Katharine Hepburn On Stage
By Judy Samelson
Katharine Hepburn in the title role in Jane Eyre (1937) photo by Vandamm Studio. Billy Rose Theatre Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
We take a tour of "Katharine Hepburn: In Her Own Files," the first public exhibition of the theatrical papers of Katharine Hepburn at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
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I have admired Katharine Hepburn (oh, all right, I've been a fan) since... well, I'll only say that nine Presidents have occupied the White House since she insinuated herself into my then-young consciousness. Not only was her work compelling but in her independence, forthrightness, sense of adventure and fairness and loyalty, her personal life seemed to offer a design for living that was particularly enticing to a 13-year-old girl. Decades later, Hepburn's power to captivate — even now, six years after her death at 96 on June 29, 2003 — lives on. So, when my editor asked me to cover "Katharine Hepburn: In Her Own Files" — the exhibition of the actress' theatrical papers on view through Oct. 10 at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts (complete exhibition details below) — I jumped at the assignment.
In 2004, the trustees of Hepburn's estate (Cynthia McFadden and Erik Hanson) donated to the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences' Margaret Herrick Library in Los Angeles what the library has called the largest presentation of material documenting a film career they have ever received from a single performer. Subsequently, in October 2007, the actress' estate donated the papers covering her stage career to The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. When one considers the fact that Katharine Hepburn juggled a successful film and stage career by practically commuting between Los Angeles and New York (a given now, but not the done thing in her day), the bi-coastal division of this array of professional and personal material takes on a pleasing symmetry. The Hepburn theatrical papers are housed in the library's Billy Rose Division, and it is from this vast collection that the current exhibition was developed by the library's executive director Jacqueline Z. Davis and curator of exhibitions Barbara Cohen-Stratyner.
"Katharine Hepburn: In Her Own Files" allows fans a privileged peek — via letters, telegrams, journals, photos, etc. — into the support Hepburn received from friends and teachers, the diligence and good humor with which she approached her work and the personal satisfaction she seems to have derived from it. The exhibition encompasses the broad sweep of Hepburn's stage career from its earliest days in college theatrics to her final appearances on Broadway. Items in frames line the walls of the Vincent Astor Gallery, while other more fragile pieces are displayed in glass cases in the center of the space. Enlarged images of Hepburn in various stage roles are hung banner-style from the ceiling. In one corner of the gallery there is a flat-screen TV on which excerpts from videotaped talks given by friends and colleagues at the library in 2008 are played in a loop. Finally, since even an exhibition designed to spotlight her work in the theatre could not completely ignore the movies that made her an icon, Hepburn's film years are also represented with photos and ephemera from the library's general collections.
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It may come as a surprise to some to discover that Katharine Hepburn had a globetrotting theatrical career that took her from fresh-out-of-college appearances in stock companies to Broadway, from the West End to the American Shakespeare Festival Theatre in Stratford, CT, — even to Australia with The Old Vic Company. She was one of the few among her Hollywood-royalty contemporaries to return repeatedly to the stage. As she told Dick Cavett in a 1973 interview, she had a theatre clause built into her film contracts from the very start, giving her control over her career and enabling her to leave Hollywood and tread the boards periodically. Something else she said during that interview revealed an unexpected insecurity but also a determination to triumph over it. "I was so tormented in the theatre," she told Cavett. "It frightened me so that I thought I must come back and overcome that. And it took me my whole life."
Katharine Hepburn (right) and Colin Keith-Johnston - in The Warrior's Husband (1932) photograph by White Studio. Billy Rose Theatre Division,The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
That life in the theatre encompassed everything from untraditional ingénues (
The Warrior's Husband ) to musical grande dames (
Coco ) — from Philip Barry to Enid Bagnold to George Bernard Shaw to William Shakespeare. The trajectory wasn't always uphill. The Hepburn career resembled the stomach-churning ups and downs of an E-ticket ride on more than one occasion. In 1934, after having won the first of her record four Oscars for what was only her third role in pictures ("Morning Glory"), Hepburn starred on Broadway in
The Lake for producer–director Jed Harris and was famously cut down by Dorothy Parker's scathing critique that her performance ran the gamut of emotions from A to B. What could have leveled a lesser person only served to fuel her fire and her career would ultimately render Parker's potshot obsolete, as Hepburn excelled in exploring and conveying all manner of emotion in the roles she took on.
What follows, then, is a walking tour of "Katharine Hepburn: In Her Own Files" — a fan's-eye view of this fascinating exhibition of the theatrical papers of the Great Kate.
THE EARLY YEARS, BROADWAY & HOLLYWOOD
Bryn Mawr
From 1925 to 1928 Hepburn attended Bryn Mawr, the women's college on Philadelphia's Main Line, and during that time became active in student theatrics. Among the first items displayed in the gallery are Hepburn's map of the college campus alongside a program for The Truth About Blayds , a 1928 production in which she had the male role of Oliver Blayds Conway.
A young actress of possibilities
The years between her college graduation and Broadway are documented with programs from The Czarina , in which Hepburn appeared for Edwin Knopf's Baltimore stock company in 1928, a photograph of Hepburn in The Big Pond , a play that opened in Great Neck (Hepburn was fired after one night, something that would happen more than once in her early stage career), as well as an Actors' Equity contract, dated Aug. 26, 1928, for a play called Night Hostess , where her part is described as "A night hostess and understudy as assigned" for a salary of $50. Many sources list Night Hostess as her Broadway debut; however, Hepburn always maintained that she got a better job in New York and left the play before it arrived on Broadway in September 1928.
Following these items is a 1928 letter of introduction from writer–director David Wallace to director–producer George C. Tyler, in which he writes: "I want to introduce you to Katherine [sic] Hepburn, a young actress of possibilities . . . She's had a variety of experience including summer stock and she played for Arthur Hopkins in These Days ."
Hepburn's Broadway debut in These Days (Cort Theatre, November 1928) is represented by a Playbill from the production as well as her "sides" from the play. Sides are the pages from the playscript that contain only an actor's lines, stage directions and cues. Each of the sides is stamped on the front with the act and scene and with the name "Veronica," Hepburn's role in the play.
Her next Broadway appearance came in Art and Mrs. Bottle (Maxine Elliot's Theatre, Nov. 18, 1930–December 1930), starring Jane Cowl. Hepburn was hired for the play, then fired and then rehired. In her autobiography "Me," she wrote of Cowl's generosity — helping with her makeup, softening her look — and Cowl's encouragement is evident in the displayed opening night telegram to the young actress. It reads, simply: "Be a good girl and act pretty."
A fan letter reads: "Naturally, Jane Cowl was the drawing card but for all her kerchief flutters my eyes kept going back to the silent unknown, her back to the audience. No tricks to steal the scene, but what concentration! So when I got home I put the check mark after the name, a memo to me to watch this one, she's going to be someone." Next to the letter is a cast list from an Art and Mrs. Bottle program. The list sports a tiny check mark next to Hepburn's name.
After Art and Mrs. Bottle Hepburn joined The New York Players, a summer stock company run by Milton Stiefel. Stiefel, one of her early supporters, was the first to offer her leading roles and she appeared in a number of plays with his company, including Let Us Be Gay . Displayed next to a Christmas card from Stieflel is a program from that 1932 production at the Comstock-Cheney Theatre, later to become Stiefel's Ivoryton Playhouse.
A star is born
A group of photos, including a banner hanging above, feature Hepburn in full Amazon regalia tussling with Colin-Keith Johnston in her next Broadway outing, Julian F. Thompson's The Warrior's Husband (Morosco Theatre, March 11, 1932-May 1932). Hepburn played Antiope to Johnston's Theseus and intrigued audiences from the moment she stepped onto the stage, leaping down a narrow flight of stairs with a stag over her shoulder.
RKO and the movies
Fan magazine featuring Katharine Hepburn on the cover Billy Rose Theatre Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
The good notices Hepburn received for The Warrior's Husband led to a screen test that brought her to the attention of director George Cukor, who became a lifelong colleague and friend; producer David O. Selznick; and RKO. In the span of one year in Hollywood, she was introduced in her first film, "A Bill of Divorcement," starring John Barrymore and Billie Burke and directed by George Cukor; billed over the title in her second, "Christopher Strong," about an aviatrix's doomed love affair; won the first of four career Oscars in her third, "Morning Glory," co-starring with Adolphe Menjou and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.; and followed that with one of her most beloved performances as Jo March in the George Cukor-directed "Little Women." Hollywood stardom brought with it press coverage in movie magazines, such as the copies of "Picture Play" and "Modern Screen" displayed here alongside studio publicity portraits taken by the famed star photographer Ernest A. Bachrach.
The Lake
Now a bona fide movie star, Hepburn planned a return to Broadway in the Jed Harris production of The Lake . Displayed are a series of telegrams between Harris and Hepburn concerning the production. Harris — whose Broadway credits as either producer or director included The Royal Family , The Front Page and Our Town — was a talented but difficult, some would say sadistic, man. He had a notorious reputation for either bedding or belittling his stars — or both. Laurence Olivier was said to have based his Richard III on him, and Playbill's former senior editor Louis Botto once told me that George S. Kaufman, who worked with Harris on The Front Page and The Royal Family , had such disdain for Harris that he once said when he died, Kaufman wanted to have his ashes thrown in Jed Harris' face. Harris' behavior with Hepburn did nothing to alter his tyrannical reputation. However, the telegrams on display were all written in April 1933, when Harris was still in the courting stage and Hepburn was still receptive. He wanted her to star not only in The Lake but also in The Green Bay Tree .
One telegram, dated April 20, 1933, mentions Hepburn's good friend Laura Harding:The Lake which I want you to do after The Green Bay Tree STOP After she gets through it I'm going to have her call you up and tell you in great detail what my ideas about these things are STOP Your telegrams are so long and loving I wish you'd send me lots more STOP Love and wonderful personal regards. Jed"
Hepburn passed on The Green Bay Tree — and nearly drowned in The Lake . The play opened at the Martin Beck Theatre on Dec. 26, 1933 and closed in February 1934. In her autobiography she wrote of the contentiousness during rehearsals, and the warning she received from Helen Hayes ("Don't let Jed direct you. He will destroy your confidence."). During rehearsals Harris fired the director, Tony Miner, and criticized Hepburn's every move, thereby confirming Hayes' prediction. Why he did this to his star remains a mystery. Harris insisted on keeping the play open. Even as a flop, Hepburn was a draw. But there were some bright spots. Hepburn kept a fan letter from this period that is displayed next to the Harris telegrams. It reads: "The Lake is the only Broadway play I have ever attended. I don't usually allow myself such luxuries, but I couldn't resist seeing you . . ."
THEATRE GUILD
Hepburn's association with the Theatre Guild, co-founded by Lawrence Langner, Theresa Helburn and Armina Marshall, began in the late '20s. In 1936-37, she toured in the Guild production of Jane Eyre , represented in the exhibition by two striking Vandamm Studio images. One of the banners hanging from the ceiling shows Hepburn in costume as the title character and the other pictures the star decidedly out of costume, sitting cross-legged on the floor of the stage set with the play's crew — in her usual trousers, cigarette in hand. The play had a successful tour but Hepburn didn't think it was the right vehicle for her return to the New York stage. The experience of The Lake had made her skittish, not only for herself but also for the coffers of the Guild. If she were going to tackle Broadway again, she had to come back in the right vehicle.
Katharine Hepburn and Dan Tobin on Broadway in "The Philadelphia Story" (1939) photograph by Vandamm Studio. Billy Rose Theatre Division,The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
That vehicle arrived in the form of Philip Barry's The Philadelphia Story , which opened at Broadway's Shubert Theatre on March 28, 1939 and ran for a year. Prior to her involvement in the play, Hepburn's film career had been in a slump, and the Theatre Guild and Phillip Barry had not had a discernible hit in a while. Tracy Lord changed that for all of them: Hepburn and the play were a great success. The exhibition features a framed souvenir program from The Philadelphia Story as well as a color photo of Hepburn (as Tracy) in designer Valentina's stunning white gown and red coat. Also included is a telegram from her old Bryn Mawr schoolmate Margaret Barker. Barker, a Group Theatre actress and instructor, befriended Hepburn when they attended Bryn Mawr and in her correspondence uses their college nicknames: Beanie and Kaydiddle.
The telegram, dated March 28, 1939, reads:
Hepburn's reply is framed alongside the telegram:
After the Broadway run and before she took the play on tour, Hepburn, with the film rights in her pocket, returned to Los Angeles and to a new studio: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. She had her pick of co-star and director and made what is now considered one of the most elegant romantic comedies ever to have emerged from Hollywood. The film is represented by a framed copy of Hepburn's Life magazine cover (Aug. 6, 1941) as well as a Picturegoer cover of her and James Stewart locked in a moonlit embrace.
Hepburn reunited with the Theatre Guild and Philip Barry for Without Love , which opened at the St. James Theatre on Nov. 10, 1942. There are photos of her and co-star Elliot Nugent onstage and a souvenir book from the play. Another small photo shows Hepburn in one of Valentina's costumes for her in the play alongside a notebook page on which Hepburn sketched the dress in pencil and wrote, "Color powder blue, skirt simply floated, made of strips of gray, rose, white and powder blue . . . I don't know whether it was organdy or starched chiffon, but it sure was heavenly." Without Love ran for three months, closing in February 1943. If lightning didn't exactly strike twice for the collaborators, it did give Hepburn another opportunity to transfer a play to the screen, this time as a vehicle for her third pairing with Spencer Tracy in 1945.
Katharine Hepburn as Rosalind in As You Like It (1950) photograph by Vandamm Studio. Billy Rose Theatre Division,The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
SHAKESPEARE
Perhaps the most intriguing items in the exhibition relate to Hepburn's Shakespearean roles because they allow us to witness her process, via detailed notes and sketches, and the input she received from various colleagues. Virtually all of these productions are represented in some fashion in the exhibition.
As You Like It
On Jan. 26, 1950, Hepburn opened at the Cort Theatre in As You Like It , produced by the Theatre Guild. Lawrence Langner had challenged her to tackle the role of Rosalind saying that if she didn't do it, she would be considered limited.
Vandamm Studio photos show her with William Prince as Orlando, and an enlarged photo taken by Ellen Darby presents a terrific, if somewhat incongruous, image of Hepburn and Prince onstage in costume. Taken during rehearsals, Prince is seated and Hepburn is standing in cape and tights with a script and the ubiquitous cigarette.
In the glass case, there's an opening night gift signed by the Guild's Theresa Helburn, Lawrence Langner and Armina Marshall inscribed, in part:
"January 26, 1950—
Below are some examples of congratulatory notes Hepburn received on opening night. As was her habit, she wrote her responses at the bottom of the telegrams.
Anita Loos' telegram congratulating Hepburn on her Shakespearean debut in As You Like It shows Hepburn's hand-written reply photo by Sherry Sauerwine
ANITA LOOS: "January 26, 1950—Love to you. Congratulations to Shakespeare."
Hepburn's reply: "That was a mighty cute wire. I don't know how the old boy would feel, but it made me very proud. See you soon. Affect."
JAMES CAGNEY: "January 27, 1950—Dear Kate: The gang convined [sic] last night and we heard all the good news of the play . . . Want you to know that all the Cagneys are pulling for the greatest hit in your entire career. We think your [sic] great."
Hepburn's reply: "Dear Jim: Thought for a while the Irishers were going 2 have 2 come back and fight my battles."
JOHN FORD: "January 26, 1950—Get in there and pitch Tutz."
Hepburn's reply: "Dear Jack: Thank u 4 ur wire on opening nite. It's very classical but I'm sure u intended it 2 be. I think that that is an old Eng. word as it very likely may be on 2nd thought. How I adored 'She Wore a Yellow Ribbon.'"
There is also a letter from Constance Collier. Collier, who appeared with Hepburn in the 1937 film "Stage Door," was a classical actress and had played all of Shakespeare's great women. She was also an acting coach and worked with Hepburn on this production as well as on Shaw's The Millionairess , in which Hepburn appeared in 1952. Their professional relationship blossomed into a close friendship. Below is an excerpt from Collier's letter. (The "Michael" referred to is the play's director Michael Benthall.)
January 28, 1950
A framed telegram dated Dec. 4, 1950, wishes Hepburn well on the Los Angeles opening of the tour. Signed by the "MGM Studio Drivers," it reads: "Sincere good wishes for a grand opening and a long, successful run."
Like other great theatre stars of her generation and before – The Lunts, Katharine Cornell — Katharine Hepburn embraced the tradition of touring. The As You Like It tour produced a journal in which she seemingly recorded every detail — from the population of the towns she played in to the interstate routes taken to get there, to the hotel accommodations. The journal on display is open to a page that presents a fascinating look into life on the road with Katharine Hepburn. In this particular entry, she wrote about her arrest for speeding while on her way from Tulsa, OK, to the tour's next stop in Wichita, KS. (The "Charles" referred to is Charles Newhill, her longtime driver and friend.) An excerpt reads:
". . . Halfway from Tulsa — about sixty-five miles — in Blackwell, Okla. Charles and I were arrested for speeding. A handsome and extremely irritating and drawling Oklahoman drew alongside when we were going seventy in a sixty-five mile an hour zone with the road straight and flat as a pancake. He pulled us over and took about a half hour to get out of his and get to ours, 'You are under arrest.' 'What the hell for?' I said. He said, 'speeding—follow me.' I said, 'Just a minute officer—we are trying to get to Wichita in time to do a play.' 'You should have left earlier,' he said calmly looking at me . . ."
[After following the cop to a lawyer's office, she continues:]
". . . They gave me an inquiring look and I said, 'I have been arrested by this moron,' turning to the policeman who was then coming to the door. I stood there in a seething rage and so did Charles . . . They cannot find a judge or justice of the peace. I said that I was sorry I did not have a week to take off and . . . if I ever found an Oklahoma car in Connecticut I would flatten all the tires. In the meantime, Cox kept calling to find someone to judge us. I paced to make the cop nervous and backed into a gas stove, singing my coat. . . ."
The Old Vic Tour
In 1955 (mid-May to mid-November), Hepburn played a six-month tour of Australia with Robert Helpmann and The Old Vic Company, performing in The Merchant of Venice , The Taming of the Shrew and Measure for Measure .
The tour is represented by photos of Hepburn and Robert Helpmann as well as a Dolgov costume sketch of Hepburn as Katharina in The Taming of the Shrew and a prompt script from The Merchant of Venice .
The American Shakespeare Festival Theatre
In the summer of 1957, Hepburn appeared in The Merchant of Venice and Much Ado About Nothing for John Houseman and Jack Landau's sophomore season of the American Shakespeare Festival Theatre in Stratford, CT. She returned to the company in the summer of 1960 to appear in Twelfth Night and Antony and Cleopatra
There is a prompt script from the production of Much Ado About Nothing alongside a legal pad with Hepburn's notes and sketch of the set.
Hepburn's appearance in Antony and Cleopatra prompted letters of guidance (with corresponding illustration) from modernist furniture designer Terence Robsjohn-Gibbings ("Gibby"). Two of his letters are displayed. In one (dated Feb. 2, 1960) he advised, "instead of manicuring or bathing, you might be posing for a portrait to be subsequently carved on one of your temples. This would give you a nice opportunity to wear royal clothes and crown . . ." And in another (dated Nov. 11, 1959) he counseled that her Cleopatra must remain modern in costume and approach, writing that "Katharine Cornell's Cleopatra looked like a Westchester matron in a hostess gown" and that Vivien Leigh's was "fancy dress in the Albert Hall." Hepburn's Cleopatra, he wrote, "with all your energy and full of the wild satirical humor of Alexandria . . ." must be "barbaric, pagan, splendid."
Detail of a notebook Hepburn kept during rehearsals for Antony and
Cleopatra photo by Sherry Sauerwine
A fascinating notebook that she kept while preparing for Antony and Cleopatra , shows densely-packed pages, in Hepburn's hand, divided into two columns dissecting each scene and character, each entrance and exit, a breakdown of the mood and atmosphere of each scene. She kept these notebooks for other productions as well.
SHAW
In 1952 Hepburn starred in George Bernard Shaw's The Millionairess in England (presented by Hugh "Binky" Beaumont's H.M. Tennent Ltd.) and later in the year on Broadway at the Shubert Theatre (produced by the Theatre Guild in association with Beaumont). The play co-starred Robert Helpmann and Cyril Ritchard and was directed by Michael Benthall. On display is a letter from Lawrence Langner to Hepburn, in which he wrote of the Theatre Guild's efforts to obtain Shaw's permission to do the play and described a humorous encounter with the great GBS. The letter is dated June 25, 1950, and reads, in part:
"Armina and I had a wonderful visit with George Bernard Shaw and talked about The Millionairess . The following dialogue may amuse you:
Another telegram — from Benthall and Beaumont — reads: "Cyril Ritchard eager to play Adrian STOP We feel this good idea in spite of height. Has personality and great vitality . . ." — to which Hepburn queried at the foot of the telegram: "Lovely. But how could I Judo him?"
The strenuous performance she was giving in The Millionairess caused Hepburn to experience extreme vocal problems. Prior to the Broadway opening in October 1952, she lost her voice almost entirely and, as she wrote in her autobiography, she was desperate to find someone who could help. She had studied with a number of teachers over the years, but most helpful to her during this period was a man named Alfred Dixon. Dixon's typewritten exercises, titled "Tonal Shades," are displayed next to a chart labeled "Tones, Sound and Shades," illustrating symbols corresponding to different tonal shades. Hepburn apparently did her homework because beside these are her meticulous handwritten notes interpreting these lessons. All of these notes were kept in and are displayed alongside a leather portfolio with the initials ST (presumably, for Spencer Tracy).
COCO
Katharine Hepburn in the title role in Coco (1969) contact sheet detail by Friedman-Abeles. Billy Rose Theatre Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
In 2008, the library hosted a series of talks under the banner "Remembering Kate." Each talk was devoted to a different area of Hepburn's stage career. The talks were recorded and video excerpts appear on a television screen in the gallery. Among the friends and colleagues who read from Hepburn's papers were Sam Waterston and Zoe Caldwell, whose focus was on her appearance in her first and only stage musical, Coco .
On Dec. 18, 1969, Hepburn opened at Broadway's Mark Hellinger Theatre in the Alan Jay Lerner-André Previn musical about pioneering French fashion designer Gabrielle Chanel. She played in it until the summer of 1970, but at the start, it seemed that she thought the project would not be right for her. Lerner, however, was determined to get her, as evidenced by the correspondence that passed between them. In an excerpt from one of Lerner's letters, written to her from the Hotel Plaza Athenee on Sept. 16, 1967, Waterston reads:
". . . Believe me when I tell you that never in my entire professional life have I ever wanted anyone to play any role in anything I have ever written as much as I want you to play Coco. If you allow me I will prove it to you by doing anything and everything within the bounds of artistic, legal, economic and social reason to make it possible for you to do it conveniently, happily and comfortably . . ."
Hepburn's reply, read by Zoe Caldwell:
". . . I am doing two things virtually at the same time [presumably, this was a reference to the two films in which she starred back to back — "The Lion in Winter" and "The Madwoman of Chaillot"] and I do not enjoy working this way. I'm an all-for-one sort of person. I'm convinced that any deal between us is impossible and this is why . . . You have done a wonderful job and there are many people who could do it brilliantly. I offer you no time, no freedom. I just don't want to be tied up at my age. And this is a proper attitude . . . Frankly, I'm not sure that I will ever act again . . . I'm sorry if I led you on. I should have stated my position more clearly to begin with. I felt I had. Affectionately, Kate"
Hepburn's water color sketch of herself in the costume from "The Madwoman of Chaillot" (Embassy, 1968) Katharine Hepburn Papers, Billy Rose Theatre Division,The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
Hepburn loved to sketch and paint. On display is one of the notebooks she kept during Coco rehearsals, open to a page in which she painted herself in costume as the Countess Aurelia from her 1969 film "The Madwoman of Chaillot."
Work on Coco proceeded with Hepburn signing on but insisting that they hire a director experienced in musical theatre ("I don't want expensive chaos," she wrote in one letter read by Caldwell) and concerned that Lerner would not be ready in time for the start of rehearsals. In an effort to ease Hepburn's concerns, Lerner, in a letter read by Waterston, declared emphatically (and humorously): ". . . barring crippling illness, atomic war, planetary collision — or your wishes — rehearsals will begin in November. And that's that. Period . . ."
Hepburn gave a speech from the stage of the Hellinger after a performance on May 8, 1970. She was asked by actor Keir Dullea to request a moment of silence in memory of the four students shot by the National Guard earlier that week on the campus of Kent State University in Ohio. Her speech, as read by Caldwell, said, in part:
". . . A few days ago four kids were shot and killed in Kent State College, Ohio. Now you may call them rebels or rabble-rousers or anything you name. Nevertheless they were our kids and our responsibility. Our generation is responsible and we must take time to pause and reflect and do something. You can pray, but we must think — and together — for if we don't, we are lost. The mayor joins with me and the rest of the cast in asking you to stay for a few minutes silence . . . If any of you wishes to leave you are free to do so. But if you do leave, I know you will still think about it . . ."
Hepburn left Coco before the end of the Broadway run to film "The Trojan Women." Beseeching her to stay, members of the orchestra signed a petition that hangs next to a library note card labeled, "The Beloved of the Backstage":
Dear Miss Hepburn
Hepburn's emotional curtain speech, delivered at her final performance in the musical, is read movingly by Zoe Caldwell in the video excerpt:
". . . When I started rehearsal I was very, very frightened. And all these people that you see in the back of me really gave me the faith to go on. Then there was the terror of the opening night and for some wonderful reason, for me, you people gave me a feeling that you believed that I could do it. I've lived a very fortunate life because I had a father and a mother who believed in me. I had brothers and sisters who believed in me and a few friends who have believed in me. And I hope that you learn a lesson that I have learned. That is, I love you and you love me."
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At the start of her career, Hepburn glibly stated that she didn't want to be an actress; she just wanted to be famous. She also said: "I'm a personality as well as an actress. Show me an actress who isn't a personality and you'll show me a woman who isn't a star." But to anyone giving this exhibition even a cursory glance, her commitment to her own excellence and to that of any project in which she was involved — her seemingly inexhaustible curiosity in the clothes, the sets, the movement, the voice — indicates a more thoughtful and deeper desire. Famous? Yes. A star? Certainly. But what lies beneath and what her fans are now being treated to is a self-portrait of someone who took her art — her life's work — very seriously.
One of Miss H's most celebrated film roles was that of Josephine March in "Little Women." Early in the picture, Jo enters the home of her newfound friend Laurie and upon seeing the grandness before her exclaims, "Christopher Columbus! What richness!" Try to resist the urge to blurt out the same when you enter "Katharine Hepburn: In Her Own Files." It won't be easy. But don't take my word for it. Go and see for yourself.
Exhibition Information
Added Treat
"Katharine Hepburn: Stage to Screen"
July 11
July 18
July 25
Aug. 1
Aug. 8
Aug. 15
Aug. 22
Aug. 29
Judy Samelson is the former editor of Playbill magazine. She regularly contributes to Playbill.com.
A view of the Vincent Astor Gallery featuring banners of Hepburn in As You Like It (left) and publicity photos for Coco (right)
photo by Sherry Sauerwine
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