American accents in 1930s
Sat, 22 Oct 2005, 07:28 pmWalter Plinge8 posts in thread
American accents in 1930s
Sat, 22 Oct 2005, 07:28 pmhi I take drama in high school and one of my asignments at the moment is to create a soap opera performance for theatre. My 5 friends and I have decided to do something different so we are having our play set in 1939 during the war between america and Japan. Rather than it being about the men at war it is about the women's lives and how they are affected by the men being away and dying, at this time they are working in a munitions factory (making weapons and bombs).
Our characters are all different but we all speak american in the 1930 to 1940s style (i have also heard there were a lot of immigrants living in america mainly from ireland and england, would this affect the accent of our characters?). Does anyone know how to do these accents? how and does anyone know any films that are on video/dvd that show the accents? HELP! I have no idea how to do these accents.
Our characters are all different but we all speak american in the 1930 to 1940s style (i have also heard there were a lot of immigrants living in america mainly from ireland and england, would this affect the accent of our characters?). Does anyone know how to do these accents? how and does anyone know any films that are on video/dvd that show the accents? HELP! I have no idea how to do these accents.
Re: American accents in 1930s
Mon, 24 Oct 2005, 05:11 pmNot sure this really impacts your performance, but just for accuracy, America did not enter World War II until the bombing of Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, which didnt' happen til 1941.
don't worry so much about the sound of the American accent as the rythyms of the time. you should be able to rent any movie from that time period and get a feel for the speed, pace, and slang. Also, there was a show called 'Homefront' that ran for a few years in the states that was about this period in american history and did focus on the girls. My mom swore that it was perfectly accurate (i'm american). not sure if it's available readily on DVD.
don't worry so much about the sound of the American accent as the rythyms of the time. you should be able to rent any movie from that time period and get a feel for the speed, pace, and slang. Also, there was a show called 'Homefront' that ran for a few years in the states that was about this period in american history and did focus on the girls. My mom swore that it was perfectly accurate (i'm american). not sure if it's available readily on DVD.