rhythmic blends

[Dave Wilton]

According to Wikipedia (and many other sites), in the 1952 _Son of Ali
Baba_Curtis did utter the line, "This is the palace of my father, and yonder
lies the Valley of the Sun."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Black_Shield_of_Falworth#False_quotation

Other sites state that his accent is not especially noticeable as delivers
the line.

The same Wikipedia article also credits a remark by Debbie Reynolds made "on
television" with starting the tale about Curtis's line. It footnotes it, but
to _Leisure Ways_ magazine dated "1980s." A citation that is even vaguer
than the legend.


-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of
Jonathan Lighter
Sent: Monday, July 12, 2010 6:50 AM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: rhythmic blends

The movie in question was _The Black Shield of Falworth_ (1954).  I have a
distinct (i.e., possibly phony) recollection of reading long ago that Curtis
never uttered that line in the film (which remember even more vaguely).  But
he certainly did sound like Tony Curtis throughout, just as in _Taras Bulba_
(1962).

A Google search, including GB, tends to confirm the line's absence. It may
have been popularized (SWAGging here) by somebody like Frank Gorshin in one
of his many appearances on the Sullivan show.

Whippersnappers: Gorshin was an adept impressionist before he became "The
Riddler."

Ultra-Whippersnappers: "The Riddler" was a villain on the old _Batman_
show.  The guy doing the current comic-book-style insurance commercials
beginning "Fellow citizens! As we speak..." is Adam West, formerly Batman.

Non-whippersnappers: He's over 80 now.

JL

On Sun, Jul 11, 2010 at 8:53 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: rhythmic blends
>
>
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---
>
> Speaking of Noo-Yawk-ish, remember when Tony Curtis was laughed at for
> saying, in some long- forgotten swashbuckler,
>
> "Yonda is my fadda's castle"?
>
> I didn't see the movie, whatever it was. So, I have no opinion - well,
> IMO, he probably *didn't* say it - as to what Curtis actually said.
> But, IAC, he was famous for fifteen minutes for *supposedly* having
> spoken thus.
>
> He probably got pretty tired of having to laugh it off, except when he
> was on his way to the bank.
>
> -Wilson
>
> On Sun, Jul 11, 2010 at 12:46 PM, Jonathan Lighter
> <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject:      rhythmic blends
> >
>
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---
> >
> > Hilton Als (b. 1961) writes in the current _New Yorker_ of Al Pacino's
> > speech in the current _Merchant of Venice_:
> >
> > "Pacino...brings to Shylock that appealing New York City diction, a
> > combination of black, Jewish, and Puerto Rican rhythms."
> >
> > What, no Italian?  (Dutch used to be invoked, but now everybody knows
> that's
> > a stretch.)  I didn't notice any particular rhythmic substrates in
> Pacino's
> > film Shylock, except for "Jewish" - I guess Als means "Yiddish" (after
> all,
> > it *is* Shylock) - and I marvel at anyone's ability to isolate the
> others,
> > not just in Pacino's case but in NYC diction generally.
> >
> > Pop journalists like to mention "speech rhythms."  That seems to be the
> > preferred idiom for all dialectal and idiolectical elements that really
> > are too complex for pop-media discussion.
> >
> > It wasn't long ago - certainly in the '50s and '60s - that working-class
> > diction like Pacino's was usually considered "unappealing."  So some
> things
> > do change for the better.
> >
> > JL
> >
> > --
> > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> truth."
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
>
>
> --
> -Wilson
> ---
> All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"--a strange complaint to
> come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> -Mark Twain
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



--
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org