Why Do People In Old Movies Talk Weird?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 24 พ.ย. 2014
- It’s not quite British, and it’s not quite American - so what gives? Why do all those actors of yesteryear have such a distinct and strange accent?
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If you’ve ever heard old movies or newsreels from the thirties or forties, then you’ve probably heard that weird old-timey voice.
It sounds a little like a blend between American English and a form of British English. So what is this cadence, exactly?
This type of pronunciation is called the Transatlantic, or Mid-Atlantic, accent. And it isn’t like most other accents - instead of naturally evolving, the Transatlantic accent was acquired. This means that people in the United States were taught to speak in this voice. Historically Transatlantic speech was the hallmark of aristocratic America and theatre. In upper-class boarding schools across New England, students learned the Transatlantic accent as an international norm for communication, similar to the way posh British society used Received Pronunciation - essentially, the way the Queen and aristocrats are taught to speak.
It has several quasi-British elements, such a lack of rhoticity. This means that Mid-Atlantic speakers dropped their “r’s” at the end of words like “winner” or “clear”. They’ll also use softer, British vowels - “dahnce” instead of “dance”, for instance. Another thing that stands out is the emphasis on clipped, sharp t’s. In American English we often pronounce the “t” in words like “writer” and “water” as d’s. Transatlantic speakers will hit that T like it stole something. “Writer.” “Water.”
But, again, this speech pattern isn’t completely British, nor completely American. Instead, it’s a form of English that’s hard to place… and that’s part of why Hollywood loved it.
There’s also a theory that technological constraints helped Mid-Atlantic’s popularity. According to Professor Jay O’Berski, this nasally, clipped pronunciation is a vestige from the early days of radio. Receivers had very little bass technology at the time, and it was very difficult - if not impossible - to hear bass tones on your home device. Now we live in an age where bass technology is booms from the trunks of cars across America.
So what happened to this accent? Linguist William Labov notes that Mid-Atlantic speech fell out of favor after World War II, as fewer teachers continued teaching the pronunciation to their students. That’s one of the reasons this speech sounds so ‘old-timey’ to us today: when people learn it, they’re usually learning it for acting purposes, rather than for everyday use. However, we can still hear the effects of Mid-Atlantic speech in recordings of everyone from Katherine Hepburn to Franklin D. Roosevelt and, of course, countless films, newsreels and radio shows from the 30s and 40s.
SOURCES:
www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum...
news.discovery.com/history/us-...
web.archive.org/web/2005111805...
www.slate.com/articles/news_an... - วิทยาศาสตร์และเทคโนโลยี
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I just thought everyone talked like that back then.
Meta Mystery dude I've been looking into conspiracy theories lately so I don't even know lol
I have often wondered why the difference between the old recordings and the way we talk now. This explains it. Partly. It's not just the slight differences in pronunciation, but the inflections are completely different, too. Compared to today's speech, this old movie/radio speech sounds really stilted.
Conspiracies or conspiracy theories?
soundofone isn't it both the same thing?
I too think everyone talked like that back then. It is farfetched to pretend that all these people learned so well an accent all at the same time. I come from a spanish speaking country and there too, people talked weird spanish in old movies. I was just the way peopel talked at that time
If you notice they also spoke very fast because film was expensive. Get those lines out quick and don't make mistakes or you hurt the budget
Also the actors talk very loudly, nearly shouting. That is because they did not have good microphones.
I always noticed that too, it was like they were just waiting for someone to finish their line so they could say theirs.
Wow, I swear I noticed that on Citizen Kane!! The talk very fast, to the point that it's annoying! (For me)
To compare with today's films, we tend to drag out scenes for extra dramatic effect. Not really what one would actually do in a certain situation.
And yet there were movies like Birth of a Nation which came out in 1915 and was 3 hours long lol
"Heck yeah, drop that bass!"
1940's radio: *silence*
This is the funniest comment in this comments section. Underrated
I don't get it. Can someone explain the joke to my dumb ass?
@@bluebird5173 Most old radios and audio recording equipment could only register and play back mid-to-high pitched sound. Something low and bassy wouldn't get through.
@@CytotoxinK Thank you for the explanation!
This is UNDERRATED 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭
This has literally bothered me since I was in middle school. It was straight up disturbing. I thought it was just how old microphones made everyone sound and I just couldn't pick it out irl.
Prometheus - what is the purpose of 'literally' in your sentence?
@@richardwebb2348 the age-old tradition of dramatic effect, friend. It's for emphasis.
Prometheus Is Cold i don’t see how it’s disturbing though..
@@sixelakeller5377 I lost a lot of mental energy thinking too hard about it. that counts as disturbing to me. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Richard Webb i think it was meant as emphasis on the fact that they had been bothered by the accent since they were in middle school (u can infer that it was probably a long time ago)
You look like you're about to go bowling
Tony Dupre he looks like hes in flavortown
Tony Dupre IM DYING THIS IS T H E BEST COMMENT
He looks just plain awful!
obviously you're not a golfer
Lol u r right
The trick to nailing this accent is to say "see" after, well everything
The see trick see to see nailing see this see accent see is see to see say see "see" see after see well, see everything see
I see see
That sounds swell.
The "see" wasn't Trans/Mid Atlantic. That was more in the gangster pictues. Edward G. Robinson and the like. "Myeah! Not gonna get me, copper! Myeah, see???"
th-cam.com/video/Ed1ofgp0Y9I/w-d-xo.html
Then there was the "Sayyyy! What's the big idea!" (also not Trans/Mid Atlantic).
th-cam.com/video/TV1tbKtboaw/w-d-xo.html
There was more than one prevalent accent.
Who Dat Dude? S O U K A
I remember when my Grandparents (born late 1800's, early 1900's) would sometimes use the word "why" at the beginning of a sentence. For example, if I asked them what it was like in the old days on the farm they might say, "why, we didn't have electricity and used wagons". I noticed this in old movies from the 1930's and 1940's as well.
Alastor: Why, I haven't been that entertained since the stock market crash of 1929!
I haven't thought about that in a long time. My grandparents did the same thing.
Now it's likely to be "so" or "like" or the most irritating of all... "actually".
“Why,” “you know” “like” were really common but just in different generations
@@andrewstamford1988 But “actually” has always been used specifically as a *correction*. Nobody ever answered “What was it like in your day, Grandpa?” with “Actually we used horse-drawn wagons.”
Mid-Atlantic is actually still commonly requested for Engiish voice-overs in Europe. Clients think that by using an accent that can’t be located, they can use one version of their TVC or Internet ad in all English-speaking markets and don’t have to record separate versions for UK, US, AUS etc. It usually results in a voice-over that sounds weird for all markets, but clients still keep demanding it, and voice talent offer it.
People in old movies don't talk weird, people NOW talk weird see?!
Adam Charlton
😂😂😂 WHATAYA TALKING ABOUT??WHY I OUGHTA...😂😂
Hell fucking yeah mfkers be talkin hella weird now ya heard?
People now are weird!
Msr Coldrooms Adam Charlton Say, you’re a couple o wise guys huh?!
Lol!
I remember seeing bloopers from a movie in the 30s. An actor messed up his lines, so he laughed and spoke to everyone in what sounded like our modern American accent. Watching that clip blew my freaking mind.
+Commander_Ninja Oh dear God please remember the name of that clip!! I too also thought everyone spoke like that until watching this video. I kind of feel cheated :-/
Clint Flicker That's the one! I was racking my brain trying to remember. Thanks!
Commander_Ninja i spent the last 20 minutes going through cracked videos and nope. can't find it. AHHHHH!!
Clint Flicker 6 Historic Events That Were Nothing Like You Picture Them - The Spit Take. Its up on youtube and its at about the 5:30 mark
Commander_Ninja boom!!
Pinch your nose and speak, you now sound like you in a 1950's film
I just wanna know how many people tried this 😁
Thiiiis guy.
Not really; audio recording technology of the 1950s was little different to that of the 1970s, 80s or 90s. At least not in any half decent cinema that I attended during the 1950s or even 1940s.
1930s you mean! Nobody in those Elvis Presley movies sounded like that.
Hahahahahah that was funny
One thing my Dad has always complained about these old movies is that they usually seem to speak so fast it's hard to keep track. And now it's gone the other way, where a lot of movies - usually dramas - will have the dialogue be so low and soft he can barely hear them.
Ugh! Yes! Or the background music is so loud that you can't hear the voices over it.
As a none native English speaker I thought this was a problem with my hearing, I thought it was my problem, good to know that native speakers struggle with this too
My husband talks like this all the time, just to entertain himself!
Sometimes, I break out into "old timey movie character voice"
It's also just to entertain myself lol
Ah, yes. I, myself am straining at the bit to drive to Monte Cahlow.
Does he have a TH-cam channel?
Mine does, too. “Now, see here, you mug!”
You lucky sonovagun!
This still doesn't explain why they spoke 100 miles an hour
richardtheconquerer the actual cocaine in coca cola
Playback at 75% speed to hear the original speed. Old film was 24 frames per second, but we play them today at 30 fps.
richardtheconquerer I've lived in various places. And where I live now has a speech/style speed which is so slow and unnessacarily over pronounced on each syllable. Just about incorrectly with enunciation too, by comparison to where I'm originally from. Good examples are talk shows. People where I'm originally from speak fast and cover ground comprehensively
5x ? Or so. I think speech styles depends on the region very greatly. I also think Hollywood taught their a string actors how to and how not to talk to correct their individual styles for film sake. It was a snooty thing.
Good point, but 70% my friend. .7 X 30=24.
Forgiven Sinner - true, but TH-cam doesn't have that option. Only 25, 50, and 75 percent for slower. 125, 150, and 200 percent for faster.
I always thought the accent sounded cool, particularly when it was spoken with a deep voice
Maybe the speed or the accent was acted, but I never have had trouble understanding old movies because they were recorded in a way that was clearer and sharper than many films or television series now, which are so muddy and bass heavy. I also like films from the 30s and 40s, among other reasons, because they remind me of my late father, born in 1912. He didn’t speak with a Mid-Atlantic accent, or especially fast, but he did use a lot of slang and expressions that I hear in 30s movies. It’s a delight whenever I hear a character in an old film suddenly use slang I remember from my dad.
No one said it was difficult to understand, just weird, and never real in the first place
Hit that 't' like it stole something
+Phoenix Wiseman Ben Bowlin wrote this script, and we suspect that line will go down in history as the most Bowlin of all Bowlin writing.
Hehe.
Stop it! Stop it!!!
I'm going to organise a worldwide protest movement in support of tolerance and non-violence toward the letter 'T'...
I'm gonna hit that T and A
*T-pose intensifies*
2108 ： Why Do People In Old Internet Talk Weird?
More like "why were people on Old Internet such poor spellers and so poor at grammar"
@ilovebeinagirl Your reply is funny, because it lacks grammar and punctuation.
epic lowkey savage comment
2108: what did 'savage' and 'lowkey' imply in the old internet?
Because OP is a bunch of twigs, obviously.
I think the first time I "noticed" this accent was as a kid watching Father Knows Best. Jane Wyatt, who played Margaret Anderson, always spoke with a Mid-Atlantic accent.
Right. And I always wondered how no one else in the family had that weird accent.
I had always had the theory that it was a bunch of silent movie actors who went to the same dialect coach when switching to talkies. Thank you for the information! My son and I crack each other up holding conversations in this dialect.
Another reason why they sounded strange is because, back then, movie actors were also stage actors. You have to project your voice, and exaggerate pronunciation to even be understood.
also
I remember hearing my dad being interviewed on an AM news show back in the mid 60''s... I was shocked how different his voice sounded. Tinny nasal sounding voice... nothing like his normal voice.
They could use a lesson in speaking clearly today. I find some of the actors in new movies hard to understand.
Audio quality obviously wasn't as clear back then. Even in Australia people being interviewed back then sounded a lot more upper class than they would now.
I used to record my voice on our old early-'70s Panasonic home cassette recorder, and the playback sounded nothing like what had gone in. Too little bass response, just as he said.
Back then, movie actors were actors instead of pop stars and supermodels.
50zcarsman that’s because what you hear coming out of your mouth sounds nothing like what you’re actually projecting. Partially due to the recording equipment, but mostly due to hearing how you sound from a different perspective.
Mid-Atlantic accent - is that what people living in the middle of the ocean speak?
Ha.
that's the working theory, yeah.
Rapture City accent
Doesn't Mid-Atlantic mean Maryland?
CheesyTV It goes 'glub glub glub'
This kind of dialect can be heard on the sitcom “Frasier.” Although the brother characters, Frasier and Niels, were born and raised in Seattle, they obtained their trans-Atlantic accents from the mother and during their years in eastern universities. Next time if you watch Frasier listen intently to him when he’s talking to his father about something really serious - he loses his pompous accent and speaks with a soft “normal” American dialect. It’s fun to catch those moments when he’s being sincere and not so showy. I love that sitcom!👍
His Girl Friday is a great movie. Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell were so good together. Amazing writing where the dialog is concerned. The very definition of "witty repartee". So many fantastic movies were made in the Forties.
Directed by the great Howard Hawks. He could flourish in any genre.
*NOW, YOU LISTEN HERE SEEEEEE!*
Magnus McCloud *I'M GONNA GET TO THE BOTTOM OF THIS CASE WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT*
"WHYYYY, I OUGHTA... !!!".
Say! Pipe down, Sister!
Magnus McCloud *Hey, pal! Ya wanna me ta introduce ya to my Tommy!? Shut yer trap!*
I once shot an elephant in my pajamas.
How he got in my pajamas I'll never know.
To give old Hollywood credit, you could understand every word they are saying. Something you can't say about the naturalistic style of acting today which often devolves to mumbling and speaking too softly.
I call it “whisper talking”. Edward James Olmos in virtually any roll has the same low monotone delivery.
Yes damn right and i could not agree more, the way they speak today is nothing short of ATROCIOUS! and totally impossible to understand and unintelligible, probably down to extreme laziness of pronunciation
Good actors make themselves heard, no matter what era it is.
This is true, one of the reasons I can’t watch movies without subtitles. They always mumble the important details. I’m always asking “what did he say?”
Nah you’re all just old and need hearing aids
This reinforced another video I saw that people talked in a higher tone to help record their voices better in the early days of talkies.
Very fascinating. Subscribed
Great video very informative, thank you! Just subscribed 😊
Carrie Fisher used the accent as Princess Leia in the first Star Wars movie.
I think this is a trope in a lot of sci fi and fantasy. Kind of a half-way effort in a middle earth olde English type accent.
@ And perhaps channeling the accent of characters in the 1930s Flash Gordon film(s).
Yes... but only a little. As Carrie herself humorously observed, she wafted in and out of it.
I don't think that was intentional. I believe she once commented that when she tried to sound serious, she inadvertently sounded somewhat british.
This was, I believe, a happy accident as the Empire was portrayed with British accents, so British was the "accent of government". The idea was that the Empire were Nazis (and, by extension, European) and the rebels were American.
It was a result of Carrie's amateurishness as an actress. Carrie only used that accent during the scene with Grand Moff Tarkin, played by Peter Cushing (a Britishman). Cushing had a posh British accent, so Carrie, unintentionally or not, adopted a similar accent. Carrie doesn't use that accent during any other scene in the film.
Time to become an English teacher for immigrants so we can have a bunch of Arabs and Chinese people speak like they're in a 40's Noir movie.
Yess😂😂
Hell yes!
PickelJars ForHillary lol. Darling, you're a jaded tragic old pale fart who risked their life for a country that doesn't give two fucks about you and now you're a cowardly bigot who trolls the internet. You wish.
Yep, it's trigged.
Brilliant!
Brilliant, super informative (another thing I always wondered about), and LOL, you did it very good at the end!
Brings back many happy memories of watching the dirigible racing in my youth.
Hope you brought your pillow.
"Hit that "T" like it STOLE something!" Love it!
You guys hit the R like it stole something .
Remember where you came from 🤫🇬🇧
Fraiser was one of the last pop culture characters to use the mid Atlantic accent.
Kelsey Grammar (or however you spell his name) is easily understood. When it comes to the English language isn't that why we have language in the first place? So we can communicate? Other commenters found it pretentious. I don't understand that rationale.
Major Winchester on MASH was a classic case. Couldn't stand to listen to him.
And Fraisier's brother Miles, also of the college educated professional class. Yet actor John Mahoney, who played their retired policeman father Martin Crane, spoke a more plebeian American English.
@@JudgeJulieLit which was weird since Mahoney was actually from england - altho he sounded the most american in that family
@@JudgeJulieLit *Niles
Very good review! :-D Loved the fact that you swapped the accents yourself too. I love the Transatlantic accent. It is largely a good combination of American sweetness and classic stiff upper lip British. Oliver Hardy (Laurel and Hardy) used to speak with a Transatlantic accent. :-)
That was fantastic my good man. Quick, concise, and entertaining. BULLY!!!
ALRIGHT. IT WAS ME... ME, I TELL YA! AND I'D DO IT AGAIN, YA HEAR!
J T G lol nice!
Ha!!!
...ya heah!
*obligatory: holds woman harshly by her upper arm while holding a tiny gun in my other hand and keeping it pointed at her*
Heah, heah!
I wish we still spoke like this, it has a certain charm and class to it.
Me Again I dont
I agree it sounds so pretty
Me Again It sounds very intelect.
I enjoy it myself. It is enticing.
You wouls be desensitized to it and it would lose charm
Recently I've watched the first series of Star Trek (again 😀) and there you can hear and see.. the theatre stage just filmed and turned into a movie. For me a part of it's charm 😍
I rewatched it too recently and all the women had what I call "submissive voice" - ugh. Except for nurse Chapel!
Also dialogues in those movies were top-notch. No wasted words but memorable lines and catch phrases.
I always thought that was a cool accent. Kinda sucks it's not being taught
Ever think if you were actually taught it that it would be perceived as "cool"? Probably not...
Shampoo A Buffalo Did you watch the video? The language wasn't used widely, only for radio and television, so it was unique, and taught for these specific things
+Outset Eddy You'd sound like an idiot.
That would be cool, wear a three piece suit and a fedora and you're set.
The Tee Not when I'm roasting you in that accent
This style of speech always commands some form of authority to the listener. That’s what makes it interesting.
@Scott Whatever I think you may be wrong. There is nothing artificial about getting your point across as eloquent as possible. You have your opinion and I have mine. Conveying a message through speech is not pretentious at all. It is nothing more than a way to properly communicate with one another. You dig?
@Scott Whatever I agree.
@Ronove Yes, Frasier and even more IMO Niles were certainly pretentious. Artificial, no. If you grew up with the shows, you would know that is how audiences view the show now.
I am guessing your point is that future generations might view Frasier in the same way, as an antiquated speech pattern.
The problem is that real people didn't speak the way that Cary delivered lines.
@Scott Whatever rather shallow and pedantic.
@@paulh7589 "Eloquent" and "proper"? Sounds pretty superficial and dumb to me, as though one were compensating for a lack of substance. Speak plainly if you have anything that is truly worth saying and listening to, and do so with a measure of common humility rather than putting on airs and a transparently fake sense of superiority.
I've always wondered about this. Thanks for providing the answer.
Like many others mentioned, I have always wondered why this was the case. Finally! Thank-you! Subscribed! Really, Thank you.
While at university, a linguistics professor stopped me in a corridor after hearing me speak to one of my peers. She asked me where I was from originally. I said, "Texas." She asked me if I got that a lot-being asked where I was from. I admitted that it was a common occurrence. She then asked if I was familiar with MidAtlantic speech pattern. I was not. She ended up making a recording of me to analyse and to use as an example. She said I was the youngest person-I was in my twenties at the time, she'd ever heard with this particular speech pattern and who used it naturally as their way of speaking. I happen to have had a voicemail message from my grandmother and played it and the professor smiled and said she realised that I was raised in a household where this was the actual way of speaking and not an affectation. It was all very good fun learning about all that. My friends accuse me of sounding like Stewie on family guy or a soft Virginian in a prewar picture.
I’m curious to hear your voice now lol
I'm pretty sure they spell analyse and realise with Zs in Texas. And they say Zee, not Zed.
Can you record yourself doing your voice? Dont have to show your face? Understandable if you don't want to.
You should upload a video of yourself talking.
I’m subscribing to you just in case you make a video of yourself talking
I've been wondering this for SO LONG; thank you!
+Jasmine W. ^___^ You're welcome. Thanks for watching!
+BrainStuff - HowStuffWorks yea me too
Same here!
Jasmine W. Me too!
BrainStuff - HowStuffWorks
...Explained the man with the horrible, nasal voice. Not to mention that Cary Grant is English, playing a Chicago newspaper editor in 'His Girl Friday'.
Uh, it's called being a professional. And 'His Girl Friday' is an adaptation of the stage play, 'The Front Page'.
Omfg i'm now subscribed for the editing!! What a great video :) can't wait for the notifications of new videos!!
Ah... that was spot-on. To the point, entertaining, informative, interesting, humorous, short n sweet, and not ego-driven by the presenter! My kind of TH-cam upload! Cheers mate 😁
I wish they still taught us how to speak. They all sound so eloquent, everything they say is crystal clear.😍💕
Georgia Twomey fuck that they sound snoody
It sounds bad to me.
Pick it up yourself. Plenty of examples out there.
People fr getting wet over the 1950s movie accents
I wish it were more organic though. It has a very metallic melody to it.
I really love that "old-timey" accent in movies. I mean, it's actually quite pleasant to hear.
Thank you! I was hoping you'd mention the radio as it was messing with old crystal sets that set me questioning my own (English) accent. Vestiges of traits we think of as American can still be found in the West Country of England today and I'll stop her 'cause I could go on forever - great video!
Fascinating stuff, I had been wondering about this for a few years as a Brit living in the US.
As a Brooklyn native, I've also noticed that the Brooklyn accent was also used to illustrate class differences in pre-war cinema.
And in postwar, as in the tv series The Honeymooners.
The old Three Stooges short films are a good example :)
Bugs Bunny had the classic Queens accent, which is rather similar, although I won’t insult your distinguished Brooklyn brethren by saying it’s the same!
Rodney Dangerfield is an iconic example.
It sounds like a high-class Boston accent to me
+mastersnet18 A few actors have adopted a milder form - Lawrence Fishburne comes to mind - also John Travolta
It is, essentially.
+Marco Kimani *Laurence FishPorne*
+mastersnet18 Fundamentally, it's the Cambridge accent common in the areas around Suffolk. The vowels have flattened some in England, but the resemblance to the Thurston Howell Nob Hill accent is still very strong.
The reason the Transatlantic accent sounds odd today is because most people on TV and radio speak with a Midland accent brought over by settlers from Birmingham and the British Midlands to Pennsylvania. It was carried by settlers across the lower Great Lakes region and down the California coast, so it has become one of the most widely spread dialects.
New England brahmin is a distinct accent though. It's not quite the same.
For some reason things like this from the 50s, 60s and 70s just make me think of very happy things. I don’t know if that makes sense but ye
I always wondered. Thanks for this!
It's not radio that gave Mid-Atlantic accent a technical advantage -- it was the early acoustically recorded phonograph records and cylinders, in which performers had to shout into a cone that directly vibrated the needle capturing the sound. And before the advent of amplification, actors also had to shout to be heard in the back rows of the theater. This style of speaking carried over for a while even after microphones and amplifiers were invented; FDR's "nothing to fear but fear itself" speech is a great example of a Mid-Atlantic accent!
Interesting. If you think about it, a similar thing is happening today: SMS speak, originally due to the technical limitations of typing a long text message on a phone, now self sustaining as fashion. I wouldn't be surprised if in the 2080s people look back and assume that millenials were just poorly educated.
Don't love me for fun girrrrl, let me be the one girrrl-love me for a reeaasooon, let the reason be looooooove.
Actors don't "shout" - actors "project."
It's a diaphragm thing, like singing. If you shout, you'll lose your voice.
Daniel Natal it was adopted for the british market because the american accent was considered horrible. But it was invented in Boston between 1890s and early 1900s for business and with the same porpose, to sound fancy for the Britishers.
MrSwanley in fact millenials are poorly educated but social media and iphones dont have anything to do with this. In the past was easier to study in the USA and in most states nowdays is just a privilege. Other generations with an average job could afford an education.
I've watched so many old movies that it sounds normal to me.
Same I actually prefer it because I understand them clearly. Now I watch movies and need subtitles because everyone is whispering or speaking in this intense low voice only their butts can hear.
@@Jalide I've noticed that in adult movies and sitcoms
Same here. Doesn't sound a bit strange to me.
Can someone recommend me some old tv-shows or movies please ♥️
It still sounds normal to me' in fact, I don't know what you're talking about.
Bob Cousy, the NBA Hall of Famer born in 1928 in Manhattan to poor immigrants, speaks with a Mid Atlantic accent, as do many people of his generation (well, the few who remain alive) who grew up in the Northeast in early to mid 20th century, even if they never were anywhere near the Phillips Exeter Academy - it was the most prestigious accent and many adopted it.
Cousy spoke French until going to grammar school. He also had a severe speech impediment growing up. His accent is quite unique due to these factors and isn't "mid Atlantic".
A three minute videos that goes to the point, it covers important matters and is very concise. He even mixed his accents and give examples. I think I came.
I love their accents. Wish people still had them
William Daniels has it.
In the 1950s you could understand everything people said. Speech was clear, well enunciated. Not just in the US but in UK, Australia
Yeah...absolutely no one had accents then, did they?
Akane Cortich no, I'm afraid not. American accents have gotten more homogeneous over the last two generations.
Lol, try talking to an old man from Dorset and then tell me that you could understand everyone!
Try listening to Strom Thurmond or similar American politicians from back then.
(yawn) How boring. Everyone sounds the same in those old times. I'm glad people mostly speak with their natural voices in films today. It brings more charm and immersion to the characters instead of making me think I'm listening to the news or an auction.
Awesome! Thank you! I was always wondering about that.
I have often thought about this Great job especially the Bass or lack of it. The old time radio announcers. A combination of Edward G Robinson and Edward R Morrow
It's not just the accent that plays a roll in this. The microphones back then heavily distorted people's voices. I saw a clip--out of a documentary--of some president speaking, and he sounded like any other person who one would see in some 1950s film... but as soon as a different clip of him was played (in which a better microphone was used), he sounded like a normal person. Sure, people used this odd accent and different demeanor, but I realized that the microphones are what make everything sound so weird.
***** I wish I could remember the name of it... :-(
+maccollectorZ (Commenting Account) yes the recording equivalent of the time imparted a particular sound to everyone - the same technology that made recordings of billie holiday et al sound like they did......
Donald Quan Yeah - I'd really like to hear a recording of someone today using a 1950s microphone; it would be interesting to compare it to recordings that are actually from the 1950s.
maccollectorZ (Commenting Account) Depending on type and quality, 1950s mikes CAN sound like modern ones (cheap Crystal types do change and clip voices, But that was true in 1975 as it was in 1955). Older recording equipment (and media used on it) actually had a bigger influence on the sound than the mikes. Transcription disk recordings (and commercially produced 78Rpm records) lack not only the frequency response,but the dynamic range of later magnetic tape or LP ( microgroove) records. Both of those being a largely post WW2 development. I have tapes recorded my relatives in the mid 1950s (open reel tape) that sound no different than the same people on 1970s cassette tape. If you're talking 1948 or earlier, yeah, there's a difference. (although some 1940s wire recorders are pretty accurate, compared to acetate disks.).
So, perhaps, it's different once an older recording has become digitized? Because, it strikes me as odd that some old records - even if they are clear and not particularly muffled - make a person's voice sound generic and unnatural.
I was wondering why all actors back then sounded British. Although, Cary Grant is actually British.
Yet his English accent in Gunga Din was terrible. Weird huh?
If someone walked into my store talking like Cary Grant I would figure that they were having an aneurysm. I can't imagine anyone ever talking like Cary Grant LOL
@@runlarryrun77 come to think of it, it was awful😂
Bristol
Cary, Cary, Cary was born in England in 1904. He came to America in 1920, thence mostly lived in California. Similarly Bob Hope and Elizabeth Taylor, born in England but early emigrants to America, lost most of their English accents, but long sounded Midatlantic.
Very informative,thanks. I quite like the transatlantic accent.
Love Howard Hawkes. I have The Thing from another planet. Love the quick smart dialogue and the story. Great film.
You kinda look like a rip-off Rick from Pawn Stars.
Mr. Chicken breast “I want a British accent”
“Young Man! the you best will get is my mid Atlantic accent!” (Said in mid Atlantic accent)
This made me chuckle
Mr. Chicken breast HAHAHA
that's not very nice
WOW! You managed to insult BOTH, this man AND Rick. Rick KNOWS people (Las Vegas Mafia)who can find you and fricassee you out in the desert, Mr. Chicken Breast ~~~{*!*}~~~
This was a terrific analysis. As a long-time movie buff, I was certainly aware of the accent and this way of speaking in older movies, but never understood why they spoke that way, since it wasn't British or mainstream American. The presenter would make a fantastic vocal coach for actors playing in appropriate period pieces.
I concur,wholeheartedly! Thinking now of so many old films which subtly illustrated the proper acceptable speech stylings, the host mentioned, in comparison to outlandish stylings of, say. A Brrt Lahr, Bogie, Leo Gorcey, and his troupe, etc.
If you were acting as an everyday person in a movie about this era would you actually need to learn the accent? If it was learned in some schools but not spoken in normal speech.
It also has a lot to do with the fact most early film/TV performers had cut their teeth on theater stages, where you had to project your voice as loud as possible just to be heard. That's also why physical gesturing was so exaggerated in early movies and early TV. All of these actors started on stage and in vaudeville where you had to be loud and extra animated.
Well that answered my question in a simple and concise manner. Thanks mate.
Damn, i'd love it if we all still talked with those accents.
+Fioaoiudou Me too!
It takes a lot of practice with a candlestick telephone to maintain it.
They never talked like that in the first place, they talked exactly like us, only actors during filming used it because it was easier to understand.
Josue Alejandro They didn't talk like us but they definitely did not speak the way they did in films.
NOW LOOK HERE SEEEEEE....🤣😂
It’s not quite British, and it’s not quite American - so what gives? Why do all those actors of yesteryear have such a distinct and strange accent?
That's why it's called the "transatlantic accent". It's supposed to sound like something in between American and English, equally understandable to Yanks and Brits.
+captainbryce1 "Midatlantic", as in middle of the Atlantic. Not "transatlantic".
+marzolian +marzolian Try to avoid "correcting" people until you are in full possession of the facts. Mid-Atlantic accent and Transatlantic accent are interchangeable, and generally refer to the same accent. I prefer Transatlantic because Mid-Atlantic accent can easily be confused with the Mid-Atlantic English dialect. Mid-Atlantic English basically basically refers to the Philly accent, which is completely different. People who live in the South Jersey, Western Pennsylvania, the Delaware valley, or speak with a Philly or Baltimore accent are using the Mid-Atlantic dialect. By the way, nobody lives in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean (unless they are on the island of Bermuda). Hollywood actors did however employ transatlantic travel since many of them come from England and other parts of Europe.
+marzolian - LOL. rekt.
+BrainStuff - HowStuffWorks
One more note, the Mid Atlantic Accent was still in use around the 60s and 70s because of dubs done for Kung Fu and Kaiju films that were recorded in Hong Kong. These dubs were known as the International Dubs
Great video! You guys deserve all the upvotes you have.
Thanks for the knowledge
Next time on Legend of Korra...
+Jenifer Joseph omg... yes
if I had a trophy I would give it to you.
I'm not the only one who thought that!
I'm currently wetting my pants.
Fun fact: Shiro Shinobi and the Man with the Yellow Hat are voiced by the same VA.
omg this video answered a loooooooong standing question I could never properly put into a question, thank you!
Herman Pesina same
As soon as the clip from His Girl Friday started playing I guessed that it was to come across more clearly on the radio, so I threw my hands in the air and shouted when you said that! I've come to associate that manner of speaking as much with a cliche of radio announcers as with pre-WWII movies.
Did notice and wondered. Thank you.
Frasier has this accent
Richard Philip he kinda does
Stewie.
I thought it was because grammer is from st. Thomas
He sounds nothing like Frasier IRL.
“They’ll hit that T like it stole something.”
Hahahahaha. :)
In addition you everything you said, which is true, the quality and style of the ribbon microphones impacted they sound as well. More gain and less bass.
Thanks so much for this vid. Ive always wondered about that☺
I just figured it was a "coked-out New York businessman" accent.
JM1993951 Hardly
JM1993951 They weren't "Coked out" in those days.....Everyone had a life!!!!
@@brigittebeltran6701 actually they were probably more coked out than anyone is today on average, considering it was in medicine until about 1922!
It's more akin to England's ' Received Pronunciation ' accent. But I do get the similarities, like non-rhoticiy, hard ' t ', and similar vowels. But those are features shared with other accents too!
For example, non-rhoticity can be found in many NYC accents, certain southern accents ( mainly those of Louisiana and the tidewater region of Virginia, where r-dropping can even be found among younger natives ), most of east New England ( most notably, Boston ), Australia, New Zealand and parts of India, as well as most of the UK.
Also, NYC accents, Australian accents and most varieties of British English have quite similar vowels, most notably the vowels in words like ' all ' ' caught ' and ' awning '. In these varieties of English, ' caught ' is pronounced like ' court\ quart ' ' tall ' is pronounced like ' tool ' etc.
Cocaine wasn’t a big social drug in this country at that time. It’s still used medically to this day but that isn’t why it’s ever been popular. The ‘coked out businessman’ stereotype came around in the 1980s, after cocaine became popular in the ‘60s and ‘70s as a party drug. In the ‘50s and ‘60s, amphetamines were hugely popular (WWII made a lot of soldiers familiar with that drug) and I’ve definitely seen some evidence of its usage in some people’s performances like Johnny Carson.
"Hit that T like it stole somthing" is my favorite phrase of the year!
This was exactly the information I was looking for. Thank you!
This is still used considerably and save voice acting over commercials for worldwide distributing in English. It's also used for voicing over say animation and anime for instance.
Last year, my drama teacher had several of us learn the Trans-Atlantic accent because it helps us with our articulation. We don't drop our R's, though. I'll admit, sometimes we did sound a bit funny, but those of us that bothered to learn it then are the most articulate actors in the school now.
Am I the only one who misses this accent?
Call it superficial if you want, but I feel like this accent was usually accompanied by a richer use of the English language. A bit more sophisticated in a sense.
The language today certainly seems lazier. How often do you hear someone use 'mustn't' these days?
You can always learn it today by using the things they used
Quality Meat: Actually, saying "mustn't" is "lazier" than saying "must not", wouldn't you say? Any use of contractions is inherently a "lazier" use of verbiage (that's why its use is generally still frowned upon in formal writing). It's just that there are some expressions or wording that our modern ears aren't used to hearing anymore, and so the rarity in their usage might sound more eloquent, richer, or even quaint to us today. We [americans] may not say "mustn't" or "shan't" or even "shall" very much today, but we regularly say "won't", "would've", & "shouldn't", don't we? While they sound common & not very fancy today, perhaps in about 50 or 100 years, they'll sound quaint and eloquent to our great-grandchildren, eh?
Quality Meat: Having said the above, I do agree with you that language today (any language) seems lazier & far less eloquent & rich than even two generations ago. Aside from the ubiquitous use of contractions, we (speaking of americans) also commonly "slur" or stretch our words in speech, so that "going to" & "what are you doing?" are now incorrectly pronounced as "gonna" & "whatchadoin'?" (even in the 1930s, these pronunciations existed but were extremely discouraged by parents, academic & political institutions, & around the general office). To boot, a much more casual application of correctly-pronounced words & terms has replaced formal or polite speech, such as saying "look" (as in "look you") instead of "see here", "I don't get it" instead of "I don't understand", or "you think so?" as opposed to "do you believe so?". I believe that as our world becomes more & more secular & "casual-minded" (including in our dress---our attire, as it were), our speech & verbiage will reflect that downward trend, in my opinion.
Rj Bertram stop weeping and go watch stewie griffin in family guy then
Thank you. I always thought it was the limitation of the technology, like film could only go at certain speed and was thus played slightly faster than normal, like a when a tape player was in fast-play speed.
"When people learn it they're usually learning it for acting purposes rather than everyday use"
John Mulaney: Hold my horse.
I hate my life and it hates me back YES YES! YES THIS IS THE COMMENT I NEEDED! HE WAS SO TOTALLY BORN SPEAKING LIKE THAT!
im literally here to learn how to speak like that so i can speak it everyday
On Gilligan's Island, character Thurston Howel and wife "Lovey" are great examples of the accent.
Matt J S UR RIGHT that's so weird
It was considered rich and upper class. William F Buckley spoke like that well into the 80s.
Locust Valley lockjaw
My grandparents grew up in a time where an Australian version of mid-Atlantic was popular. They subsequently passed the accent onto my parents and my parents me. At high school my friends would say I sound like "an old black and white movie character, jimmy stewart etc". Only much later did I find my friends were more accurate than I realised. My grandmother, like stewie griffin always pronounces the H in wh words (like hhwhom, hwhat, hwhy, and maybe even cool hwhip).
People in Ireland still do the H before W thing
So you say Hwill Hwheaton?
Cool hwip
@@stuffums stop it
I instantly thought of liquid hwite!
"Jolly good show, what!" Wonderful insight! Great delivery. Thank you. Learn some everyday! I often wondered why actors spoke "poshly" in USA and UK this way. Always vexxed me. The London "East End Cockney accent eventually appeared in UK movies, so there was two extremes of dialects (aristocracy and Cockney) film watchers were confronted with. I could be wrong, but would appreciate confirmation here. I personally think there wasn't a genuine representation of the "general" average spoken voice in films. Came across as the aristocracy and little ordinary working class folk, but this did change with culture over time. Despite this, I adore old 1940s/50s films, have such depth of character, great storyline and suitable viewing for all without the need for violence, blood, sex and everything that modern films adorn themselves with. I'm also a huge fan of modern movies, so changed with the times. UK.
As they would have said back in the 40's "Gee, what a swell explanation!" lol
lmao! 😁
All I thought about was Leave it to beaver.lol
@@giovannawoodard2231 lol 😁
Kelsey Grammer, David Hyde Pierce, James Earl Jones (Darth Vader/Mufasa), and to a degree, Presidential candidate Marianne Williamson speak in Transatlantic/Mid-Atlantic voices.
Silver Sun Aenohr keen observation!
LOL thanks I needed to hear another crazy thing about Marianne Williamson.
In all the political coverage up to now, of the Democrats' race for the nomination prior to the 2020 US presidential election, I don't think I've even heard of Marianne Williamson (assuming she's a Democrat). I guess I haven't been paying close attention, LOL
James earl jones? No wonder I like it when he speaks
Kelsey and Vader's is _kind of_ mid Atlantic
in Boston, the Kennedys spoke with something called the Brahmin accent, which is virtually unheard of around here today.
Yeah, I always thought JFK sounded like a hybrid accent of Mid-Atlantic and Boston
Louis CK said that Boston was just a city of people pronouncing words wrong on purpose. "Vaginer."
No. The Kennedys moved to New York when Jack was 10, and his brothers were younger still. The so-called 'Kennedy accent' has nothing to do with Boston. They were all sent to private schools where they did pick up a Yankee accent, but not Brahmin.
Angel Deville there's a TH-cam video featuring Henry Cabot Lodge delivering a speech to Congress in the 1920s which is a great example of Boston Brahmin as it existed before mass media.
Kennedy couldn't pronounce his "r's" but put an "r" on the end of "Africa" and "Cuba."
so is it just me or is this voice literally the single most charismatic thing to ever exist
I have been wondering that for
a while, thank you.