I only wish I could not tell him again, just one more time. When I eventually went back to be an editor at Harpers, I arrived at his flat, not having been in New York for eight years. The title of the PBS documentary - "Plimpton! December 17, 2022 Rafael Garca. Shoot! hed hiss, when he was mad. [citation needed]. And I felt such love for my sweet old excited dad at that moment that I thought I would do him the favor of not telling him so, of leaving it unsaid. Would you like Mike to run for you, George? the coach asked. At Harvard, Plimpton was a classmate and close personal friend of Robert F. Kennedy. [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. Katharine Hepburn spoke this way, on and off screen until she died. Listen to Caruso singing or Bix Beiderbecke playing his cornet to hear how muffled was the recording of those sounds. The opposing team: the Detroit Lions. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to these men speak. Youll get another shot at the big time, trust me. 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 . He majored in English. The flipped prestige markers point here is fascinating. So think of Margaret Anderson or Amanda and you can place George. 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. In 1994, Plimpton appeared several times in the Ken Burns series Baseball, in which he shared some personal baseball experiences as well as other memorable events throughout the history of baseball.[20]. $ 4.19 - $ 17.92. Finally I did. We made $15,000-20,000. 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. **Mid-Atlantic. [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. Plimpton's most memorable writings involved him inserting himself into a daunting situation about which he knew . Jean Stein became his co-editor. ), this isnt some kind of morbid contest to see who can be the first to inform the board of some celebritys death. She would not even say goodbye. 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. In the April 1, 1985 issue of Sports Illustrated, Plimpton pulled off a widely reported April Fools' Day prank. [47][48] You're going to play for us-making some sort of big comeback." "That's right," Plimpton replied in his patrician accent. So it went in late 1960 at one of George Plimpton's legendary soirees at 541 E. 72nd St., New York. Norman Mailer said that George Plimpton was the best-loved man in New York. These experiences served as the basis of another football book, Mad Ducks and Bears, although much of the book dealt with the off-field escapades and observations of football friends Alex Karras ("Mad Duck") and John Gordy ("Bear"). . He was respected by all. Thurston Howell III had the Larchmont Lockjaw accent. That was when Westbrook van Voorhis, the famous March of Time voice, did the intro narration of the pilot episode of The Twilight Zone. Its a shot from a YouTube video that itself is a fascinating time-capsule portrait of language change. Exeter Academy after an incident involving a George Plimpton. A friend of the New England Sedgwick family, Plimpton edited Edie: An American Biography with Jean Stein in 1982. So it was that George Plimptons accent could not be imitated. The Paris Review was a testimony to his literary taste and his sense of glamour. The Writers won the game with a home run in extra innings, but the highlight was Plimptons hit. Why couldnt we have a good time, too? Old money, would never say the word spanky, and certainly had more money than God could count. 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. Plimpton appeared in the 1989 documentary The Tightrope Dancer which featured the life and the work of the artist Vali Myers. George Plimpton - American Academy of Arts and Letters Plimpton also appeared in a number of feature films as an extra and in cameo appearances. 3: Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives". 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. Between 1945 and 1948, Plimpton was a soldier in the United States Army. Whom is it spoken bymerely the elite, old-money types? George was a little more in-depth than a lot of us, of course, with his education and all. He had been in the war, if briefly (stationed in Italy towards the end of it, hed missed action, but met the Pope, an early sign of the great good fortuneone of his favorite phrasesthat marked his life). 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. Powered by Discourse, best viewed with JavaScript enabled. In 1955 or 56, he went back to New York. Besides, third is a very respectable showing! (And, OK, Im not a linguist, but Im married to one!) He is widely known for his sports writing and for helping to found The Paris Review. Read more in this thread (long). Plimpton, George 1927-2003(George Ames Plimpton) Source for information on Plimpton, George 1927-2003: Concise Major 21st Century Writers dictionary. Plimpton was associated with the literary magazine in Paris, Merlin, which folded because the State Department withdrew its support.[why?] George Ames Plimpton (March 18, 1927 - September 25, 2003) was an American journalist, writer, literary editor, actor and occasional amateur sportsman. And they founded this thing called the Paris Review and published poetry and short story writers and did interviews. **. For it was George Plimpton the writer, not the editor nor the celebrity, who was honored here . 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. [21] The prank was so successful that many readers believed the story, and the ensuing popularity of the joke resulted in Plimpton's writing an entire book on Finch. George Ames Plimpton (1927 - 2003) - Genealogy - geni family tree 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. :rolleyes: Ive got news for you, buddy, youre not even second in line! **. :rolleyes: Ive got news for you, buddy, youre not even second in line! What stood in our way? Several weeks later at a book party, he spotted two writers who had played in that game. 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. Mona Abboud remembers George Plimpton - Orlando Sentinel So we got together and, after some preliminaries, he popped the question that he was really there to ask. How do I know you're not George Plimpton? "Hut-Two-Three . . Ugh" A writer proves to be a Paper Lion at QB 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. I think the term Old Money or patrician pretty much says it. Sidd Finch was a fictional character George had created for a Sports Illustrated story, supposedly the greatest and fastest pitcher in the world. 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! Description above from the Wikipedia article George Plimpton, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of . The young Paris Review editor and other New York literary figures arrived during a period marked by hope for a democratic Cuba. That Weirdo Announcer-Voice Accent: Where It Came From and Why It Went 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. And the answer may explain partly why it has gone out of fashion: Jonathan Harris, the actor who played Dr. Smith on the television show "Lost in Space.". 'Plimpton! Starring George Plimpton as Himself' review Isnt that what they call it. This brings us back to the why things changed question. [citation needed]. 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! In fact, my dads farewells seemed loquacious in comparison to his mothers. She was having lunch at P. J. Clarkes with the publisher Bennet Cerf and his son Chris, and my dad swooped over to the table (he was wearing a cape) and introduced himself in that ridiculously gallant voice: Bennet, Chris, what a pleasant surprise! By signing up, you agree to our User Agreement and Privacy Policy & Cookie Statement. George Plimpton, Author And Editor, Is Dead at 76 Against George Plimpton | Neotenianos After returning to New York from Paris, he routinely launched fireworks at his evening parties. I have worked as poetry editor with editors on other magazines; only with George has the experience been entirely agreeable. H.V. What exactly is a Boston Brahmin accent? The 16th at Cypress Point is one of the famous golf holes of the world, certainly one of the most difficult and demanding par 3's. Among other challenges for Sports Illustrated, he attempted to play top-level bridge, and spent some time as a high-wire circus performer. Vault. As Poling puts it, George was known as an unrivaled raconteur and, in making a film of his life story, it only seemed natural to allow him to tell it.. 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. With the evolution of talkies in the late 1920s, voice was first heard in motion pictures. Announcer-Speak: The Video Highlights Reel - The Atlantic He came from a family where such endearments were not expressed, and phone conversations were curt. He is widely known for his sports writing and for helping to found The Paris Review, as well as his patrician demeanor and accent. It was as if he was trying out again. ESPN.com: GEN - George Plimpton dies This was his habit. Mia had the perfect model! 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. Paper Lion: Confessions of a Last-String Quarterback: Plimpton, George Plimpton also appeared in the closing credits of the 2006 film Factory Girl. *Originally posted by CBCD * Ive known him forsix months and I just now learned hes not English!. George Plimpton, who died last week at his town house, on East Seventy-second Street near the river, was a serious man of serious accomplishments who just happened to have more fun than a van. 2) Truman v. Kaltenborn, 1949. George Plimpton and Papa in Cuba - Guernica But it didnt define him, much the way he refused to be defined by the stiff, upper-crust world from which hed come. Others outside the entertainment industry known for speaking Mid-Atlantic English include William F. Buckley, Jr., Gore Vidal, George Plimpton, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Norman Mailer, Diana Vreeland, Maria Callas, Cornelius Vanderbilt IV. The Wikipedia entry is indeed delightful. But he would do this in the most charming and agreeable way. $ 3.99 - $ 27.44. He died on September 26, 2003 in Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA. **, In this case, Mid-Atlantic refers to speech in which the attributes of British English and American English meet halfway. He had a way of putting it all together, of understanding fighters in the ring; he was a good analyst of boxing. Did he have the celebrated Boston Brahmin accent, or was it a psuedo-Brit affectation? 1. May a diseased yak squat in your hot tub. 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). George Plimpton Biography - life, family, children, wife, school, son BTW, I cant imagine a presidential candidate today getting anywhere close to a nomination with FDRs accent, cigarette holder, and aristocratic bearing. Oh now, Im joking, Carnac ( see? The film used archival audio and video of Plimpton lecturing and reading to create a posthumous narration. 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. Quite sad, as he just had a daughter not many years back. He had it all going! Get book recommendations, fiction, poetry, and dispatches from the world of literature in your in-box. (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? Plimpton entered Harvard as a member of the Class of 1948, but did not graduate until 1950 due to intervening military service. George Plimpton : Movies - CinemaOne 08:37 Dinner at Elaine's. by George Plimpton. 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! Talking about sports with Georgeor, even better, reading George about sportswas more fun than sports themselves. He was not himself interested in poetry, but he read all of the poems every quarter, and he would tell me what he thought of them. Return of the Big Bopper. He very much approved. The book offers memories of Plimpton from among other writers, such as Norman Mailer, William Styron, Gay Talese and Gore Vidal, and was written with the cooperation of both his ex-wife and his widow. By George Plimpton. Shootout at Rio Lobo", "The Smaller the Ball, the Better the Book: A Game Theory of Literature", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=George_Plimpton&oldid=1137974740, This page was last edited on 7 February 2023, at 10:19. It was always a surprise. Over the years, we held a lot of dinner parties for him, and he brought a lot of people inmany, many writers. George Plimpton Dec 1, 2014 In which the venturous author, the rawest rookie pro football has ever known, recounts all the excruciating details of what happened when he called five plays as. Orson Welles also comes to mind, though I noticed he spoke in this mode more often during his early days, on and off screen. An Oral History of George Plimpton: The Man Does Everything - Observer Farmington Hills, MI: Thomson Gale, 2007. (He intended to face both line-ups, but tired badly and was relieved by Ralph Houk.) Ad Choices. But Labov said that in post-World War II New York, fancier people started becoming rhotic, and recovering their Rs. Plimpton, George 1927-2003 | Encyclopedia.com Get a life. He rounded first as if he were about to go for a double, then glided back to the base, with fans waving and cheering. We were bound to play the roles of father and son, unable to simply be ourselves. Macklem . Back to Plimpton I dont remember the LL affect at all. Would you admit to there being symbolism in your novels? 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. He loved the ones that made a lot of noise and racket and excitement. He could have done whatever he wanted. Besides, third is a very respectable showing! 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. Just in time for the Sixties, with all their other pressures towards some kind of anti-Eisenhower authenticity. I havent heard that he is dead, but if so RIP George. You can. Here are five things you may not have known about him. He also served as editor of the Harvard Lampoon. I had made about five thousand egg and tuna sandwiches. He did these jobs, and many others, as an amateur.. You heard it and it could only be him. In all my years, Ive never heard this accent in person. Starring George Plimpton as Himself" - is meant as a wink-wink to Plimpton's career as a "participatory journalist." As a writer for Sports . He was previously married to Sara Whitehead Dudley and Freddy Medora Espy. Articles by George Plimpton - Sports Illustrated Vault | SI.com They all sound just like George. Plimpton scowled, and said he was perfectly capable of running for himself. And George had written it straight. Felix Grucci Jr., of Fireworks by Grucci (Plimpton wrote about the Grucci family, widely held to be the first family of fireworks, in Fireworks: A History and Celebration):George had a very big passion for fireworks. The Detroit Lions let a reporter play QB. Can you guess how it went George Ames Plimpton (March 18, 1927 - September 25, 2003) was an American journalist, writer, literary editor, actor and occasional amateur sportsman. George Plimpton gives an auction winner a star-studded walk through the legendary NYC eatery Elaine's. Ive rarely heard this accent in real life but its often used by actors doing a stereotype character based on other actors impersonations! His response was "no, just affected.". 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. 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. 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. Her mother, a writer and critic for Commonweal and Catholic World. George Ames Plimpton (March 18, 1927 - September 25, 2003) was an American journalist, writer, literary editor, actor and occasional amateur sportsman. It includes clear pronunciation of each and every consonant cluster. All rights reserved. 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. Share; Copied! [2][43], An oral biography titled George, Being George was edited by Nelson W. Aldrich Jr., and released on October 21, 2008. Plimpton would not boast of his feat, so we did. Read more in this thread (long). And you are going to come with me. In the offices of the Paris Review, he displayed far more discerning tastes. Its our anniversary. Being, And Appreciating, George Plimpton : NPR George Plimpton (1927-2003) George Plimpton was the editor of The Paris Review from its founding in 1953 until his death in 2003. Jean Harlow, one of my favorites, is all over the map with this, sometimes sounding like a tough streetwalker, other times like a society matron, and, oddly, slipping in and out of both dialects in the same role, or even in one sentence. In Praise of Plimpton - Newsweek 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. 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.

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