Every family has its problems. We all know this. We also all know that whether or not a family deals with its problems is another matter, and Ernest Thompson's On Golden Pond is a rather gorgeous and slightly tempestuous look at aging and reconciliation. Yeah, we've had a lot of family movies and dysfunction type stories … Continue reading Stage To Screen: On Golden Pond
Page To Screen: Little Women
Few books have been as influential to women's literature and for that matter, American literature as Louisa May Alcott's Little Women. There's a saying among Englishers that the American literature canon is more than twelve dead white guys and Emily Dickinson, but I think it should be "more than twelve dead white guys, Emily Dickinson, and Louisa … Continue reading Page To Screen: Little Women
See You In Court
Kate and Spence have returned, all... When Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy come up, people often talk about how well-matched they are. They're like two peas. Whatever Spence gave Kate, she gave back to him, and their love for each other was always evident. This dynamic played successfully in nine feature films, and one of … Continue reading See You In Court
At the Stage Door Canteen
Much has been made of the Hollywood Canteen and its efforts to entertain the troops during the Second World War. They weren't the first to the party, however, not that anyone's counting, but Broadway got there way before them. In 1917, various Broadway stars, many of them women, founded the American Theatre Wing, which was … Continue reading At the Stage Door Canteen
Curing Box Office Poison
Miss Hepburn is back... Joan Crawford wasn't the only Golden Age actress to garner the dreaded Box Office Poison label; Katharine Hepburn also got stuck with it. What's interesting is how differently these two women handled the setback. Joan's response was to smolder in her posh mansion while waiting for good parts to come along, … Continue reading Curing Box Office Poison
Politics As Usual
And here's our guy Van... Ah, politics. It's no secret that they're a nasty business. It's also no secret that they can get particularly ugly on social media. What's easy to forget, though, is how much hasn't changed (Side note: Jefferson and Adams were known for some sick burns in their time.). Manipulation, back door … Continue reading Politics As Usual
At the Very Beginning
Production Code Time... The onscreen and offscreen partnership of Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn is the stuff of legend, and it all started with the 1942 film, Woman of the Year. The story of two rival columnists, it's a classic battle of the sexes. Tess Harding (Katharine Hepburn) is an international affairs columnist for the New York Chronicle. … Continue reading At the Very Beginning
To Spencer, With Love
The relationship between Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy is the stuff of legend. They were together for twenty-six years, and while morally their relationship may raise some red flags, it was always good to see their love for each other every time they locked eyes. Almost twenty years after Tracy's death, Hepburn, along with many … Continue reading To Spencer, With Love
What’s There Is Cherce
Katharine Hepburn was famously athletic for most of her life. She played sports of all kinds and loved swimming in the ocean. It was only a matter of time before a role came along that would show off her abilities, and that was the title character in 1952's Pat and Mike. Pat Pemberton is a widow … Continue reading What’s There Is Cherce
You Irreplaceable You
February 15, 2016 was the seventieth anniversary of the unveiling of ENIAC, without which none of us would be tapping away at laptops smaller than coffee table books, or blogging, or sending e-mail, or using self-check cash registers, and so on and so forth. It goes without saying that we can't imagine life without computers. … Continue reading You Irreplaceable You
Taking Up Room 