Monday, May 24, 2010

Katharine Hepburn starring in “Box Office Poison”


1932. Making her film debut with the legendary John Barrymore in A Bill of Divorcement, Connecticut born and bred Katharine Hepburn was set on a path for screen stardom. Within a year of her auspicious Hollywood entrée, she starred in the first of her four Academy Award winning roles (Morning Glory) as well as one of the most recognized and popular films of the decade (Little Women). She was the darling of her home studio, RKO, and her continued success seemed inevitable. But unlike her contemporaries, she refused to play the Tinsel Town game. She abhorred interviews and rebuffed reporters (when asked by one newsperson if she and then husband Ludlow Ogden Smith had any children, her unorthodox reply was: “Two white and three colored”). Her disdain for makeup and wearing of pants and masculine attire was seen as too independent for public taste and she was tagged by some with the moniker “Katharine of Arrogance“. She went back to the stage on her native East coast, for the not very well received The Lake. When she returned to Hollywood, RKO cast her in Alice Adams (1935) for which she received yet another Oscar nomination, but the accolades were short lived.

In 1936, Hepburn made Sylvia Scarlett with Cary Grant and Brian Aherne, in which the non-stereotypical actress played a woman who is disguised as a young man. The RKO oddity cost Kate a big chunk of her reputation and the studio a big chunk of change (The film lost a whopping $363,000 in Depression-era dollars). Her period costume dramas of the mid-30’s, including Mary of Scotland, A Woman Rebels (both 1936) and Quality Street (1937), were flops as well, the latter two losing almost a quarter of a million dollars each at the box office. The public was staying away from Hepburn pictures in droves.


There seemed to be a ray of hope with the modest success of Stage Door (1937). The film paired the haughty Hepburn with Ginger Rogers, who, commercially, was a much more popular star and lucrative commodity for the studio. As Hepburn’s status at RKO plummeted, Rogers’ simultaneous skyrocketed. Still, the sparkling and intelligent comedy based on the Edna Ferber - George S. Kauffman hit play, didn’t hit the mark RKO execs had aimed for, bringing in only $81,000 in profits.


Desperate for a Hepburn hit and with fingers crossed, the studio cast her in a comedy, based on the humble financial success of Stage Door. Again paired with Cary Grant, who had just made a comic breakthrough of his own with The Awful Truth, the actress starred in Bringing Up Baby, the story of a man, a woman and a leopard named Baby. As inane as it sounded, that was the stuff of screwball comedies in the 1930’s. In retrospect, Bringing Up Baby is considered by some, one of the premiere classic comedies of its time (an opinion not personally shared by this blogger, but that is for another post), but in 1938 it was a box office disaster, losing $365,000, and when RKO slated Hepburn’s next film to be the standard programmer Mother Carey’s Chickens, the actress saw the writing on the wall. She bought out her contract for just over $200,000 and left the studio, with whom she had become synonymous.

Then the final blow was dealt. On May 3, 1938, a full page ad appeared in The Hollywood Reporter from the Independent Theater Owners of America lambasting studios and producers for promoting stars “whose public appeal is negligible ~ receiving tremendous salaries necessitated by contractual obligations”. Along with Garbo, Marlene Dietrich, Mae West, Kay Francis and Joan Crawford, Katharine Hepburn made this list. The statement went on to label those mentioned as “box office poison”. On that very day, RKO made the public announcement that it had parted ways with Kate Hepburn.

In the heart of the “box office poison” fiasco, two significant career factors occurred. The first film released since the Reporter ad, Holiday (1938), paired her yet again with Cary Grant. It had been made before she left RKO, on loan-out to Columbia, where Grant had seen his enormous success with Irene Dunne in The Awful Truth. Disappointment again hit home, as Holiday, although liked by critics, sank with the masses. The public was just tired of Katharine Hepburn. Then there was talk of the actress as a strong contender for the role of Scarlett O’Hara in the upcoming filmization of Margaret Mitchell’s hugely popular novel Gone With The Wind. Supposedly, Hepburn offered herself as a last minute replacement should the film’s producer, David O. Selznick, not have the part cast in time, but according to one of Selznick’s infamous memos, Kate’s box office standing and lack of sufficient sex appeal did little for the advancement of her cause. Says Selznick: “…because I think Hepburn has two strikes against her ~ first, the unquestionable and very wide-spread intense public dislike of her at the moment, and second, the fact that she is yet to demonstrate that she possesses the sex qualities which are probably the most important of all the many requisites of Scarlett….”



Heading back east, the frustrated actress spent the summer of 1938 in Connecticut with her family. Later that year, playwright Philip Barry approached Hepburn with a play he’d written with her in mind. It was called The Philadelphia Story and it was tailor-made for the cool actress. Retaining the film rights to the play (via her paramour Howard Hughes), she made a huge comeback in Hollywood in 1940 when MGM bought the rights to The Philadelphia Story (along with Miss Hepburn’s services, thank you). She remained a major star for the rest of her life, but she was never to forget her time as “box office poison” either.

22 comments:

  1. Isn't strange how a "flop" becomes a "classic"?
    I think Kate was smart to buy out her contract. I think it gave her time to think and clear her head.
    Once she did that, she could see that THE PHILADELPHIA STORY was a smart choice.

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  2. It is rather interesting to me that Ms. Hepburn (who lived not far from me in CT, and has myriad tales/gossip about her) is one of my favorite actresses - and yet, there are actually not that many of her films I really like. I always see her talent and her quality of incandescence when she's onscreen. But, damn, some of those movies are real stinkers!

    Frankly, it's the way I feel about Meryl Streep. Like Hepburn, I'm always impressed and enjoy her performances - the films not so much.

    Great article, Rupert.

    Worth the wait. ;)

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  3. Thank you Rupert for another wonderful article.

    I do disagree with you on "Bringing Up Baby" , this is the film that sparked my interest in Ms Hepburn (we will agree to disagree?)

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  4. Great blog Rupert! Kate is one of my favorites. I actually like Holiday more then Bringing Up Baby. I don't dislike Bringing Up Baby but it is not one of my all time favorites of hers. I loved her in Stage Door. Thank you for another wonderful entry to classic heaven. :)

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  5. I read an article about Heburn's comeback with "The Philadelphia Story." The author thought, that Hepburn, through the Tracy Lord character was apologizing for what irritated the public most about her. Her aloofness, her cold demeanor, her voice, and so on. The conclusion was, she apologized for being unlikeable and then the public forgave her and liked her again.

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  6. As usual, wonderfully done. Hepburn was kind enough to write me a letter many years ago. It's framed and on my wall. Many times, I'll be watching her, with her tenacity, and go, "Mom! You're on television again!:

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  7. Brilliant, as always, Rupert. I really have never been a huge Hepburn fan...although I really DO recognize her brilliance. Perhaps I, too, am one of those turned off by the aloofness and "untouchableness" she exuded on and off the screen. Obviously there was something not so untouchable in her, since she and Spencer Tracy were so much in love and for so long.

    THE PHILADELPHIA STORY is one of my favorite movies...mainly for Jimmy Stewart and Cary Grant...but her interactions on screen with them were SO good.

    I agree with Lesley Ann...IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE is a prime example of that!

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  8. Great post Rupert. It is very strange that Kate was labeled box office poison despite some of the films being now regarded as classics. But once Philadlephia Story came, she was pretty much unstoppable, especially with a gent named Tracy. I enjoyed reading this wonderful post by you Rupert. Well done.

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  9. Excellent! Great job! Nice to read this concise paean to Kate.

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  10. The ad campaign for HOLIDAY included a slogan that asked "Is It True What They Say About Katharine Hepburn?” in an attempt to use the box office poison tag for its own benefit!

    Good overview of Kate's time under fire.

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  11. Great post, Rupert. My admiration of Ms. Hepburn extends beyond the screen to her attitude and independent lifestyle in general. Without standing on a soapbox, but by mere example, she was a true champion of women's rights, and individuality. I don't think she felt the need to apologize for anything.

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  12. I've never considered Miss Hepburn to be of her time. Rupert, you were smart to cite Ginger Rodgers, here; I consider Rodgers to be a "thirties" actress. To me Hepburn was so independent and forward-thinking that it was natural that her appeal would be greater to today's audiences than to those of her day.

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  13. It is always amazing how many wonderful movies were flops until they received recognition years later. Same with Katharine Hepburn. I'm glad classic film has so many fans now so that these films and actors like Hepburn receive the enthusiastic appreciation they deserve. Great article, Rupert.

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  14. It is hard to believe that there was a time Hepburn was considered box office poison. And given the fact that many of the flops she made are now classics, I think she was just a victim of bad luck. That having been said, I have to agree with Selznick that Hepburn was not suited for Scarlett O'Hara, but for a very different reason. With her overly strong, Yankee accent I don't think she could have pulled off a Southern accent (indeed, I can't think of many films she did in which didn't have that accent). Odd as it may seem, I think Englishmen (like Vivien Leigh) can actually do a convincing Southern accent than any Yankee!

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  15. Another tremendous post Rupert. Thanks. I personally think that it was Ms. Hepburn's great intelligence and taste that placed her at odds with the public. Most people are threatened by quality brains (especially in women) and they fail to appreciate the talent as a result. That many of Ms. Hepburn's flops are now considered classics is not due to the opinions of average movie fans - most of which still don't get her. I hope you will review Quality Street here one day. Its one of the most overlooked of her films but in my opinion one of her most beautiful films.

    KBR

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  16. Rupert, a great summation of the first stage (and beginning of the second stage) of the great Kate's film career. I'm wondering if you'll follow it up. Did you notice the anachronism in "The Aviator" when she tells Howard Hughes "I'm considered box office poison, you know" several years before that notorious poll of theater owners was even conducted? Everyone has their own likes and dislikes among these early films, but everyone seems to agree that no matter how they feel about the movie, Kate is always wonderful--putting everything she had into the role and always staying true to herself no matter what type she played.

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  17. Great posting, Rupert - I love watching Hepburn's movies and find it amazing she was ever considered box office poison. I hadn't realised 'A Bill of Divorcement' was her debut - that's one I'm hoping to watch very soon, and I look forward to seeing Kate and Barrymore together!

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  18. Can you imagine Kate as Scarlet O'Hara?! Like the majority, I enjoy Kate but the films........... I would love to hear more of your thoughts about Bringing Up Baby.....I don't get it either.

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  19. A lot of people didn't get "Bringing Up Baby" when it was released in 1938. It was a flop and most people found Hepburn annoying, and that was kind. Bosley Crowther, the reviewer at the New York Times, laid all the blame on Kate. He had nothing bad to say about Grant.

    But I must say, there are a lot of great character performances in that film. The sheriff is hysterical, in my opinion, as is May Robson as Aunt Susan.http://classicmovieman.blogspot.com/

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  20. D.B: Whoever said that one had to "get" something others liked? Sometimes we just have to be content with not liking an otherwise beloved film. :) It's not that I don't "get" *Audrey* Hepburn, it's just that I don't care for her style. However, I do see what it is that others find charming; it's just not for me.

    BTW, I'm in the midst of reviewing several Kate Hepburn performances and the most recent is Dragon Seed:

    Katharine Hepburn: Dragon Seed

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  21. Very informative, great article!

    I've never really gotten the attraction to Katharine Hepburn. It's probably my fault. :)

    I suppose she was good in The Philadelphia Story... But that movie would've been fantastic with or without her, in my opinion.

    Oh, come to think of it, I enjoyed her in Rooster Cogburn... But I don't know how on-topic that is. 1975 wasn't exactly her prime.

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  22. Supposedly Louis B. Mayer attended the play of "Philadelphia Story" with Norma Shearer on his arm, and Hepburn worried he hoped to buy the play for her, but he had no such intention, and it's not known if Norma was the least interested herself.

    At that time, in fact, Norma was just embarking on an intense two-year love affair with George Raft, the most significant of the few liaisons between her two marriages and, unusual for Norma, she'd lowered the flame on her career ambitions.

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