Monday, November 9, 2009

QUITE THE STIR INTRODUCES BUNGALOW RADIO

From Creators of Quite The Stir Bungalow
We Proudly
Introduce Bungalow Radio



The era of radio voices wisped into WWII homes with regularity during the 1940s.  The Red, White and Blue American family gathered together, with kith and kin, around their living rooms and kitchens to listen to the radio news.  GI Joes or Janes and Rosie The Riveter would tune in, when time would allow, by the lights of dingy factory break room or nightly by a comforting radio glow.

Americans listened, intently, as history unfolded a swathe of grandeur or milieu of terror across radio airways.  Every man, woman and child of the 1940s was enlightened of  sorrow, joy, hope, laughter, tragedy and war. Astounding events that shaped our very lives today were sent to them yesterday.  A link to the outside world could be had by simply listening to radio and the confident assuring radio broadcasters of The Greatest Generation.





Humility must always be the portion of any man who receives acclaim earned in blood of his followers and sacrifices of his friends.                                                        
                                                         General Dwight D. Eisenhower

We are not retreating -- we are advancing in another direction.
                                                                               General Douglas MacArthur

Hollywood Rapid Fire, Laser Sharp, Egotistical, Golden Era Speak!

During the 1940s, upper-crust bearing accents and intonations were the rage among American films!

American actors and actresses, politicians and socialites alike, engaged in what some described as rapid fire, laser sharp, egotistical, socialite speak. An example of this type of  vocalizing to consider is within the film "The Philadelphia Story", a product of the Golden Era of Hollywood and starring the inimitable Katherine Hepburn. Through the words and manner spoken, here was a film, among many, highly and extremely conscious (and unashamedly so) of conveying stratified social classes to Americans!

What readily comes to mind in describing the words flowing forth from this and other motion pictures of  the era are endless and the mother lode in descriptive verse! Some phrases and describing adjectives could include: Unabashedly, devastatingly witty and snobbish, the "stuff" and posh from the pedigree of privileged blue bloods! But then, we could collect adjectives for simply years in description couldn't we?

Upon closer observation, whilst listening to these remarkably skillful masters and elocutionists of film and life, one may find themselves wondering, then as now, if they're hearing any number of variations of English, Boston, Philadelphia or New York accent among noveau riche with a bit Katherine Hepburn brevity version in the mix. Whatever the case, you may find yourselves lapsing into a feeling you're a piercing observer or intruder among an enclave of artistic, wealthy and elite socialites and flowing words.

Yesterdays' public theatre-goer, Americans fascinated by "escapist film gems" and so long deprived by the War and the Great Depression, surely found the allure of opulence and manner of speech enthralling.  Having a glimpse, through motion pictures, into the lives of the American over-privileged offered a temporary reprieve from the reality of the everyday world of the era.     

Author note: Frankly, don't mean to be a bear of a bug, you know (eh, what?) but this over stylized, stinging wit and scalding mincing of words and candor,which thrilled most in the milieu of observers of movie goers during the 1940s, thrills and intrigues yet today!

Some may say history has the linguists of the era to name as progenitors of the 1940s style of speech made popular in motion pictures. Others say we may credit the collaboration and bally hoo of Hollywood and elocution coaches for the clear style of diction and affectation of speech represented in films and elsewhere througout the 1940s and still heard today.

Each and every time you utter a word, you give listeners clues of who you are and where you come from.

It is difficult to find the answer in the milieu of possibilities to the origin of the ephemeral "1940s speak". Yet as I leave you now, to enjoy a bonanza and plethora of 1940s dead-on movie portrayals, from the purely historical perspective (wink, wink),  I proudly unabashedly proclaim (speaking slowly, teeth together and round tones in pure affectation):

"It may be a "tad ovah the top deahs", nevertheless, the thawt that ah am evah so completely enthralled, to the point of neahly shaken (and devastatingly so dahling), I do not apologize for my extreme enjoy-ament of the "kind" speech occassioned of the 1940s".



Le Brigand
Contributing

PRESERVATION OF HUMAN FREEDOM, 1948

Eleanor Roosevelt

 Delivered 28 September, 1948 in Paris, France (Excerpt)



I have come this evening to talk with you on one of the greatest issues of our time -- that is the preservation of human freedom. I have chosen to discuss it here in France, at the Sorbonne, because here in this soil the roots of human freedom have long ago struck deep and here they have been richly nourished. It was here the Declaration of the Rights of Man was proclaimed, and the great slogans of the French Revolution -- liberty, equality, fraternity -- fired the imagination of men. I have chosen to discuss this issue in Europe because this has been the scene of the greatest historic battles between freedom and tyranny. I have chosen to discuss it in the early days of the General Assembly because the issue of human liberty is decisive for the settlement of outstanding political differences and for the future of the United Nations.

The decisive importance of this issue was fully recognized by the founders of the United Nations at San Francisco. Concern for the preservation and promotion of human rights and fundamental freedoms stands at the heart of the United Nations. Its Charter is distinguished by its preoccupation with the rights and welfare of individual men and women. The United Nations has made it clear that it intends to uphold human rights and to protect the dignity of the human personality. In the preamble to the Charter the keynote is set when it declares: "We the people of the United Nations determined...to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small, and...to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom." This reflects the basic premise of the Charter that the peace and security of mankind are dependent on mutual respect for the rights and freedoms of all.

One of the purposes of the United Nations is declared in article 1 to be: "to achieve international cooperation in solving international problems of an economic, social, cultural, or humanitarian character, and in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion."