why did actors in old black and white tv shows and movies talk funny and when did that end?
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They were taught to use the mid-atlantic accent. Now, this wasn’t a ‘real’ accent. It was created to have an accent that was sort of posh (it borrowed a lot from Recieved Pronunciation, aka how the educated brits used to talk, as well as upper class New England accents) but not tied to any particular place.
It started to fall out of favour in the 50s, partially because media was getting less stylised and more natural-ish. And because it wasn’t an accent anyone grew up speaking, once it fell out of favour it stopped being taught and disappeared almost immediately.
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