Trek guest actors in maybe surprising roles

[Christopher]

If I watch an anime or Samurai film in Japanese with English subtitles, I often can't even tell when they're saying a name that's written onscreen. The English phonetic writing is approximate, I guess, and our pronunciation from the phonetic can be way different than the proper.

One thing I tend to note is that the English subtitles often leave out given names, because we use pronouns more heavily, while the Japanese tend to use given names and titles more often, even when speaking of themselves.

I learned long ago when working for a video company, that "Matsushita" (who made VCRs) was pronounced something like "Mah-TSU-shta."

I'm not sure that's right. For one thing, the letter U tends to be very underpronounced in Japanese. For another, Japanese doesn't really use stressed syllables the way English does. If anything, I think it'd be more like "Mahts-shta" to our ears.

And I was surprised to learn that Tokyo is really only two syllables: "To-kyo," not "To-kee-oh."

No, it is three syllables, but it's To-o-kyo, not To-ky-o. Japanese has a lot of doubled vowels like that, always doubling the duration of the sound (or pronounced as two separate syllables in slow speech or singing). But English speakers tend not to notice the difference in the duration of the sound because duration isn't meaningful in the same way in English.

 

[The Old Mixer]

There's Stewart Moss on DECADES--Put away your butter knives, Ironside!

 

[GNDN18]

There's Stewart Moss on DECADES--Put away your butter knives, Ironside!

You want Anthony Perkins;

You'll settle for Bradford Dillman;

You get Stewart Moss.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Ooh, De Kelley's in the currently airing Ironside...and was just sharing a scene with series regular Barbara Anderson.

ETA: And Jailhouse Shat in the very next episode!

 

[EnsignHarper]

There's Stewart Moss on DECADES--Put away your butter knives, Ironside!

You want Anthony Perkins;

You'll settle for Bradford Dillman;

You get Stewart Moss.

1965:

You want Ronny Howard

You'll settle for Billy Mumy

You get CLINT Howard

 

[GNDN18]

1965:

You want Ronny Howard

You'll settle for Billy Mumy

You get CLINT Howard

Yes!

 

[Christopher]

I dunno, are those first two in the right order? My impression is that Billy Mumy was basically the go-to child actor in the '60s. I guess Howard had a higher profile from Andy Griffith, but I think Mumy was more prolific. I mean, he did three Twilight Zone episodes (plus the movie and the second TV revival) while Howard only did one.

 

[telerites]

1965:

You want Ronny Howard

You'll settle for Billy Mumy

You get CLINT Howard

Yes!

Hey, now, I had a Gentle Ben lunch box in the 60s (seriously, I did). But better Clint than

Love u, Pugs!

 

[The Old Mixer]

I dunno, are those first two in the right order? My impression is that Billy Mumy was basically the go-to child actor in the '60s. I guess Howard had a higher profile from Andy Griffith, but I think Mumy was more prolific. I mean, he did three Twilight Zone episodes (plus the movie and the second TV revival) while Howard only did one.

I think that's the point: The one you want is the one who's less available. The one you'll settle for is more available/prolific.

And "Ronny" Howard was out there on other shows like Route 66 before he got his regular gig on AG.

 

[Forbin]

Sally Kellerman on the It Takes a Thief epsode "The Naked Billionaire" (and no, sadly, it's not her).

Clever disguise!

 

[Christopher]

I think that's the point: The one you want is the one who's less available. The one you'll settle for is more available/prolific.

If you say so. But I always liked Mumy more than Howard.

 

[telerites]

I think that's the point: The one you want is the one who's less available. The one you'll settle for is more available/prolific.

If you say so. But I always liked Mumy more than Howard.

Mumy was pretty amazing really. Looking at the breadth of his roles as a child actor, he was incredibly sharp.

Obviously the Howard boys were talented too and I think at least one year, both their shows were ranked in the top 20 ratings.

 

[Christopher]

^I didn't even know Clint Howard had a series. I just know he was Balok.

 

[telerites]

^I didn't even know Clint Howard had a series. I just know he was Balok.

Well you could say the bear was the star but Clint was in it as well.

Soot even Mickey Dolenz had a show as a child actor called Circus Boy.

 

[FormerLurker]

Christopher, Clint Howard's series was Gentle Ben, with a bear and Dennis Weaver between Gunsmoke and McCloud.

 

[Lee]

I learned long ago when working for a video company, that "Matsushita" (who made VCRs) was pronounced something like "Mah-TSU-shta."

I'm not sure that's right. For one thing, the letter U tends to be very underpronounced in Japanese. For another, Japanese doesn't really use stressed syllables the way English does. If anything, I think it'd be more like "Mahts-shta" to our ears.

I have no idea what the Japanese pronunciation is, but one thing I can tell you is that my partner worked for Panasonic in the US in around 1980 and he says that in the office they prounounced Matsushita as Forbin has it.

 

[J.T.B.]

Obviously the Howard boys were talented too and I think at least one year, both their shows were ranked in the top 20 ratings.

My old copy of The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network TV Shows agrees: For 1967-68 TAGS was the number one show, and Gentle Ben number 19.

 

[Christopher]

I have no idea what the Japanese pronunciation is, but one thing I can tell you is that my partner worked for Panasonic in the US in around 1980 and he says that in the office they prounounced Matsushita as Forbin has it.

Well, it's the Japanese pronunciation I was talking about. Naturally the English pronunciation will stress the vowels more, because English kinda needs to.

 

[Lee]

I have no idea what the Japanese pronunciation is, but one thing I can tell you is that my partner worked for Panasonic in the US in around 1980 and he says that in the office they prounounced Matsushita as Forbin has it.

Well, it's the Japanese pronunciation I was talking about. Naturally the English pronunciation will stress the vowels more, because English kinda needs to.

I think you're kind of missing the point -- if it were strictly an English pronunciation, I think most English speakers would tend to pronounce it mat-soo-SHEE-ta. But the US Panasonic workers pronounced it mah-TSU-shta, presumably because that's how their Japanese colleagues pronounced it.

 

[Christopher]

I think you're kind of missing the point -- if it were strictly an English pronunciation, I think most English speakers would tend to pronounce it mat-soo-SHEE-ta. But the US Panasonic workers pronounced it mah-TSU-shta, presumably because that's how their Japanese colleagues pronounced it.

Trust me, the letter U is never stressed like that in Japanese. Most of the time it's barely even pronounced. So I'd call it splitting the difference between the Japanese and American pronunciations. They know better than to stress it on the third syllable, but they're still modifying it in a way that's easy for Americans to pronounce. If you're not familiar with Japanese, it's hard to appreciate just how profoundly different the sounds are. They're difficult to pronounce without practice. So even Americans who are trying to respect the Japanese pronunciation would probably Americanize it unless they were really rigorous about accuracy, like, well, me.

Also, there are strictly English-related reasons why Americans might be reluctant to emphasize the sixth through ninth letters of that name...