Monday, March 10, 2008
NEWSREEL ANNOUNCERS AND CHARLES DICKENS
This is about the golden age of newsreel and racetrack announcers, though I only have one example to cite. This guy was a genius! His fast style was all business. He flattered the audience by making it seem like their time was valuable, not to be wasted. He savored the odd names of the racehorses and made the names seem aristocratic and musical. He seemed to have deep knowledge of the sport, and the way he talked about it invested it with enormous dignity.
My guess is that Walter Winchell invented this style in the twenties. It was perfect for newsreels.
Just for fun, I also include the opening narrative of the recent film, "Nicholas Nickleby," the Alan Cummings-Anne Hathaway version. It describes the birth of Nicholas. Dickens manages to be playfull with words at the same time he's serious and sentimental.
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19 comments:
I gotta tell ya, I'm really enjoying these little video clips! You are able to convey SOOOOO much more verbally than with written words.
The first series of announcer voices sounds an awful lot like Moe Howard! Then again, Many of the old movies had actors with that same vocal fashion! Quick, explosive and staccato ( think of the original King Kong) annunciating their words with a pounding fist into the other open hand! In those days, Every man wore a hat! What ever happened to that?
Voice over artists talk like this all day, Eddie!
Seriously, most of the guys I know that do this grew up imitating the voices you showcased in today's video, but never getting a job where those talents and intonations are required. It's like how all the stunt people studied the westerns and work today never getting to fall off a horse.
I'm only scratching the surface myself. Here's my voice demo on YouTube, let me know what you think. I want to do cartoon voices, but like everyone else, I grew up studying Mel Blanc, only to get jobs where they say things like "Use your real voice" and "talk like you normally do".
As for euphany of words, I get crap sometimes from people when I write screenplays because I like dialogue, but people complain that the talking sounds interesting and fun, but that no one talks like that, which allegedly, they say, takes away believability and I think like you. I think you should write stuff that people want to quote later. Write dialogue folks will remember.
And the last thing I want to say is that I subscribe to your channel on YouTube... so how come I didn't get notified about this video? Weird.
See ya!
- trevor.
tha black background absolutely works.
I'm with Diego - you've found a way (aside from your great discussion topics, of course) to differentiate yourself from many of the videos online. It's a really good look, the B&W.
I'm enjoying the videos, Eddie. Keep it up!
That spare, staccato delivery was a hallmark of American theater, vaudeville and early radio. James Cagney, Mel Blanc and Walter Winchell could spew dialogue like machine gun fire. Winchell further maximized his sense of urgency by holding his urine.
On the topic of announcers and narrators:
In the first half of the 20th Century, narrators and announcers of all kinds had such a sense of drama and boldness in their voice. Take for instance James FitzPatrick's Traveltalks series. His voice conveys optimism and wonderment when he talks about these foreign lands. The same can be said of nature documentary reels of the same era.
Today, every narrator and journalist is deadpan and deadly serious. They have lost that sense of boldness and replaced in with a grim droll.
"I grew up studying Mel Blanc, only to get jobs where they say things like "Use your real voice" and "talk like you normally do"."
Then you have come up against the idiocy of 'method acting'. This is why movies today are so inferior. Art is not an imitation of reality, but a variation on it.
Isn't it amazing how seemingly EVERY aspect of society was at its peak at the same damn time?
This generation oozed excellence out of their pores and crevices.
And baseball has become dumping ground for uninteresting, out of work, ballplayers and easy listing FM jocks.
I do truly miss the old days of sports broadcasting. Where has all that excitement gone Eddie?
the fastest sport : hockey, was popularized by
foster hewittHere's a sample
no one could appreciate the excitement over radio before Hewitt.He started as a horse race announcer... and now you know... the REST of the story.(Paul Harvey has an interesting speech pattern as well.)
I also remember hearing the crime report on CFRB as a kid in canada from an announcer who had the bugs bunny irish accent;(oh ho he's hidin' in the stove eh?) I guess thats what the public wanted, the stereotype voice of what police sounded like. I always loved how he would finish his report with "reportin' live, from POLE-eece hed'QWUUAters"
Ahh yes! Just the other day of friend of mine and I were talking about sentence structure. In school, I was enrolled in advanced English courses and one of the things we were taught was about poetic meter. It was strange then to study poetry in an analytical, structural sense, but it really did give us a more melodic sensibility to our writing.
Awesome videos by the way! It's great to have our own Uncle Eddie TV show.
Amen Eddie, you said a mouthful!!!
I recently found an amazing find at a used bookstore- a vintage compilation record of old radio programs= famous live news casts(like the hindenburg crashing),sports announcing,soap operas, dark theater and comedy programs like Jack Benny. It totally proves your point. The voices were so rich and inticing. They made you feel like you were in the height of the action just by how they turned a phrase or dropped pitch and let their voice get velvety. I wish someone would bring the quality back. Looks like its up to you Eddie!
The late Chick Hearn, official play by play announcer for the L.A. Lakers, could also cram a million descriptive words into less time than anyone could imagine. This verbal prowess declined over time. The team hasn't been the same since his passing.
Most skills (that arn't life threatening) are passable as mediocre. The age of being a master of what you do is over.
(eddie I love your videos so much!!!!)
Uncle Eddie your blogs always cheer me up! Whenever I'm at work for the movie center I work at I go online and read your blog and it gets me out of the bored sometimes depressed state I'm in. I loved the blog you did about james brown and mc hammer, i'm a big fan of James Brown and i have a comic about MC Hammer's life from the 80's that even discusses that he got some of his dance moves from james brown.(i should post images from that comic because it's sooo funny.) Anyways your blog about bullying was really accurate and honest. I'm a nerdy guy who was frequently teased by both girls and guys back when i was a kid, and still today, but now its by art kids rather than muscular football jocks. I do believe standing up to a bully is the best remedy because you let the person know that you are not afraid and that you want respect. I have stood up to bullies and i also was a coward at times, but the most important thing i found was that i should never let people change who i am and what i believe in. Sorry if i'm being a cornball to change topics heres a link to some james brown dance moves if you haven't seen this already.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Zdz88MBWomo
"The age of being a master of what you do is over."
Nooooo...
Maybe modern life is too easy? Just a thought.
I like the videos Eddy. They inspire to think.
In those days, Every man wore a hat! What ever happened to that?
President Kennedy. He almost single-handedly killed the men's hat.
Great stuff, Eddie. I so agree.
Way back when I was still making films, I loved to cast radio actors. Yep, there still a few around. Boy, did they know how to use their voice. They had to, of course. They worked in radio.
Great voice talent is a rare thing today.
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