudley, 26 years younger than he, who is chairwoman of the East Harlem Tutorial Program, for which he was a trustee. The s. He died on September 26, 2003 in Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA. 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. Why Did William F. Buckley Jr. Talk Like That? - Slate Magazine Call me back.. Timothy Seldes, George Plimptons literary agent:Whenever George wanted me to do something for him, he would call me up and say, Hello, Old Tim. One day, I got a call, and heard his voice, and my heart sank. I remember the Lowell Thomas documentary films of the 50s where Mr. Thomas' mellifluous tones and distinct radio-style pronunciation gave him a respectability that a similar huckster could hardly hope to replicate today by the mere application of such an artifice. 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. Gay Talese, author:As a young man not long out of university, at 26, 27 years of age, George Plimpton went with his friends to Paris to be benighted in the tradition of Paris culture. Hemingway on Fiction, Part Two. [citation needed]. I think he came down [to the shooting of Paper Lion in] Florida once. 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. Spoke in a mid-Atlantic accent, reflecting a privileged Upper East Side (in New York City) upbringing. 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. And the answer may explain partly why it has gone out of fashion: Jonathan Harris, the actor who played Dr. Smith on the television show "Lost in Space.". He watched the first pitch sail high for a ball, and then hit a rope into left field. In 1994, Plimpton appeared several times in the Ken Burns series Baseball, in which he shared some personal baseball experiences as well as other memorable events throughout the history of baseball.[20]. Hear Stories By George Plimpton. George Ames Plimpton (March 18, 1927 - September 25, 2003) was an American journalist, writer, literary editor, actor and occasional amateur sportsman. At Harvard, Plimpton was a classmate and close personal friend of Robert F. Kennedy. [2][43], An oral biography titled George, Being George was edited by Nelson W. Aldrich Jr., and released on October 21, 2008. **Mid-Atlantic. Bill Buckley, Gore Vidal, George Plimpton. How George Washington Spoke (Brief Thoughts) | Dialect Blog Orson Welles notably spoke in a mid-Atlantic accent in the 1941 film Citizen Kane, as did many of his co-stars, such as Joseph Cotten. 2) The Role of Broadway and Hollywood, and the Shift from Jimmy Cagney to Marlon Brando. For instance: The American-British television presenter Loyd Grossman, who has described his accent as Mid-Atlantic. Of the Murrow Boys, Eric Sevareid held on to the newsreel style the longest; relying on memory, Im betting that we could actually watch the transition away from that to a more vernacular style in the long career of Walter Cronkite. The risky pleasures of Plimpton's classic of participatory sportswriting, Paper Lion. This was his habit. One of the magazine's most notable discoveries was author and screenplay writer Terry Southern, who was living in Paris at the time and formed a lifelong friendship with Plimpton, along with writer Alexander Trocchi and future classical and jazz pioneer David Amram. [Then] this August he showed up, pulled the shirt over his head, and said he was ready to bat. 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's a pitcher, part yogi and part recluse. (This is not to belittle Lowell Thomas, but to recognize the artifice that served him so well in his career). Starring George Plimpton as Himself" - is meant as a wink-wink to Plimpton's career as a "participatory journalist." As a writer for Sports . Share; Copied! *Originally posted by bordelond * I dont give a rats ass about informing anyone about the death of Plimpton. The Blacklisted Journalist,George Plimpton, 76 Death Claims Another of The clearest example of the Mid-Atlantic accent is the accent of the Frasier & Niles Crane characters on the TV show Frasier. George Plimpton is beautifully connected. In another cartoon in The New Yorker, a patient looks up at the masked surgeon about to operate on him and asks, "Wait a minute! I have a memory of George emerging out of the bush, with a terrible sunburn on his nose and face and legs; he was in safari gear, none of it hanging together very well, and over it all he was wearing a nice blue blazer. LL is typified, I think, but an almost clenching of the teeth while talking, producing a mushy sound, if you will. (A variation is the Locust Valley Lockjaw.). He loved the ones that made a lot of noise and racket and excitement. Even the most basic conversation was often a struggle. Back to Plimpton I dont remember the LL affect at all. I believe the accent was at one time known as Larchmont Lockjaw. . An Oral History of George Plimpton: The Man Does Everything - Observer My fathers voice was like one of those supposedly extinct deep-sea creatures that wash up on the shores of Argentina every now and then. The Wikipedia entry for it is quite detailed. If you are in the big league, God help us all. Plimpton's remarkable life is showcased in a documentary that is. His friendships testified to what an eclectic man he was. Lionel on Twitter: "News children today have no concept of the Mid All contents 2023 The Slate Group LLC. George Plimpton, Author And Editor, Is Dead at 76 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." Powered by Discourse, best viewed with JavaScript enabled. Kaltenborn was a famous mid . Do, Write George Plimpton Has Made A Career Throwing Himself Into George Plimpton | About the Film | American Masters | PBS 08:37 Dinner at Elaine's. by George Plimpton. Vault. He liked the fact that I had broken my nose in defeat. I never thought that George slept. 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. 3: Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives". I think it was an affectation people adopted because they thought it made them sound much more intelligent! It is the kind of study . [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]. Whats the matter?, Well, he said. He was also known for "participatory journalism," including accounts of his active involvement in professional sporting events, acting in a Western, performing a comedy act at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, and playing with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra[1] and then recording the experience from the point of view of an amateur. The Moth | The Art and Craft of Storytelling Besides, third is a very respectable showing! 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. And the many candidates for the crown of Last American to Speak This Way. [29], With Felix Grucci, Plimpton competed in the 16th International Fireworks Festival in 1979 in Monte Carlo. He did these jobs, and many others, as an amateur.. George Ames Plimpton (March 18, 1927 - September 25, 2003) was an American journalist, writer, literary editor, actor and occasional amateur sportsman. He is widely known for his sports writing and for helping to found The Paris Review, as well as his patrician demeanor and accent. [2], In 1975, in Bellport, Long Island, Plimpton, with Fireworks by Grucci attempted to break the record for the world's largest firework. 5 Things You Didn't Know About George Plimpton | Mental Floss December 17, 2022 Rafael Garca. 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. All rights reserved. rejoiced in the name of Euphemia van Renssalaer Wyatt. He was smooth. How George Plimpton's Sports Books Presaged the First-Person Media Age 1) The linguists have a name for it: they call it Mid-Atlantic English. I dont like this name, for reasons Ill explain in a minute. In the offices of the Paris Review, he displayed far more discerning tastes. Did he have the celebrated "Boston Brahmin" accent, or was it a psuedo-Brit affectation? One reader writes: I've wondered whether that "announcer English" was at least partly caused by poor loudspeakers and microphones. My Father's Voice | The New Yorker She was having lunch at P. J. Clarkes with the publisher Bennet Cerf and his son Chris, and my dad swooped over to the table (he was wearing a cape) and introduced himself in that ridiculously gallant voice: Bennet, Chris, what a pleasant surprise! That phony-baloney feigned British pronunciation thing. Buckley clearly flaunts it, probably to set himself apart from the hoi polloi of his contemporaries. But it didnt define him, much the way he refused to be defined by the stiff, upper-crust world from which hed come. Impressively liberated from our opulent life-style, Sidd's deciding about yogaand his future in baseball. I didnt know he was from the Larchmont area. When Muhammad Ali was fighting, George Plimpton was always there. I mean, if George Plimpton wasnt my father and Id never met him, and I heard that voice emerge from his lips and matched it with his severe Roman features and his usual blue blazer, oxford shirt, and tie, I might have assumed that he was a little pompous or snooty or affected. George was a little more in-depth than a lot of us, of course, with his education and all. Plimpton appeared in the 1989 documentary The Tightrope Dancer which featured the life and the work of the artist Vali Myers. You heard it and it. So we got together and, after some preliminaries, he popped the question that he was really there to ask. We worked at the Paris Review on the Rue Garanere for several years together. Finally I did. He was a Wasp (both of his parents came from old New England families, and had ancestors on the Mayflower). Middle class? Self-help author and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Marianne Williamson has a unique accent that, . Get book recommendations, fiction, poetry, and dispatches from the world of literature in your in-box. Read more. Plimpton died on September 25, 2003, in his New York City apartment from a heart attack later determined to have been caused by a catecholamine surge. Plimpton and Dudley were the parents of twin daughters Laura Dudley Plimpton and Olivia Hartley Plimpton. & FDR, George Plimpton, William F. Buckley, etc. He is widely known for his sports writing and for helping to found The Paris Review, as well as his patrician demeanor and accent. An Evening With George Plimpton - 2000 - YouTube You can. Ive lived in Boston for 30 years and have never heard a George Plimpton accent; so I guess it must be a Larchmont accent, *Originally posted by Carnac the Magnificent! For more than fifty years, his friends made a circle whose circumference was vast and whose center was a fashionable tenement on New York's East Seventy-second street. **Get a life. 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. Ive always heard it referred to as a patrician accent. [31][32][33] His firework, a Roman candle named "Fat Man",[31][32][33] weighed 720 pounds (330kg)[31] and was expected to rise to 1,000 feet (300m)[33] or more[31] and deliver a wide starburst. His father co-founded the law firm Debevoise Plimpton. Paris Review - Writers, Quotes, Biography, Interviews, Artists George Plimpton - American Academy of Arts and Letters 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. [citation needed], Plimpton's studies at Harvard were interrupted by military service from 1945 to 1948, during which time he served in Italy as an Army tank driver. What exactly is a Boston Brahmin accent? Plimpton didnt die. Plimpton played Tom Hanks's antagonistic father in Volunteers. Id like to offer a speculation, for what its worth. As a result, this American version of a posh accent has all but disappeared even among the American upper classes. Anyhow, I asked Terry Gross from Fresh Air and George Plimpton to be auctioneers. We had the book party for my selected poems, Sailing Alone Around the Room, at Georges house on Sept 10, 2001. They all gathered there. 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. The clipped, non-rhotic English accents of George Plimpton and William F. Buckley Jr. were vestigial examples. Indeed, the police deposition the filmmakers managed to uncover may be the only time my dad ever spoke about the tragedy, publicly or privately. Whom is it spoken bymerely the elite, old-money types? Youll get another shot at the big time, trust me. George was not vainhe didnt care a whit about his image. Truman Capote: In Which Various Friends, Enemies, Acquaintances, and Detractors Recall His Turbulent Career. [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. After his discharge, Plimpton returned to Harvard and finished his undergraduate education. Hed done it in Amsterdam, Moscow, and London; hed done it at a PEN benefit; and now he and Norman were going to do it in Cuba. In Praise of Plimpton - Newsweek Ken Auletta, author:Sometime after age 70, when his reflexes dulled, George took to the sidelines in the Artists and Writers softball game in Easthampton, N.Y. Each year his name was announced, and each year he was hailed by the crowd, who paid more attention to him than to the game. It was as if some old gentlemans code prohibited us from interacting as human beings. 'Plimpton!' documentary looks at George Plimpton's lives Look out, Wilson! 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. George Plimpton Biography - life, family, children, wife, school, son Queen Elizabeth doesnt say car, and neither did Franklin D. Roosevelt, nor did the newsreel announcers or movie actors of his day. These interviews are a collaborative effort, and, I believe, a fascinating contribution to literary history. George Plimpton Wiki: Salary, Married, Wedding, Spouse, Family . Sign up for the Books & Fiction newsletter. George Ames Plimpton (1927 - 2003) - Genealogy - geni family tree I have worked as poetry editor with editors on other magazines; only with George has the experience been entirely agreeable. 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. George Plimpton. **. Isnt that what they call it. *Originally posted by cuauhtemoc * But Labov said that in post-World War II New York, fancier people started becoming rhotic, and recovering their Rs. As Poling puts it, George was known as an unrivaled raconteur and, in making a film of his life story, it only seemed natural to allow him to tell it.. Here's how Geroge Plimpton and his team created a prodigious pitcher out of thin air. Volume 7, 2003-2005, pages 429-432. [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. It was then that the majority of audiences first heard Hollywood actors speaking predominantly in Mid-Atlantic English, British expatriates John Houseman, Henry Daniell, Anthony Hopkins, Camilla Luddington, and Angela Cartwright exemplified the accent, as did [a long list of North Americans, from Elizabeth Taylor and Grace Kelly to Richard Chamberlain and Christopher Plummer]. So, pairing the Cagney hint with the Kennedy Inaugural, could we date the changeover to 1961? These events were recalled in his best-known book Paper Lion, which was later adapted into the 1968 feature film starring Alan Alda. Whee!! George Ames Plimpton (March 18, 1927 - September 25, 2003) was an American journalist, writer, literary editor, actor and occasional amateur sportsman. George Plimpton - Rotten Tomatoes (My dads been dead nearly ten years: not that he held many in his life, but what grudges could he possibly be holding on to now? Greetings From the Vortex of Unpredictability, Truman Capote: In Which Various Friends, Enemies, Acquaintances and Detractors Recall His Turbulent Career. Starring George Plimpton as Himself, "George Plimpton, Urbane and Witty Writer, Dies at 76", "Obituary: Frances T. P. Plimpton, 82, Dies", "Obituary: Pauline A. Plimpton, 93, Author Of Works on Famed Relatives", "Milton at the Midpoint of the Last Century: One Collection of Memories", "How Failing at Exeter made a Success of George Plimpton", "Legendary Humorist, Poonster Dies at 76 | News | The Harvard Crimson", "George Plimpton, Paris Review Founder, Pitches 1980s Video Games for the Mattel Intellivision", "The Simpsons: I'm Spelling As Fast As I Can", "George Plimpton, Author And Editor, Is Dead at 76", "Professor Muhammed Ali Delivers Lecture; Poems and Parables Fill Talk on Friendship | News | The Harvard Crimson", "George Plimpton | Full Film | American Masters | PBS", "George Plimpton, Still Burning His Punk at Both Ends, Finds a Sport in Which He Can Sparkle", "George Plimpton: The Professional Amateur", "Some Really Dangerous Jobs For George Plimpton", "Being, And Appreciating, George Plimpton", "Obituary: Willard Espy, Who Delighted In Wordplay, Is Dead at 88", "George Plimpton, Writer and editor, Is Wed to Sarah W. Dudley, a Writer", "Obituary: James C. Dudley, 77, Investment Adviser", "Naming the Sky: The true story of one man's quest to give George Plimpton a permanent presence in orbit", "DEAD END-DRIVE-IN | Plimpton! In early 1959, George Plimpton was preparing to watch an execution in Cuba. What was our problem? The list of authors interviewed is extraordinary, and stretches from Hemingway years ago to Amy Hempel (in the 50th anniversary issue that has just been published). 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. Youll get another shot at the big time, trust me. **. He was also an accomplished birdwatcher. But the gentleman amateur - a Harvard. Robert Silvers, editor, the New York Review of Books:I met George on the Ile Saint-Louis in 1953 as I was leaving NATO headquarters. The last time I heard my fathers voice, it was over the telephone. Plimpton scowled, and said he was perfectly capable of running for himself. George Plimpton was born on March 18, 1927 in New York City, New York, USA. Too old-fashioned. 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. For it was George Plimpton the writer, not the editor nor the celebrity, who was honored here . *Originally posted by CBCD * I hope not. Peter Matthiesen, author, co-founder of the Paris Review:I was in Liberia, of all places, and George met me in Monrovia. George Plimpton (1927-2003) was a journalist and the first editor-in-chief of The Paris Review. At the time, he was getting ready to pitch for the Yankees,and we would throw pitches across 72nd Street in preparation. Being, And Appreciating, George Plimpton - krvs.org Mid-Atlantic. I can understand your frustration, but celebrities die every day. * Sometimes, we used to have quarrels, because he thought I took too many poems: Are you turning this magazine into a poetry magazine? he would say. Shootout at Rio Lobo", "The Smaller the Ball, the Better the Book: A Game Theory of Literature", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=George_Plimpton&oldid=1137974740, This page was last edited on 7 February 2023, at 10:19. The wife is also old money, as Phlosphr mentions, and she talks exactly the same way. OK? [5][6][7][8][9][10] His father was a successful corporate lawyer and partner of the law firm Debevoise and Plimpton; he was appointed by President John F. Kennedy as U.S. deputy ambassador to the United Nations, serving from 1961 to 1965. And similarly on the role of ridicule in speeding the move away from this accent: This is only partly facetious, but I think I know who was the American to speak "Announcer." When George Plimpton Met the Best Bartender in Brooklyn Two New York Legends Collide By Tim Sultan February 26, 2016 The only other person that I had known who possessed a similar charisma to Sunny Balzano's was my first employer in New York: George Plimpton. He also appeared in a featurette about Edie Sedgwick found on the Ciao! It's a Scottish accent that's been modified somewhat for a mainstream audience that tends to associate them with Groundskeeper Willie. He smiled broadly, signaled for the coach to send Lupica in to run for him, and trotted back to the sidelines. Everything he did was like this, just a bit odd. He was 76. Jean Stein became his co-editor. With 'Paper Lion,' George Plimpton Played Pro Football So We Didn't Have To By strange coincidence, I actually became quite good friends with his (ex-)in-laws here in Manhattan. This speech pattern might be common among US expatriates in the UK, of which Grossman would seem to represent just the most ostentatious example. George Plimpton The Movie Database (TMDB) He had a way of putting it all together, of understanding fighters in the ring; he was a good analyst of boxing. Labov suspected that WWII had something to do about it. Plimpton was married twice. $ 4.19 - $ 17.92. He looked like a very eccentric old Englishman. He is widely known for his sports writing and for helping to found The Paris Review, as well as his patrician demeanor and accent. Was it him? His response was "no, just affected.". [2], A November 6, 1971, cartoon in The New Yorker by Whitney Darrow Jr. shows a cleaning lady on her hands and knees scrubbing an office floor while saying to another one: "I'd like to see George Plimpton do this sometime." In 1966, George Plimpton's book Paper Lion, recounting his attempt to play football with the Detroit Lions, allowed millions of Americans to vicariously live out their childhood dream of playing in the NFL. 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. He also served as editor of the Harvard Lampoon. 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. Brown & Co. Re-issued George Plimpton Sports Books, 2016. Plimpton was a writer-raconteur and dilettante in the best sense of the word: He co-founded an important literary magazine, the . Kim Noble, one of the announcers on the NPR affiliate in Kansas City, KCUR, speaks with a very affected Connecticut Lockjaw accent. Between 1945 and 1948, Plimpton was a soldier in the United States Army. Ill try to give a representative range, and I am grateful for the care and thought that have gone into these responses. After running the pilot, Rod Serling realized the narration needed a less pompous sounding and more natural voice himself. It was always as if one were setting out with him on a special adventure. The enormously popular speech styles of Brando and Dean (and I could add Elvis Presley) clearly pushed vernacular style into a kind of mainstream acceptability, then desirability. And so it seemed only fitting to commemorate his death with the form he made his own.Meghan ORourke. 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". That he died in his sleep was impressive. If you are in the big league, God help us all. YESTERDAY IS NOT FAR AWAY. My suspicion is that the shift might have begun in the switch away from the two paired styles in American movies, the classical acting of the British School and the rapid patter of popular American actors (Marx Brothers, Cagney, Powell and Loy, etc), and over to the Method Acting style of the Strasberg/Brando/Dean school. **Oh, I suppose we should all just lavish praise upon Carnac the Magnificent now for bringing this to your attention, is that it? ), this isnt some kind of morbid contest to see who can be the first to inform the board of some celebritys death. George Plimpton was an upper-class guy with a patrician accent who partied his way through life . It was always a surprise. It includes clear pronunciation of each and every consonant cluster.