MANILA, Philippines?As I have been watching vintage Hollywood films on two cable channels regularly, I have noticed what seems to be an oddity in those movies. Do you ever wonder why Americans of the upper class in those days spoke in a machine-gun manner, and with a distinctively British accent? (Interestingly, British films of that era had characters speaking ever so slowly. In fact, they spoke rather laconically or phlegmatically?like Hamlet!)

Society matrons from Manhattan and Washington, D.C. to Philadelphia all speak with a uniformly British twang, as though they were all graduates of Professor Higgins? School of Diction?in Califownya! And, gee, they deliver their lines as rapidly as Rosalind Russell, Bette Davis, Barbara Stanwyck, Ann Sheridan or Joan Blondell. No wonder Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney followed suit in the ?Andy Hardy? series.

Predominant medium

After some thought, I opined that their hyper manner of speaking must have been the result of the fear of ?dead air? on radio?which, after all, was the predominant medium prior to the era of cinema, so most show biz stars then had radio experience. But, why the British accent amongst America?s upper crust? (Naturally, a proper demeanor and haughty air came with the foreign accent.)

I recall the insightful sociological study on Hollywood made by a researcher who concluded that impoverished Jewish migrants who became Hollywood?s most influential producers never forgot their humble European beginnings. But, neither did they lose their desire to belong to High Society!

In Europe, people from the upper crust behaved like rich, horseback-riding, Continental ladies and gentlemen. Since the sun still had to set on the British Empire, the elite were heavily influenced by their Oxford- or Eton-type upbringing.

Even Hollywood?s epic films and music were influenced by Europe. In their movies, gods and royalty spoke with a British accent. The world market preferred films that had a distinguished European air and Old School manner.

European elite

In that study, Tinseltown?s New Rich aspired for the high life that the European elite enjoyed. Those not accepted in exclusive American clubs and resorts organized their own and recreated this world via Hollywood films, where influential producers ?created? their own values and brand of morality. Therefore, the All-American values in their films were really an idealized version of America, as perceived by migrant producers.

In this fantasy world, children were obedient sons and daughters, wives were subservient to their husbands. Ladies were chaste?and married couples slept in separate beds! Thus, producers abetted existing censorship limitations set up by the Hays Committee. Despite the wild goings-on in Hollywood, the world was led to believe that, morally and socially, all was hunky-dory in Tinseltown!