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| THE PHILADELPHIA STORY (1939) |
New York
Premiere: March 28, 1939
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CAST
Dinah Lord: Lenore Lonergan
Margaret Lord: Vera Allen
Tracy Lord: Katharine Hepburn
Alexander Lord: Dan Tobin
Thomas: Owen Coll
William Tracy: Forrest Orr
Elizabeth Imbrie: Shirley Booth
Macaulay Connor: Van Heflin
George Kittredge: Frank Fenton
C.K. Dexter Haven: Joseph Cotten
Edward: Philip Foster
Seth Lord: Nicholas Joy
May: Myrtle Tannahill
Elsie: Lorraine Bate
Mac: Hayden Rorke
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CREDITS
Playwright: Philip Barry
Producer: Theatre Guild Inc.
Staged by: Robert B. Sinclair
Scenery and Lighting by: Robert Edmond Jones
Production supervised by: Theresa Helburn, Lawrence Langer
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CRITIQUES
"A strange, tense little lady with austere beauty and metallic voice, she has consistently found it difficult to project a part in the theatre. But now she has surrendered to the central part in Mr. Barry's play and she acts it like a woman who has at last found the joy she has always been seeking in the theatre. For Miss Hepburn skips through the evening in any number of light moods, responding to the scenes quickly, inflecting the lines and developing a part from the beginning to its logical conclusion. There are no ambiguous corners in this character portrayal. Dainty in style, it is free and alive in its darting expression of feeling."
- Brooks Atkinson, The New York Times
"Mr. Barry's play at its best is no more than a nice red carpet he has unrolled for her (Hepburn)....She is no impassive beauty. Her finely chiseled face is a volatile mask. If it is difficult to take one's eyes off of her, it is because she is also blessed with an extraordinary personality. Slim and lovely as she is, Miss Hepburn likewise possesses a voice which in her emotional scenes can be sheer velvet."
- John Mason Brown, New York Post
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COMMENTARY TRACK
"I wanted a very strong and conventional director. Bob Sinclair had just directed The Women. I wanted a director who did not think that I was sort of the 'second coming.' Someone who was very down-to-earth and wouldn't let me be - well - fancy."
- Katharine Hepburn, Me, 1991
"One of my favorite happenings on this play was when Lawrence Langer came back one night and said to me, 'Kate, I think that the young girl Lenore Lonergan is - well - she seems to be sort of copying you.' 'Oh no, Lawrence. You're wrong. It's the other way - I'm copying her. Isn't she great?'"
- Katharine Hepburn, Me, 1991
"'Hello, Dexter' (spoken warily). 'Hello, Gawdge' (spoken disapprovingly). 'Hello, Mike' (spoken breathlessly). Only one voice does one hear - only one face does one see. It could never be otherwise. I was 15 years old, sitting in a 55 cent seat in the second balcony at the Shubert Theater on Broadway when I heard those words and saw the face of Katharine Hepburn live for the first time. It was The Philadelphia Story. I knew from the start that she was different. She is that rare creature, her voice immediately bringing to mind her astonishing face. She is a member of that club of very few actresses who at their sound are totally identifiable. An immediate vision."
- Lauren Bacall, 1996
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Katharine Hepburn
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Katharine Hepburn
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Joseph Cotten, Katharine Hepburn
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Katharine Hepburn, Joseph Cotten
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Van Heflin, Katharine Hepburn, Joseph Cotten, Frank Fenton
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