Accents?

[Gmerc]

I wouldn't go so far as to say there is a conspiracy to trouser all 6.5 billion of us but I think Dennis is right about inertia in society. That's why, despite all the catwalk glam & hype at fashion shows, what ends up being offered to we ordinary people is a slightly wider lapel on our jackets, courtesy of fashion buyers Terribly, Terribly, Boring & Dull! I didn't coin that phrase, I nicked it from The Goodies, but doesn't it sum up what we get?

Before I get moderated for going off topic, I must say how much I admired Patrick Stewart's use of the French accent in the role of Jun-Luc Picard.

The best use of accents on the small screen is, IMHO, in the BBC WW2 Comedy "'Allo, 'Allo". Everyone spoke English but used an accent to establish nationality but if you weren't using the same accent as another actor, you couldn't understand them. Brilliant. It sounds lame in my description but it was a hoot to watch; especially when they introduced an English Agent disguised as a Gendame, whose French was awful. There was a time in the Uk when the standard greeting of 'Good Morning' was transmogrified to Officer Crabtree's 'Good Moaning'. Utterly wonderful stuff &, incidently, many men wearing skirts & dresses in vain attempts to escape, plus Herr Flick of the Gestapo in the most elaborate of ladies under garments. No trouser conspiracy here!

Graham

[Big and Bashful]

I loved Allo Allo, after having my memory jogged last weekend I have just ordered the complete box set off Amazon, I had forgotten just how good it was. Just watching Sam Kelly's "tler" salute creased me up all over again!

[Kirbstone]

I agree, Allo,Allo was the most wonderful and clever take-off of the wartime resistance movement ever devised. Even cleverer than Fawlty Towers and Black Adder, & that's saying something. When viewed again one gets more out of each episode than at first viewing, which adds to the hillarity. It doesn't pale at all.

[Gregg1100]

Just bought Series 5 of Allo Allo---got the whole lot now. Wonderful stuff lol. Oh, and I shall say this only once.

[DALederle]

Does anyone remember Dave Allen at Large. It was a BBC comedy that used to come on just before Dr. Who on our local PBS station in Chicago years ago. Haven't seen it in 25+ years. It was always funny and I loved the program, along with No Honestly.
But the one thing Dave Allen did a lot of was spoof hollywood western movies.
And, boy, did they ever get their wild west accents WRONG!
Now I admit my own is a Chicago (Chicaga) accent of des, deems and don't, wit and wid too! But I've lived and traveled around the US all my life, been to Texas and South Dokata, New Jersey and Florida, Wisconsin and Michigan, Minnesota and Tenn. and Kentucky and, etc. And I'm fond of western, especially the older, classic ones. But I never heard an accent in the US that sounded anywhere close to what Dave Allen used. So I guess it works both ways, Ya Dig?
Mike Myers did a put together accent for Shrek that was not pure and true to anyone's reality.
I have to hand it to Hugh Laurie on the program HOUSE. He does an excellent job with an American accent on that show!
I've noticed, lately, a lot of UK and Aussie actors performing on American TV shows and sounding very much like Americans. I guess that's because the colonies is where the big money is?

Dennis A. Lederle
Grok?

[Kirbstone]

Yes, Dave Allen was a favourite for many years, and he played the profane skit on religion card frequently too. Bring Irish he would have had difficulty immitating any specific American accent.
I had the pleasure of meeting him once on a freezing cold June day at the Iffley Road stadium in Oxford, (where Roger Bannister first ran the four-minute-mile). It was a prep schools' sports meeting and he had a boy competing. I had two. The wind was so cold that I had retired to the glazed-in viewing area at the top of the stand, where I found myself next to Dave. Pleasant chap. Pity he went so soon at age only 73.

[Milfmog]

I once found myself in a pub a few miles from home where there was a bar stool with a "reserved" label on it. Unusual, but not particularly exciting until Dave Allen wandered in and parked himself on it. He then just sat and chatted with a glass of whiskey in one hand an a cigarette in the other. He kept up the flow for the benefit of the folks in the bar for about two hours before wandering off home. Unscripted and hysterical, he was not allowed to buy a drink all night and his glass never seemed to be in danger of emptying. I could not leave until at least half an hour after him, the laughter was causing me breathing difficulties.

I went back several times, but never saw him there again even though he lived very close by. The stool was always reserved but according to the publican he only wandered in every now and then. I guess I just got lucky the first time I visited.

Have fun,


Ian.

[Big and Bashful]

Loved Dave Allen, must see what is out there on Amazon and youtube, but not now, tis late, g'night!

[Jock]

Does anyone remember Dave Allen at Large?
I have to hand it to Hugh Laurie on the program HOUSE. He does an excellent job with an American accent on that show!

Aye, Dave Allen was one of my boyhood favourites - I only remember him in B&W.
Hugh Laurie's US accent sounds genuine to me too, as it did in the film aboot the wee talkin moosie. How good does Bob Hoskins' accent sound to American ears?

Coming the other way, some US versions of an "English" accent are a hoot! As always the devil is in the deeetail (not the d'tail)

As for Shrek, I've always considered the Myers' rendition to be Hollywood Scottish, ye ken.

As much as I enjoyed "The Hunt For Red October", no one is commenting on the voice of Shrek!

Well, this is the Off Topic section, Moneypenny.