Sound quality was often lousy, and audiences were easily distracted. So, actors had to project, speak distinctly, and get their points across quickly. This rapid-fire delivery, though unnatural to modern ears, served a crucial purpose – ensuring everyone understood the story, even if the sound was crackly.
Economics dictated shooting closer to the threshold of the illusion, and most silent films were filmed around 16-18 frames per second (fps), then projected closer to 20-24 fps. This is why motion in those old silent films is so comical, the film is sped up: Charlie Chaplin.
The accent was taught in acting schools and was considered to be a sign of sophistication and education. It was used by actors in the Golden Age of Hollywood and by American aristocrats, especially in the Northeastern United States.
Finally, recording technology back then was quite different to what it is today: Many early films used microphones that were less sensitive and had a shorter range, which meant that actors projected their voices more and spoke with clearer diction to ensure that their dialog was captured effectively.
Why did people on television in the 1950s seem a little stiff?
Explanation: In the 1950s, people on television seemed a little stiff primarily because they were being filmed live and for the first time. Due to the limitations of early television technology, actors had to perform in a restrained manner, as any mistakes or improvisations would be broadcast live.
Quentin Tarantino Analyzes the Differences Between Bill Murray & Chevy Chase Movies
What did TV avoid in the 1950s?
In the 1950s, most television entertainment programs ignored current events and political issues. Instead, the three major networks (ABC, NBC, and CBS) developed prime-time shows that would appeal to a general family audience.
Weight-loss diets gained popularity in the 1950s. 'Despite the end of rationing, women were now encouraged to trim their figures with beach-body diets, pre-Christmas diets and even the steak diet! The difference with previous decades was about being trim and having the perfect body.
The Mid-Atlantic accent, or Transatlantic accent, is a consciously learned accent of English, fashionably used by the American upper class and entertainment industry of the late 19th century to mid-20th century, that blended elements from both American and British English.
Why did the Transatlantic accent end? The public stopped using the Transatlantic accent toward the end of World War II, when public schools began to phase it out. Still, actors who wanted to align their name with swankiness continued to use it.
A string of recent studies shows that some iconic American accents are fading out. Georgians are speaking less “Southern,” Texans are sounding less “twangy,” and Bostonians are pronouncing their Rs. These changes likely occur due to migration.
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 ...
The Trans-Atlantic Accent (or the Mid-Atlantic Accent) was a style of speech taught in affluent schools along the East Coast and in Hollywood Film Studios from the late nineteen tens until the mid-forties.
Some movies deliberately mix spoken conversations at a lower level than loud explosions so that the booms have more of an impact in a theater, where the sound system is better and you don't have neighbors to disturb.
They were filmed at a different speed than modern sound movies are filmed. The camera operator would crank the camera at approximately two revolutions per second, 16 framed per second. The older 1920's Bell & Howell 16mm home movie cameras (the Filmo model) were set at a 16 frames per second filming speed.
After the children rapidly turn into teenagers and Agnes suddenly dies, the families conclude that the beach is aging them, with the occupants undergoing the equivalent of one year of aging every 30 minutes.
While looking at images of people of the past, we often see them styled in ways that we would today view as outdated, from hairstyles to their choices of clothes and eyewear. As a result, we tend to see these people as having aged rapidly.
In fact, some regional accents may even be on their way out, including one you probably think of as very “American,” according to a brand-new study published in the journal Language Variation and Change. If that's hard to imagine, you might want to consider how much language has evolved over the past few decades.
Yes, Marilyn Monroe had a recognizable accent and speaking voice. Her accent, which was frequently described as a blend of the typical American accent with a subtle breathiness and softness, was a product of her birth and upbringing in Los Angeles, California.
The first is isolation; early colonists had only sporadic contact with the mother country. The second is exposure to other languages, and the colonists came into contact with Native American languages, mariners' Indian English pidgin and other settlers, who spoke Dutch, Swedish, French and Spanish.
Audrey Hepburn was pretty well consistent with non-rhotic. and spoke refined English. Her accent can be characterized as British with somewhat of Flemish or Dutch blend because of her Belgian and Dutch roots. Audrey was born in Brussels, Belgium.
Considering all of this and his farmer upbringing, it is safe to speculate that Washington's natural accent was, as Morse portrays it, predominantly American with a detectable English influence.
"The 1950s survey was taken immediately after the Second World War and rationing obviously had an influence. But their undergarments also make a difference. The fashion was for corsets which nipped in the waist," she explained.
The average woman in the 50s had a 27.5-inch waist and her bra size was 34B; in 2017, women's waists are 34 inches and they wear a 36DD bra. Other differences: Women in 2017 are almost 20 pounds heavier (154 vs. 136 pounds) and wear larger-size clothing (size 14 today vs. size 10 in 1957).
