American accents in 1930s

hi 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.

Go to all your current libraries and look up accents for actors on cds, book and tape.

Where in america are you setting the play?Regional accents are strongly different. Especially earlier on in america when states may have been more isolated.
-hana

i was thinking maybe brokelyn but i don't know where the main munitions(making weapons and bombs) factories were.

Not 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.

Brenda wrote:
>
> Not 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.



Good advice, similar to the answer I already posted on the other forum (sometimes it's NOT a good idea to post on every forum, because it then becomes really confusing to try and follow the replies..!)

http://www.theatre.asn.au/read.php?f=18&i=7072&t=7071


Also, munitions factories were set up all over the country, but I'm not so sure about in Brooklyn itself, which is really only a borough of New York. The largest munitions centre was in Detroit, Michigan, which was where a major automobile industry was already established...so the factories were easily converted. Major aircraft manufacturing went on in California and in Kansas...but I'm sure there were plenty of other locations.

See if you can't research one on the web and then set it there.

Cheers,
Craig

Most munition plants were either in the Great Lakes region (Detroit, Chicago etc) or in California so a mid-west accent would probably suffice. Watch any US soap opera, sitcom, TV drama as most US actors are trained to speak in Mid-West/NBC English as a standard. You might end up out doing yourself if you are aiming for Brooklynese.

Hi Joanna
I replied to your initial inquiry in the 'musical' section of this forum. This is what I wrote there-
Don't know that accents can belong to a time, as opposed to a region, but I think I know what you mean. Yes, the Irish influence is prominent, particularly in north-eastern USA (Boston and New York). If this is the accent you require some starting points would be:
Brooklyn accent- Popeye and Bugs Bunny. Also James Cagney. The female variant would be Adelaide (Vivian Blaine) from 'Guys & Dolls'. The gangster films of the period are a good source of Brooklynese. For a less harsh accent try Mae West- similar representation of ordinary speech but with a little more class. 'Chicago' also contains some authentic accents, especially Renee Zellwegger's character.
New York accent- Humphrey Bogart (Maltese Falcon), Rod Steiger, Robert DeNiro (Taxi Driver), Marlon Brando (On The Waterfront), Groucho Marx.
New Jersey (mild): Frank Sinatra
Philadelphia- Sylvester Stallone (Rocky)
Massachussets- any speech by John F Kennedy, and Mayor Quimby ('The Simpsons'). Some of the characters in 'The Perfect Storm' express themselves in New Englandese.
Sorry they're all male- all I can think of at the moment.
War films set in the 1940's- try Deborah Kerr in 'From Here To Eternity'.(Hawaii/California accent), and Katherine Hepburn can be interpreted to come from just about anywhere in the US.
Good luck