His response was "no, just affected.". $ 4.19 - $ 17.92. Shadow Box: An Amateur In The Ring -- George Plimpton On Boxing Macklem . George Plimpton The Movie Database (TMDB) 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 wrote for the Harvard Lampoon, was a member of the Hasty Pudding Club, Pi Eta, the Signet Society, and the Porcellian Club. 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. George also approved, I think, of the fact that I lost. We had the book party for my selected poems, Sailing Alone Around the Room, at Georges house on Sept 10, 2001. #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. He is also credited with saving, Learn how and when to remove this template message, Plimpton! 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. Plimpton! The Great Quarterback Sneak - YouTube [2] His first wife, whom he married in 1968[38] and divorced in 1988, was Freddy Medora Espy, a photographer's assistant. The wife is also old money, as Phlosphr mentions, and she talks exactly the same way. 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! 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. Indeed, the police deposition the filmmakers managed to uncover may be the only time my dad ever spoke about the tragedy, publicly or privately. Ive always heard it referred to as a patrician accent. [citation needed]. He was one of her original supporters and had published an article about her work in The Paris Review. Now the interview is perfect!. George Plimpton. News children today have no concept of the Mid-Atlantic accent. It's a Scottish accent that's been modified somewhat for a mainstream audience that tends to associate them with Groundskeeper Willie. But for now, just one more category: 3) Changing technology, changing voices. If he couldnt be taken quite seriously, that was fine with him (he took himself lightly, and relished being in on the joke). **. Isnt that what they call it. (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? The opposing team: the Detroit Lions. Did he have the celebrated Boston Brahmin accent, or was it a psuedo-Brit affectation? Description above from the Wikipedia article George Plimpton, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of . This periodical has carried great weight in the literary world, but has never been financially strong; for its first half-century, it was allegedly largely financed by its publishers and by Plimpton. He was stationed primarily in Italy, where he worked as a tank driver. The presentation was called Freedom of the American Road and was made 60 years ago, in 1955, as part of the campaign to build support for the new Interstate Highway system. 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. Norman Mailer said that George Plimpton was the best-loved man in New York. Shadow Box. Ill pick you up., I had a hard time sleeping that night, as you might imagine. And here for the full interview). 'Plimpton! Starring George Plimpton as Himself' review I thoroughly enjoyed listening to these men speak. 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! I just heard that George Plimpton has died. But its clear that the diction I call Announcer Voice has been the object of close linguistic study. 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. Hemingway on Fiction, Part Two. 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. List of books by author George Plimpton - ThriftBooks Even Orson Welles on occasion. George Plimpton is beautifully connected. Exeter Academy after an incident involving a **Those of us whose families are from Larchmont (that would be me) just call it lockjaw. YESTERDAY IS NOT FAR AWAY. Oh, I suppose we should all just lavish praise upon Carnac the Magnificent now for bringing this to your attention, is that it? And he told everyone that night, and for many years after, that hed diverted me from a career of filling prescriptions. I remember getting the news: It was my wife Madeleines birthday, Aug. 7. The flipped prestige markers point here is fascinating. I knew that between the time Id asked Plimpton to do the auction and the night itself, he had probably received five invitations for a better evening, but he would never have reneged. 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. 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. I never thought that George slept. ), this isnt some kind of morbid contest to see who can be the first to inform the board of some celebritys death. Friends were almost always happy to see him because you knew he was bound to improve your mood. Plimpton and Dudley were the parents of twin daughters Laura Dudley Plimpton and Olivia Hartley Plimpton. You heard it and it. How George Plimpton's Sports Books Presaged the First-Person Media Age To me, it meant admission to this little exclusive club at the Paris Review. 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. I live in Connecticut which is both the richest and poorest state in the union - I think we still are - and we have our fair share of extremely rich folk who sit around all day in their large victorians wearing rockport loafers, no sox, khaki pants and a polo-shirt with the collar up. So think of Margaret Anderson or Amanda and you can place George. 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. By George Plimpton. I havent heard that he is dead, but if so RIP George. Call me back.. His final interview appeared in The New York Sports Express of October 2, 2003 by journalist Dave Hollander. It was always a surprise. :rolleyes: Ive got news for you, buddy, youre not even second in line! This speech pattern might be common among US expatriates in the UK, of which Grossman would seem to represent just the most ostentatious example. He could have been a fight trainer, a fight manager! To me, Mid-Atlantic English is the nom juste for a related but distinct phenomenon (which is also mentioned in Wikipedia). This kept his magazine fresh for 50 years. Besides, third is a very respectable showing! The Detroit Lions let a reporter play QB. Can you guess how it went I enjoy doing it. Thats it, George cried out. Plimpton also appeared in the closing credits of the 2006 film Factory Girl. BTW, I cant imagine a presidential candidate today getting anywhere close to a nomination with FDRs accent, cigarette holder, and aristocratic bearing. Youd be on the phone with him and get to the end of the conversation, and youd say I love you, Dad, and at most, hed reply, without subject or object, Love, like he was signing a letter. Ive rarely heard this accent in real life but its often used by actors doing a stereotype character based on other actors impersonations! Here's how Geroge Plimpton and his team created a prodigious pitcher out of thin air. Book excerpt - George Plimpton on why Hole 16 at Cypress Point is one He was "George Plimpton"-editor, host . Just in time for the Sixties, with all their other pressures towards some kind of anti-Eisenhower authenticity. Youll get another shot at the big time, trust me. Yes indeed, George Plimpton is a man for all seasons. [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. 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. 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. Articles From This Author. All the good guys have got to go. :rolleyes: Ive got news for you, buddy, youre not even second in line! 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). Ill try to give a representative range, and I am grateful for the care and thought that have gone into these responses. When Plimpton, the co-founder of The Paris Review, died in 2003 at age 76, The New York Times . (Did Eisenhower speak the newsreel style? Above all, he was a gentleman, one of the lasta figure so archaic, it could be easily mistaken for something else. *Originally posted by bordelond * I didnt know he was from the Larchmont area. Her mother, a writer and critic for Commonweal and Catholic World. Hed have that and a scotch on the rocks, his favorite drink. 'Plimpton!' documentary looks at George Plimpton's lives Kim Noble, one of the announcers on the NPR affiliate in Kansas City, KCUR, speaks with a very affected Connecticut Lockjaw accent. 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. The first minute is a cameo by Henry Ford II, who speaks in an utterly flat Midwest rather than Mid-Atlantic accent that no one would call elegant but that would sound perfectly natural in 2015. 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.. * Archie Moore, after all, had broken his nose. I received many notes like this one: The variety of English you are referring to has a name in linguistics: "Mid-Atlantic English". 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. As a result, this American version of a posh accent has all but disappeared even among the American upper classes. He had it all going! From looking at Labovs study, I know today, as I didnt know yesterday, that linguists use the term rhotic to describe whether a person pronounces, or doesnt, the R sound before a consonant or at the end of a word. Never heard of this decidedly imprecise term. Your transparent jealousy is very unbecoming, Carnac. George Ames Plimpton (March 18, 1927 - September 25, 2003) was an American journalist, writer, literary editor, actor and occasional amateur sportsman. So it was that my father played himself not just in movies and on TV, but in life, too. He joined us in Monte Carlo when we won the international [fireworks] competition. 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. Plimpton didnt die. 08:37 Dinner at Elaine's. by George Plimpton. Eerily enough, one of the messages on my answering machine was from George, with that distinctive accent of his: Hallo, its George Plimpton. Kaltenborn was a famous mid . But it didnt define him, much the way he refused to be defined by the stiff, upper-crust world from which hed come. Orson Welles also comes to mind, though I noticed he spoke in this mode more often during his early days, on and off screen. Articles by George Plimpton - Sports Illustrated Vault | SI.com Think of the accent of Jane Hathaway on the Beverly Hillbillies. Back to Plimpton I dont remember the LL affect at all. [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. Why Did William F. Buckley Jr. Talk Like That? - Slate Magazine [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. You can. His dish was Spaghetti Bolognese. "[34] A feature in Mad titled "Some Really Dangerous Jobs for George Plimpton" spotlighted him trying to swim across Lake Erie, strolling through New York's Times Square in the middle of the night, and spending a week with Jerry Lewis. Manhattan DVD. But the average person never talked that way. But Labov said that in post-World War II New York, fancier people started becoming rhotic, and recovering their Rs. He got the personality totally wrong, too. Its something different, and Ive not encountered that in the mid-Atlantic. The s. . My dad could never say what he feltnot reallyand neither can any of us. That Weirdo Announcer-Voice Accent: Where It Came From and Why It Went They spoke in this manner, and it seemed perfectly natural, evocative of a background spent among the gentry of the northeast.. (To read Part One, click here. 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. It was as if some old gentlemans code prohibited us from interacting as human beings. 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. [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. Yes he is gone. *Originally posted by Phlosphr * That is, until I saw the documentarythe assassination of his dear friend Bobby Kennedy. We all just had our own regional accentor non accent, like the flat midwest speak. Self-help author and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Marianne Williamson has a unique accent that, . 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. 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 grew up in New York City with bona fide WASP credentials; became the longtime editor of the Paris Review, working with many of the great novelists of the day; contributed to the New Journalism. Congratulations Carnac, for posting about George Plimptons death at