Hollywood's "Fake" Mid-Atlantic Myth DEBUNKED!

80,000 Hours is a nonprofit offering free research-based help on careers that make a difference. Get their in-depth guide at 80000hours.org/drgeofflindsey. Want to know why actors in Golden Age Hollywood movies sound different from people today? A legend has grown up that it was all because an Australian and a Canadian invented a fake accent that studios forced their stars to use. Here I'll try to show why that's a load of you know what, and get closer to the fascinating reality. (Just to be clear: Wikipedia, which I support, is an invaluable resource on languages and linguistics, but this article cited a lot of sources by non-linguists.) 0:00 Introduction 3:21 Hollywood's beginnings 4:20 William Tilly 5:16 Problems with the 'fake' story 5:48 Rhoticity 6:58 Northeastern Elite 7:55 On stage and in public speaking 8:55 Edith Skinner 9:33 Katharine Hepburn 12:31 Intermission 14:33 Aspirational Hollywood 16:00 Cary Grant & Brits 16:44 Various other accents 20:16 Nasal nonsense 21:03 Kenyon & Knott's dictionary 22:18 Towards GenAm 23:50 The monster accent 24:17 Magnificence John McWhorter and Jessica Drake interviewed: www.mobituaries.com/news/death-of-an-accent John McWhorter on American non-rhoticity: languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=19486 Dudley Knight's article on Tilly & co: ktspeechwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Standa… Hepburn interviews:    • Katharine Hepburn Interview 1/3 - Dic...   and    • Katharine Hepburn interviewed by Cliv...   Drone footage of oil fields courtesy of Alexander X    • The Forgotten History of Oil in Los A...   Thank you to the Cinema Museum www.cinemamuseum.org.uk/ Los Angeles crew: Stewart Hoke and Steven Angelo