"[25] He had a recurring role as the grandfather of Dr. Carter on the NBC series ER. He was equally at home on a bicycle or getting out of a limousine with a Saudi Arabian prince. Losing, he knew, always makes a better story than winning. George Ames Plimpton (March 18, 1927 - September 25, 2003) was an American journalist, writer, literary editor, actor and occasional amateur sportsman. Ive known him forsix months and I just now learned hes not English!. Starring George Plimpton as Himself" - is meant as a wink-wink to Plimpton's career as a "participatory journalist." As a writer for Sports . Norman Mailer said that George Plimpton was the best-loved man in New York. Read more in this thread (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. The wife is also old money, as Phlosphr mentions, and she talks exactly the same way. He did these jobs, and many others, as an amateur.. Well, perhaps it's more accurate to say that the book provided entertaining confirmation to millions of people that they -- like the author . [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. Was it him? Is your language rhotic? 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. Besides, third is a very respectable showing! Okay, then, are you saying that Plimpton has such as accent? 1 draft choice of the Lions in 1965. He also served as editor of the Harvard Lampoon. 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. He was respected by all. You can. During my fight, my nose got badly broken in the second round, but I did last all four scheduled rounds, though I lost. So think of Margaret Anderson or Amanda and you can place George. Starring George Plimpton as Himself, which documents his life, adventures, and work as participatory journalist and editor of the Paris Review, my dad will be playing himself one more time. his prose, and his down east, cultivated accent, although perhaps a bit pretentious, will remain with me as I reread one of my favorite books. After running the pilot, Rod Serling realized the narration needed a less pompous sounding and more natural voice himself. Youll get another shot at the big time, trust me. He joined us in Monte Carlo when we won the international [fireworks] competition. Everything he did was like this, just a bit odd. He was 76.. Of course, I think he enjoyed the odd persona his voice and mannerisms conferred on him. Havent heard that term in years. And the many candidates for the crown of Last American to Speak This Way. 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. 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 exactly is a Boston Brahmin accent? He looked like a very eccentric old Englishman. Its a shot from a YouTube video that itself is a fascinating time-capsule portrait of language change. He majored in English. The clenched jaw tight-bite bit: the lockjaw dentiloquist. 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. Articles From This Author. 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. Prestigious prep schools and ivy league institutions (though Gore Vidal never went to college). We made $15,000-20,000. Above all, he was a gentleman, one of the lasta figure so archaic, it could be easily mistaken for something else. 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. [2][43], An oral biography titled George, Being George was edited by Nelson W. Aldrich Jr., and released on October 21, 2008. (Newsreels ran in movie theaters, of course: what better critique of the high newsreel style than the new movies that jarred against it?). [citation needed]. Several readers wrote in with specimens of Americans who had gone to England and ended up speaking in this mid-Atlantic way. Vault. Among other challenges for Sports Illustrated, he attempted to play top-level bridge, and spent some time as a high-wire circus performer. To revisit this article, select My Account, thenView saved stories, To revisit this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories. He appeared in the PBS American Masters documentary on Andy Warhol. [11], His mother was Pauline Ames,[12] the daughter of botanist Oakes Ames (1874-1950) and artist Blanche Ames. Plimpton appeared in the 1989 documentary The Tightrope Dancer which featured the life and the work of the artist Vali Myers. Hearing the words Dammit, Im mad as a hornet! uttered in George Plimptons voice made anger sound totally ridiculous, which is exactly what it most often is. We were both excitedId just come back from a weekend in Las Vegas, and hed just come back from celebrating the fortieth anniversary reunion of his Detroit Lions team at Ford Field, where the fans had given him a standing ovation, and he had raised his hatand for a moment we were no longer father and son, but just two big excited boys, each comparing adventures, and I could hear the pride in his voice, the happiness. 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." He had, for instance, a series of antiquated phrases and terms of affection. 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. The film used archival audio and video of Plimpton lecturing and reading to create a posthumous narration. At one point, there was a tremendous Wagnerian thunder and lighting storm. Isnt that what they call it. He was very understanding of what we did and how we did it. 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). He saw athletes as heroes he. Congratulations Carnac, for posting about George Plimptons death at 3:44 PM. That was how it was in New York in those days, George just dragged it out a bit longer." Dudley Plimpton suspects the excess contributed to Plimpton's death in his sleep in 2003, at the age of 76. You heard it and it. It includes clear pronunciation of each and every consonant cluster. I think all the editors who worked at the magazine can recount a time when they ascended to his office to argue for a particular story that had been submitted, certain that George hadnt read it or hadnt read it closely enough, only to stand gape-mouthed as he reeled off, from memory, its every deficiency. He plays the 'fancy pants' to our outhouse Americana," Flaherty asserted. He is connected by blood to Benjamin "Beast" Butler, a rakish pol who told Abraham Lincoln he would be his running mate "only if you die within three. He got the personality totally wrong, too. $ 9.19 - $ 32.19. This kept his magazine fresh for 50 years. Bill, who was from the South, kept saying to me, Can you believe Georges not English? In early 1959, George Plimpton was preparing to watch an execution in Cuba. Think of the accent of Jane Hathaway on the Beverly Hillbillies. It evoked a sense of Paris from a time when Paris was still the literary capital of the world, publishing literary giants who were considered obsceneHenry Miller, D.H. Lawrence. Yes he is gone. **Your transparent jealousy is very unbecoming, Carnac. He had it, as does/did William Buckley, Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, and Julia Child. He died on September 26, 2003 in Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA. The Paris Review was a testimony to his literary taste and his sense of glamour. On Saturday Night Live, even the great impersonator Dana Carvey couldnt get it quite right. He appeared in commercials for Oldsmobile and Intellivision, and appeared. Its our anniversary. **. Oh, I suppose we should all just lavish praise upon Carnac the Magnificent now for bringing this to your attention, is that it? Over the years, we held a lot of dinner parties for him, and he brought a lot of people inmany, many writers. [28], Plimpton was a demolitions expert in the post-World War II Army. Finally I did. But he could easily have said, Alice, I have enough trouble raising money for my magazine.. Its strange to think, but he would have been eighty-five this year: fourteen years older than my mom, fifty years older than me. I only wish I could not tell him again, just one more time. Jean Stein became his co-editor. Greetings From the Vortex of Unpredictability, Truman Capote: In Which Various Friends, Enemies, Acquaintances and Detractors Recall His Turbulent Career. Get a life. I feel that his work on this and many other language-related matters should be far more widely known than it is. In the 50s Plimpton and staff came to New York, where they kept the Review going for half a century. 3: Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives". He smiled broadly, signaled for the coach to send Lupica in to run for him, and trotted back to the sidelines. See below!) 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. (Why do I even bother?) Middle class? It includes clear pronunciation of each and every consonant cluster. 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. I think that perhaps Harris' portrayal of Dr. Smith made the accent so identified with cowardly buffoonery that no one in the baby boom generation and later would want to use the accent as anything other than a joke. [29], With Felix Grucci, Plimpton competed in the 16th International Fireworks Festival in 1979 in Monte Carlo. It sounds like Somerset Maugham, was a favorite putdown. The Writers won the game with a home run in extra innings, but the highlight was Plimptons hit. Plimpton, along with former decathlete Rafer Johnson and American football star Rosey Grier, was credited with helping wrestle Sirhan Sirhan to the floor when Kennedy was assassinated following his victory in the 1968 California Democratic primary at the former Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, California. George Plimpton boxed with Archie Moore, played quarterback for the Detroit Lions, and played percussion for the New York Philharmonic. 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. Off screen, George Plimpton and Gore Vidal come to mind. 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. [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." Hed have that and a scotch on the rocks, his favorite drink. Plimpton would not boast of his feat, so we did. If you listen to Grossman (who is originally from Boston) starting about 15 seconds into the clip below, youll see that he uses a split-the-difference UK/US hybrid that is literally mid-Atlantic, in the sense of combining accents from both countries, but is different from the newsreel announcer voice: You should talk to William Labov [JF: I will try] , pioneering sociolinguist, whose landmark study into New York City speech led him to ask the same question you have. Family (1) Spouse After returning to New York from Paris, he routinely launched fireworks at his evening parties. In most situations, he had the remarkable quality of making everyone he talked to feel at ease, at home, welcome, no matter who they were or what they didbut for whatever strange reason there wasnt this effortlessness with me, this warmth. Dan Rather certainly marks the definitive end of the newsreel style and the ascendance of the folksy vernacular: those rustic analogies! George had three siblings: Francis Taylor Pearsons Plimpton Jr., Oakes Ames Plimpton,[15] and Sarah Gay Plimpton. But he would do this in the most charming and agreeable way. Think of the accent of Jane Hathaway on the Beverly Hillbillies. Plimpton himself described it as a "New England cosmopolitan accent"[36] or "Eastern seaboard cosmopolitan" accent. 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. Ive always heard it referred to as a patrician accent. With the evolution of talkies in the late 1920s, voice was first heard in motion pictures. And so it seemed only fitting to commemorate his death with the form he made his own.Meghan ORourke. He has the same type of patrician upper-class New Yorker accent as Jane Wyatt. 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. With a little more practice, you could give us boys in the big leagues a run for our money. Actors Nathan Lane (from Jersey City, NJ) and Robin Williams (grew up in SF Bay area) often adopt this accent. But he came right down to our level. 3 people found this helpful . [35], Plimpton was known for his distinctive accent which, by Plimpton's own admission, was often mistaken for an English accent. By George Plimpton. Powered by Discourse, best viewed with JavaScript enabled. 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. But the average person never talked that way. Plimpton's most memorable writings involved him inserting himself into a daunting situation about which he knew . 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. . For instance: Mid-Atlantic English was the dominant dialect among the Northeastern American upper class through the first half of the 20th century. I received many notes like this one: The variety of English you are referring to has a name in linguistics: "Mid-Atlantic English". Read more. * For instance: The American-British television presenter Loyd Grossman, who has described his accent as Mid-Atlantic. 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. Farmington Hills, MI: Thomson Gale, 2007. [3] During the summers, he lived in the hamlet of West Hills, Huntington, Suffolk County on Long Island. NYC speech in the sixties, in some ways, flipped prestige markers. Mia had the perfect model! I believe the accent was at one time known as Larchmont Lockjaw. He was smooth. What stood in our way? Back in the 1960s and '70s, I would nightly sit alone in front of a TV set in a darkened room in the Midwest munching on potato chips watching late night talk shows out of New York CityJohnny Carson and Dick Cavett in particularand Plimpton was a regular on those shows. But he has never employed that voice professionally, and certainly does not speak that way in real life. Those of us whose families are from Larchmont (that would be me) just call it lockjaw. Buckley clearly flaunts it, probably to set himself apart from the hoi polloi of his contemporaries. When Plimpton, the co-founder of The Paris Review, died in 2003 at age 76, The New York Times . Is it in evidence among the Gen X set of Boston, or a passing phenomenon? Plimpton, George 1927-2003(George Ames Plimpton) Source for information on Plimpton, George 1927-2003: Concise Major 21st Century Writers dictionary. Your transparent jealousy is very unbecoming, Carnac. All the good guys have got to go. 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. The most recent was about how to extend the swing though impact, and the trick, George said, was to station an imaginary dwarf several feet in front of your ball and then (you have to re-create those broad Plimptonian vowels here) smack the dwarf in the ass. I dont know whether it works, because I cant think of it without laughing. 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. The last time I heard my fathers voice, it was over the telephone. He hosted Disney Channel's Mouseterpiece Theater (a Masterpiece Theatre spoof which featured Disney cartoon shorts). [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]. The Cuban revolutionaries, led by Fidel Castro and Che Guevara, had just marched on Havana and ousted the US-supported dictator Fulgencio Batista. 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. But its clear that the diction I call Announcer Voice has been the object of close linguistic study. Plimpton didnt die. 2) The Role of Broadway and Hollywood, and the Shift from Jimmy Cagney to Marlon Brando. [2] His first wife, whom he married in 1968[38] and divorced in 1988, was Freddy Medora Espy, a photographer's assistant. And his apartment, with those windows that looked out onto the East River, became a famous landmark in NYC. The clipped, non-rhotic English accents of George Plimpton and William F. Buckley Jr. were vestigial examples. 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! What was our problem? In 1992, Plimpton married Sarah Whitehead Dudley, a graduate of Columbia University and a freelance writer. That made him a great storyteller. He just did it because Columbia was another literary magazine. Harvard (where he edited the Lampoon), Kings College, 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. 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], In 1975, in Bellport, Long Island, Plimpton, with Fireworks by Grucci attempted to break the record for the world's largest firework. Look out, Wilson! They were divorced, and had been for a while, but they still talked, and visited every now and then, and they would sit on my moms porch on Long Island and look out over the pond at the birds and tell each other stories and laugh until the tears came to their eyes, but he could not ask her this directlyHow are you, Freddy? He had lost my mom, at least in part because he had been unable to communicate with her, to show his love. 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?. By signing up, you agree to our User Agreement and Privacy Policy & Cookie Statement. The opposing team: the Detroit Lions. Plimpton entered Harvard as a member of the Class of 1948, but did not graduate until 1950 due to intervening military service. 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 you are going to come with me. News children today have no concept of the Mid-Atlantic accent. 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.

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