2022.08.24 WednesdayYESTERDAY IS NOT FAR AWAY. We worked at the Paris Review on the Rue Garanere for several years together. It was always as if one were setting out with him on a special adventure. 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. For more than fifty years, his friends made a circle whose circumference was vast and whose center was a fashionable tenement on New York's East Seventy-second street. The film used archival audio and video of Plimpton lecturing and reading to create a posthumous narration. [28], Plimpton was a demolitions expert in the post-World War II Army. Plimpton was .the public face of the New York intellectual: tweedy, eclectic and with a plummy accent he himself described as "Eastern seaboard cosmopolitan." . (He intended to face both line-ups, but tired badly and was relieved by Ralph Houk.) Plimpton has grown. He is widely known for his sports writing and for helping to found The Paris Review. [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. With a little more practice, you could give us boys in the big leagues a run for our money. He was also an accomplished birdwatcher. Archie Moore, after all, had broken his nose. And here for the full interview). His final interview appeared in The New York Sports Express of October 2, 2003 by journalist Dave Hollander. I feel that his work on this and many other language-related matters should be far more widely known than it is. :rolleyes: Ive got news for you, buddy, youre not even second in line! 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. We were going to go looking for strange birds. The point of the flipped prestige markers is that generally the fewer the Rs, the fancier the person. But for now, just one more category: 3) Changing technology, changing voices. OK? [40] They had two children: Medora Ames Plimpton and Taylor Ames Plimpton, who has published a memoir entitled Notes from the Night: A Life After Dark. (Did Eisenhower speak the newsreel style? (What else happened that year??? Talking about sports with Georgeor, even better, reading George about sportswas more fun than sports themselves. I think he came down [to the shooting of Paper Lion in] Florida once. It sounds like Somerset Maugham, was a favorite putdown. Interesting that the two competitors for his anchor chair were both fully vernacular speakers from the South and West: Mudd and Rather. But Labov said that in post-World War II New York, fancier people started becoming rhotic, and recovering their Rs. He liked the fact that I had broken my nose in defeat. Farmington Hills, MI: Thomson Gale, 2007. Are you saying that the denizens of Larchmont sound like Plimpton did? Over the years, we held a lot of dinner parties for him, and he brought a lot of people inmany, many writers. [2], In 1975, in Bellport, Long Island, Plimpton, with Fireworks by Grucci attempted to break the record for the world's largest firework. [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. 2023 Cond Nast. 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. He was so open to life and all its new and unexpected situations. Mia had the perfect model! 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?. He appeared in commercials for Oldsmobile and Intellivision, and appeared. You're going to play for us-making some sort of big comeback." "That's right," Plimpton replied in his patrician accent. The journal, which had operated out of his home, moved downtown. The clearest example of the Mid-Atlantic accent is the accent of the Frasier & Niles Crane characters on the TV show Frasier. 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 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). For it was George Plimpton the writer, not the editor nor the celebrity, who was honored here . George Plimpton, the New York aristocrat and literary journalist whose career was a happy lifelong competition between scholarly pursuits and madcap attempts -- chronicled in self-deprecating. I had made about five thousand egg and tuna sandwiches. 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 wrote, "I suppose in a mild way there is a lesson to be learned for the young, or the young at heart the gumption to get out and try one's wings". Yes indeed, George Plimpton is a man for all seasons. I always thought it sounded similar to the accent of William F. Buckley, Jr., who I believe was not reared in Boston. I only wish I could not tell him again, just one more time. He looked like a very eccentric old Englishman. George Plimpton, Out of My League: The Classic Account of an Amateur's Ordeal in Professional Baseball, 2016, Little Spoke in a mid-Atlantic accent, reflecting a privileged Upper East Side (in New York City) upbringing. 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. 2) The Role of Broadway and Hollywood, and the Shift from Jimmy Cagney to Marlon Brando. Finally I did. December 17, 2022 Rafael Garca. After his discharge, Plimpton returned to Harvard and finished his undergraduate education. 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. 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. [29], With Felix Grucci, Plimpton competed in the 16th International Fireworks Festival in 1979 in Monte Carlo. $ 4.19 - $ 17.92. 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. #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. Paul McCartney and his then-girlfriend Heather showed up. History / Biographical Note Biographical Note. If you are in the big league, God help us all. In the offices of the Paris Review, he displayed far more discerning tastes. Off screen, George Plimpton and Gore Vidal come to mind. His father co-founded the law firm Debevoise Plimpton. Between 1945 and 1948, Plimpton was a soldier in the United States Army. Next up: some sociological explanations of why someone like George Gershwin might have tried to speak like Westbrook Van Voorhis. Consider his duties as host of Mousterpiece Theatre (my first intro to my father as celebrity), a childrens TV show in which he debated the adventures and psyches of Donald Duck and Goofy in that marvelously serious voice: Is Donald Duck really a strident existentialist and a hero? How wonderfulwhat fun!to have a constant reminder emerging from your lips that life was absurd, and identity, too; all of it a great game to be played at, enjoyed. Plimpton would not boast of his feat, so we did. Powered by Discourse, best viewed with JavaScript enabled. Angelo Dundee, trainer for Muhammad Ali and Sugar Ray Leonard:George was such a great guy. Harvard (where he edited the Lampoon), Kings College, [citation needed], Outside the literary world, Plimpton was famous for competing in professional sporting events and then recording the experience from the point of view of an amateur. Was this sheer affectation? 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. The clipped English of George Plimpton and William F. Buckley, Jr. were vestigial examples.. He got the personality totally wrong, too. In 1955 or 56, he went back to New York. Is your language rhotic? The Curious Case Of Sidd Finch. George Plimpton was born on March 18, 1927 in New York City, New York, USA. Did he have the celebrated "Boston Brahmin" accent, or was it a psuedo-Brit affectation? [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. But he has never employed that voice professionally, and certainly does not speak that way in real life. Jay McInerney, author:Arriving in Manhattan as a young writer, nothing was more thrilling or daunting than attending my first Paris Review party at Georges townhouse on East 72nd in the fall of 1984. *Originally posted by cuauhtemoc * Its strange to think, but he would have been eighty-five this year: fourteen years older than my mom, fifty years older than me. . That was when Westbrook van Voorhis, the famous March of Time voice, did the intro narration of the pilot episode of The Twilight Zone. [citation needed], In 1963, Plimpton attended preseason training with the Detroit Lions of the National Football League as a backup quarterback, and he ran a few plays in an intrasquad scrimmage. :rolleyes: Ive got news for you, buddy, youre not even second in line! I thought they were terrific. Charles McGrath, editor of the New York Times Book Review:I dont think George had played golf in years, but he used to save up oddball tips for me and others. Vault. The Writer's Chapbook A Compendium of Fact, Opinion, Wit, and Advice from the Twentieth Century's Preeminent 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. 2) Truman v. Kaltenborn, 1949. I think the term Old Money or patrician pretty much says it. He was very understanding of what we did and how we did it. During our time in Paris, he had a famous little car, a dark blue Peugeotit was mine originally; I sold it to himand it had to be seen to be believed. [29], His enthusiasm for fireworks grew, and he was appointed Fireworks Commissioner of New York by Mayor John Lindsay,[29][30] an unofficial post he held until his death. He loved the ones that made a lot of noise and racket and excitement. He was a Wasp (both of his parents came from old New England families, and had ancestors on the Mayflower). To me, it meant admission to this little exclusive club at the Paris Review. **Oh, I suppose we should all just lavish praise upon Carnac the Magnificent now for bringing this to your attention, is that it? These are some of the things my father could not say: Shit. Fuck. I love you. His curses were never actually curse-words, though it was perhaps because of this that they held such weight. Her mother, a writer and critic for Commonweal and Catholic World. 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. He had a small role in the Oscar-winning film Good Will Hunting,[22] playing a psychologist. Even Orson Welles on occasion. When George told the story, DiMaggio laughed so hard I thought he was going to fall on the floor. 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. He is widely known for his sports writing and for helping to found The Paris Review. Its a shot from a YouTube video that itself is a fascinating time-capsule portrait of language change. 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.. But dying in sleep: It was as if he was doing what he did when he tried out for all those other things as an amateurballooning, acting, boxing, performing at amateur night. This kept his magazine fresh for 50 years. Ive always heard it referred to as a patrician accent. Buckley clearly flaunts it, probably to set himself apart from the hoi polloi of his contemporaries. He was one of her original supporters and had published an article about her work in The Paris Review. [41] She is the daughter of James Chittenden Dudley,[42] a managing partner of Manhattan-based investment firm Dudley and Company, and geologist Elisabeth Claypool. Norman Mailer said that George Plimpton was the best-loved man in New York. (A variation is the Locust Valley Lockjaw.). Greetings From the Vortex of Unpredictability, Truman Capote: In Which Various Friends, Enemies, Acquaintances and Detractors Recall His Turbulent Career. "[25] He had a recurring role as the grandfather of Dr. Carter on the NBC series ER. He was respected by all. And they founded this thing called the Paris Review and published poetry and short story writers and did interviews. In fact, my dads farewells seemed loquacious in comparison to his mothers. Plimpton appeared in the 1989 documentary The Tightrope Dancer which featured the life and the work of the artist Vali Myers. Look out, Wilson! For instance: The American-British television presenter Loyd Grossman, who has described his accent as Mid-Atlantic. Id like to offer a speculation, for what its worth. George Plimpton was a literary man about town who did it all, from co-founding The Paris . He was an actor and writer, known for Good Will Hunting (1997), Nixon (1995) and Just Cause (1995). There was intellectual heft in the Plimpton genes too: one Ames was a Professor of Botany, another was Governor of Massachusetts, another relation was a publisher, and yet another a writer-philanthropist fascinated with the subject of how the great figures of the past were educated Young Georges educational path was precisely that of a With a little more practice, you could give us boys in the big leagues a run for our money. **. 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. George was the one who read my name out to the commissioner. George Plimpton Wiki: Salary, Married, Wedding, Spouse, Family . [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. A heuristic approximation! Return of the Big Bopper. Starring George Plimpton as Himself, directed by Tom Bean and Luke Poling, was released. 08:37 Dinner at Elaine's. by George Plimpton. Timothy Seldes, George Plimptons literary agent:Whenever George wanted me to do something for him, he would call me up and say, Hello, Old Tim. One day, I got a call, and heard his voice, and my heart sank. I never thought that George slept. I always thought it sounded similar to the accent of William F. Buckley, Jr., who I believe was not reared in Boston. He was immensely generous in every waygenerous about sharing the work and about giving one a chance to edit things. 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. Plimpton was an omnipresence for much of American cultural lifeboth high and lowin the last third of the 20th century. Why couldnt we have a good time, too? So it was that George Plimptons accent could not be imitated. I havent heard that he is dead, but if so RIP George. 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! When George Plimpton Met the Best Bartender in Brooklyn Two New York Legends Collide By Tim Sultan February 26, 2016 The only other person that I had known who possessed a similar charisma to Sunny Balzano's was my first employer in New York: George Plimpton. Showdown in the Pits. Typical of George to laugh about something others saw as a defining traithe never took himself all that seriously. Those of us whose families are from Larchmont (that would be me) just call it lockjaw. But looking back on it, its funny, too. [3], He was the son of Francis T. P. Plimpton[4] and the grandson of Frances Taylor Pearsons and George Arthur Plimpton. Nevertheless, its a strange thing that one of the great voices of modern storytelling had limitations, restrictions, words, and phrases it was incapable of uttering, matters it could not express: death, love, tragedy. Almost twenty years ago, writing quirky sports pieces for the Village Voice, I decided to enter the world of championship arm wrestling.Like many young writers, I was inspired by the sports adventures of the gaunt but game George Plimpton, who had made a literary career out of placing himself in . Plimpton's remarkable life is showcased in a documentary that is. He is also credited with saving, Learn how and when to remove this template message, Plimpton! That life couldnt contain him, hed burst its seams like it was an old coat two sizes too small. He did these jobs, and many others, as an amateur.. Friends were almost always happy to see him because you knew he was bound to improve your mood. 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. Heres a sampling for today, with more planned in the days ahead. (This is not to belittle Lowell Thomas, but to recognize the artifice that served him so well in his career). (To read Part One, click here. Ad Choices. 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. Norman Mailer said that George Plimpton was the best-loved man in New York. By George Plimpton. The Paris Review was a testimony to his literary taste and his sense of glamour. 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. 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. George Ames Plimpton (March 18, 1927 September 25, 2003) was an American writer. Oh, I suppose we should all just lavish praise upon Carnac the Magnificent now for bringing this to your attention, is that it? The last time I heard my fathers voice, it was over the telephone. . George Plimpton. He had, for instance, a series of antiquated phrases and terms of affection. Rose Styron, wife of William Styron and former Paris Review editor:My husband Bill was with George when he started the Paris Review. That he died in his sleep was impressive. He had it all going! Plimpton died on September 25, 2003, in his New York City apartment from a heart attack later determined to have been caused by a catecholamine surge. Well, perhaps it's more accurate to say that the book provided entertaining confirmation to millions of people that they -- like the author . Plimpton brought the Left Bank to NYCpeople like Peter Mathiessen, William Styron, Terry Southern. He could as easily have been my grandfather as father. Just in time for the Sixties, with all their other pressures towards some kind of anti-Eisenhower authenticity. But he could easily have said, Alice, I have enough trouble raising money for my magazine.. For his grandfather, the publisher and philanthropist, see, Calvin Gay Plimpton and Priscilla G. Lewis were the parents of, He was widely reviled for years after the war by Southern whites, who gave him the nickname "Beast Butler." By George Plimpton. The primary reason [for the accent] was primitive microphone technology: "natural" voices simply did not get picked up well by the microphones of the time, and people were instructed to and learned to speak in such a way that their words could be best transmitted through the microphone to the radio waves or to recording media. I didnt know he was from the Larchmont area. Update: This post is #2 in the announcer-speak series. 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.. In that vein, here is an oral biography of George Plimpton. Plimpton was a writer-raconteur and dilettante in the best sense of the word: He co-founded an important literary magazine, the . [33] A later attempt, fired at Cape Canaveral, rose approximately 50 feet (15m) into the air and broke 700 windows in Titusville, Florida. 3 people found this helpful . I saw him [last] Wednesday night at a party; we rode home together, and he told me that he was planning to go down to Cuba, to revisit the site of his famous interview with Hemingway. George Plimpton. May a diseased yak squat in your hot tub. 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. [5][6][7][8][9][10] His father was a successful corporate lawyer and partner of the law firm Debevoise and Plimpton; he was appointed by President John F. Kennedy as U.S. deputy ambassador to the United Nations, serving from 1961 to 1965. She is the product of a line of the original Dutch settlers of New York and grew up in Tuxedo Park and the Gramercy Park area of Manhattan, very exclusive. (Why do I even bother?) That made him a great storyteller. George Ames Plimpton (March 18, 1927 - September 25, 2003) was an American journalist, writer, literary editor, actor and occasional amateur sportsman. Even in the UK we sometimes subtitle various Scots dialects on the news and TV and whatnot, so it makes sense that he wouldn't go full Dundee for the show. It was so violent that it brought a lot of people to the windows. Katharine Hepburn spoke this way, on and off screen until she died. In the April 1, 1985 issue of Sports Illustrated, Plimpton pulled off a widely reported April Fools' Day prank. Oh now, Im joking, Carnac ( see? A lifelong New Yorker, he never tasted a bagel or an olive, and he never chewed a stick of gum. You heard it and it. George Plimpton was an upper-class guy with a patrician accent who partied his way through life . Were taking off from Teterburo, N.J., at 4 a.m. tomorrow. 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. The Dudleys established the 36-acre (15ha) Highstead Arboretum in Redding, Connecticut. $ 9.19 - $ 32.19. NEW YORK -- George Plimpton, the self-deprecating author of "Paper Lion" and other sporting adventures and a patron to Philip Roth, Jack Kerouac and countless other writers, has died. 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. Actually, thats not far off from how my mom felt when she first met him. Description above from the Wikipedia article George Plimpton, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of . 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. "[44], In 2006, the musician Jonathan Coulton wrote the song entitled "A Talk with George", a part of his 'Thing a Week' series, in tribute to Plimpton's many adventures and approach to life. *Originally posted by j.c. * LL is typified, I think, but an almost clenching of the teeth while talking, producing a mushy sound, if you will. [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." Plimpton was an optimist, a teller of amusing and amazing stories. 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. When he was on the scene, everything was a big happeningan event. Here's a look inside the space, where the Paris Review editor hosted legendary parties. Middle class? It was then that the majority of audiences first heard Hollywood actors speaking predominantly in Mid-Atlantic English, British expatriates John Houseman, Henry Daniell, Anthony Hopkins, Camilla Luddington, and Angela Cartwright exemplified the accent, as did [a long list of North Americans, from Elizabeth Taylor and Grace Kelly to Richard Chamberlain and Christopher Plummer]. Butch, he says, because he always called me Butch. 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. But the gentleman amateur - a Harvard. And the many candidates for the crown of Last American to Speak This Way. Suddenly, a New York cop remembered a long-ago murder. And being good at losing was one of Georges many gifts. It was a hot, sweltering day. Jean Stein became his co-editor. 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. This book is the party that was George's life-and it's a big one-attended by scores of famous people, as well as. I received many notes like this one: The variety of English you are referring to has a name in linguistics: "Mid-Atlantic English". [2][43], An oral biography titled George, Being George was edited by Nelson W. Aldrich Jr., and released on October 21, 2008. Plimpton embedded with the Detroit Lions for their three week training camp, an adventure which culminated with him playing quarterback in their annual intra-team preseason scrimmage. You can. Queen Elizabeth doesnt say car, and neither did Franklin D. Roosevelt, nor did the newsreel announcers or movie actors of his day.
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