# Patty Duke's English Accent? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 6, 2017, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patty-dukes-english-accent/776490 "2017-01-06T23:10:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Zuzu\_s\_Petals](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@Zuzu\_s\_Petals](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zuzu_s_Petals)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2017, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patty-dukes-english-accent/776490/21 "2017-01-11T18:30:10Z")
In Patty Duke’s memoirs, _Call Me Anna_, she explained that originally Cathy was meant to be Scottish, and so she spent quite some time perfecting an authentic Scottish burr. However, when the producers heard it, they became nervous that an American audience wouldn’t understand the accent or might feel alienated by it, so Duke was told instead to do a kind of vague “anywhere but the US” European accent. Duke said that she hated it; it felt unprofessional and phoney to her to not have Cathy be from somewhere specific. ETA: Ninja’d by Bricker! 😃 Should have read the thread more carefully. ---
**Author:** ![Celyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2017, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patty-dukes-english-accent/776490/22 "2017-01-11T19:04:23Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > In her autobiography, Duke said she learned an authentic Scottish accent for Cathy, because the character was supposed to have grown up in Scotland. But the network then nixed that idea, and decided that Cathy should be “from anywhere but here,” so Duke ended up doing a generic accent which, she says, offended her sense of professional acting preparation. Wow. The clip in the OP seemed American with slight English and some rather “Brigadoon” fake Scottish. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2017, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patty-dukes-english-accent/776490/23 "2017-01-11T19:43:08Z")
> [@MrAtoz](#): > > We don’t know that. The only thing we know is that online lyrics sites spell it “Barclay,” but those kind of sites are usually done by users posting the lyrics themselves, transcribing what they hear. Without seeing the original manuscript, we have no idea how the songwriter(s) spelled it. This is true. Maybe 15 years ago, I added a song to one of those places. It was a song that I wrote with a friend of mine in college. It’s now on every one of those damn lyrics sites including some foreign language ones. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2017, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patty-dukes-english-accent/776490/24 "2017-01-12T08:34:27Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > [Every site](http://www.metrolyrics.com/the-patty-duke-show-lyrics-televisiontv-theme-lyrics-50s-60s-70s.html)I[look at shows the](http://www.appletothecore.com/tvshowthemesongs/pattydukeshow.htm) [lyric as Barclay Square.](http://www.officialpattyduke.com/pdtheme.htm) So? They also spell the dance troupe’s name as (variously) “Ballet Russes” and “Ballet Rouge.”\* Proves nothing beyond providing evidence that lyric look-up sites are just as subject as any other site to incorrect information being entered by poorly-educated jarks. \*(apparently, the accepted name is _Ballets Russes_. We may wish to defer discussion of how Cathy became a fan of a touring dance troupe that closed some eighteen years prior to her birth.) ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2017, 9:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patty-dukes-english-accent/776490/25 "2017-01-12T09:09:48Z")
The entire theme song is ridiculous. How many 16-year-olds from anywhere danced the minuet or even had heard of the Ballets Russes in 1963? Who ever loses control when they eat a hot dog? I remember hearing a comedian talking about that song once in his routine. He said something like “What? A hot dog makes her lose control? I want to meet her.” ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2017, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patty-dukes-english-accent/776490/26 "2017-01-12T12:08:35Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > So? They also spell the dance troupe’s name as (variously) “Ballet Russes” and “Ballet Rouge.”\* Proves nothing beyond providing evidence that lyric look-up sites are just as subject as any other site to incorrect information being entered by poorly-educated jarks. > \*(apparently, the accepted name is _Ballets Russes_. We may wish to defer discussion of how Cathy became a fan of a touring dance troupe that closed some eighteen years prior to her birth.) I’d say it’s likely that the lyrics were written as Barclay Square so it would be sung correctly no matter what square is referred to. So there wouldn’t be any real answer to the question. Still, the overwhelming evidence is that it’s Barclay until you can find Berkeley written down somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![ASGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/838e76/32.png) [@ASGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2017, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patty-dukes-english-accent/776490/27 "2017-01-13T17:35:37Z")
sort of a [hijack] Unrelated to the OP are these lyrics I spied one day on the Patty Duke Show entry on the _old_ [www.jumptheshark.com](http://www.jumptheshark.com) internet site. I thought they were good for a laugh but prepare for possible offense. Meet Cathy who gets it everywhere, Both in the front, and derriere, But Patty’s only seen the sites From lying on her back at nights, What a crazy pair! But they’re lovers, They’re lesbian lovers, yeah they’re gay! One pair of looney lesbos, Different as night and day. While Cathy adores a minuet, The Ballet Russe and crepes suzette, Our Patty says she’s sold her soul For sex and drugs and rock’n’roll, Better get the net! Still they’re lovers, They’re lesbian lovers, and you’ll find, They’ve got no arms, they’ve got no legs, Patty hops around on pegs, And she’s lost her mind! They’re lovers, Of the lesbian kind! [/hijack] [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patty-dukes-english-accent/776490.md?page=1)