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Post by topbilled on Oct 17, 2023 14:43:00 GMT
Katharine Hepburn was one of RKO’s brightest stars in the 1930s. Studio execs had signed her to a contract based on the recommendation of George Cukor. He was casting the first version of A BILL OF DIVORCEMENT, which would provide Hepburn with her motion picture debut. After that she had delightful turns in LITTLE WOMEN and MORNING GLORY, for which she received her first Best Actress Oscar. She went on to give heartbreaking performances as ALICE ADAMS and MARY OF SCOTLAND.
She tried comedies, but when those vehicles didn’t connect with audiences, she was labeled box office poison. In 1938 she bought out the rest of her contract and headed to Broadway. She had a massive hit with the stage version of THE PHILADELPHIA STORY and signed with MGM for the movie adaptation. But it’s her early films at RKO which show a younger and more vulnerable side of the actress.
Check out:
CHRISTOPHER STRONG (1933)
ok.ru/video/305077095160
SPITFIRE (1934)
ok.ru/video/2100716178100
BREAK OF HEARTS (1935)
ok.ru/video/281372134051
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Post by Fading Fast on Oct 17, 2023 15:06:40 GMT
⇧ Great comments. I'd add 1937's "Stage Door" to the list as, in particular, her interaction with Ginger Rogers is fantastic in that one.
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Post by topbilled on Oct 17, 2023 15:30:29 GMT
Thanks Fading Fast. Love the photo you posted.
Here's a list of Katharine Hepburn's output at RKO:
A BILL OF DIVORCEMENT (1932)
CHRISTOPHER STRONG (1933)
MORNING GLORY (1933)
LITTLE WOMEN (1933)
SPITFIRE (1934)
THE LITTLE MINISTER (1934)
ALICE ADAMS (1935)
BREAK OF HEARTS (1935)
SYLVIA SCARLETT (1935)
MARY OF SCOTLAND (1936)
A WOMAN REBELS (1936)
QUALITY STREET (1937)
STAGE DOOR (1937)
BRINGING UP BABY (1938)
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Post by jamesjazzguitar on Oct 17, 2023 17:31:48 GMT
Thanks Fading Fast. Love the photo you posted.
Here's a list of Katharine Hepburn's output at RKO:
A BILL OF DIVORCEMENT (1932)
CHRISTOPHER STRONG (1933)
MORNING GLORY (1933)
LITTLE WOMEN (1933)
SPITFIRE (1934)
THE LITTLE MINISTER (1934)
ALICE ADAMS (1935)
BREAK OF HEARTS (1935)
SYLVIA SCARLETT (1935)
MARY OF SCOTLAND (1936)
A WOMAN REBELS (1936)
QUALITY STREET (1937)
STAGE DOOR (1937)
BRINGING UP BABY (1938) I find it interesting that Bringing Up Baby was her last film for RKO, and that it broke even at the box-office. While I don't think this one film lead to the box office poison situation, it certainly didn't help, with Kate ending up buying out her contract and going to much better and bigger successes. |
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Post by topbilled on Oct 17, 2023 18:13:12 GMT
Though ALICE ADAMS had comedic elements, Katharine Hepburn's first real comedy was SYLVIA SCARLETT and that film bombed at the box office. So I think every time she tried a comic role right after that, the critics tore into her. It didn't help that QUALITY STREET, a period comedy directed by George Stevens, also lost money. If BRINGING UP BABY had been a runaway hit, she would have been seen as a viable comedy actress and might have stayed with RKO...but because BABY only broke even, this fact combined with those recent failures led to her being deemed box office poison.
The studio's next role for her was to be in MOTHER CAREY'S CHICKENS (1938) which she refused to do. I guess that was their attempt to put her in another family type film echoing her earlier success in LITTLE WOMEN. One of the other sisters was to be played by Ginger Rogers, who had costarred with Hepburn in STAGE DOOR, which was a hit.
After rejecting the part in MOTHER CAREY'S CHICKENS, Hepburn would've been placed on suspension if she hadn't bought out the rest of the contract. The role she was to play was given to Ruby Keeler, who seems an odd replacement. And Ginger Rogers' role was given to Anne Shirley.
Speaking of Ginger Rogers, she was successful in comedies and in dramas. Not to mention those musicals with Fred Astaire. So you can see how we have one actress (Rogers) who flourished at RKO during these years, while another actress (Hepburn) did not, except at the very beginning, and ended up being labeled a box office deterrent.
As you said, James, she went on to bigger and better things.
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Post by jamesjazzguitar on Oct 17, 2023 22:14:31 GMT
Though ALICE ADAMS had comedic elements, Katharine Hepburn's first real comedy was SYLVIA SCARLETT and that film bombed at the box office. So I think every time she tried a comic role right after that, the critics tore into her. It didn't help that QUALITY STREET, a period comedy directed by George Stevens, also lost money. If BRINGING UP BABY had been a runaway hit, she would have been seen as a viable comedy actress and might have stayed with RKO...but because BABY only broke even, this fact combined with those recent failures led to her being deemed box office poison.
The studio's next role for her was to be in MOTHER CAREY'S CHICKENS (1938) which she refused to do. I guess that was their attempt to put her in another family type film echoing her earlier success in LITTLE WOMEN. One of the other sisters was to be played by Ginger Rogers, who had costarred with Hepburn in STAGE DOOR, which was a hit.
After rejecting the part in MOTHER CAREY'S CHICKENS, Hepburn would've been placed on suspension if she hadn't bought out the rest of the contract. The role she was to play was given to Ruby Keeler, who seems an odd replacement. And Ginger Rogers' role was given to Anne Shirley.
Speaking of Ginger Rogers, she was successful in comedies and in dramas. Not to mention those musicals with Fred Astaire. So you can see how we have one actress (Rogers) who flourished at RKO during these years, while another actress (Hepburn) did not, except at the very beginning, and ended up being labeled a box office deterrent.
As you said, James, she went on to bigger and better things. Hepburn's first film after leaving RKO was the romcom Holiday, by Columbia also in 1938, and was a hit with critics and audiences. |
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Post by topbilled on Oct 18, 2023 14:02:26 GMT
As you said, James, she went on to bigger and better things. Hepburn's first film after leaving RKO was the romcom Holiday, by Columbia also in 1938, and was a hit with critics and audiences.
She was billed over Grant in SYLVIA SCARLETT, BRINGING UP BABY and HOLIDAY...but she was second-billed, after Grant, in THE PHILADELPHIA STORY...probably because she'd lost negotiating power after having been labeled box office poison.
She had no films in release in 1939, a year that fans and critics give extra importance. But Cary Grant had been in three hits in '39-- ONLY ANGELS HAVE WINGS, GUNGA DIN and IN NAME ONLY. His career was red hot, and he faced no consequences for the disappointing box office of BRINGING UP BABY. |
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