Mencken Speaks Part II

[TheSilverSurpher]

Mr. Mencken had the sniffles in this interview; his summer allergies.

[thurberdrawing]

@GeoffreyTransom Until hearing his voice on this video I had assumed Mencken sounded more or less like W. C. Fields.

They actually corresponded, by the way. I went to a W.C. Fields exhibit in New York last year. It was mostly movie clips on tape loops, but there was a glass case with postcards and letters. There was a letter from Mencken referring to so some meeting they'd had. I don't think they knew each other very well, but ithey must have realized they shared a world-view or two.

[greenmthiker]

He was born in Baltimore in 1880 but doesn't have a trace of what we know as a Baltimore accent. I wonder how and when it originated?

[CocteauDalighari]

@greenmthiker He does call Baltimore "Bawlmer," but likely there're few traces of the accent (actually, an Eastern Seaboard accent; my dad from Aberdeen, up the road from Bawlmer, said "wooder" & "hunnert") because he didn't grow up in a Bawlmer-speaking household.

[TheSilverSurpher]

@greenmthiker This is actually a quintessential Baltimore accent. If you notice, Mencken pronounces Baltimore as "Bawlamer" and Maryland as "Merlin"; both typical of the Baltimore, or Mid-Atlantic, accent.

[thurberdrawing]

Enjoy it!

[thurberdrawing]

He sounds like a cross between Jimmy Stewart and my great uncle! I've read Mencken for years. A master of comic argument was he. He championed uncompromising novelists. His autobiographical books HEATHEN DAYS, HAPPY DAYS and, I think, one more, are works of great, placid humor.

[Freemarketeer81]

LOL he does sound like Jimmy Stewart. After reading his works...he sounds exactly as I had imagined.

[paintingtasters]

"I don't believe in teaching writing"

lol

though he does have a point...

[glenlitsinger]

I was born in Baltimore in 1947, a year before this audio was made. It was not until about 10 years ago that I learned how great a man the "Sage of Baltimore" really was. Thank you so much, "Kaiser", for this wonderful contribution to American history and culture.

[KaiserAl32]

You're welcome.

[libertas1776]

Thank you so much for posting this!

[2ndAsstJizzMopper]

yes, sir. those last 30 seconds are gold. far as the average numskull believes, just get him in the right classroom and all else follows; those fatal absences of passion and ability will buff right out. next stop, career!

[noteperson]

Yes, thank you very much for making this available!

[viewingiseasy]

Sir, thank you so much for taking the time to post the rest of this interview. I, like many others, have been searching internet-wide for ways to hear this man speaking and now you've made it easy for millions of his fans. Bless you

[KaiserAl32]

I'm touched that it means as much to uou as to me.