Talk Like a Beat Day

         

Bob Denver as
Maynard G Krebs

             The first beatnik that I distinctly remember was Maynard G. Krebs.  He was a character in the television show "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis".  Maynard was played by Bob Denver who later gained fame as the Gilligan who was stranded on an island when the S.S Minnow was shipwrecked during a three-hour tour.  Maynard was the stereotypical image that most Americans had of those who were lumped into the Beat Generation category--a sort of white bread version of a group reviled by many.

           Jack Kerouac's On the Road is a literary manifesto of the Beat Generation.  Although in some ways I would consider Catcher in the Rye's Holden Caulfield to be a truer precursor to Beat.   Recently as I was reading Catcher, somewhere in the back of my mind I was thinking this kid's gonna grow up to be a beatnik.   But then again it's probably more likely that he became a banker or a politician.

          Movies and TV shows often portrayed the Beats as unkempt slackers who spouted modern poetry to the accompaniment of bongo drums.  They had a hip way of talking in a special slangy jive lingo that became part of the parody.

        Today, October 7, has been designated as Talk Like a Beat Day by the UK paper The Guardian.  I've never been very good at picking up dialects or talk styles.  I guess I can say "aaargh" and "ahoy mateys" but I don't talk like a pirate very well so I never got into Talk Like a Pirate Day.  But I've always gotten a kick out of hearing others do it.  Same with this Beat talk.  It might be funny to hear people doing it, but I doubt whether I'll be able to pull it off like other cool cats might.

        The whole Beat Day thing was brought to my attention by long time friend and new blogger Kelly Robinson.    More about this chick next week when I do my Pay It Forward post.  But listen up all you cool cats.  You need to be hip and talk like a beat today.  Play fair and don't be square cause today being hip is in the air.   Can you dig it?

        Who's your favorite beatnik?   Are you a Bob Denver fan?   Whatever happened to Holden Caulfield anyway?








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