MUSINGS, PONDERINGS, RUMINATIONS AND FANCIES

[Bronxgirl48]

further north up the Atlantic coast one goes, the locals generally becoming even more non-rhotic speakers.

Yup the R starts here. And it's a HARD R. While everyone else pronounces tire "tye-er" we say "ti-ARR" like a pirate.
"Flat tire" is one of the phrases I use to illustrate the rustbelt accent. We say "flat" funny too. Extra syllables. "Fla-ay-at"

I once made videos just speaking to illustrate my accent. It's really funny, you used to be able to pick out what City someone lived in by their regional accents. These days not so much.

And with coffee, I always say caw-fee and chocolate is chawk-lit.

Moi aussi.

Hey, did anyone see the TCM short with that chef demonstrating his set of kitchen utensils? He had the most bizarre, exaggerated way of speaking, I mean frankly it was so comical I couldn't stop laughing.

[Bronxgirl48]

TIKI in that Cary Grant thread just told me today that EVERYBODY in New York City talks through their nose!!!

Don't jump to conclusions....I was referring to regional accents which are quickly homogenizing.
NYC had it's own distinct "borough" accents, quickly disappearing save for some gangsta affectations.

New York State is the beginning of the "midwest rustbelt" nasal-ish accent: starting here, morphing & culminating to the upper peninsula "Fargo" accent, dontcha know?

(not related to New England regional accent, all it's own)

Buffalo natives actually sound like Chicago locals! (I lived in The Windy City for ten years)

[Bronxgirl48]

So nobody is going to watch THE GODDESS "live" with me tonight? I am crushed.

How'd it go, Bronxie?

Oh God Hibi, Kim Stanley's performance was even "more" than I remembered! You just cannot imagine the lengths this actress goes to, shall we say, internalize her character of Emily Ann Faulkner, the little lonely, rejected Maryland girl who grows up to become Hollywood's famous sex symbol Rita Shawn. Once seen, unforgettable, lol.

"I was holdin' my mama's hand and suddenly I felt the spirit of the Lord seep right through me! And I felt such peace and contentment right there and then. I just can't tell you how this got me through the nervous breakdown. I mean, Hallelujah!!"

[Hibi]

So nobody is going to watch THE GODDESS "live" with me tonight? I am crushed.

Past my bedtime! Sorry!

Aww, it's okay, I still love you, lol. Listen, good refreshing restorative sleep is definitely needed more than ever in this crazy world!

I wish I got more of it! LOL.

[HoldenIsHere]

I find it humorous that non-rhotic speakers (those who drop their R's after vowels), often insert R's where there are none. Think of JFK's exaggerated "Cuber." "Castro pahks the cah in Cuber." This is also happening in the UK, where non-rhotic speakers will insert a slight R sound after a schwa vowel. As an example, you'll hear "idear" for idea, or "drawring" for drawing, etc...

The linguistic phenomenon you're referring to is a linking "r."
As a rule, it only occurs in non-rhotic speech when the schwa sound (which approximates the pronunciation of the "r" by non-rhotic speakers) is followed by a vowel sound.

For example, you wouldn't hear: "He parked a car in Cuber" but you might hear "travel between Cuber and the US" because the schwa sound in "Cuba is followed by the initial vowel sound in the word "and."

Similarly, you would likely hear a rhotic-like "r" in "car" if a non-rhotic speaker said "parked a car in Cuba" because the "r" in car (which would be pronounced with a schwa-like sound in isolated speech) is followed by the initial vowel sound in the word "in."

[HoldenIsHere]

TIKI in that Cary Grant thread just told me today that EVERYBODY in New York City talks through their nose!!!

Don't jump to conclusions....I was referring to regional accents which are quickly homogenizing.
NYC had it's own distinct "borough" accents, quickly disappearing save for some gangsta affectations.

New York State is the beginning of the "midwest rustbelt" nasal-ish accent: starting here, morphing & culminating to the upper peninsula "Fargo" accent, dontcha know?

(not related to New England regional accent, all it's own)

Buffalo natives actually sound like Chicago locals! (I lived in The Windy City for ten years)

Exactly! Buffalo and Chicago (as well as Cleveland, Detroit and Milwaukee) are located in the "inland North" speech region of American English

[Andree]

I thought The Goddess was rather ho-hum. It's basically the old Hollywood rise and fall story with the
usual booze/drugs and bad relationships along the way. A bit more literate than most, but that only goes
so far. I can see why Arthur Miller kept it at arm's length. I know the marriage to Dutch is supposed to be
dysfunctional, but I got a kick out of Lloyd lounging around in his pj's where his biggest daily concern was
to shave or not to shave. It's all pretty much downhill from there, with wacky mama along for part of the
ride. And at the end it seems that Rita's daughter will have a much less Tennessee Williams' upbringing than
her mama had. The sun will come out tomorrow.

Dutch's yearly shirt budget-$32.79

[Dargo]

I can't stand British accents that DON'T pronounce the R! It seems fairly common. HEAH. THEHA. WTH? Pronounce your Rs!!!!

So Hibi, lets say you're really really thirsty and you'd really like to wet your whistle.

Would this stand you've taken here then cause you to refuse service from a British server after they asked, "Would you cah for a glass of whoa-tah?"

(...bet ya wouldn't, would ya!...remember, you're really really thristy here!)

LOL

[Dargo]

I find it humorous that non-rhotic speakers (those who drop their R's after vowels), often insert R's where there are none. Think of JFK's exaggerated "Cuber." "Castro pahks the cah in Cuber." This is also happening in the UK, where non-rhotic speakers will insert a slight R sound after a schwa vowel. As an example, you'll hear "idear" for idea, or "drawring" for drawing, etc...

The linguistic phenomenon you're referring to is a linking "r."
As a rule, it only occurs in non-rhotic speech when the schwa sound (which approximates the pronunciation of the "r" by non-rhotic speakers) is followed by a vowel sound.

For example, you wouldn't hear: "He parked a car in Cuber" but you might hear "travel between Cuber and the US" because the schwa sound in "Cuba is followed by the initial vowel sound in the word "and."

Similarly, you would likely hear a rhotic-like "r" in "car" if a non-rhotic speaker said "parked a car in Cuba" because the "r" in car (which would be pronounced with a schwa-like sound in isolated speech) is followed by the initial vowel sound in the word "in."

I've watched PBS's "This Old House" series every Saturday morning for years now. As some of you might know, this program is based in Boston.

One of the regulars and whose specialty is carpentry is named Tom Silva. Tom is a native Bostonian.

And yes, the only time he ever pronounces the letter 'r' while explaining what he's about to show us, is when he'll say something such as, "And now I'm going to take this two-by-foah and cut it to length with my table sar."

[Dargo]

I thought The Goddess was rather ho-hum. It's basically the old Hollywood rise and fall story with the
usual booze/drugs and bad relationships along the way. A bit more literate than most, but that only goes
so far. I can see why Arthur Miller kept it at arm's length. I know the marriage to Dutch is supposed to be
dysfunctional, but I got a kick out of Lloyd lounging around in his pj's where his biggest daily concern was
to shave or not to shave. It's all pretty much downhill from there, with wacky mama along for part of the
ride. And at the end it seems that Rita's daughter will have a much less Tennessee Williams' upbringing than
her mama had. The sun will come out tomorrow.

Dutch's yearly shirt budget-$32.79

I only tuned into it during the last hour of it or so. But from what I saw of it, yes, Kim Stanley acted your freakin' heart out in it.

And in fact, I felt she "acted her freakin' heart out in it" SO damn much so that I think I started seeing her little "Method Acting" coming out of her PORES for a time, for goshsakes!!!

And now for my take on the casting in this film.

Sorry, while Kim Stanley was indeed a very good actress, even when she was all made-up to be this "movie sex symbol" that her charcter is supposed to be, I never bought into this for one minute. Nope, and because basically Kim Stanley was a very average looking woman, and in my view, with very little "sex appeal".

And in regard to the casting of Betty Lou Holland as her backwater mother...sorry, but even as much as they attempted to frump her down, I still felt she never looked a day older than Kim Stanley did in this thing. And of course, THIS might be because these two actresses were the very same age!

(...I think I now know why casting parts in movies and as compared for stage productions differently is often the right thing to do, and because there are no "close-ups" on the stage, and not just because a "bigger star" with more name recognition might sell more movie tickets...OR, to put this another way and as that old saying goes, "Movie stars BECOME movie stars because for whatever reason 'the camera loves them' ")

[Swithin]

I thought The Goddess was rather ho-hum. It's basically the old Hollywood rise and fall story with the
usual booze/drugs and bad relationships along the way. A bit more literate than most, but that only goes
so far. I can see why Arthur Miller kept it at arm's length. I know the marriage to Dutch is supposed to be
dysfunctional, but I got a kick out of Lloyd lounging around in his pj's where his biggest daily concern was
to shave or not to shave. It's all pretty much downhill from there, with wacky mama along for part of the
ride. And at the end it seems that Rita's daughter will have a much less Tennessee Williams' upbringing than
her mama had. The sun will come out tomorrow.

Dutch's yearly shirt budget-$32.79

Sorry, while Kim Stanley was very good actress, even when she was all made-up to be this "movie sex symbol" that her charcter is supposed to be, I never bought into this for one minute. Nope, and because basically Kim Stanley was very average looking woman, and in my view, with very little "sex appeal".

Oh, you're so hard on the poor girl. It may interest you to know that Kim Stanley played Cherie in the original Broadway production of Bus Stop, the role that was played on screen by Marilyn Monroe. Albert Salmi played the role that went to Don Murray on film; Elaine Stritch played Grace, who was played by Betty Field in the movie.


Kim Stanley in Bus Stop on Broadway

[Dargo]

Oh, you're so hard on the poor girl. It may interest you to know that Kim Stanley played Cherie in the original Broadway production of Bus Stop, the role that was played on screen by Marilyn Monroe. Albert Salmi played the role that went to Don Murray on film; Elaine Stritch played Grace, who was played by Betty Field in the movie.


Kim Stanley in Bus Stop on Broadway

Yes, I already knew this, Swithin. And, I noticed this was mentioned a page or so back in this thread.

However and once again, with Kim Stanley being cast in the STAGE production of 'Bus Stop' as the hopeful chanteuse whose sex appeal overwhelms the hayseed cowpoke she encounters to such a degree that he decides to in essence kidnap her...well, remember here and like I said above, with there being no close-ups of actors in STAGE productions, wouldn't this explain why Kim was replaced by Marilyn for the film role?

Or in other words ya see, Marilyn HAD "sex appeal" and with every CLOSE-UP she had in that film, she PROVED it!

(...and nope and once again, sorry, Kim had little of this, and as I said in my above little "review" of 'The Goddess' up there, in every close-up in THAT film, Kim, and at least to ME anyway, proved how little she had of this)

[Swithin]

Oh, you're so hard on the poor girl. It may interest you to know that Kim Stanley played Cherie in the original Broadway production of Bus Stop, the role that was played on screen by Marilyn Monroe. Albert Salmi played the role that went to Don Murray on film; Elaine Stritch played Grace, who was played by Betty Field in the movie.


Kim Stanley in Bus Stop on Broadway

Yes, I already knew this, Swithin. And, I noticed this was mentioned a page or so back in this thread.

However and once again, with Kim Stanley being cast in the STAGE production of 'Bus Stop' as the hopeful chanteuse whose sex appeal overwhelms the hayseed cowpoke she encounters to such a degree that he decides to in essence kidnap her...well, remember here and like I said above, with there being no close-ups of actors in STAGE productions, wouldn't this explain why Kim was replaced by Marilyn for the film role?

Or in other words ya see, Marilyn HAD "sex appeal" and with every CLOSE-UP she had in that film, she PROVED it!

(...and nope and once again, sorry, Kim had little of this, and as I said in my above little "review" of 'The Goddess' up there, in every close-up in THAT film, Kim, and at least to ME anyway, proved how little she had of this)

I actually think that Carol Channing should have recreated her Broadway role of Lorelei Lee in the film of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, instead of Marilyn. Howard Hawks was one of the great directors, but GPB was not a great film.

[Dargo]

I actually think that Carol Channing should have recreated her Broadway role of Lorelei Lee in the film of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, instead of Marilyn. Howard Hawks was one of the great directors, but GPB was not a great film.

Well, given that I've always felt your truest passion when it comes to the entertainment field lies just a little more with the Broadway and the West End stage and due to your longtime career associations with them, and perhaps what I've felt might be just a little less so of the passion you have for film, or in other words the feeling that I have that you might more cherish and appreciate live entertainment over filmed entertainment, this Carol Channing comment doesn't surprise me all that much.

Now, while I've always thought Channing was a very entertaining and unique talent, once again I'd say in the few films I've ever seen her in, she exused more a sense of hairbrained zanniness to me than of having sex appeal enough to have men of means shower diamonds upon her.

(...and as for the film itself, I somewhat agree with you, however I would have a slightly higher opinion of Hawks' movie than you seem to have, but perhaps this might primarily be due to what is probably the film's most famous scene, Marilyn's big "Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend" musical number, becoming such an iconic one)

[Swithin]

I actually think that Carol Channing should have recreated her Broadway role of Lorelei Lee in the film of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, instead of Marilyn. Howard Hawks was one of the great directors, but GPB was not a great film.

Well, given that I've always felt your true passion when it comes to the entertainment field lies a little more with the Broadway and the West End stage and due to your longtime career associations with them, and perhaps what I've felt might be a little less so of the passion you have for film, or in other words the feeling you might more cherish and appreciate live entertainment over filmed entertainment, this Carol Channing comment doesn't surprise me all that much.

Now, while I've always thought Channing was a very entertaining and unique talent, once again I'd say in the few films I've ever seen her in, she exused more a sense of hairbrained zanniness to me than of having sex appeal enough to have men of means shower diamonds upon her.

(...and as for the film itself, I somewhat agree with you, however I would have a slightly higher opinion of Hawks' movie than you seem to have, but perhaps this might primarily be due to what is probably the film's most famous scene, Marilyn's big "Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend" musical number, becoming such an iconic one)

The original Broadway cast album of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1949) is one of my favorite cast albums. I was disappointed that the film didn't use much of the score, and even added new songs. The original, and its songs, are redolent of the 1920s, when Anita Loos wrote the novel. And there is no better rendition of "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" than Carol Channing's.