History Announcer’s tests originated in the early days of radio broadcasting, circa 1920. The tests involve retention, memory, repetition, enunciation, diction, and using every letter in the alphabet a variety of times. An excerpt of one early test, forwarded from Phillips Carlin, who was known for co-announcing the 1926, 1927, and 1928 World Series with Graham McNamee, is: “ Penelope Cholmondely raised her azure eyes from the crabbed scenario. She meandered among the congeries of her memoirs. There was the Kinetic Algernon, a choleric articer of icons and triptychs, who wanted to write a trilogy. For years she had stied her risibilities with dour moods. His asthma caused him to sough like the zephyrs among the tamarack. “ In approximately 1930, CBS Radio established a school for announcers. The school was headed by Frank Vizetelly, who trained announcers to develop voices that were “clear, clean-cut, pleasant, and carry with them the additional charm of personal magnetism.” At about the same time, NBC Radio published standard pronunciation guidelines for its sponsors.[3] According to announcer André Baruch, NBC used to test potential announcers using copy lled with tongue-twisters and foreign names, such as: “ The seething sea ceased to see, then thus sufceth thus. “ Another test for an announcer candidate might be to “describe the studio in which you are seated so that a listener can readily visualize it.” One of the better known tests originated at Radio Central New York in the early 1940s as a cold reading test given to prospective radio talent to demonstrate their speaking ability.[5] Del Moore, a long time friend of Jerry Lewis‘, took this test at Radio Central New York in 1941, and passed it on to him. Jerry has performed this test on radio, television and stage for many years, and it has become a favorite tongue-twister (and memory challenge) for his fans around the world. ================================================ • One hen • Two ducks • Three squawking geese • Four Limerick oysters • Five corpulent porpoises • Six pairs of Don Alverzo’s tweezers • Seven thousand Macedonians in full battle array • Eight brass monkeys from the ancient, sacred crypts of Egypt • Nine apathetic, sympathetic, diabetic old men on roller skates with a marked propensity towards procrastination and sloth • Ten lyrical, spherical, diabolical denizens of the deep who haul stall around the corner of the quo of the quay of the quivery, all at the same time. ================================================ There are many variations to this version, many having been passed from one person to another by word of mouth. One variant is known as the Tibetan Memory Trick and has been performed by Danny Kaye as well as Flo & Eddie of The Turtles. It was also used by Boston’s WBZ disc jockey Dick Summer in the 1960s as the Nightlighter’s Password. The test has also been adopted and adapted for use as a “repeat after me” chant unofcially by the Boy Scouts of America, with several variations in the wording, some including an eleventh line: “Eleven neutramatic synthesizing systems owned by the seriously cybernetic marketing department, shipped via relativistic space ight through the draconian sector seven.” This last line may have originated as a tribute to Douglas Adams and the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy books and has since been corrupted by the oral transmission of this script. The books include references to “Nutrimatic Drink Dispenser systems” owned by the “Sirius Cybernetics Corporation.” In So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish, one character mentions, “This hedgehog, that chimney pot, the other pair of Don Alfonso’s tweezers.” A variant appears in the 1997 novel Matters of Chance by Jeannette Haien • One good hen • Two ducks • Three cackling geese • Four plump partridges • Five Limerick oysters • Six pairs of Don Alphonso tweezers • Seven hundred Macedonian horseman [sic] dressed in full battle array • Eight sympathetic, apathetic, diabetic old men on crutches • Nine brass monkeys from the Sacred Sepulchres of Ancient Egypt Ten lyrical, spherical heliotropes from the Iliad Missionary Institute
Posted on: Sat, 01 Mar 2014 19:07:43 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015