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But he has never employed that voice professionally, and certainly does not speak that way in real life. Thats a common name for such an accent. Both of Plimpton's maternal grandparents were born with the surname Ames; his mother was the granddaughter of Medal of Honor recipient Adelbert Ames (1835-1933), an American sailor, soldier, and politician, and Oliver Ames, a US political figure and the 35th Governor of Massachusetts (18871890). (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? Vault. It came from a different era, shouldn't have still existed, but nevertheless, there it wasold New England, old New York, tinged with a hint of King's College King's English. [citation needed]. George was a little more in-depth than a lot of us, of course, with his education and all. Starring George Plimpton as Himself" - is meant as a wink-wink to Plimpton's career as a "participatory journalist." As a writer for Sports . The clipped English of George Plimpton and William F. Buckley, Jr. were vestigial examples.. After his discharge, Plimpton returned to Harvard and finished his undergraduate education. Plimpton has grown. Hemingway on Fiction, Part Two. Plimpton was an omnipresence for much of American cultural lifeboth high and lowin the last third of the 20th century. He would have a beer with you. Rose Styron, wife of William Styron and former Paris Review editor:My husband Bill was with George when he started the Paris Review. 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. Plimpton appeared in the 1989 documentary The Tightrope Dancer which featured the life and the work of the artist Vali Myers. If you say, I pahked my cah in Hahvahd Yahd, like some vaudeville version of a Boston accent, you are non-rhotic. (What else happened that year??? The clenched jaw tight-bite bit: the lockjaw dentiloquist. Ive known him forsix months and I just now learned hes not English!. This brings us back to the why things changed question. He wanted to play his own part, but they wouldnt let him. That made him a great storyteller. This was his habit. With the evolution of talkies in the late 1920s, voice was first heard in motion pictures. Think of the accent of Jane Hathaway on the Beverly Hillbillies. The Sidd Finch story was accompanied by a series of photos which managed to convince even the eagle-eyed fans . Eerily enough, one of the messages on my answering machine was from George, with that distinctive accent of his: Hallo, its George Plimpton. [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. Description above from the Wikipedia article George Plimpton, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of . It includes clear pronunciation of each and every consonant cluster. **Those of us whose families are from Larchmont (that would be me) just call it lockjaw. Aldas version was always angry or consternated, like a character in a Woody Allen film, while my dad, though he certainly faced hurdles as an amateur in the world of the professional, bore his humiliations with a comic lightness and charmmuch of which emanated from that befuddled, self-deprecating professors voice. One night Joe DiMaggio was here, and they had never met, so I introduced them. He modestly shrugged off the compliment, but his bright smile betrayed his pleasureand ours. 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. **. 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. Spoke in a mid-Atlantic accent, reflecting a privileged Upper East Side (in New York City) upbringing. Manhattan DVD. **. [Then] this August he showed up, pulled the shirt over his head, and said he was ready to bat. Plimpton's The Bogey Man chronicles his attempt to play professional golf on the PGA Tour during the Nicklaus and Palmer era of the 1960s. [41] She is the daughter of James Chittenden Dudley,[42] a managing partner of Manhattan-based investment firm Dudley and Company, and geologist Elisabeth Claypool. Old money, would never say the word spanky, and certainly had more money than God could count. Future Poet Laureate Donald Hall, who had met Plimpton at Exeter, was Poetry Editor. He had it, as does/did William Buckley, Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, and Julia Child. 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. Read more in this thread (long). Plimpton's most memorable writings involved him inserting himself into a daunting situation about which he knew . He very much approved. Those of us whose families are from Larchmont (that would be me) just call it lockjaw. At Harvard, Plimpton was a classmate and close personal friend of Robert F. Kennedy. I hope not. 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. He came from a family where such endearments were not expressed, and phone conversations were curt. She would not even say goodbye. Havent heard that term in years. 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. During my fight, my nose got badly broken in the second round, but I did last all four scheduled rounds, though I lost. 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. Thurston Howell III had the Larchmont Lockjaw accent. Revolutionary musket, a stairwell and a housemaster), In the "I'm Spelling as Fast as I Can" episode of The Simpsons, he hosts the "Spellympics" and attempts to bribe Lisa Simpson to lose with the offer of a scholarship at a Seven Sisters College and a hot plate; "it's perfect for soup! The journal, which had operated out of his home, moved downtown. People two or three deep stood looking out at the East River. Truman Capote: In Which Various Friends, Enemies, Acquaintances, and Detractors Recall His Turbulent Career. George also approved, I think, of the fact that I lost. 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). [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. How widespread, numerically and geographically? [28], Plimpton was a demolitions expert in the post-World War II Army. OK? Angelo Dundee, trainer for Muhammad Ali and Sugar Ray Leonard:George was such a great guy. He saw athletes as heroes he. Anyhow, I asked Terry Gross from Fresh Air and George Plimpton to be auctioneers. rejoiced in the name of Euphemia van Renssalaer Wyatt. [47][48] * [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. 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. Mr . Harvard (where he edited the Lampoon), Kings College, He was immensely generous in every waygenerous about sharing the work and about giving one a chance to edit things. Description above from the Wikipedia article George Plimpton, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of . And George had written it straight. He was a Wasp (both of his parents came from old New England families, and had ancestors on the Mayflower). News children today have no concept of the Mid-Atlantic accent. 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. He was previously married to Sara Whitehead Dudley and Freddy Medora Espy. Plimpton played quarterback for the Detroit Lions and triangle for the New York Philharmonic, an. At the time, he was getting ready to pitch for the Yankees,and we would throw pitches across 72nd Street in preparation. Buckley clearly flaunts it, probably to set himself apart from the hoi polloi of his contemporaries. 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. George Ames Plimpton (March 18, 1927 September 25, 2003) was an American writer. These events were recalled in his best-known book Paper Lion, which was later adapted into the 1968 feature film starring Alan Alda. He is widely known for his sports writing and for helping to found The Paris Review, as well as his patrician demeanor and accent. Even the manliest actors, such as Humphrey Bogart and Clark Gable sometimes slipped into this voice-coach mode. Would you admit to there being symbolism in your novels? [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. Big, tall, good-looking guy, easy-going. But he could easily have said, Alice, I have enough trouble raising money for my magazine.. When Muhammad Ali was fighting, George Plimpton was always there. Get book recommendations, fiction, poetry, and dispatches from the world of literature in your in-box. [11], His mother was Pauline Ames,[12] the daughter of botanist Oakes Ames (1874-1950) and artist Blanche Ames. The Writer's Chapbook A Compendium of Fact, Opinion, Wit, and Advice from the Twentieth Century's Preeminent Writers. How do I know you're not George Plimpton? [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. The clipped, non-rhotic English accents of George Plimpton and William F. Buckley Jr. were vestigial examples. His friendships testified to what an eclectic man he was. Read more in this thread (long). George Plimpton writer, publisher, amateur lion tamer died in 2003 after 50 years as the founding editor of The Paris Review. He was respected by all. Finally I did. They all sound just like George. He wrote for the Harvard Lampoon, was a member of the Hasty Pudding Club, Pi Eta, the Signet Society, and the Porcellian Club. Except at parties. But for now, just one more category: 3) Changing technology, changing voices. For more than five decades, author and journalist George Plimpton delved deeply into an array of high-profile and often physically grueling experiences, including professional baseball, boxing . That tension between what was in his heart and what his voice allowed him to express is the basic tension of language we all face, only heightened. Norman Mailer, author:George had a rare gift. Family (1) Spouse Actors Nathan Lane (from Jersey City, NJ) and Robin Williams (grew up in SF Bay area) often adopt this accent. The Mid-Atlantic accent, or Transatlantic accent, is a . In the early 60s, when I was working at the firework plant with my dad [Felix Grucci], George would pull up in shiny red sports car on his way to the Hamptons. 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. Harris trained himself as a young man to lose his native Bronx accent - to the point that he was asked if he were British. He was going to put on a reading of his play Zelda, Scott, and Ernest. Look out, Wilson! Now, in George, Being George, 200 friends, lovers and rivals detail Plimpton's remarkable exploits. There was love thereactually, his inability to express it sometimes made him positively brim with itbut speak the words, his voice could not. If you say, I parked my car in Harvard Yard, you are being rhotic. Plimpton sparred for three rounds with boxing greats Archie Moore and Sugar Ray Robinson while on assignment for Sports Illustrated. George Plimpton's duplex apartment on the Upper East Side hit the market for $5.495 million on April 18. The Curious Case Of Sidd Finch. George Plimpton Wiki: Salary, Married, Wedding, Spouse, Family . And being good at losing was one of Georges many gifts. A friend of the New England Sedgwick family, Plimpton edited Edie: An American Biography with Jean Stein in 1982. Farmington Hills, MI: Thomson Gale, 2007. Yes he is gone. Firstly, then-managing director of SI, Mark Mulvoy, gave Plimpton the liberty to create a hoax.Secondly, SI photographer Lane Stewart recruited his friend, Joe Berton to play the part of Sidd Finch. "He speaks with an oddly mannered accent, sounding as though on the verge of a stammer, polite, genteel, perhaps just a little Woosterish. His dish was Spaghetti Bolognese. 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. "[25] He had a recurring role as the grandfather of Dr. Carter on the NBC series ER. He had it all going! His experience was captured in the book Out of My League. Few could give a toast or tell a story with equal humor. 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". Off screen, George Plimpton and Gore Vidal come to mind. I think the term Old Money or patrician pretty much says it. George Ames Plimpton (March 18, 1927 - September 25, 2003) was an American journalist, writer, literary editor, actor and occasional amateur sportsman. $ 3.99 - $ 27.44. The Writers won the game with a home run in extra innings, but the highlight was Plimptons hit. Oh now, Im joking, Carnac ( see? Between 1945 and 1948, Plimpton was a soldier in the United States Army. It was as if some old gentlemans code prohibited us from interacting as human beings. Macklem . Cambridge. Kaltenborn was a famous mid . There youd be, talking with her on the phone, and shed say, Well, tell him I called, and youd say, O.K., Grandma, good to talk to you, I Grandma?. December 17, 2022 Rafael Garca. (Did Eisenhower speak the newsreel style? The flipped prestige markers point here is fascinating. That life couldnt contain him, hed burst its seams like it was an old coat two sizes too small. 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. Plimpton brought the Left Bank to NYCpeople like Peter Mathiessen, William Styron, Terry Southern. Just listen to very early recordings from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, back even before microphones, when singers had to yell directly into a large cone and over-enunciate so that their voices would be recorded into something intelligible on a spinning wax cylinder or disk. He has the same type of patrician upper-class New Yorker accent as Jane Wyatt. But the average person never talked that way. Mr. Plimpton was born in Manhattan in 1927 and raised in Huntington, L.I. 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. 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! 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. 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. Here's a look inside the space, where the Paris Review editor hosted legendary parties. Along with all the other things he does, George is an editor of the Paris Review, a literary quarterly published by the Aga Khan's uncle, Sadrudin, and his apartment is overstuffed with the comforts and legends of its use as a literary salon. Plimpton revisited pro football in 1971,[18] this time joining the defending Super Bowl champion Baltimore Colts and seeing action in an exhibition game against his previous team, the Lions. Vault. All rights reserved. [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. [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]. In the offices of the Paris Review, he displayed far more discerning tastes. [citation needed], Outside the literary world, Plimpton was famous for competing in professional sporting events and then recording the experience from the point of view of an amateur. **. 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. 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. Isnt that what they call it. 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. I believe the accent was at one time known as Larchmont Lockjaw.