My dad could never say what he feltnot reallyand neither can any of us. Are you saying that the denizens of Larchmont sound like Plimpton did? 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. . Dan Rather certainly marks the definitive end of the newsreel style and the ascendance of the folksy vernacular: those rustic analogies! George Plimpton, the New York aristocrat and literary journalist whose career was a happy lifelong competition between scholarly pursuits and madcap attempts -- chronicled in self-deprecating. Next up: some sociological explanations of why someone like George Gershwin might have tried to speak like Westbrook Van Voorhis. 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. She would not even say goodbye. During my fight, my nose got badly broken in the second round, but I did last all four scheduled rounds, though I lost. [17], In 1953, Plimpton joined the influential literary journal The Paris Review, founded by Peter Matthiessen, Thomas H. Guinzburg, and Harold L. "Doc" Humes, becoming its first editor in chief. O ne afternoon this summer, I sat in George Plimpton's study waiting for the gentleman editor, participatory journalist, and beloved gadfly of American letters to arrive. I remember getting the news: It was my wife Madeleines birthday, Aug. 7. "[25] He had a recurring role as the grandfather of Dr. Carter on the NBC series ER. Actors Nathan Lane (from Jersey City, NJ) and Robin Williams (grew up in SF Bay area) often adopt this accent. Just in time for the Sixties, with all their other pressures towards some kind of anti-Eisenhower authenticity. Would you admit to there being symbolism in your novels? I can understand your frustration, but celebrities die every day. 3 people found this helpful . George Plimpton was a literary man about town who did it all, from co-founding The Paris Review to boxing (and dribbling and quarterbacking) with the pros. 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. And here for the full interview). Congratulations Carnac, for posting about George Plimptons death at 3:44 PM. Ive always heard it referred to as a patrician accent. It is the kind of study . With such a useful explanation, why do I gripe about the name? As such, it was popular in the theatre and other forms of elite culture in that region. Jay McInerney, author:Arriving in Manhattan as a young writer, nothing was more thrilling or daunting than attending my first Paris Review party at Georges townhouse on East 72nd in the fall of 1984. rejoiced in the name of Euphemia van Renssalaer Wyatt. I think the term Old Money or patrician pretty much says it. Get book recommendations, fiction, poetry, and dispatches from the world of literature in your in-box. 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! 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 . Thanks for the scores of replies that have arrived in the past day, in response to my post asking why the stentorian, phony-British Announcer Voice that dominated newsreel narration, stage and movie acting, and public discourse in the United States during the first half of the 20th century had completely disappeared. I enjoy doing it. Thats it, George cried out. Those of us whose families are from Larchmont (that would be me) just call it lockjaw. All the good guys have got to go. We were going to go looking for strange birds. It was so violent that it brought a lot of people to the windows. Ad Choices. You're going to play for us-making some sort of big comeback." "That's right," Plimpton replied in his patrician accent. He had a way of putting it all together, of understanding fighters in the ring; he was a good analyst of boxing. He is widely known for his sports writing and for helping to found The Paris Review, as well as his patrician demeanor and accent. Plimpton would not boast of his feat, so we did. In his July 1936 obituary, the New York Times described George Arthur Plimpton (13 July 1855-1 July 1936) as an "internationally known publisher and collector, college trustee and philanthropist." As the materials in the George A. Plimpton Papers testify, those four areas of activity dominated Plimpton's public and private lives. The flipped prestige markers point here is fascinating. He watched the first pitch sail high for a ball, and then hit a rope into left field. Slate is published by The Slate Group, a Graham Holdings Company. [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. As an old film buff, I am used to this voice, though it figures unevenly in old movies. He was 76. He had, for instance, a series of antiquated phrases and terms of affection. Were taking off from Teterburo, N.J., at 4 a.m. tomorrow. Norman Mailer said that George Plimpton was the best-loved man in New York. Plimpton appeared in the 1989 documentary The Tightrope Dancer which featured the life and the work of the artist Vali Myers. Kennedy died the next day at Good Samaritan Hospital. George Ames Plimpton (March 18, 1927 September 25, 2003) was an American writer. He plays the 'fancy pants' to our outhouse Americana," Flaherty asserted. George Plimpton's duplex apartment on the Upper East Side hit the market for $5.495 million on April 18. He said, You better stay here, and I did, for a while. I havent heard that he is dead, but if so RIP George. Plimpton was an omnipresence for much of American cultural lifeboth high and lowin the last third of the 20th century. In fact, my dads farewells seemed loquacious in comparison to his mothers. And he stood there ebullient and charming all night; he bid on many items himself. George Plimpton was born on March 18, 1927 in New York City, New York, USA. He just did it because Columbia was another literary magazine. He's a pitcher, part yogi and part recluse. *Originally posted by cuauhtemoc * All contents 2023 The Slate Group LLC. Starring George Plimpton as Himself" - is meant as a wink-wink to Plimpton's career as a "participatory journalist." As a writer for Sports . Could it be fairly said that Plimptom had it? Think of the accent of Jane Hathaway on the Beverly Hillbillies. 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. His dish was Spaghetti Bolognese. Plimpton was married twice. I just heard that George Plimpton has died. Ever. He is widely known for his sports writing and for helping to found The Paris Review, as well as his patrician demeanor and accent. To revisit this article, select My Account, thenView saved stories, To revisit this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories. (The filmmakers assembled his voice-over from recorded speeches and other archival footage.) Congratulations Carnac, for posting about George Plimptons death at 3:44 PM. **. Thats a common name for such an accent. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to these men speak. The clearest example of the Mid-Atlantic accent is the accent of the Frasier & Niles Crane characters on the TV show Frasier. My dad and I could not lose each other, but we could never quite find each other, either. It was a great partyraucous and long. Vault. A lifelong New Yorker, he never tasted a bagel or an olive, and he never chewed a stick of gum. So think of Margaret Anderson or Amanda and you can place George. May a diseased yak squat in your hot tub. But he came right down to our level. He saw athletes as heroes he. The guys here in Detroit treated him like one of us. 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. It came from a different era, shouldnt have still existed, but nevertheless, there it wasold New England, old New York, tinged with a hint of Kings College Kings English. George Plimpton, Out of My League: The Classic Account of an Amateur's Ordeal in Professional Baseball, 2016, Little Plimpton himself described it as a "New England cosmopolitan accent"[36] or "Eastern seaboard cosmopolitan" accent. Butch, he says, because he always called me Butch. Oh, I suppose we should all just lavish praise upon Carnac the Magnificent now for bringing this to your attention, is that it? He never went all the way, though his authenticity and newly-downstyle speaking could probably be marked in the crisis/triumph stages of his reporting: the death of JFK; the Vietnam report; the moon landing. 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. NYC speech in the sixties, in some ways, flipped prestige markers. 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. & FDR, George Plimpton, William F. Buckley, etc. He thought Castro might come. Besides, third is a very respectable showing! [3] During the summers, he lived in the hamlet of West Hills, Huntington, Suffolk County on Long Island. They spoke in this manner, and it seemed perfectly natural, evocative of a background spent among the gentry of the northeast. His friendships testified to what an eclectic man he was. ), this isnt some kind of morbid contest to see who can be the first to inform the board of some celebritys death. Hed go on to move freely through so many worlds and circles, without ever not speaking in that singular accentthough it probably would have made life easier for him if hed adopted a new way of talking (after all, as a journalist in the locker rooms, where slang and cursing were art-forms, my dads stiff, formal tongue made him stick out like an egret among ducks). I just knew it was going to be something terrible. 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. 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. You should be very grateful. 2023 Cond Nast. Peter even came with us on our honeymoon in Ravello, though George didnt. $ 4.19 - $ 17.92. History / Biographical Note Biographical Note. I think he came down [to the shooting of Paper Lion in] Florida once. But he could easily have said, Alice, I have enough trouble raising money for my magazine.. 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. Jean Stein became his co-editor. In it Van Voorhis has the formal delivery that would have seemed familiar to many mid-century listeners but which in retrospect we know was on the way out. Here's how Geroge Plimpton and his team created a prodigious pitcher out of thin air. Why couldnt we have a good time, too? It was horrifying.. He was very understanding of what we did and how we did it. 2) Truman v. Kaltenborn, 1949. He could as easily have been my grandfather as father. One thinks of the glorious character actress, Kathleen Freeman, as the voice coach Phoebe Dinsmore in Singing in the Rain: Round tones, Miss Lamont. In Woody Allens Radio Days, Mia Farrow has an impossibly thick Brooklyn accent until she takes voice lessons and becomes a successful radio purveyor of celebrity gossip. A graduate of Harvard University and King's College, Cambridge, Plimpton was recruited to Paris by Peter Matthiessen in 1952 and signed on to the project shortly thereafter. . Between 2000 and 2003, Plimpton wrote the libretto to a new opera, Animal Tales, commissioned by Family Opera Initiative, with music by Kitty Brazelton directed by Grethe Barrett Holby. He was one of her original supporters and had published an article about her work in The Paris Review. And bolstering this last point, a reader who grew up in Depression-era Chicago writes: All I can think of is that people were imitating FDR. He was one of her original supporters and had published an article about her work in The Paris Review. Is it in evidence among the Gen X set of Boston, or a passing phenomenon? Havent heard that term in years. [citation needed], In the movie Plimpton! With the help of the New York Mets organization and several Mets players, Plimpton wrote a convincing account of a new unknown pitcher in the Mets spring training camp named Siddhartha Finch, who threw a baseball over 160mph, wore a heavy boot on one foot, and was a practicing Buddhist with a largely unknown background. Youll get another shot at the big time, trust me. [47][48] 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. Plimpton played quarterback for the Detroit Lions and triangle for the New York Philharmonic, an. A little before my time, but Kennedy certainly didnt, even if his vernacular was more formal than Brandos. Paul McCartney and his then-girlfriend Heather showed up. **Get a life. He did not appear last year, or the year before, and we feared he was done with us. The conservative thinker may have shared an accent with some other men of the same age and social class, but his mannerisms and gestures made him entirely uniqueand occasionally prone to. He wanted to play his own part, but they wouldnt let him. But he has never employed that voice professionally, and certainly does not speak that way in real life. Ill pick you up., I had a hard time sleeping that night, as you might imagine. Several readers wrote in with specimens of Americans who had gone to England and ended up speaking in this mid-Atlantic way. (Why do I even bother?) In 2013, the documentary Plimpton! I dont give a rats ass about informing anyone about the death of Plimpton. George was not vainhe didnt care a whit about his image. (Newsreels ran in movie theaters, of course: what better critique of the high newsreel style than the new movies that jarred against it?). (A variation is the Locust Valley Lockjaw.). Even Orson Welles on occasion. 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 is widely known for his sports writing and for helping to found The Paris Review, as well as his patrician demeanor and accent. Plimpton was associated with the literary magazine in Paris, Merlin, which folded because the State Department withdrew its support.[why?] *Originally posted by CBCD * George Plimpton (1927-2003) George Plimpton was the editor of The Paris Review from its founding in 1953 until his death in 2003. So we got together and, after some preliminaries, he popped the question that he was really there to ask. They all sound just like George. Id like to offer a speculation, for what its worth. I think it was an affectation people adopted because they thought it made them sound much more intelligent! 3: Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives". Your transparent jealousy is very unbecoming, Carnac. We worked at the Paris Review on the Rue Garanere for several years together. After it was published, all of the baseball people were trying to get in touch with Sidd, but he didnt existit was an April Fools joke! By George Plimpton. If you didnt know the man, you could, I think, be fooled by the voice. Harris trained himself as a young man to lose his native Bronx accent - to the point that he was asked if he were British. Everything he did was like this, just a bit odd. [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. [29], His enthusiasm for fireworks grew, and he was appointed Fireworks Commissioner of New York by Mayor John Lindsay,[29][30] an unofficial post he held until his death. It took the form of a statement: I dont know writers who write about sex better than you. I rose to the bait and answered saying, Thank you. Plimpton appeared in the 1989 documentary The Tightrope Dancer which featured the life and the work of the artist Vali Myers. Self-help author and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Marianne Williamson has a unique accent that, . [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]. 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. He looked like a very eccentric old Englishman. Discussing the accent he used for Washington in an interview with The Onion AV Club, he explained: The accent back then was probably nothing like what we think of as a Southern accent now or a New England accent now, so we tried to find the root of the accents. Final Twist of the Drama. Rose Styron, wife of William Styron and former Paris Review editor:My husband Bill was with George when he started the Paris Review. [3], He was the son of Francis T. P. Plimpton[4] and the grandson of Frances Taylor Pearsons and George Arthur Plimpton. When Muhammad Ali was fighting, George Plimpton was always there. [2] His first wife, whom he married in 1968[38] and divorced in 1988, was Freddy Medora Espy, a photographer's assistant. Losing, he knew, always makes a better story than winning. 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. Plimpton was a writer-raconteur and dilettante in the best sense of the word: He co-founded an important literary magazine, the Paris Review, and tried his hand at everything from quarterbacking for the Detroit Lions (which he wrote about in Paper Lion), boxing with light-heavyweight champ Archie Moore (which became Shadow Box), and becoming New Yorks unofficial official fireworks commissioner. His exploits were such that at one point, The New Yorker ran a cartoon in which a patient eyed a surgeon with misgiving and said, But how do I know youre not George Plimpton?, But perhaps foremost among his accomplishments was his elevation of the interview to a literary form, both in the Paris Review and in his two superb works of oral history, Truman Capote: In Which Various Friends, Enemies, Acquaintances and Detractors Recall His Turbulent Career, and Edie, a biography of Edie Sedgwick, which he and Jean Stein compiled. Is your language rhotic? *Originally posted by bordelond * But the gentleman amateur - a Harvard. For instance: Mid-Atlantic English was the dominant dialect among the Northeastern American upper class through the first half of the 20th century. 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! In this campaign, Plimpton touted the superiority regarding the graphics and sounds of Intellivision video games over the Atari 2600.[24]. When he found a story to be short of the mark, he rejected it no matter who the author wasan old friend, a Pulitzer winner, an unknown. Even if it had nothing else going for itsomething very far from the truth Shadow Box by George Plimpton will forever remain a bastion of boxing literature because of the image it contains of the "Near Room," a place of dreadful foreboding which Muhammad Ali once described to the famed .
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