Actors' vocal training | Film, Music, and Radio | Club Dahlia

Yeah, I think most of them were trained to project their voices. There were a lot of vocal coaches around in that time. I think we even had one in our small town. All of the rich kids went to him to learn to "speak".

…and women (actresses) of that era also sounded much different--more refined, sophisticated and elegant.  Their voices were almost lyrical in quality.  One of my favorite musicals, Singin' in the Rain, has a couple of comical scenes in which Gene Kelly and Donald O'Connor,as well as Jean Hagen ,visit their vocal coaches to add a bit more polish to their tone and delivery of their scripts.  Ms. Hagen (as Lina Lamont) is hilarious as she tries to "round her vowels", but cannot seem to get past her squealing to make a pleasant sound. 

I think articulation has fallen by the wayside, as well, not only with actors in film, but with society in general.  Isn't it odd and ironic that, in an age of unprecedented communication, we (society as a whole) have lost much of our ability to communicate effectively?  Spelling, grammar, and punctuation are lost on us—everything seems abbreviated in text messages (c u l8ter, bcuz i hafta go now, lol), and for the sake of convenience, instead of meeting for a heart-to-heart conversation, people simply Facebook or Twitter away those precious hours.  Don't get me wrong, it's great that we are all so very accessible to one another, but don't you think that some of the quality and meaningfulness is lost somehow? 

Sigh…and here I sit, pining away for the glory and grandness of a bygone era, with total strangers whom I shall likely never meet, writing as if we are all somehow intimately connected.  Life is funny…