January 6th: THE PHILADELPHIA STORY (George Cukor, 1940)

A haughty socialite about to remarry juggles her fiancé, ex-husband, and a reporter from a scandal magazine.

After a quick rise to fame including an Academy Award, Katharine Hepburn's stock had fallen considerably at the end of the 1930s. A series of commercial failures (including the future classic Bringing Up Baby) led a group of theatre owners to label her "box office poison", and her subsequent treatment by studio RKO Pictures led her to buy out her contract and become a free agent.

Hepburn sought refuge on stage, where she appeared in a new play by friend Philip Barry. The lead role written for her specifically, she also helped finance the production. Howard Hughes, a former flame of Hepburn's, purchased the film rights and then gave them to the actress. Now holding bargaining power, she made a deal with MGM that allowed her to approve her co-stars and director.

George Cukor, already a veteran who had been making films since the beginning of sound film, was known as a "woman's director" for his skill at handling various actresses and subject matter featuring women. He had previously directed Hepburn in several films including Little Women and Holiday, and the two were close friends. The script was adapted by playwright Donald Ogden Stewart, a member of the famed "Algonquin Round Table" social group that included Dorothy Parker.

Selected to star alongside Hepburn was Cary Grant, at the peak of his popularity and someone who had worked with Hepburn and Cukor together twice before, and James Stewart, a star on the rise with recent hits Mr. Smith Goes To Washington and You Can't Take It With You, winner of the Best Picture Oscar. Also starring is Ruth Hussey, who had just made the move from "B" pictures to higher-profile productions.

The film was shot entirely on the studio lot in Culver City. Other notable members of the crew included Joseph Ruttenberg (one of only two men to win four Oscars for cinematography), and highly-regarded music composer Franz Waxman (Sunset Blvd, Rear Window, Bride Of Frankenstein). The producer was Joseph L. Mankiewicz, who would himself go on to become an Oscar-winning writer and director (All About Eve).

The Philadelphia Story premiered late in 1940 and was a considerable success, breaking a sales record at Radio City Music Hall and the 5th most popular film of the following year at the box office. It received six Academy Award nominations including those for Best Picture, Director, Hepburn, and Hussey, with Oscars won by Stewart and Ogden.

Running time is approx. 2 hrs.