Sunday, August 11, 2013

The Rise and Fall of Katharine Hepburn's Fake Accent

The Atlantic: When Hollywood turned to talkies, it created a not-quite-British, not-quite-American style of speaking that has all but disappeared.

3 comments:

Todd Mason said...

"Learned in aristocratic finishing schools or taught for use in theater to the Bergmans and Hepburns who were carefully groomed in the studio system, it was class for the masses, doled out through motion pictures."

Um...it was also the default accent for a certain kind of child of privilege, whether we refer to William F. Buckley, Jr. or George Plimpton.

Todd Mason said...

(Thus does the current ATLANTIC keep living down to my expectations.)

Cap'n Bob said...

Now it's Valley Girl keening. Give me the old days anytime.