Comeback film a Hepburn highlight
“The Philadelphia Story”: Sunday, Feb. 18, and Wednesday, Feb. 21. Various Bay Area theaters. For theaters, showtimes and ticket prices, go to www. fathomevents.com.
You could make a good case that the auteur of “The Philadelphia Story,” one of the greatest comedies of the old Hollywood studio system, is its star, Katharine Hepburn.
And not just because she dominates the screen as Tracy Lord, spoiled society daughter whose wedding is fast approaching. Consider that Hepburn had a hand in writing the original play with Philip Barry, originated the role on the Broadway stage, acquired the film rights, had input into Donald Ogden Stewart’s Oscar-winning screenplay adaptation, handpicked George Cukor to direct and OKd costars Cary Grant and James Stewart.
So how is it she didn’t wind up with at least a producer’s credit? That went solely to Joseph L. Mankiewicz, before he was a top-notch director.
Think about that as you catch up with the great American classic, which has been restored and is in theaters across the country — including a couple of dozen in the Bay Area — on Sunday, Feb. 18, and Wednesday, Feb. 21. It is a presentation of Turner Classic Movies and Fathom Events, and will be preceded by an introduction by TCM host Ben Mankiewicz, great-nephew of Joseph.
Taking place almost entirely in the Lords’ family mansion and surrounding grounds, it’s about Tracy’s looming wedding to newly wealthy George Kitteridge ( John Howard), and her first husband’s attempt to sabotage it. To do that, her ex, C.K. Dexter Haven (Grant), has smuggled in a reporter (Stewart) and photographer (Ruth Hussey) from Spy magazine to secretly cover the wedding. Hilarity, as they say, ensues. The success of “The Philadelphia Story” saved Hepburn’s career at a time when it was in a deep tailspin. She burst onto the scene in the early 1930s with a string of hit films, earning a best actress Oscar for 1933’s “Morning Glory.” Then in the late ’30s, she had several flops in a row and had built a reputation as a difficult actress who had a famous disdain for the press (her nickname was Katharine of Arrogance).
In 1938, the Independent Theater Owners of America put her on their annual “boxoffice poison” list. As a pointed insult, her studio, RKO, assigned her to a B movie, “Mother Carey’s Chickens.”
Rather than accept her assignment to that dreadful project, Hepburn used her own money to buy out the rest of her contract. Independent at last, she went home to Connecticut to ponder her next move. Opting on a return to the Broadway stage, she looked up her old pal Barry, with whom she had worked on Broadway years before (in “The Animal Kingdom”), and asked what he had cooking. He gave her three ideas; the one that would become “The Philadelphia Story” piqued her interest.
Hepburn and Barry spent a summer in Maine to work daily on the play, which became a Broadway smash. It was a major triumph for Hepburn, who played Tracy Lord 417 times on the stage. With help from ex-boyfriend Howard Hughes, Hepburn acquired the film rights. She got MGM — the studio of wealth and privilege — to make the film.
Having treated “The Philadelphia Story” as her Hollywood comeback all along, Hepburn surrounded herself with top-notch talent with whom she had an excellent working relationship, and more importantly, whom she trusted. That included Cukor, who had directed her in four films, including her first (1932’s “A Bill of Divorcement”) and one of her biggest hits (1935’s “Sylvia Scarlett”); and Grant, her co-star in three previous films, two directed by Cukor. James Stewart rounded out the main cast.
Hepburn, it must be noted, had wanted Spencer Tracy and Clark Gable for the main male roles, but when they were not available she happily “settled” for Grant and Stewart, even ceding top billing to Grant.
The result is an absolutely perfect movie, a box office smash that received six Academy Award nominations. Both Stewarts — screenwriter and star — won Oscars. The film lost to Alfred Hitchcock’s “Rebecca,” and Hepburn lost to Ginger Rogers (“Kitty Foyle”). “The Grapes of Wrath” beat both Cukor ( John Ford) and supporting actress Hussey (Jane Darwell).
Hepburn would be an A-list star for the rest of her career, and although she missed out on Oscar here, she would win best actress three more times.
The audacity of Hepburn in choosing “The Philadelphia Story” as her comeback vehicle is pretty amazing as well. Almost to spite her critics, the press and her former studio, her comeback role that she helped create was that of an arrogant, prickly socialite who hates the press.
“Tracy sets exceptionally high standards for herself,” observes her mother, Margaret (Mary Nash). “Other people aren’t as apt to live up to them.”
Dexter refers to her “withering glance of the goddess.”
Katharine of Arrogance was back, and she had her revenge. G. Allen Johnson is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: ajohnson@ sfchronicle.com