trinity-destler, I came away with a different reading of Mike, based upon Stewart's portrayal. "Urbane" is not a word that ever comes to mind when I think of James Stewart and in spite of his playing a character whom happens to be educated, he never seems exactly erudite to me. The "just plain folks" is always much more present to me when I see him play any character, including his reading of Mike. His speech patterns do say much about his character, or, they do in my perception of his characters. Despite the fact that Mike is a thoughtful man, with some education and the ability to write interestingly and whom has also acquired something of a cynical and misanthropic view of the world, he still comes across, as portrayed by Stewart, as showing his rural, small town roots.
All behavior, added together, equals what we are able to perceive of someone's art and craft in creating a character, including their own particular turns of phrase and use of colloquy and folk idioms, whether scripted, chosen by the actor in attempt at creating a character or as what the actor brings of themselves to the job. Speech is very much an outward reflection of his attitude, bearing and emotional style, as you rightly enumerate, and his speech is an important element of his behavior. In the end, we see how actors walk and talk and it is their behavior which informs us as to just what sort of character they are. The fact that Stewart brings so many of the same detailed "bits," to borrow your term, to so many of his roles, regardless of whether they are hayseeds or city-dwelling writers, would seem to tip me off that I am hearing James Stewart and his own personal devices of his own speech and not that of studied actor whom has spent much time and effort using his acquired skills to create believable characters. We get Stewart as a personality who is playing Stewart in various roles as a man who brings much of the same behavior to his many roles. I think this is particularly true of his earlier films. He came to the work as an amateur and "learned on the job" by his own accounting. The fact that we are even discussing him at all is a small testament to his tremendous charisma and staying power as a great American film actor and he is one of my favorites.
His attitude and bearing, his speech and his attempts at characterization still add up to showing his humble, rural American roots regardless of the fact that Mike has been living more recently as a city dwelling writer with a cynical outlook on the world. That is what I take away from his performance.
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trinity-destler
12 years ago
And yet, Stewart himself went to an exclusive prep school, worked in performance with 'theatre people' from a young age, graduated Princeton, and was awarded a scholarship for further studies (that he didn't use). So if you feel you're seeing his own totally uniform speech pattern in his performances (I wouldn't agree with that assessment myself), it is in fact the speech of a highly educated and thoroughly cultured man. He was not just plain folks in real life.
Perhaps simply his accent is suggesting more to you than you realise. Which would be interesting come to think of it, because even though it has connotations to most viewers of country simplicity and yokels, this is supposed to be the Philadelphia Story and he's the only one in the film genuinely from Pennsylvania, so his accent is probably appropriate.
Although it is impressive to me when actors completely transform their accent/inflection/vocal mannerisms, it is not necessary to do so in order to play many vastly different characters. Especially in the thirties and forties, somewhat superficial trappings like accent didn't seem important. See Leslie Howard as a southern gentleman in Gone With the Wind. Now that we care so much more about verisimilitude as 'realism', it becomes more of an issue, but it doesn't have to be. Character is more complex than that. Nevermind the fact that you can play hundreds of distinct human beings that are all from the same small town. Being from the Southern United States doesn't make you backward or stupid, though that is what the accent is generally used for in fiction. Being from Cambridge doesn't make you posh, etc.
Regardless, I respectfully disagree with your assessment of Mike and Stewart's performance.
"It's that kind of idiocy that I empathize with." ~David Bowie
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jackboot
12 years ago
T.D., good points one and all. I still tend to differ with you a bit.
You're from the U.K.? I'm making a sweeping generalization based on some of your choices of language and spelling. I ask only because I am wondering, have you ever been to Indiana, Pa., Jimmy Stewart's home town??? It is about as far from Philadelphia, in miles and even more so culturally as Carlisle is from London (http://bit.ly/OBJCNI, http://bit.ly/SfFMgM. It's a little town, near the Appalachian mountains, in coal mining country, not too far from Pittsburgh, Pa. Being on the far side of the Appalachian mountains from Philadelphia, and hundreds of miles away, the accents are quite different there. It's a very different world from Philly.
I am second to no one in my admiration for Jimmy Stewart's accomplishments in his private life as well as in his professional working life as an actor. i still maintain that he kept much of his small town charm throughout life. I think that he brought a lot of that to his work as an actor. Whether that is because that was all that he had in his arsenal or whether those in the business only saw him in roles meeting that narrow view, I say that he stayed pretty close to that small town persona in most all of his roles.
I still maintain that one's manner of speech speaks volumes in communicating character. It is one of the most important arrows in the actor's quiver. In an instant an actor can convey social standing, status, personality, emotional state and more through speech. I would argue that Leslie Howard's native accent did not enhance his portrayal of Ashley Wilkes. Having lived much of my life in the American South, I am well familiar with the stigma that is widely attached to those who speak with various southern accents.
Thank you sincerely for your thought provoking comments and discussion.
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