Greater Boston's Accents Equal the King's Own Ingleesh, Says Cukor; Who Can Gainsay Him?

George Cukor has just returned from England. Now this in itself is not a remarkable fact, but in this instance George has been in the tight little isle with a very definite purpose in mind. To lay the finger on the spot, Hollywood has decided that David Copperfield is a good subject for macoration, and Mr. Cuker has been in England getting local color with the aid of a Baedeker's Guide.

Returning from the land of beer and beef, Mr. Cukor remarked that only Boston children could take part in his forthcoming magnum opns, because only in the Hub is the King's English spoken so that Englishmen can understand it.

More Specific, Please, George

This is an exceedingly flattering comment, and one can only suppose that our Mr. Cukor knows whereof he speaks, but to which Boston accent does he refor? Is it the long "a" of Beacon Street, the short "a" of Mattapan, the nasal "a" of Chelsea, or the various assorted inflections that are found from Newton to South Boston and from Milton to the Charlestown Navy Yard?

In a quandary as to the truth of such a strong statement, the CRIMSON reporter called upon the superior linguistic and elocutionary knowledge of Frederick C. Packard, Jr. '20, assistant professor of Public Speaking, for an opinion as to the truth or falsity of the remark. Professor Packard was 10th to express himself on such an important point at short notice, and quoted Alexander Woolcott as an exponent of the idea of talking things over with one's self, for which purpose he asked a half hour's grace. This was cheerfully accorded.

He Speakal

After this inner wrestling had come to its close, and the Packard brow had regained its natural serenity, he delivered himself of the following opinion, couched, as is apparent even to the casual reader, in weighty and legal verbiage:

"Mr. Cukor's statement, if quoted correctly, is the sort of generalization that is all the more misleading because it contains a certain amount of truth. Everyone knows that the south of England speech is generally considered to be the standard for the language, and Boston has, by inheritance, held to this standard somewhat more than the rest of the country. However it is certainly true that the King's English is spoken just as well by individuals in any good-sized community in the country."

Other Authorities Silent

There is a Dickens Fellowship in Boston, apparently a social and literary been drinking cigar-smoking clique. Last night no statement had been released by them on the King's Harvard accent or on the inflection of the Queen of Chelses. Nor has a Mr. Charles Dickens of 44 North Beacon Street had anything to say for himself. That is indeed a pity