Ive known him forsix months and I just now learned hes not English!. Its a joke to say 500 of my closest friends, but that would have been true with George1,000 of his closest friends, actually. . He watched the first pitch sail high for a ball, and then hit a rope into left field. He saw athletes as heroes he. 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. George Plimpton, journalist extraordinaire, trains with and then performs as Quarterback for the Baltimore Colts. I never thought that George slept. George Plimpton, who has died aged 76, became a best-selling author by not only writing about sporting heroes but by participating in those sports as well. No one realized till the next day that this was the weather that created the extreme blue skies of Sept. 11a condition I since learned that pilots call severe clear. The next day, friends called and said, That was the last party. Norman Mailer said that George Plimpton was the best-loved man in New York. This periodical has carried great weight in the literary world, but has never been financially strong; for its first half-century, it was allegedly largely financed by its publishers and by Plimpton. And here for the full interview). It sounds like Somerset Maugham, was a favorite putdown. "He speaks with an oddly mannered accent, sounding as though on the verge of a stammer, polite, genteel, perhaps just a little Woosterish. It was horrifying.. **. She would not even say goodbye. In 1994, Plimpton appeared several times in the Ken Burns series Baseball, in which he shared some personal baseball experiences as well as other memorable events throughout the history of baseball.[20]. He looked like a very eccentric old Englishman. And the answer may explain partly why it has gone out of fashion: Jonathan Harris, the actor who played Dr. Smith on the television show "Lost in Space.". Plimpton was a writer-raconteur and dilettante in the best sense of the word: He co-founded an important literary magazine, the Paris Review, and tried his hand at everything from quarterbacking for the Detroit Lions (which he wrote about in Paper Lion), boxing with light-heavyweight champ Archie Moore (which became Shadow Box), and becoming New Yorks unofficial official fireworks commissioner. His exploits were such that at one point, The New Yorker ran a cartoon in which a patient eyed a surgeon with misgiving and said, But how do I know youre not George Plimpton?, But perhaps foremost among his accomplishments was his elevation of the interview to a literary form, both in the Paris Review and in his two superb works of oral history, Truman Capote: In Which Various Friends, Enemies, Acquaintances and Detractors Recall His Turbulent Career, and Edie, a biography of Edie Sedgwick, which he and Jean Stein compiled. Peter Matthiessen took the magazine over from Humes and ousted him as editor, replacing him with Plimpton, using it as his cover for Matthiessen's CIA activities. 3 people found this helpful . Return of the Big Bopper. Indeed, the police deposition the filmmakers managed to uncover may be the only time my dad ever spoke about the tragedy, publicly or privately. On Sept. 26, George Plimpton died in his sleep, at the age of 76. 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. Congratulations Carnac, for posting about George Plimptons death at 3:44 PM. A reader writes: Ive wondered about this myself when I see old Jimmy Cagney moviesand the date of his last starring role might give us a hint towards the date range of the change: "One, Two, Three" in 1961. Researcher and writer Samuel Arbesman filed with NASA to name an asteroid after Plimpton; NASA issued the certificate 7932 Plimpton in 2009. Plimpton, George 1927-2003(George Ames Plimpton) Source for information on Plimpton, George 1927-2003: Concise Major 21st Century Writers dictionary. He got the personality totally wrong, too. Peter even came with us on our honeymoon in Ravello, though George didnt. But the average person never talked that way. [Then] this August he showed up, pulled the shirt over his head, and said he was ready to bat. After it was published, all of the baseball people were trying to get in touch with Sidd, but he didnt existit was an April Fools joke! Youll get another shot at the big time, trust me. In the April 1, 1985 issue of Sports Illustrated, Plimpton pulled off a widely reported April Fools' Day prank. Finally I did. The opposing team: the Detroit Lions. At the time, he was getting ready to pitch for the Yankees,and we would throw pitches across 72nd Street in preparation. One reader writes: I've wondered whether that "announcer English" was at least partly caused by poor loudspeakers and microphones. His experience was captured in the book Out of My League. He did these jobs, and many others, as an amateur.. $ 3.99 - $ 27.44. 26 Feb 2023 12:18:23 Larchmont Lockjaw? Powered by Discourse, best viewed with JavaScript enabled. He was smooth. #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. With a little more practice, you could give us boys in the big leagues a run for our money. 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. Its something different, and Ive not encountered that in the mid-Atlantic. Quite sad, as he just had a daughter not many years back. For it was George Plimpton the writer, not the editor nor the celebrity, who was honored here . 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. 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. In most situations, he had the remarkable quality of making everyone he talked to feel at ease, at home, welcome, no matter who they were or what they didbut for whatever strange reason there wasnt this effortlessness with me, this warmth. Paul McCartney and his then-girlfriend Heather showed up. Volume 7, 2003-2005, pages 429-432. Alan Alda, portraying my dad in the movie version of Paper Lion (his book on playing quarterback for the Detroit Lions), didnt bother with his voice at all. Vault. Butch, he says, because he always called me Butch. By George Plimpton. *Originally posted by j.c. * Here's a look inside the space, where the Paris Review editor hosted legendary parties. 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. I just heard that George Plimpton has died. Starring George Plimpton as Himself, which documents his life, adventures, and work as participatory journalist and editor of the Paris Review, my dad will be playing himself one more time. So it was that my father played himself not just in movies and on TV, but in life, too. Hed have that and a scotch on the rocks, his favorite drink. Middle class? With a little more practice, you could give us boys in the big leagues a run for our money. But he has never employed that voice professionally, and certainly does not speak that way in real life. Bill Buckley, Gore Vidal, George Plimpton. He also served as editor of the Harvard Lampoon. "[27], Plimpton was a member of the cast of the A&E TV series A Nero Wolfe Mystery (200102). 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 . Speaking of which, didnt the young Jackie Kennedy have something of this, along with a kinda dreamy, airy, Monroe-esque (though many degrees less contrived) essence to it? The young Paris Review editor and other New York literary figures arrived during a period marked by hope for a democratic Cuba. [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." **Thats a common name for such an accent. No matter where he was, or who he wasquarterback, trapeze artist, Philharmonic triangle-playerhis voice never changed, proving that you can be whomever you want to be without ever abandoning yourself. 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. I havent heard that he is dead, but if so RIP George. [47][48] 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. & FDR, George Plimpton, William F. Buckley, etc. And the many candidates for the crown of Last American to Speak This Way. Vault. He is widely known for his sports writing and for helping to found The Paris Review, as well as his patrician demeanor and accent. George Plimpton. Whether on the football field or on a golf course or in a poem or an essay, the notion of human talent in whatever form excited him. George Plimpton boxed with Archie Moore, played quarterback for the Detroit Lions, and played percussion for the New York Philharmonic. The point of the flipped prestige markers is that generally the fewer the Rs, the fancier the person. Look out, Wilson! Hows your mom? hed always ask me. They were born to Plimpton and his second wife, Sarah Dudley, 26 years younger than he, who is chairwoman of the East Harlem Tutorial Program, for which he was a trustee. He was very understanding of what we did and how we did it. And the role of Katharine Hepburn, whose Locust Valley Lockjaw accent was a cousin of announcer-speak: I was just discussing this not a week ago with a friend who has done voice work in film and television, and can adopt this accent in an instant to evoke that period, much to my amusement. But looking back on it, its funny, too. He was 76. 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. The flipped prestige markers point here is fascinating. It's a Scottish accent that's been modified somewhat for a mainstream audience that tends to associate them with Groundskeeper Willie. Ill pick you up., I had a hard time sleeping that night, as you might imagine. [33] A later attempt, fired at Cape Canaveral, rose approximately 50 feet (15m) into the air and broke 700 windows in Titusville, Florida. By strange coincidence, I actually became quite good friends with his (ex-)in-laws here in Manhattan. He appeared in the PBS American Masters documentary on Andy Warhol. With the help of the New York Mets organization and several Mets players, Plimpton wrote a convincing account of a new unknown pitcher in the Mets spring training camp named Siddhartha Finch, who threw a baseball over 160mph, wore a heavy boot on one foot, and was a practicing Buddhist with a largely unknown background. He came from a family where such endearments were not expressed, and phone conversations were curt. Would you admit to there being symbolism in your novels? Please educate me. 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. The clipped English of George Plimpton and William F. Buckley, Jr. were vestigial examples.. 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. When he was on the scene, everything was a big happeningan event. [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. By George Plimpton. A heuristic approximation! Exeter Academy after an incident involving a 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. I dont give a rats ass about informing anyone about the death of Plimpton. Bill and I met in Rome, several months after the Paris Review was startedwe were, as they say, courtingand he drove me to Paris so George and Peter [Mathiessen] could look me over. [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]. The s. 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. Louis Begley, novelist:Jim Atlas interviewed me for an Art of Fiction piece in the Paris Review, a feature of the magazine that George invented and brought to perfection. The Sidd Finch story was accompanied by a series of photos which managed to convince even the eagle-eyed fans . [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. And similarly on the role of ridicule in speeding the move away from this accent: This is only partly facetious, but I think I know who was the American to speak "Announcer." But it didnt define him, much the way he refused to be defined by the stiff, upper-crust world from which hed come. My dad and I could not lose each other, but we could never quite find each other, either. 2) The Role of Broadway and Hollywood, and the Shift from Jimmy Cagney to Marlon Brando. If you say, I parked my car in Harvard Yard, you are being rhotic. Ive rarely heard this accent in real life but its often used by actors doing a stereotype character based on other actors impersonations! [citation needed], In the movie Plimpton! A little before my time, but Kennedy certainly didnt, even if his vernacular was more formal than Brandos. 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). Billy Collins, poet:Im one of these people who went from crashing Georges parties in the 70s to being invited in the 80s. Update: This post is #2 in the announcer-speak series. Plimpton's The Bogey Man chronicles his attempt to play professional golf on the PGA Tour during the Nicklaus and Palmer era of the 1960s. He is connected by blood to Benjamin "Beast" Butler, a rakish pol who told Abraham Lincoln he would be his running mate "only if you die within three. Plimpton also appeared in the closing credits of the 2006 film Factory Girl. He loved the ones that made a lot of noise and racket and excitement. He had it all going! Ive always heard it referred to as a patrician accent. If you are in the big league, God help us all. Is your language rhotic? He was "George Plimpton"-editor, host . But the gentleman amateur - a Harvard. 1) The linguists have a name for it: they call it Mid-Atlantic English. I dont like this name, for reasons Ill explain in a minute. silk-stockinged New Englander - private schools (he was The Paris Review was a testimony to his literary taste and his sense of glamour. 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. Plimpton appeared in the 1989 documentary The Tightrope Dancer which featured the life and the work of the artist Vali Myers. On Sept. 26, George Plimpton died in his sleep, at the age of 76. YESTERDAY IS NOT FAR AWAY. Plimpton sparred for three rounds with boxing greats Archie Moore and Sugar Ray Robinson while on assignment for Sports Illustrated. Spoke in a mid-Atlantic accent, reflecting a privileged Upper East Side (in New York City) upbringing. 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 I have worked as poetry editor with editors on other magazines; only with George has the experience been entirely agreeable. Plimpton also appeared in a number of feature films as an extra and in cameo appearances. He was going to put on a reading of his play Zelda, Scott, and Ernest. It is the kind of study . Manhattan DVD. After several problems with transporting and preparing the fireworks, Plimpton and Grucci became the first competitors from the United States to win the event. Yes indeed, George Plimpton is a man for all seasons. Kennedy died the next day at Good Samaritan Hospital. [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. 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. You heard it and it. The Wikipedia entry for it is quite detailed. George had three siblings: Francis Taylor Pearsons Plimpton Jr., Oakes Ames Plimpton,[15] and Sarah Gay Plimpton. The risky pleasures of Plimpton's classic of participatory sportswriting, Paper Lion. They all sound just like George. Id like to offer a speculation, for what its worth. Vault. Well, perhaps it's more accurate to say that the book provided entertaining confirmation to millions of people that they -- like the author . Plimpton's most memorable writings involved him inserting himself into a daunting situation about which he knew . History / Biographical Note Biographical Note. Is it in evidence among the Gen X set of Boston, or a passing phenomenon? He just did it because Columbia was another literary magazine. You should be very grateful. The film used archival audio and video of Plimpton lecturing and reading to create a posthumous narration. :rolleyes: Ive got news for you, buddy, youre not even second in line! Several weeks later at a book party, he spotted two writers who had played in that game. 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. He was a Wasp (both of his parents came from old New England families, and had ancestors on the Mayflower). Articles From This Author. In 1955 or 56, he went back to New York. [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. Of the Murrow Boys, Eric Sevareid held on to the newsreel style the longest; relying on memory, Im betting that we could actually watch the transition away from that to a more vernacular style in the long career of Walter Cronkite. 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. You heard it and it could only be him. If you are in the big league, God help us all. Friends were almost always happy to see him because you knew he was bound to improve your mood. Big, tall, good-looking guy, easy-going. If you say, I pahked my cah in Hahvahd Yahd, like some vaudeville version of a Boston accent, you are non-rhotic. When I eventually went back to be an editor at Harpers, I arrived at his flat, not having been in New York for eight years. All rights reserved. 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. He was one of her original supporters and had published an article about her work in The Paris Review. (He intended to face both line-ups, but tired badly and was relieved by Ralph Houk.) Of course, I think he enjoyed the odd persona his voice and mannerisms conferred on him. He's a pitcher, part yogi and part recluse. He liked the fact that I had broken my nose in defeat. In no way do I recall Plimpton talking in a way that is typically associated with LLa style which, as I understand it, is associated with unclear pronunciation of most consonant cluster. Plimpton had a quasi-Brit patrician accent, which in no way corresponds with the official descriptions of LL that Ive read on the Net. 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. (Did Eisenhower speak the newsreel style? Next up: some sociological explanations of why someone like George Gershwin might have tried to speak like Westbrook Van Voorhis. 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. Archie Moore, after all, had broken his nose. George also approved, I think, of the fact that I lost. The Scout Is a Lonely Hunter. His final interview appeared in The New York Sports Express of October 2, 2003 by journalist Dave Hollander. Kim Noble, one of the announcers on the NPR affiliate in Kansas City, KCUR, speaks with a very affected Connecticut Lockjaw accent. So it went in late 1960 at one of George Plimpton's legendary soirees at 541 E. 72nd St., New York. 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. Plimpton and Dudley were the parents of twin daughters Laura Dudley Plimpton and Olivia Hartley Plimpton. Kaltenborn was a famous mid . 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 . There was one more matter I never heard my dad discuss. Puss, and my father enjoyed nothing more than holding the beast high in the air and making strange, affectionate sounds in that distinguished voice: Yeanngghh, Puss Yeaannngh Puss Puss Puss.) He called my sister Puss, too, sometimes, though mostly I think with her it was Kiddo, which he also called me, though there was a period in which he occasionally called me Ernie, which was the dogs name. The Writers won the game with a home run in extra innings, but the highlight was Plimptons hit. He is widely known for his sports writing and for helping to found The Paris Review. He was respected by all. **Mid-Atlantic. A friend of the New England Sedgwick family, Plimpton edited Edie: An American Biography with Jean Stein in 1982. Jonathan Ames, author:Back in the fall of 1999, in preparation for my one and only boxing match, I read George Plimptons great book, Shadow Box, where he recounted his foray into the world of boxing and his famous encounter with Archie Moore. 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. Hed go on to move freely through so many worlds and circles, without ever not speaking in that singular accentthough it probably would have made life easier for him if hed adopted a new way of talking (after all, as a journalist in the locker rooms, where slang and cursing were art-forms, my dads stiff, formal tongue made him stick out like an egret among ducks). Interesting that the two competitors for his anchor chair were both fully vernacular speakers from the South and West: Mudd and Rather. Were taking off from Teterburo, N.J., at 4 a.m. tomorrow. The picture at the top of this post is of the same Westbrook Van Voorhis who epitomized FDR-era announcer-speak but didnt fit the sensibility of the early-cool-cat-era Twilight Zone. Read more. He was also an accomplished birdwatcher. When Muhammad Ali was fighting, George Plimpton was always there. Plimpton's remarkable life is showcased in a documentary that is. [26] He also appeared in an episode of the NBC sitcom Wings. He had it, as does/did William Buckley, Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, and Julia Child. 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. After his discharge, Plimpton returned to Harvard and finished his undergraduate education. 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. News children today have no concept of the Mid-Atlantic accent. The Left Bank really became East 72nd Street. 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]. Hed ask what was new in fireworks business and doodle around the facility with my dad, and he would always leave with a package of fireworks, to put on his own show. Even Orson Welles on occasion. 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. . Shadow Box. Among other challenges for Sports Illustrated, he attempted to play top-level bridge, and spent some time as a high-wire circus performer. 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." Showdown in the Pits. 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.

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