Hollywood owes its origins to the film industry of New York. In order to escape Thomas Edison’s monopoly and the unsuitable climate of New York, film companies began to move to California at the turn of the 20th century. Naturally, they continued to cast actors from New York and the rest of the East, where the Northeastern Elite accent was used. They also began to attract actors from Europe. During the so-called Golden Age, there were indeed many English actors, as well as all the continental Europeans who had probably learnt English on a British model. The non-rhotic actors simply outnumbered the rhotic ones.

According to the fictitious account, old Hollywood films were un-American and snobbish. This is a revisionist, obtuse and patronising view. Cinema is art and as such it reflects society. The Hollywood films of the 30s featured a lot of upper-class speech because their storylines tended to revolve around the upper classes. But this was to change. Rhotic speakers formed the majority of the population, and by the 50s they’d established themselves in the mass media, including Hollywood. Rhoticity became the standard in American speech and a symbol of prestige.

As society changed, so did cinema. Indeed, the film industry itself began to promote popular culture, shaping the values of middle-class America.

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