Amerikkalainen näyttelijä, joka kiroili suomenruotsiksi

Sarjassa kuvia miehistä, joista en ole koskaan kuullut: Alfred Lunt, amerikkalainen näyttelijä ja ohjaaja. Kuva oikealla on Carl von Vechtenin otos ja Wikipediasta peräisin. Wikipediasta löytyy myös tieto siitä, että Alfredin isäpuoli oli Suomessa syntynyt lääkäri Karl Sederholm.

Tämä tieto sopii täydellisesti yhteen New-York Tribunessa 25.1.1920 julkaistuun juttuun. Siinä Lunt kertoo oleensa 17-vuotias, kun perheensä oli muuttanut kolmeksi vuodeksi Suomeen. Ilmeisesti siis vuosien 1909-12 paikkeilla. Lunt muisteli aikaa näin:

"Although then ruled by Russia, Finland was the sort of idyllic place you read about but seldom find. Instead of being a wild, frozen country, with half the people living like Esquimaux. I found it in many ways the equal of this country. I don't believe I ever saw a more wonderful hotel than that at Helsingfors, with splendid music and a great esplanade lined with trees overlooking the ocean."
"The country is wildly beautiful in a melancholy way. Like Minnesota and Wisconsin, where the immigrant Finns and Swedes all go, it is dotted with lakes, and its hills with pines, firs and birches. I seem to recall especially the evenings, with a sky of opal and the sound of melancholy folksongs floating across the lakes. In the winter you just travel around the country on top of the fences on skis, finding a red-roofed peasant's house now and then sticking out of the snow."
"Call that raving if you want to, but it's a wonderful country. We lived on my stepfather's country estate and mixed freely with the natives. This rather scandalized our immediate friends, but I found the Finnish peasants very likable, though a little stolid."
"I learned enough Swedish in three months to get around easily, and spent many a day in Viburg."
"During the summer months there would be outdoor parties accompanied by amateur theatricals. I took part in many of these, always given in Swedish, of course. We gave 'Pillars of Society', several Swedish plays and a number of one-act playlets of Finnish and Russian composition. The Finnish plays were so good I am now trying to secure some for use in this country."
...
"Whenever I get excited," he said, "I unconsciously develop a Finnish-Swedish accent, and when I swear Finnish-Swedish comes more naturally than English."

Lunt hyödynsi suomenruotsalaista aksenttiaan ainakin Suomeen sijoitetussa näytelmässä, jota esitettiin New Yorkissa vuonna 1940.