Phoebe and Her Unicorn by Dana Simpson for February 17, 2023

Imagine if Phoebe had chosen to do a book report on Hamster Huey and the Gooey Kablooie.

I’ve been told that when a Texan tries to do an East European accent, it “starts to sound like Dracula with a Southern Drawl after a few sentences.”

An audio book reading for an assignment sounds interesting.

Eva Gabor’s voice is my ‘go-to’ for female dialogue that I read, too .. dahling.

Hungarian, huh? Like Eva Gabor (1919-1995) voicing a French cat named Duchess in Disney’s The Aristocats in 1970?

I told my kids stories of my own about The Constellations and their adventures with all kinds of voices. Scorpio, for instance, sounded like Peter Lorie.

Having Hungarian ancestry, I approve of Hungarian Suzie.

I used James Earl Jones’ Darth Vader voice for Aslan when I read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.

I wish I could “do” good voices. Oh well, my kid’s in his fortys now, so no need.

He’s a great Dad !

Dialect and accent section was my worst in acting class. No matter what I tried after a few sentences they all turned into Mrs. Olsen selling coffee. Good thing I did more backstage than onstage.

She didn’t clear her book choice with the teacher first?

At least her teacher will know she read the book. The way mine did when I went with a biography of Hank Aaron.

Sometimes the hard part of narration s NOT falling into an accent. I personally thought my deranged German professor was perfect. Though, in retrospect, not on n audio book on properly using spreadsheets keep track of your finances. On linger reads, I’d also occasionally get bored and fall into cartoon voices.

A murder mystery read by Elmer Fudd was similarly offbeat. On THAT one, I wish I’d been allowed to continue in that vein. Don’t even get me started on my outtakes on the manual on how to play the My Little Pony game.

I’m reminded of the Trace Atkins song, “Just fishing” about a father and daughter spending time together.

Now I kinda want to hear this voice.

I’m guessing that, subliminally, he is recalling Zsa Zsa Gabor in Queen of Outer Space – https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052104/?ref_=nm_flmg_t_58_act

I think a good teacher would be more interested in the thought and analysis put into the report rather than the subject matter. I remember one of the best students in my AP English class in high school decided to do a report on Green Eggs and Ham, linking the story by analogy to some story in the bible. He got an A+ . . .

The Gabor sisters?

I read to my daughter every night and sang her to sleep too. It is a cherished memory for both of us. My daughter loves to read. I think it is a good way to make readers out of your children which can only be a good thing.

I’ve never been very good with accents, although, thanks to a high-school production of “My Fair Lady” over half a century ago, I sometimes slide into RP unawares. But I have somehow managed to learn to sing German with a Hungarian accent. “Jo, dos Schrehben und dos Lesen / ist nie mehn Foch gewesen / denn schon von Kindesbehnen / gefosst ich mich mit Schwehnen.”

I can just see Zsa Zsa or Eva in that role

Does anyone else ever notice the difference between the way Phoebe’s character interacts with her father, versus how she interacts with her mother? Given whom the characters represent..