A great writer. Notes on Democracy, the pieces on the Scopes Monkey Trial (which was his title!), In Defense of Women, and a score of other works have earned him a rightful place in American literature. Thanks for the upload.
Great to hear this. Thanks so much for posting. Mencken was a satirical genius. And the guy had guts. Two of my favourite "Menckenisms"..... (1) ' Washington is the slaughterhouse of ideas" and "The wives of American politicians look like British tramp steamers that have been done up for the coronation". RIP HLM
H.L. Mencken was a sociopathic "elitist" who considered himself part of a superior "natural aristocracy (along with Ayn Rand & Alan Greenspan) and thought greed & selfishness were good things. A comment of his: "The case against the Jews is long & damning, it would justify ten thousand times as many pogroms as now go on in the world." A real nice guy.
@tripfunkmonster Why the scare quotes around the word 'elitist'?Also, and I hesitate to add this because your mind seems pretty well made up on the matter, despite the claims of a great many libertarian and free-market fundamentalists, Mencken was actually very skeptical of such ideas, and he would certainly have objected to being grouped with Ayn Rand and Alan Greenspan. Right on the mark with the natural aristocracy stuff though!
@KaiserAl32: What you say about his not wanting to be grouped with Ayn Rand & Greenspan surprises me. Maybe I read some partially wrong information. Are you sure of your sources? The natural aristocracy ideas would align him with them. He was definitely arrogant & dismissive of the middle class. I've read that he approved of laissez-faire capitalism, too. Obviously, he wasn't a nice guy.
@tripfunkmonster He certainly didn't approve of laissez-faire capitalism, he was politically aligned with folks that did during the F.D.R. administration for complex reasons. He looked down on most people, and viewed the capitalist class as money-grubbing scoundrels who were only marginally better than government lackeys. His ideas are also more nuanced on all these topics than you might expect, certainly more nuanced than Rand's. Also, refrain from making value judgements on the mans character
@tripfunkmonster He certainly didn't approve of laissez-faire capitalism, he was politically aligned with folks that did during the F.D.R. administration for complex reasons. He looked down on most people, and viewed the capitalist class as money-grubbing scoundrels who were only marginally better than government lackeys. His ideas are also more nuanced on all these topics than you might expect, certainly more nuanced than Rand's. Also, refrain from making value judgements on the mans character
@KaiserAl32: You were offended that I made a judgement of someone who justified genocide? And, how could someone align politically with laissez-faire capitalists, yet call them money grubbing scoundrels?
@KaiserAl32 Actually, he did approve of laissez-faire capitalism. And he hated FDR. And he hated the "capitalist" class. And Greenspan and laissez-faire could not be further apart. Not a nice guy eh? Sounds like you don't know your economic history very well, since it seems you don't realize the difference between corporatism (American Capitalism) and laissez-faire capitalism (which has never existed despite what your highschool textbooks told you).
@jmjargon He did not approve of laissez-faire capitalism, he said so numerous times. He thought it a damn sight better than the corporatism and state capitalism on offer in his day. On your second point about Greenspan I totally agree, I was arguing with an idiot who made the connection. As far as "nice people" go, I refer you to the Russell essay of the same name for my definition. And do you really think that someone posting a Mencken interview would pay attention to high school history books?
@KaiserAl32 Anyways where does he denounce freemarkets? I thought this quote was pretty indicative of his thoughts on the matter: "The chief difference between free capitalism and State socialism seems to be this: that under the former a man pursues his own advantage openly, frankly, and honestly, whereas under the latter he does so hypocritically and under false pretenses."
He may not have thought free markets were perfect, but I feel like they are in keeping with his ideas on darwinism.
@jmjargon In various articles for the Smart Set and the American Mercury, he says that he is not for "Completely unfettered" free-market capitalism. There are a few articles on him on Mises.org that clarify his position I think, but I read them awhile ago and forget the links. Don't bother debating tripfunkmonster, he's doing the best he can with his idiotic leftist preconceptions and you'll just get frustrated.
Mencken pressed for the United States to admit the persecuted Jews of Nazi Germany saying: "There is only one way to help the fugitives, and that is to find places for them in a country in which they can really live. Why shouldn't the United States take in a couple hundred thousand of them, or even all of them?"
He also campaigned for black civil rights long before Martin Luther King was born to the detriment of his own safety. You would do well to read Mencken's work.
@tripfunkmonster: Obviously, your comment about him and the quote I posted attributed to him can't both be right - unless one was a sick joke or meant as propaganda. Since he was associated with sociopaths such as Ayn Rand & Alan Greenspan, I doubt he cared for the "ignorant masses" he denigrated on a regular basis. True, his negative comments about us "ignorant" people were called satire but I don't believe he was a very forthright person. If one is propaganda, who would do that to his legacy?
Mencken sounds a little like the actor Ralph Bellamy, as well as Gene Kelly ...except for his occasional rapid reference to his native "Bal'more" and when he says "Yeah" like Edward G. Robinson!
Nice clear recording of the celebrated American wit. Wish he and Will Rogers were around today. They'd have their work cut out for them.
This is a fantastic series of posts. The thing that strikes me the most in hearing the Great Man speak is the strength of his Baltimore accent. This takes me back to my youth in Baltimore, when there were still plenty of people with such strong accents, before (in a Menckenesque turn of phrase) that opiate of the masses, television, trained everyone to speak like a California moron.
Donald Kirkley is my grandfather and I remember hearing that the two had 'spirited arguments' that they both enjoyed. My grandfather was a character and writer in his own right. I have a photo of the two drinking in a Baltimore saloon with a gang of friends. Fun stuff hearing his voice after all of these years- thank you.
And to think that he could have been a very successful journalist had he lowered himself to the average person and wrote shit about sports teams or celebrities. Society was a joke then, and it continues to live up to its past self even today.
@KaiserAl32 before or after his stroke? i noticed he has a slight slur a times, but that's a phenomenally minuscule deficit if he did indeed recently have a stroke.
On VHS tape, I have a section from a program about the Scopes Trial that was broadcast on PBS. In it, there is about 15-seconds of a home movie showing Mencken. At first, there is a close-up as he enters the room and exclaims something. (His voice is not heard, because of the voice-over narration.) Then, there is a brief shot of him clowning around on a sofa with someone wearing glasses -- Joseph Hergesheimer? I would post this clip here, but my computer-video skills are insufficient.
@ybravura What you are describing is a clip from Camille. It was a silent movie featuring many 1920s celebrities. The film has only the barest semblance of a plot, but seeing Mencken nibbling on Joe Hergesheimer's ear is hilarious. Someone has posted the entire film on youtube, search "Camille1.mov"
No writer, or thinker in American history has so well understood the basic insanity of the Human being as well as Mencken. He see's right through the B.S. and exposes the truth of everything from organized religion and politics to relationships. Today Mencken would be branded an enemy of the State, Unpatriotic, UnAmerican, a pervert, an enabler, an appeaser, an misogynist, and guilty of "Hate Speech",.to which Mencken most probably buy a drink for the person who labeled him thus.
He didn't acquire the nickname, "The Sage of Baltimore," for nothing, as this rare spoken record establishes. I don't normally believe in having personal heroes, but for me, Mencken comes awfully close.
@PhilosopherSY Depends on what you consider "Right Wing". If by Classic Liberal, or Libertarian you mean "Right Wing", then sure...but Mencken is as far from a Modern NeoConservative as can be.
@559469: Point well taken. The irredeemable vulgarians who now go by the title of conservatives are far removed from the Sage of Baltimore. I do not share Mencken's Nietzschean politics as manifested by his disdain for Roosevelt's New Deal, but the man was implacably opposed to militarism, clericalism, and the imbecility of the Tea Party quacks. He wrote sympathetically of socialists like John Dewey and Emma Goldman. Mencken was a true gentleman. A flawed thinker perhaps, but no false patriot.
@PhilosopherSY I think Mencken's comment about not working @the same job for more than 10 years brands him a genuine conservative; he knew that professional opinions & commentary & hanging on were nothing more than covers for incompetence. He also says here somewhere that he championed individuals & despised groups of all stripes: another mark of a true conservative. Sadly, that's not the case today.
Listen to the beautifully precise way Mencken speaks: A man with only high school education, but one obtained in the 19th century - and that made all the difference.
Try to imagine any of today's high schoolers speaking so eloquently - hell, any Ivy Leaguer doing so.
I've been reading Mencken's "A Religious Orgy in Tennessee" about the 1925 Scopes Monkey Trial. This guy was just so gifted and witty, we need someone like him around in this day and age. I'd like to hear his take on political correctness.
Mencken was one of the heroes of old right conservatism. He-along with Albert Jay Nock was among the best of his generation's libertarian writers. I loved his combination of strong principles & intolerance of nonsense wrapped in a scarcastic sense of humor. He influenced me a lot. I would say he was a hero of mine,but I'm sure that Mencken would laugh at the very idea of hero worship.
Mencken, the saint of sarcasm. He was one of the few journalists that could be truly scathing without being being cheap. He does sound a bit congested though, poor chap.
@atkidz If anything Mencken would be a Libertarian or Anarcho-Capitalist; certainly not a Statist Republican...their Imperial leanings, Interventionism, love of Government, and Boobish Patriotism..not to mention their pandering to the religious right...are the Antithesis of all that Mencken believed.
um sorry, I was tired, sorry bout' the bitches part. I meant to say R. E. Lee and J. Lawrence really seemed to capture the whole judgementativeness (excuse me if that isn't a word but I think you get what I was saying) and I was very surprised by the sound of the voice, because even though he was fatigue, he seemed a calm for someone portrayed as fast and clever.
He's up there with La Rochefoucauld, Chamfort, Lichtenberg, Schopenhauer and Nietzsche. A real hard ass. But he had a feeling for the lighter side of life.
"I believe it is the nature of the human species to reject what is true but unpleasant and to embrace what is obviously false but comforting." H.L. Mencken
Read the Chrestomathy or the Vintage Mencken. He was, in my opinion, the greatest American social critic. He exposed all kinds of fooleries in American Kultur, and you'd be surprised how many such fooleries are still around, so he's quite relevant. And he's very funny, so that's a plus.
Sorry but I'm having a devil of a time figuring out how to edit the length of the audio file on imovie. I can post 10 min of the beginning of the interview but not the last six. Any suggestions?
I may be wrong, but I was recently on their website and they had more than one. Regardless, thank you very much for posting this. It's a shame more people haven't heard it.
This is the only remaining recording of his voice. The others are the same recording under different titles. They are all Caedmon, although they might be abridged differently. I checked them out.
I own an old audiocassette of the same interview, but I'm hearing "new" bits that must have been edited out of my version.
Anyone think Mencken's voice doesn't match the impression we get from his works? He sounds more gentlemanly than I had expected, but the literate curmudgeon definitely comes through. I love his take on "the libido for the ugly."
A priceless document for Mencken buffs, recorded not long before his stroke. Many thanks, and by all means load the other segments!
You should try to acquire Alan Watts' exsposition on that "libido for the ugly" piece of Mencken's, it really puts thee old icing on the cake! I think you could get it through the KPFK Pacifica Audio Library=p
Next weekend I'll try. YouTube's time limits are an annoyance. Glad you all enjoy it. It was hell to find. I ended up ordering it from the Library of Congress, which, being a comically inefficient government institution, got it to me in 5 weeks.
Shit, this guy is hilarious.
DefenceSpeech 2 days ago
A great writer. Notes on Democracy, the pieces on the Scopes Monkey Trial (which was his title!), In Defense of Women, and a score of other works have earned him a rightful place in American literature. Thanks for the upload.
MetuKhan 1 month ago
@LoneKook What a baffling remark!
Wishy-washy: "feeble or insipid in quality or character; lacking strength or boldness."
You clearly have never read anything by Mencken.
oldoddjobs 2 months ago 2
Great to hear this. Thanks so much for posting. Mencken was a satirical genius. And the guy had guts. Two of my favourite "Menckenisms"..... (1) ' Washington is the slaughterhouse of ideas" and "The wives of American politicians look like British tramp steamers that have been done up for the coronation". RIP HLM
junkyardphilosopher 3 months ago
This is amazing! Is there a transcript available for this?
Thank you so much for posting!
SuzeraintyNow 3 months ago
The Sage of Baltimore speaks once more---and anyone with an internet connection can hear him! Wow!
Thanks very much for sharing this, Kaiser!
usedbookbrothers78 3 months ago
Really like Mencken's views on politicians and his definite Bawlmer accent. Wish he would have been recorded more often!!
MrJfury76 4 months ago
H.L. Mencken was a sociopathic "elitist" who considered himself part of a superior "natural aristocracy (along with Ayn Rand & Alan Greenspan) and thought greed & selfishness were good things. A comment of his: "The case against the Jews is long & damning, it would justify ten thousand times as many pogroms as now go on in the world." A real nice guy.
tripfunkmonster 5 months ago
@tripfunkmonster Why the scare quotes around the word 'elitist'?Also, and I hesitate to add this because your mind seems pretty well made up on the matter, despite the claims of a great many libertarian and free-market fundamentalists, Mencken was actually very skeptical of such ideas, and he would certainly have objected to being grouped with Ayn Rand and Alan Greenspan. Right on the mark with the natural aristocracy stuff though!
KaiserAl32 5 months ago 2
@KaiserAl32: What you say about his not wanting to be grouped with Ayn Rand & Greenspan surprises me. Maybe I read some partially wrong information. Are you sure of your sources? The natural aristocracy ideas would align him with them. He was definitely arrogant & dismissive of the middle class. I've read that he approved of laissez-faire capitalism, too. Obviously, he wasn't a nice guy.
tripfunkmonster 5 months ago
@tripfunkmonster He certainly didn't approve of laissez-faire capitalism, he was politically aligned with folks that did during the F.D.R. administration for complex reasons. He looked down on most people, and viewed the capitalist class as money-grubbing scoundrels who were only marginally better than government lackeys. His ideas are also more nuanced on all these topics than you might expect, certainly more nuanced than Rand's. Also, refrain from making value judgements on the mans character
KaiserAl32 5 months ago
@tripfunkmonster He certainly didn't approve of laissez-faire capitalism, he was politically aligned with folks that did during the F.D.R. administration for complex reasons. He looked down on most people, and viewed the capitalist class as money-grubbing scoundrels who were only marginally better than government lackeys. His ideas are also more nuanced on all these topics than you might expect, certainly more nuanced than Rand's. Also, refrain from making value judgements on the mans character
KaiserAl32 5 months ago
@KaiserAl32: You were offended that I made a judgement of someone who justified genocide? And, how could someone align politically with laissez-faire capitalists, yet call them money grubbing scoundrels?
tripfunkmonster 5 months ago
@KaiserAl32 Actually, he did approve of laissez-faire capitalism. And he hated FDR. And he hated the "capitalist" class. And Greenspan and laissez-faire could not be further apart. Not a nice guy eh? Sounds like you don't know your economic history very well, since it seems you don't realize the difference between corporatism (American Capitalism) and laissez-faire capitalism (which has never existed despite what your highschool textbooks told you).
jmjargon 4 months ago
@jmjargon He did not approve of laissez-faire capitalism, he said so numerous times. He thought it a damn sight better than the corporatism and state capitalism on offer in his day. On your second point about Greenspan I totally agree, I was arguing with an idiot who made the connection. As far as "nice people" go, I refer you to the Russell essay of the same name for my definition. And do you really think that someone posting a Mencken interview would pay attention to high school history books?
KaiserAl32 4 months ago
@KaiserAl32 pardon. I thought I was replying to tripfunkmonster...
jmjargon 4 months ago
@KaiserAl32 Anyways where does he denounce freemarkets? I thought this quote was pretty indicative of his thoughts on the matter: "The chief difference between free capitalism and State socialism seems to be this: that under the former a man pursues his own advantage openly, frankly, and honestly, whereas under the latter he does so hypocritically and under false pretenses."
He may not have thought free markets were perfect, but I feel like they are in keeping with his ideas on darwinism.
jmjargon 4 months ago
@jmjargon In various articles for the Smart Set and the American Mercury, he says that he is not for "Completely unfettered" free-market capitalism. There are a few articles on him on Mises.org that clarify his position I think, but I read them awhile ago and forget the links. Don't bother debating tripfunkmonster, he's doing the best he can with his idiotic leftist preconceptions and you'll just get frustrated.
KaiserAl32 4 months ago
@KaiserAl32 lol yep.Ok thanks I will look for those.
jmjargon 4 months ago
@tripfunkmonster
Mencken pressed for the United States to admit the persecuted Jews of Nazi Germany saying: "There is only one way to help the fugitives, and that is to find places for them in a country in which they can really live. Why shouldn't the United States take in a couple hundred thousand of them, or even all of them?"
He also campaigned for black civil rights long before Martin Luther King was born to the detriment of his own safety. You would do well to read Mencken's work.
MenOfLetters 4 months ago
@tripfunkmonster: Obviously, your comment about him and the quote I posted attributed to him can't both be right - unless one was a sick joke or meant as propaganda. Since he was associated with sociopaths such as Ayn Rand & Alan Greenspan, I doubt he cared for the "ignorant masses" he denigrated on a regular basis. True, his negative comments about us "ignorant" people were called satire but I don't believe he was a very forthright person. If one is propaganda, who would do that to his legacy?
tripfunkmonster 4 months ago
Mencken sounds a little like the actor Ralph Bellamy, as well as Gene Kelly ...except for his occasional rapid reference to his native "Bal'more" and when he says "Yeah" like Edward G. Robinson!
Nice clear recording of the celebrated American wit. Wish he and Will Rogers were around today. They'd have their work cut out for them.
scorpiowatertiger 6 months ago
Wow, now I think I know why they picked Gene Kelley to play his "part" (or inspired character) in Inherit the Wind. Similar voice.
LaVraiVerite 7 months ago
A Remarkable Chunk of History and Curmudgeon. The entire 8 parts are of Great Value and Entertainment. B'More. or Less in Awe. Thank you very Much.
SuperJJRousseau 7 months ago
This is a fantastic series of posts. The thing that strikes me the most in hearing the Great Man speak is the strength of his Baltimore accent. This takes me back to my youth in Baltimore, when there were still plenty of people with such strong accents, before (in a Menckenesque turn of phrase) that opiate of the masses, television, trained everyone to speak like a California moron.
BawlmuhrBoy 8 months ago
First time I've heard this. What an incredible gift to now be able to read him while imagining his actual voice. Thank you, Al.
fjohnson747 8 months ago
Donald Kirkley is my grandfather and I remember hearing that the two had 'spirited arguments' that they both enjoyed. My grandfather was a character and writer in his own right. I have a photo of the two drinking in a Baltimore saloon with a gang of friends. Fun stuff hearing his voice after all of these years- thank you.
bawlmerhunoh 9 months ago 2
@bawlmerhunoh i know you!
Horseinthefog 9 months ago
Brilliant writer but tough to read sometimes because he actively sought iconoclasm. See, for instance, his essay on Lincoln's Gettysburg Address.
goback3spaces 10 months ago
@goback3spaces It's a fantastic essay.
bfb8688 7 months ago
Please do post the rest. I truly enjoyed it.
mjp2607 10 months ago
And to think that he could have been a very successful journalist had he lowered himself to the average person and wrote shit about sports teams or celebrities. Society was a joke then, and it continues to live up to its past self even today.
RIP Mencken
BleedingDiamondz 1 year ago 3
what year was this recorded?
posksas 1 year ago
@posksas 1948
KaiserAl32 1 year ago
@KaiserAl32 before or after his stroke? i noticed he has a slight slur a times, but that's a phenomenally minuscule deficit if he did indeed recently have a stroke.
posksas 1 year ago
@posksas Shortly before his stroke, as Donald Howe Kirkley makes clear at the end of the interview.
KaiserAl32 1 year ago
On VHS tape, I have a section from a program about the Scopes Trial that was broadcast on PBS. In it, there is about 15-seconds of a home movie showing Mencken. At first, there is a close-up as he enters the room and exclaims something. (His voice is not heard, because of the voice-over narration.) Then, there is a brief shot of him clowning around on a sofa with someone wearing glasses -- Joseph Hergesheimer? I would post this clip here, but my computer-video skills are insufficient.
ybravura 1 year ago
@ybravura What you are describing is a clip from Camille. It was a silent movie featuring many 1920s celebrities. The film has only the barest semblance of a plot, but seeing Mencken nibbling on Joe Hergesheimer's ear is hilarious. Someone has posted the entire film on youtube, search "Camille1.mov"
KaiserAl32 1 year ago 2
I wish Mencken was still with us, we need his razor sharp wit now more than ever. He would rip this decadent society we live in to shreds!
Deadmaker7 1 year ago 3
No writer, or thinker in American history has so well understood the basic insanity of the Human being as well as Mencken. He see's right through the B.S. and exposes the truth of everything from organized religion and politics to relationships. Today Mencken would be branded an enemy of the State, Unpatriotic, UnAmerican, a pervert, an enabler, an appeaser, an misogynist, and guilty of "Hate Speech",.to which Mencken most probably buy a drink for the person who labeled him thus.
559469 1 year ago 2
He didn't acquire the nickname, "The Sage of Baltimore," for nothing, as this rare spoken record establishes. I don't normally believe in having personal heroes, but for me, Mencken comes awfully close.
shaneu1 1 year ago
he sounds like jimmy stewart
afreud 1 year ago
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PhilosopherSY 1 year ago 10
@PhilosopherSY Depends on what you consider "Right Wing". If by Classic Liberal, or Libertarian you mean "Right Wing", then sure...but Mencken is as far from a Modern NeoConservative as can be.
559469 1 year ago 2
@559469: Point well taken. The irredeemable vulgarians who now go by the title of conservatives are far removed from the Sage of Baltimore. I do not share Mencken's Nietzschean politics as manifested by his disdain for Roosevelt's New Deal, but the man was implacably opposed to militarism, clericalism, and the imbecility of the Tea Party quacks. He wrote sympathetically of socialists like John Dewey and Emma Goldman. Mencken was a true gentleman. A flawed thinker perhaps, but no false patriot.
PhilosopherSY 1 year ago
@PhilosopherSY I think Mencken's comment about not working @the same job for more than 10 years brands him a genuine conservative; he knew that professional opinions & commentary & hanging on were nothing more than covers for incompetence. He also says here somewhere that he championed individuals & despised groups of all stripes: another mark of a true conservative. Sadly, that's not the case today.
CocteauDalighari 1 year ago 2
Listen to the beautifully precise way Mencken speaks: A man with only high school education, but one obtained in the 19th century - and that made all the difference.
Try to imagine any of today's high schoolers speaking so eloquently - hell, any Ivy Leaguer doing so.
Inconceivable.
AnnihilatingAngel 1 year ago 2
Is this real. I have a feeling it isn't.
jerryhello100 1 year ago
H.L. Mencken was a genius on so many subjects!!!
SuperDude2569 1 year ago
Wow; he sounds just like my grandfather! That is eerie...
CountArtha 1 year ago
Many thanks for posting this. Always wondered what he sounded like.
eweaver99 1 year ago
I've been reading Mencken's "A Religious Orgy in Tennessee" about the 1925 Scopes Monkey Trial. This guy was just so gifted and witty, we need someone like him around in this day and age. I'd like to hear his take on political correctness.
LesbianVampireLover 2 years ago
Mencken was one of the heroes of old right conservatism. He-along with Albert Jay Nock was among the best of his generation's libertarian writers. I loved his combination of strong principles & intolerance of nonsense wrapped in a scarcastic sense of humor. He influenced me a lot. I would say he was a hero of mine,but I'm sure that Mencken would laugh at the very idea of hero worship.
sleedolfine15 2 years ago
Mencken wouldn't want to hear this from anybody, but God bless him and may he rest in peace:) --
stevevandien 2 years ago
Please load the complete program!!
GayGuyinTucson 2 years ago
his voice is hot :)
twentiesDOLL12213 2 years ago
I was lucky enough to visit Mencken's house on Hollins street back when it was a museum and still furnished.
Not ashamed to admit I welled up a little bit when I heard his voice. Thanks so much for posting this.
hotmarriedgays 2 years ago
Mencken, the saint of sarcasm. He was one of the few journalists that could be truly scathing without being being cheap. He does sound a bit congested though, poor chap.
JACKtheRIPP3R189 2 years ago 16
Amazing to hear his voice, I have been a fan and student of his writings for years and didn't know this recording existed...
arobsec 2 years ago
Mencken wrote some painfull truths about American society. No wonder why those rightwing republicans hated and scared him.
tranmere789 2 years ago 2
Sheez. Mencken was even harder on liberal Democrats, because as far as he was concerned, they lived in a dream world --
stevevandien 2 years ago
@tranmere789 i think in todays day and age h l mencken would be a republican
atkidz 1 year ago
@atkidz He didn't really identify with any party and scoffed at democracy in general.
So let's just say he wouldn't be either.
giliam415 1 year ago 3
@giliam415 true i dont really either but sometimes you make a choice buy not choosing
atkidz 1 year ago
@atkidz If anything Mencken would be a Libertarian or Anarcho-Capitalist; certainly not a Statist Republican...their Imperial leanings, Interventionism, love of Government, and Boobish Patriotism..not to mention their pandering to the religious right...are the Antithesis of all that Mencken believed.
559469 1 year ago
Wow! Thanks for posting this! I'm reading "Notes on Democracy" now and am looking forward to much more. It's wonderful to hear him speak.
Freemarketeer81 2 years ago 2
his voice seems like a mix of lenny bruce and george carlin!
redabenjfk 2 years ago
H.L Mencken has influenced me in so many ways. His essays were entertaining and his writing style was incredible.
Doc418 2 years ago
this guy rocks! thanks for this. good stuff all around
oldbloodnguts45 2 years ago
Prose! We lost lovely prose with the advent of political correctness. Mencken is the master of laugh out loud criticism. I love it!
parisdobermans 2 years ago 2
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genbuckturgidson 2 years ago
This comment has received too many negative votes show
e k hornbeck bitches
firexsound 2 years ago
Comment removed
genbuckturgidson 2 years ago
um sorry, I was tired, sorry bout' the bitches part. I meant to say R. E. Lee and J. Lawrence really seemed to capture the whole judgementativeness (excuse me if that isn't a word but I think you get what I was saying) and I was very surprised by the sound of the voice, because even though he was fatigue, he seemed a calm for someone portrayed as fast and clever.
firexsound 2 years ago
I don't recall Terry Teachout mentioning this recording in his biography, "The Sceptic". An amazing upload! Thanks, Kaiser.
GordonMorrice 2 years ago
Mencken has the BEST quotes!
jack19790 2 years ago
He's up there with La Rochefoucauld, Chamfort, Lichtenberg, Schopenhauer and Nietzsche. A real hard ass. But he had a feeling for the lighter side of life.
GordonMorrice 2 years ago 2
Cool!!! Mencken you're a hero to many.
numberonesurvivor75 2 years ago
Thanks!
yoshimaroka 2 years ago
"I believe it is the nature of the human species to reject what is true but unpleasant and to embrace what is obviously false but comforting." H.L. Mencken
7hevo1d 2 years ago
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cleburne61 2 years ago
I love Mencken
ftwelve12 2 years ago
Thank you for this, Kaiser. Pls post the rest. Resonate Mencken!
dandonatelli 2 years ago
Thank you for this. If you have anything more of Mencken that you haven't posted yet please do. It will be much appreciated.
Sighinide 2 years ago
This is amazing. Thank you SO much for finding and posting this treasure! I always wanted to hear him speak.
EvansGarden 2 years ago
It's H.L. Mencken!!!
wow
paintingtasters 2 years ago 2
Excuse my ignorance but who is this Mencken guy? How is he relevant?
HeatForce 2 years ago
Read the Chrestomathy or the Vintage Mencken. He was, in my opinion, the greatest American social critic. He exposed all kinds of fooleries in American Kultur, and you'd be surprised how many such fooleries are still around, so he's quite relevant. And he's very funny, so that's a plus.
KaiserAl32 2 years ago 14
@KaiserAl32 Seconded. I'm halfway through the Chrestomathy, and man, can the man write!
ixat00 1 year ago
@HeatForce He was a literary critic and social commentator associated with the Old Right. Kind of a Progressive Era reactionary.
CountArtha 1 year ago
Thank you very much, KaiserAl32. These Mencken recordings rank among the best uploads ever posted on Youtube.
bamabud 2 years ago 2
Thank you for posting this fine piece of American Literary History. Your generosity is superb.
gln44 2 years ago 4
You're very welcome.
KaiserAl32 2 years ago 2
Any explanation for why segment VII is blank/mute?
Everything else is tickiteeboo, but that segment is silent.
gln44 2 years ago
happy to hear my pal henry using "idiot" as an adjective, a correct form sometimes shunned by aghast blabbermongers.
2ndAsstJizzMopper 2 years ago
Mencken was waaaaaay ahead of his time
CivitasUltraAporia 2 years ago 2
They're all up now. Enjoy. I'd thank you all for your patience but I'm the one doing you all the favor.
KaiserAl32 2 years ago 2
Thanks very much for the info, I'm loading part II presently.
KaiserAl32 2 years ago
Sorry but I'm having a devil of a time figuring out how to edit the length of the audio file on imovie. I can post 10 min of the beginning of the interview but not the last six. Any suggestions?
KaiserAl32 2 years ago
split the audio track at the 10 min mark, select the second part.
under the menu, click extract audio.
just from memory, probably not exact.
vidziller 2 years ago
I've been looking for this forever. Thank you!
tinytim1156 2 years ago
I may be wrong, but I was recently on their website and they had more than one. Regardless, thank you very much for posting this. It's a shame more people haven't heard it.
AlcolmEx 2 years ago
This is the only remaining recording of his voice. The others are the same recording under different titles. They are all Caedmon, although they might be abridged differently. I checked them out.
KaiserAl32 2 years ago
The Library of Congress has at least three different recordings of Mencken that was broadcast on WBAL radio.
AlcolmEx 2 years ago
I own an old audiocassette of the same interview, but I'm hearing "new" bits that must have been edited out of my version.
Anyone think Mencken's voice doesn't match the impression we get from his works? He sounds more gentlemanly than I had expected, but the literate curmudgeon definitely comes through. I love his take on "the libido for the ugly."
A priceless document for Mencken buffs, recorded not long before his stroke. Many thanks, and by all means load the other segments!
SirCyrano 2 years ago
You should try to acquire Alan Watts' exsposition on that "libido for the ugly" piece of Mencken's, it really puts thee old icing on the cake! I think you could get it through the KPFK Pacifica Audio Library=p
D3TOX3R 2 years ago
Comment removed
SirCyrano 2 years ago
Yes!!!!!!!!!!! More please.
donpjen515 2 years ago 2
And, Yes!, by all means: please post the remainder of the interview!
MMMcDermott 2 years ago
Next weekend I'll try. YouTube's time limits are an annoyance. Glad you all enjoy it. It was hell to find. I ended up ordering it from the Library of Congress, which, being a comically inefficient government institution, got it to me in 5 weeks.
KaiserAl32 2 years ago
I've been scouring the web for a recording of Mencken. You've made my week.
MMMcDermott 2 years ago
Thanks for posting
Cantabrigidian 2 years ago