Plimpton was an omnipresence for much of American cultural lifeboth high and lowin the last third of the 20th century. 'Plimpton!' documentary looks at George Plimpton's lives Prestigious prep schools and ivy league institutions (though Gore Vidal never went to college). But he could easily have said, Alice, I have enough trouble raising money for my magazine.. I remember getting the news: It was my wife Madeleines birthday, Aug. 7. He was 76. The clenched jaw tight-bite bit: the lockjaw dentiloquist. Self-help author and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Marianne Williamson has a unique accent that, . She was the daughter of writers Willard R. Espy[39] and Hilda S. Cole, who had, earlier in her career, been a publicity agent for Kate Smith and Fred Waring. I always thought it sounded similar to the accent of William F. Buckley, Jr., who I believe was not reared in Boston. How George Washington Spoke (Brief Thoughts) | Dialect Blog Finally I did. He was one of her original supporters and had published an article about her work in The Paris Review. (And, OK, Im not a linguist, but Im married to one!) Norman Mailer, author:George had a rare gift. Lionel on Twitter: "News children today have no concept of the Mid When he was on the scene, everything was a big happeningan event. Oh now, Im joking, Carnac ( see? * Billy Collins, poet:Im one of these people who went from crashing Georges parties in the 70s to being invited in the 80s. You can. His experience was captured in the book Out of My League. [2], In 1975, in Bellport, Long Island, Plimpton, with Fireworks by Grucci attempted to break the record for the world's largest firework. It includes clear pronunciation of each and every consonant cluster. George Plimpton | The New Yorker It evoked a sense of Paris from a time when Paris was still the literary capital of the world, publishing literary giants who were considered obsceneHenry Miller, D.H. Lawrence. 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. The Wikipedia entry for it is quite detailed. He was smooth. 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. 'Plimpton!' documentary looks at George Plimpton's lives Premiring on June 21st at the SilverDocs festival, in Washington, D.C., and directed by Tom Bean and Luke Poling, the film contains interviews with notable friends and peers like Hugh Hefner, Peter Matthiessen, and James Lipton, though the majority of this remarkable account is narrated by none other than George Plimpton. [17], In 1953, Plimpton joined the influential literary journal The Paris Review, founded by Peter Matthiessen, Thomas H. Guinzburg, and Harold L. "Doc" Humes, becoming its first editor in chief. Typical of George to laugh about something others saw as a defining traithe never took himself all that seriously. 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. 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. George Plimpton - American Academy of Arts and Letters Firstly, then-managing director of SI, Mark Mulvoy, gave Plimpton the liberty to create a hoax.Secondly, SI photographer Lane Stewart recruited his friend, Joe Berton to play the part of Sidd Finch. Mr . [37] His son, Taylor, described it as a mixture of "old New England, old New York, tinged with a hint of King's College King's English."[14]. **. Volume 7, 2003-2005, pages 429-432. 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. Starring George Plimpton as Himself, the writer James Salter said of Plimpton that "he was writing in a genre that really doesn't permit greatness. [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. The Wikipedia entry is indeed delightful. When Muhammad Ali was fighting, George Plimpton was always there. Talking about sports with Georgeor, even better, reading George about sportswas more fun than sports themselves. Vault. I think the term Old Money or patrician pretty much says it. The coach for the Writers team announced that Plimpton would pinch-hit for the first batter of the game, Daily News sports columnist Mike Lupica, and the crowd roared. In that vein, here is an oral biography of George Plimpton. I havent heard that he is dead, but if so RIP George. [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. 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. I have worked as poetry editor with editors on other magazines; only with George has the experience been entirely agreeable. 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 wanted to play his own part, but they wouldnt let him. Isnt that what they call it. If you are in the big league, God help us all. Think of the accent of Jane Hathaway on the Beverly Hillbillies. Read more. I dont give a rats ass about informing anyone about the death of Plimpton. Do, Write George Plimpton Has Made A Career Throwing Himself Into . #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. Think of the accent of Jane Hathaway on the Beverly Hillbillies. He had it all going! 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. **Your transparent jealousy is very unbecoming, Carnac. Shadow Box. Plimpton's remarkable life is showcased in a documentary that is. Its our anniversary. He appeared in the PBS American Masters documentary on Andy Warhol. 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. The point of the flipped prestige markers is that generally the fewer the Rs, the fancier the person. Katharine Hepburn spoke this way, on and off screen until she died. 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. [33] A later attempt, fired at Cape Canaveral, rose approximately 50 feet (15m) into the air and broke 700 windows in Titusville, Florida. 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. So it was that George Plimptons accent could not be imitated. After her transformation, I noted that Mia sounds precisely like her mother, Maureen OSullivan, who had that patrician manner of speaking on and off screen. History / Biographical Note Biographical Note. 3: Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives". Book excerpt - George Plimpton on why Hole 16 at Cypress Point is one "[25] He had a recurring role as the grandfather of Dr. Carter on the NBC series ER. During a career that spanned the second half of the 20th century, Plimpton was a quarterback for the Detroit Lions, pitched at Yankee Stadium, sparred with Archie Moore, played the triangle with. Manhattan DVD. "[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. Daniel Kunitz, managing editor of the Paris Review from1995-2000: I once heard George joking with William F. Buckley on the phone about how they had the last affected accents in New York. He could have been a fight trainer, a fight manager! Ever. I just knew it was going to be something terrible. He was one of her original supporters and had published an article about her work in The Paris Review. He thought Castro might come. What exactly is a Boston Brahmin accent? 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. 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. Ad Choices. The Left Bank really became East 72nd Street. He was a great addition to the human race. He did these jobs, and many others, as an amateur.. 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. Heres a sampling for today, with more planned in the days ahead. The clipped English of George Plimpton and William F. Buckley, Jr. were vestigial examples.. Orson Welles notably spoke in a mid-Atlantic accent in the 1941 film Citizen Kane, as did many of his co-stars, such as Joseph Cotten. 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! He loved the ones that made a lot of noise and racket and excitement. George, Being George: George Plimpton's Life as Told, Admired, Deplored George Ames Plimpton (1927 - 2003) - Genealogy - geni family tree And so when it was time to say goodbye, we did so simplyno awkwardness, no strangled expressions of affectionand this is why, even though it was the last time we ever spoke, and I would never get the chance again, I do not regret not telling him that I loved him. Ill try to give a representative range, and I am grateful for the care and thought that have gone into these responses. $ 9.19 - $ 32.19. 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. As a result, this American version of a posh accent has all but disappeared even among the American upper classes. George Plimpton is beautifully connected. [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. Shoot! hed hiss, when he was mad. In another cartoon in The New Yorker, a patient looks up at the masked surgeon about to operate on him and asks, "Wait a minute! And being good at losing was one of Georges many gifts. Anyhow, I asked Terry Gross from Fresh Air and George Plimpton to be auctioneers. 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]. But he would do this in the most charming and agreeable way. Harris trained himself as a young man to lose his native Bronx accent - to the point that he was asked if he were British. Plimpton was a writer-raconteur and dilettante in the best sense of the word: He co-founded an important literary magazine, the . 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. I think all the editors who worked at the magazine can recount a time when they ascended to his office to argue for a particular story that had been submitted, certain that George hadnt read it or hadnt read it closely enough, only to stand gape-mouthed as he reeled off, from memory, its every deficiency. The flipped prestige markers point here is fascinating. Its a joke to say 500 of my closest friends, but that would have been true with George1,000 of his closest friends, actually. 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. He was also known for "participatory journalism," including accounts of his active involvement in professional sporting events, acting in a Western, performing a comedy act at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, and playing with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra[1] and then recording the experience from the point of view of an amateur. He looked for ways in which he could make himself a ridiculous figure, and not only on the football field, but in all walks of life. To me, Mid-Atlantic English is the nom juste for a related but distinct phenomenon (which is also mentioned in Wikipedia). Here's a look inside the space, where the Paris Review editor hosted legendary parties. Both of Plimpton's maternal grandparents were born with the surname Ames; his mother was the granddaughter of Medal of Honor recipient Adelbert Ames (1835-1933), an American sailor, soldier, and politician, and Oliver Ames, a US political figure and the 35th Governor of Massachusetts (18871890). What stood in our way? George Plimpton | Military Wiki | Fandom Update: This post is #2 in the announcer-speak series. George Plimpton Wiki: Salary, Married, Wedding, Spouse, Family . 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. A graduate of Harvard University and King's College, Cambridge, Plimpton was recruited to Paris by Peter Matthiessen in 1952 and signed on to the project shortly thereafter. Hear Stories By George Plimpton. In his July 1936 obituary, the New York Times described George Arthur Plimpton (13 July 1855-1 July 1936) as an "internationally known publisher and collector, college trustee and philanthropist." As the materials in the George A. Plimpton Papers testify, those four areas of activity dominated Plimpton's public and private lives. 1 draft choice of the Lions in 1965. Plimpton himself described it as a "New England cosmopolitan accent"[36] or "Eastern seaboard cosmopolitan" accent. Researcher and writer Samuel Arbesman filed with NASA to name an asteroid after Plimpton; NASA issued the certificate 7932 Plimpton in 2009. These interviews are a collaborative effort, and, I believe, a fascinating contribution to literary history. He could have done whatever he wanted. (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? Articles by George Plimpton - Sports Illustrated Vault | SI.com George Plimpton was an upper-class guy with a patrician accent who partied his way through life . [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. Except at parties. 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. People two or three deep stood looking out at the East River. It was a hot, sweltering day. Now you know! It was as if some old gentlemans code prohibited us from interacting as human beings. Hed done it in Amsterdam, Moscow, and London; hed done it at a PEN benefit; and now he and Norman were going to do it in Cuba. A similar phenomenon can be noted in the use, well into the 1980s, of the recorded sound of teletype machines in the background of newscasts, a sound still faintly evoked by the bip-bip-bip patterns of music that often introduces news broadcasts, even though teletype machines are long gone The subconscious association of this pattern of sound with news is fading fast with the passing of the years and will undoubtedly disappear entirely in the coming decade as surely as the over-enunciated style of radio speech of the 30s disappeared within a generation of its no longer being needed. 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. An Oral History of George Plimpton: The Man Does Everything - Observer Ive rarely heard this accent in real life but its often used by actors doing a stereotype character based on other actors impersonations! Peter even came with us on our honeymoon in Ravello, though George didnt. George Ames Plimpton (March 18, 1927 - September 25, 2003) was an American journalist, writer, literary editor, actor and occasional amateur sportsman. *Originally posted by bordelond * He knew we were just as good as he was, but in a different field. Butch, he says, because he always called me Butch. The responses fall into interesting categories: linguistic descriptions of this accent; sociological and ethnic explanations for its rise and fall; possible technological factors in its prominence and disappearance; explanations rooted in the movie industry; nominees for who might have been the last American to talk this way; and suggestions that a few rare specimens still exist. He died on September 26, 2003 in Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA. The Detroit Lions let a reporter play QB. Can you guess how it went Sidd Finch: A pitcher, part yogi and part recluse. - Sports Illustrated I believe the accent was at one time known as Larchmont Lockjaw. As an old film buff, I am used to this voice, though it figures unevenly in old movies. (To read Part One, click here. Richard Howard, poetry editor, the Paris Review:I worked with George for 10 years on the magazine. But the average person never talked that way. Yes indeed, George Plimpton is a man for all seasons. It includes clear pronunciation of each and every consonant cluster. 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. Norman Mailer said that George Plimpton was the best-loved man in New York. In it Van Voorhis has the formal delivery that would have seemed familiar to many mid-century listeners but which in retrospect we know was on the way out. The title of the PBS documentary - "Plimpton! To me, it meant admission to this little exclusive club at the Paris Review. [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. For such admissions to escape my fathers lips, they always had to be a little removed somehow. 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.". 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. 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 . Plimpton[2] was born in New York City on March 18, 1927, and spent his childhood there, attending St. Bernard's School and growing up in an apartment duplex on Manhattan's Upper East Side located at 1165 Fifth Avenue. 'Plimpton! Starring George Plimpton as Himself' review You heard it and it could only be him. [3], He was the son of Francis T. P. Plimpton[4] and the grandson of Frances Taylor Pearsons and George Arthur Plimpton. [26] He also appeared in an episode of the NBC sitcom Wings. [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. 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. I thought they were terrific. George Plimpton (1927-2003) was a journalist and the first editor-in-chief of The Paris Review. The Blacklisted Journalist,George Plimpton, 76 Death Claims Another of 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. We had the book party for my selected poems, Sailing Alone Around the Room, at Georges house on Sept 10, 2001. The Writers won the game with a home run in extra innings, but the highlight was Plimptons hit. 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.. All contents 2023 The Slate Group LLC. He had a way of putting it all together, of understanding fighters in the ring; he was a good analyst of boxing. How George Plimpton's Sports Books Presaged the First-Person Media Age Plimpton scowled, and said he was perfectly capable of running for himself. 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 - Rotten Tomatoes 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! It was scary, because he was never mad, and to see this normally benevolent, white-haired figure of civility fill with pink steam, to hear this gentle man, who loved nothing more than to tell lighthearted stories and laugh, suddenly shout-whisper Dammit at some injustice on the other end of the telephone was unsettling. Plimpton was .the public face of the New York intellectual: tweedy, eclectic and with a plummy accent he himself described as "Eastern seaboard cosmopolitan." . Plimpton also appeared in the closing credits of the 2006 film Factory Girl. I enjoy doing it. Thats it, George cried out. We were bound to play the roles of father and son, unable to simply be ourselves. By George Plimpton. 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. He also served as editor of the Harvard Lampoon. They spoke in this manner, and it seemed perfectly natural, evocative of a background spent among the gentry of the northeast.. He never went all the way, though his authenticity and newly-downstyle speaking could probably be marked in the crisis/triumph stages of his reporting: the death of JFK; the Vietnam report; the moon landing. He was very understanding of what we did and how we did it. **. What fine manners he had! The Cuban revolutionaries, led by Fidel Castro and Che Guevara, had just marched on Havana and ousted the US-supported dictator Fulgencio Batista. Please educate me. He very much approved. It was always as if one were setting out with him on a special adventure. But he has never employed that voice professionally, and certainly does not speak that way in real life. Vault. Plimpton and Dudley were the parents of twin daughters Laura Dudley Plimpton and Olivia Hartley Plimpton. 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. George Plimpton Net Worth I dont give a rats ass about informing anyone about the death of Plimpton. We made $15,000-20,000. Kim Noble, one of the announcers on the NPR affiliate in Kansas City, KCUR, speaks with a very affected Connecticut Lockjaw accent. *Originally posted by cuauhtemoc * (He intended to face both line-ups, but tired badly and was relieved by Ralph Houk.) He saw athletes as heroes he. Havent heard that term in years. [citation needed]. Ken Auletta, author:Sometime after age 70, when his reflexes dulled, George took to the sidelines in the Artists and Writers softball game in Easthampton, N.Y. Each year his name was announced, and each year he was hailed by the crowd, who paid more attention to him than to the game. 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. Plimpton also appeared in a number of feature films as an extra and in cameo appearances. [Then] this August he showed up, pulled the shirt over his head, and said he was ready to bat. But for now, just one more category: 3) Changing technology, changing voices. ESPN.com: GEN - George Plimpton dies Plimpton entered Harvard as a member of the Class of 1948, but did not graduate until 1950 due to intervening military service. These events were recalled in his best-known book Paper Lion, which was later adapted into the 1968 feature film starring Alan Alda. He was "George Plimpton"-editor, host . Quite sad, as he just had a daughter not many years back. The New Yorker may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. 3 people found this helpful . In the early 60s, when I was working at the firework plant with my dad [Felix Grucci], George would pull up in shiny red sports car on his way to the Hamptons. ), this isnt some kind of morbid contest to see who can be the first to inform the board of some celebritys death. 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 But it didnt define him, much the way he refused to be defined by the stiff, upper-crust world from which hed come. He was an actor and writer, known for Good Will Hunting (1997), Nixon (1995) and Just Cause (1995). Future Poet Laureate Donald Hall, who had met Plimpton at Exeter, was Poetry Editor. Mia had the perfect model! He was so open to life and all its new and unexpected situations. Macklem . Read more in this thread (long). Plimpton played quarterback for the Detroit Lions and triangle for the New York Philharmonic, an. I remember the Lowell Thomas documentary films of the 50s where Mr. Thomas' mellifluous tones and distinct radio-style pronunciation gave him a respectability that a similar huckster could hardly hope to replicate today by the mere application of such an artifice.