During the Americans' visit...
Another excuse for Shirley MacLaine to be sassy, and Paul Giamatti sure looked like a "turd in a punchbowl". But, how about him hooking up with Poppy from Shannara Chronicles...score!
sharePaul Giamatti sure looked like a "turd in a punchbowl".He looked like he was waiting for someone to hand him a machine gun. JF may have missed the point that American upper class males of that time actually thought themselves equal or superior to their English counterparts and behaved accordingly--imagine a young Averell Harriman. Boyd Gaines nailed down the type perfectly in LWT's and MP's Piece of Cake; he'd have been a far better choice to play Cora's brother.
But, how about him hooking up with Poppy from Shannara Chronicles...score!In my alternative DA, Evelyn Napier is sitting alone at a house party, and looks up, and sees her looking at him . . . . Mary who? share
He would have been sent to Andover and an Ivy League school, and developed a "Larchmont Lockjaw" accent like FDR, or a "Harvard" accent like JFK. His accent alone is very ahistorical for his position and era. It makes sense for Martha to have a lower-class accent because apparently her husband was self-made, but not for her children.
A bit inconsistent to have Martha say at the end of Season 4 that she didn't care about titles, when the story line was that she was very keen to have Cora become a countess. But maybe she changed over the years.
To have a American upper class man, come up to the Prince of Wales, and just start up a conversation, just indicates that JF was lazy in his writing. Even the Americans know the protocol to meeting Royalty.
shareEven the Americans know the protocol to meeting Royalty.
Sometimes not even the British. One of them made the mistake of asking Princess Anne about "your mother". "Do you mean Her Majesty?" was the frozen reply. I thought of that when I saw that exchange.
It may have been a little over the top even for 1924; the PoW being a supercilious little *beep* when no one was around to take down his words. One of the things the Queen Mother was noted for was an unfailing ability to see the difference between naive enthusiasm and rudeness. share