"The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain." If ever there was a phrase that embodied the idea of changing one’s accent to get ahead, that’d be it. After all, the My Fair Lady song that the lyric comes from is meant to showcase how a co*ckney flower girl can advance her social standing simply by improving her diction. And Eliza Doolittle wasn’t the only one giving it a shot.
Throughout the Golden Age of Hollywood, stars including Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant, Bette Davis, and Orson Welles employed what’s known as a “Mid-Atlantic accent,” a sort of American-British hybrid of speaking that relies on tricks like dropping “R” sounds and softening vowels, in order to convey wealth and sophistication on the silver screen.
It’s a trick that fell out of favor by the middle of the 20th century but still pops up in popular culture—cheerio, Madonna!—and is on full display in Hollywood, the new Netflix series produced by Ryan Murphy.
In an early episode of Ryan Murphy’s new Netflix series Hollywood, a room of young stars learn the Mid-Atlantic accent.
In the second episode of the series, a group of aspiring young actresses are seated in a classroom at the fictional Ace Studios being tutored in the art of using the mid-Atlantic accent properly. “Mid-Atlantic is a made-up accent; no one actually speaks this way naturally,” Holland Taylor’s Ellen Kincaid, a studio casting executive charged with training young talent, tells the group of wishful starlets. “But it takes on some British inflections that add some refinement to the otherwise flat and grating American dialect. You ladies would do very well to speak in this dialect at all times.”
"You could find yourself upwardly mobile by only changing the sound of your voice. It’s the vocal equivalent of bootstrapping.”
In the scene, Kincaid asks one student “where does the Mid-Atlantic accent come from?” “The middle of the Atlantic,” she answers. “And who lives there?” Another student pipes up: “No one.”
It’s a short scene but an important one for the series to get right. “In 1947, the year we begin in, more movies were made than ever before; the demand was so enormous that all of these studios were constantly pumping films out. They needed bodies, so we knew that this sort of training center within a studio would be an access point,” says Hollywood producer Ian Brennan.
“And if you’re going to be in those rooms, it seemed like the natural thing to do was see a group of starlets sitting around trying to learn the Mid-Atlantic accent, which they really did. If you listen to those old movies, people spoke in a way that sounds so funny today. So, we wanted to go behind the scenes of that kind of scenario. It seemed like the obvious first place to go to transport people into this world.”
Hollywood depicts the real-life phenomenon of movie studios training young actors in tasks like speaking in a Mid-Atlantic accent.
The Mid-Atlantic accent was important to include in the series, Brennan says, because “it denotes a kind of upper crust, East Coast wealth—but it’s an affectation. It was created to unify and standardize an American dialect; people thought that American English could be harsh and flat, so this was almost halfway British. It was a way to add a patina of class and élan to speech that would otherwise sound provincial.”
The accent’s beginnings aren’t entirely clear. Some experts trace it back to early American prep school oration classes, the work of the 19th-century philologist Henry Sweet, or that of the Australian linguist William Tilly, a former student of Sweet’s who went on to teach at Columbia University. Most can agree, however, that it was voice coach Edith Skinner (a former Tilly associate) who really made the Mid-Atlantic accent popular.
"The Mid-Atlantic accent denotes a kind of upper crust, East Coast wealth—but it’s an affectation."
In 1942, Skinner—who taught at Juilliard and Carnegie Mellon—published Speak with Distinction, which became the de facto diction bible for anyone looking to speak in what Skinner called “Good Speech.”
The book, which is still available today, gave advice on how to hold your lips and where to position your tongue, and recommendations on exercises for the jaw, neck, and shoulders to aid in proper pronunciation. “Distinct utterance is the prime requisite of an actor,” Skinner wrote. “In fact, the audience should be able to take for granted that they can hear and understand everything the actor says, without straining to do so.”
When it came to how she wanted her pupils to sound, Skinner wrote, “Good Speech is hard to define but easy to recognize when we hear it. Good Speech is a dialect of North American English that is free from regional characteristics; recognizably North American, yet suitable for classic texts; effortlessly articulated and easily understood in the last rows of a theater.”
KatharineHepburn used a Mid-Atlantic accent in films likeThe Philadelphia Story.
The British-born Cary Grant didn’t need to employ a Mid-Atlantic accent to sound sophisticated, but often did anyway.
It was a technique that dovetailed with the rise of “talkies,” which first came about in 1927, and gave actors the opportunity to use their voices to help further a story. “The real secret of it, in terms of what Hollywood was packaging, was that you could find yourself upwardly mobile by only changing the sound of your voice,” explains Samara Bay, a dialect coach who’s worked on American Crime Story and I Am the Night. “What a deeply American mythos to be able to do that: It’s the vocal equivalent of bootstrapping.”
Despite its popularity at the time—making it a touchstone in movies like His Girl Friday, The Philadelphia Story, and Citizen Kane—the accent would fall out of fashion after World War II. Later, figures like Gore Vidal and William F. Buckley would continue to use the accent to punctuate their public speaking and it would show up as a punchline most often to mock snobs, like it did in the TV series Frasier—but today the use of the Mid-Atlantic accent on screen (with the exception of Cate Blanchett using a similar version in Mrs. America to what she did in The Talented Mister Ripley) has all but disappeared.
Still, while you might not hear the Mid-Atlantic accent regularly in modern movies, its legacy hasn’t vanished entirely. “What is left over is a sense that there’s a right way to sound, and you’re in the club or you’re not,” Bay says. “In any culture, there is a sound that’s associated with power—and it’s usually the sound associated with the richest, oldest, and whitest people in that culture. Then it’s up to everyone else to decide, do I want to match that or deviate from it and stand strong on my own?”
It’s an idea that isn’t lost on the creators of Hollywood. “That’s the theme of the show,” says Brennan. “Why are we trying to fit into a system that doesn’t want to include us instead of trying to create a new system? Hollywood isn’t only exciting because you get to bathe in nostalgia and the lushness of the period, but also because it makes a broader and quite pointed statement about inclusion and aspiration. Is this the best we can do, or might there be something more?”
Adam Rathe
Deputy Features Director
Adam Rathe is Town & Country's Deputy Features Director, covering arts and culture and a range of other subjects.
FAQs
Hollywood's Golden Age finally came to an end due to two main factors: antitrust actions, and the invention of television. For decades, it was common practice for major film companies to purchase movie theaters, which would only show their company's produced films.
What is the Golden Age of Hollywood known for? ›
The Golden Age thus began during the Great Depression in the late 1920s and continued throughout the early 1960s. Can you imagine that? About forty years of movies, great soundtracks, and iconic actors. This Golden Age is when the cinema experienced great advancement in picture quality and sound.
What rough period was the Hollywood Golden Age and what is significant about it? ›
The golden age of Hollywood is the period in the American film industry from the mid-1920s to the early 1960s, when Hollywood studios produced a high number of cinematic masterpieces.In this period, cinema went through an unprecedented artistic and commercial growth.
What was the Golden Age of Hollywood cinematic movement? ›
The Golden Age of Hollywood began during the Great Depression in the late 1920s and continued through to the early '60s. Film technology took off with more studios making talkies and filming in technicolour and cinemascope. The big five studios ruled the industry, producing a mammoth 800 movies every year.
How did Hollywood affect society? ›
Hollywood influenced American culture by reflecting the values and ideals of democracy and capitalism. For instance, Hollywood films promote the idea that people can do anything they set their mind to – the so-called 'American Dream.
How did Hollywood affect American society in the 1920s? ›
MOVIES. The increased prosperity of the 1920s gave many Americans more disposable income to spend on entertainment. As the popularity of “moving pictures” grew in the early part of the decade, “movie palaces,” capable of seating thousands, sprang up in major cities.
Why did Hollywood enjoy a golden age during the Depression? ›
During this same time, in the late 1920s and into the 1940s, the American film industry experienced a boom that would later be regarded as Hollywood's Golden Era. While the country was consumed in a sullen attempt to rebuild society, films offered an accessible escape for restless minds in tough times.
When did Hollywood gain popularity? ›
Hollywood had become the centre of the American film industry by 1915 as more independent filmmakers relocated there from the East Coast. For more than three decades, from early silent films through the advent of “talkies,” figures such as D.W. Griffith, Goldwyn, Adolph Zukor, William Fox, Louis B. Mayer, Darryl F.
What genres were popular during the Golden Age of Hollywood? ›
Westerns, musicals, screwball comedies, and film noir were popular genres of Hollywood's Golden Age.
Why then did Hollywood studios face a long and desperate decline well into the sixties? ›
The studio system that thrived during Hollywood's Golden Age died in the 1960s. Challenges in the form of pay TV, antitrust legislation, low admissions, and censorship had worn down the studios in the previous decade.
Hollywood played a valuable psychological role during the Great Depression. It provided reassurance to a demoralized nation. Even at the deepest depths of the Depression, 60 to 80 million Americans attended movies each week.
Why did Hollywood become the film making capital of the world in the 1920s? ›
Hollywood was an ideal place to produce movies since filmmakers couldn't be sued there for infringing on motion picture film patents held by Thomas Edison and his Motion Picture Patents Company. It also had warm, predictably sunny weather and diverse terrain perfect for movie backdrops.
How did Hollywood change in the 1960s? ›
Among the challenges faced by the film industry was the dawning shift in theatrical exhibition from urban centers to suburban multiplexes, an increase in runaway productions, the rise of independent producers, and competition from both television and foreign art films.
What was the biggest change in Hollywood films in the 1920s? ›
The transition to sound-on-film technology occurred mid-decade with the talkies developed in 1926-1927, following experimental techniques begun in the late 1910s. Fox Studios and the Warner Brothers were crucial in the development and acceptance of the technology of sound in motion pictures.
What are some examples of Golden Age? ›
A look at golden age history identifies several eras of the golden ages including the Byzantine Empire, The Roman Republic, and even some periods in medieval England. As far as the most important golden age, Europe has two that stand out as the most significant: Ancient Athens and the Italian Renaissance.
What makes Hollywood so special? ›
Hollywood is the destination for all American movies and television shows and is situated in California. Hollywood has many tourist attractions, including the “Walk of Fame” and the Hollywood Sign. The once small Tinsel town gained popularity such that the whole American Film industry became Hollywood.
How does Hollywood affect the economy? ›
The American film and television industry supports 2.4 million jobs, pays out $186 billion in total wages, and comprises more than 122,000 businesses—according to an analysis of the most recent economic figures released by the Motion Picture Association.
What are social issues in the film industry? ›
Motion pictures can highlight social issues from economic and environmental justice, women's health, violence against women, worker rights, homelessness, discrimination and poverty to all forms of human rights abuses. Good films can raise awareness and be a start to addressing local and global issues.
How did film change society in the 1920s? ›
Cinema in the 1920s
For a quarter, Americans could escape from their problems and lose themselves in another era or world. People of all ages attended the movies with far more regularity than today, often going more than once per week. By the end of the decade, weekly movie attendance swelled to 90 million people.
What happened to Hollywood during the Great Depression? ›
Although the movie industry considered itself Depression- proof, Hollywood was no more immune from the Depression's effects than any other industry. To finance the purchase of movie theaters and the conversion to sound, the studios had tripled their debts during the mid- and late-'20s to $410 million.
Jazz music became wildly popular in the “Roaring Twenties,” a decade that witnessed unprecedented economic growth and prosperity in the United States. Consumer culture flourished, with ever greater numbers of Americans purchasing automobiles, electrical appliances, and other widely available consumer products.
What caused the decline of the Golden Age? ›
The feasibility of existing international financial systems and frameworks, such as the Bretton Woods System, began to exhibit flaws that hindered growth. Eventually, the Golden Age of Capitalism came to an end.
What caused the end of the Golden Age? ›
The Golden Age ended with conflicts between Athens and Sparta that led to the 27-year long Peloponnesian War. Athens was the founder of the Delian League, an alliance of Greek poli that defeated the Persians. Athens collected taxes from the other poli to maintain the military forces required to combat the Persians.
What was the main reason behind the decline of Hollywood studio system? ›
The studio system was challenged under the antitrust laws in a 1948 Supreme Court ruling which sought to separate production from the distribution and exhibition and ended such practices, thereby hastening the end of the studio system.
What ended the Golden Age of television? ›
The streaming wars have brought the era to an end.
Photos by Chin Leong Teoh/EyeEm via Getty Images Plus and bunhill/E+ via Getty Images Plus.
How did the Golden Age impact society? ›
Golden Ages move human intellectual and technological life ahead by leaps and bounds. These spurts of growth in our collective ability to understand the world around us, express it through art, and invent new ways of doing things have been important in getting the human race to where it is today.
What ended the Golden Age of Capitalism? ›
The post–World War II economic expansion, also known as the postwar economic boom or the Golden Age of Capitalism, was a broad period of worldwide economic expansion beginning after World War II and ending with the 1973–1975 recession.
What caused Capitalism's Golden Age to end in America? ›
The Oil Crisis contributed to a stock market crash and “stagflation” throughout the 1970s — an economic situation of high inflation combined with high unemployment. It also stoked tensions between the US and its European allies, who felt the embargo had been provoked by US financial aid.
What are the characteristics of Golden Age? ›
When the phrase golden age is used, it typically refers to a time of great innovation, prosperity, peace, and stability. In the context of history and politics, a golden age would usually refer to a time when the arts flourished, political structures functioned properly, and social stability reigned.
What happened in the Golden Age of America? ›
It was a time of rapid economic growth, especially in the Northern and Western United States. As American wages grew much higher than those in Europe, especially for skilled workers, and industrialization demanded an ever-increasing unskilled labor force, the period saw an influx of millions of European immigrants.
In the chronology of Saint Jerome, the Golden Age lasts c. 1710 to 1674 BC, the Silver Age 1674 to 1628 BC, the Bronze Age 1628 to 1472 BC, the Heroic Age 1460 to 1103 BC, while Hesiod's Iron Age was considered as still ongoing by Saint Jerome in the fourth century AD.
What led to Hollywood becoming the world capital of the film industry? ›
Several factors clearly explain why film makers came to prefer this district of Los Angeles. Compared to other communities of the period. Hollywood possessed a superior geographic situation, affording film directors an ideal climate and ready access to outstanding scenery, talent and ancillary businesses.
When did the Golden Age began to decline? ›
Overview of the Golden Age
The end of the Golden Age occurred when Alexander passed away in 323 B.C.
What is the oldest TV ever? ›
On 25 December 1926, at Hamamatsu Industrial High School in Japan, Japanese inventor Kenjiro Takayanagi demonstrated a TV system with a 40-line resolution that employed a CRT display. This was the first working example of a fully electronic television receiver. Takayanagi did not apply for a patent.
How did the Golden Age of Television affect the rise of mass media? ›
The 1950s proved to be the golden age of television, during which the medium experienced massive growth in popularity. Mass-production advances made during World War II substantially lowered the cost of purchasing a set, making television accessible to the masses.
