Hollywood Speaks French in the 1940s!

[brendangcarroll]

Interesting recent discovery by the great Michael Feinstein.....as reported by the equally great Leonard Maltin:-

http://leonardmaltin.com/hollywood-spea ... dio-discs/" target="_blank

[wingate]

Since when has French ever been the most widely spoken on the planet?

[bobfells]

Interesting - shows that Hollywood stars or at least a few of them extended their range to bi-lingual works after the early talkie era when even Laurel & Hardy spoke Spanish and German phonetically. I guess that French was still regarded as the "diplomatic language" in the 1940s, hence Ms. Hunt's statement about its worldwide usage.

https://ia800502.us.archive.org/13/item ... na1930.mp4" target="_blank

[wich2]

I think that's the case, Bob.

[greta de groat]

I was intrigued by a video i saw a few months back which had interviews conducted by François Chalais in the 50s and 60s, which including a few Hollywood folks. Jane Fonda, Yul Brynner, Kirk Douglas and Billy Wilder all conducted their interviews in French. Gary Cooper wandered into the Billy Wilder interview and mumbled a few words. Anthony Quinn was also interviewed in French but kept complaining that it was difficult. I can't remember now if Hitchcock spoke French, but i believe that the De Mille, John Wayne, Gregory Peck and Bette Davis all spoke English.

I was always amused that in watching Design for Living, it sounds to me like Coop speaks better French than Fredric March.

greta