Pioneering professional nurse Florence Nightingale {wiki} was already 70 years old when she recorded this snippet for Thomas Edison and posterity in 1890. This recording has been redubbed to different formats and speed-corrected at least once, so the legibility after 119 years is due to Nightingale's slow and overdramatic delivery. -via the Presurfer
It's amazing how much Florence Nightingale sounded like Margaret Dumont on that recording. You know...Margaret Dumont from all those Marx Brothers movies...you know...Groucho and Harpo...never mind, I'll just take my walker and leave now.
Abusive comment hidden.
(Show it anyway.)
I always loved watching Margaret Dumont! She was a fabulous but underappreciated character actress.
Abusive comment hidden.
(Show it anyway.)
I agree, she really was the perfect foil for Groucho.
Abusive comment hidden.
(Show it anyway.)
The funny thing about Maggie Dumont was, according to Groucho, that she never understood the Marx Brothers' humor. She just said her lines and then awaited her next lines.
Abusive comment hidden.
(Show it anyway.)
I had heard that before, and I've always wondered if she "understood" it just fine, but just didn't find it funny...maybe she was a Charlie Chaplin kind of gal.
Abusive comment hidden.
(Show it anyway.)
I'm sure Margaret and Florence were reared by proper Victorian parents. Nice find. :p
Abusive comment hidden.
(Show it anyway.)
Legibility?
Abusive comment hidden.
(Show it anyway.)