Jackie Kennedy's accent

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's casually referred to as "Locust Valley lockjaw" - see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Locust_Valley_lockjaw

Her speech is slow and deliberate on the White House tour but if you listen to the recordings of her interviews with Arthur Schlesinger (published as "Jacqueline Kennedy: Historic Conversations on Life with John F. Kennedy") you can hear what she sounded like in a more casual setting -- less deliberate, at times (but not always) less whispery, but still with an accent.

I doubt she was faking it -- she didn't have to.

I was active in theater when I went to school in Boston and they do a lot of the locked jaw enunciation exercises. I don't know anyone who talks like this everyday, but I occasionally notice bits of it slipping into presentations/talks/etc. among people who went to school in the Northeast AND were all really active in performing arts.

I took theater in Boston in my teens and we did a lot of exercises. There was a lot of emphasis on, for example, hitting your "t's" at the end of words, which might explain the air at the end of sentences.

[Anonymous]

she spoke in an affected little girl whispery manner. Irritating as hell

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:she spoke in an affected little girl whispery manner. Irritating as hell

Thanks for the update.

[Anonymous]

Somehow it sounds most authentic coming out of a somewhat bizarre eccentric like "Little Edie" Bouvier Beale.