7 Ways Katharine Hepburn Leans In in A WOMAN REBELS (1936)

The post is written in honour of International Women's Day 2015. Scroll to the bottom for more information about how you can be part of the fight against sexism and gender inequality.

A WOMAN REBELS (1936) is about a Pamela Thistlewaite (Katharine Hepburn), a young woman in Victorian England who must raise her illegitimate daughter as her dead sister’s child. Because she is unmarried and doesn’t wish to live with her domineering, unfeeling father, she decides to find work and raise her child on her own. Hepburn’s character is like Hepburn’s own mother, who must rebel against the Victorian gender roles imposed upon her by her older male relatives in order to pursue her way as an autonomous woman. Hepburn’s character has two love interests in the film, both of whom have very few scenes and lines in comparison with Hepburn’s character. Neither relationship is particularly romantic, and it’s hard to believe Hepburn’s complete submission to the man in the final scene. READ MORE...

A Bible and a Gun: ROOSTER COGBURN (and the Lady) (1975)

This post is part of the Build-Your-Own-Blogathon hosted by the Classic Film and TV Cafe. It follows Jennifer Garlen's post about BEND OF THE RIVER (1952), which is another Western that takes place in the American Northwest. For The Great Katharine Hepburn Blogathon earlier this year, Jennifer wrote a great post about ROOSTER COGBURN (1975) as well - be sure to check it out!

"Une Bible et Un Fusil" (a bible and a gun) was the title given to the French translation of Hall Wallis's ROOSTER COGBURN (1975), and it couldn't be a more accurate moniker for this Western starring the most unlikely pairing of Hollywood stars: Katharine Hepburn and John Wayne. By the time of the making of ROOSTER COGBURN, John Wayne had become the symbol of the politically conservative American frontiersman. Hepburn, on the other hand, was well-established as America's high-brow flaming liberal. READ MORE

THE WINNERS of The Great Katharine Hepburn Blogathon!

Thanks again to anyone and everyone who submitted a post to my first ever blogathon, The Great Katharine Hepburn Blogathon! It was a great experience and I look forward to hosting another blogathon in the future. I'd like to say a special thank you to Fritzi at Movies, Silently for the great blogathon advice she gives, and to Will McKinley and Jennifer Garlen for their valuable feedback. I couldn't have done it without you!

23 bloggers sent in articles about the great Kate. It felt like it was my birthday, reading everyone's wonderful thoughts about my favorite actress. Today I put all the submitted blog entries into a hat and randomly drew three winners. DRUMROLL PLEASE!

FOUND OUT THE WINNERS HERE!

The Great Katharine Hepburn Blogathon Has Finally Arrived!

Check out all the awesome entries and prizes at margaretperry.org!

10 Things to Love about WITHOUT LOVE (1945)

Harold S. Buquet's WITHOUT LOVE (1945) is without doubt one of Katharine Hepburn's most underrated films. She plays a Jamie Rowan, a scientist's daughter who rents out part of her Washington DC home to a Pat Jamieson (Spencer Tracy), a scientist who cannot find anywhere to live and work due to the housing shortage of WWII DC. Jamie has given up on love because she tragically lost her first husband, and cannot envision loving anybody else. Pat refuses to have any romance in his life because he has been jilted by the girl he was crazy about. So, the obvious conclusion for this mismatched pair is to enter into a loveless marriage and work together as colleagues on the scientific innovations that will win the war. Well, if you've EVER seen a Hepburn/Tracy movie in your life, you can imagine the laughs these two have before yielding to the inevitable and falling hook, line, and sinker for each other!

"You don't want love in your life, I don't want it in mine. But our reasons are as different as the sun is from the moon. You don't want it because you've had all the worst of it. I don't want it because I've had all the best." (Jamie)

As philosophical as this all sounds, the movie is actually rather light, and full of laughs. Hepburn is as good here as she is in some of her more popular comedies, like BRINGING UP BABY (1938), THE PHILADELPHIA STORY (1940), or ADAM'S RIB (1949). If you haven't seen it already, WITHOUT LOVE is definitely one to add to your collection. Here are my top ten favorite things about the movie.

How Katharine Hepburn Defied Sexist Ageism in Hollywood

It is a widely acknowledged fact in Hollywood today that leading men are permitted to age on screen while their female colleagues are required to keep at least one toe dipped in the fountain of youth. The charts in this Vulture article compare the ages of leading men and their love interests film by film. Though actors like Denzel Washington, Harrison Ford, Johnny Depp, Tom Cruise, George Clooney, and Richard Gere age into their 50s and 60s, only seldom are their leading ladies as old as 40.

This problem isn't unique to the film world. A recent British study shows that older female television presenters are pushed off screen.

"...out of 481 presenters at all the networks only 26 women over 50 are regularly on screen. Of presenters over 50, just 18% are women. This group makes up just 5% of presenters of all ages and sexes and 7% of the total workforce both on and off screen. While there are regularly 188 women on screen, making up 39% of that workforce, the majority of them are under 50." (Women and Hollywood)

Why Girls Today Need A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN (1992)

I am going to give you all, beloved readers, a slice of the life of a starving writer. I was lying in bed last night thinking of all the ways I had failed in life - failed at relationships, jobs, writing, you name it. I was racking my brain for a single thing in my life I had ever done well. Do you know what came to mind? A catch. A really sweet catch.

In the words of Sophia Petrillo, "Picture it. Northern Virginia, mid-1990s." An eight-year-old Margaret Perry was playing first base in a Chantilly Youth Association softball game. I couldn't tell you the score if I wanted to, but at some point the batter hit a solid line drive my way. Without batting an eye I reached across and caught the ball with a backhand. Out! It was an awesome catch and everybody on that field knew it.

So, here I am - a twenty-something struggling to make ends meet in a world that does not celebrate history/English lit. liberal arts graduates. And the one moment of personal glory I can claim without hesitation is an epic catch I made on the softball field over a decade ago. As I write this, I am remembering a dozen or so other examples of great plays I made on that field. Like that sweet grounder I hit into left field, right past the short stop. Or that time I got a huge strawberry sliding into third. Or the time I lobbed it from third to first, making an amazing double play.

Announcing The Great Katharine Hepburn Blogathon!

The time has come! After three years participating in the classic film blogging community with thegreatkh.blogspot.com, Margaret Perry is finally ready to host her very own blogathon. What will the topic of this blogathon be, you ask? Who else but my most favorite classic movie star ever, the great Katharine Hepburn herself!

The Great Katharine Hepburn Blogathon will take place over Miss Hepburn's birthday weekend, May 10-12. Hepburn would have been 107 years old May 12, 2014, which sounds pretty old, but she was all of 96 when she passed away in 2003. Quite a dame.

Find out about rules, prizes, and participants at margaretperry.org!

Here's to International Women's Day and to the Biopics that Never Were

"The story of women's struggle for equality belongs to no single feminist nor to any one organization but to the collective efforts of all who care about human rights" (Gloria Steinem)

International Women's Day has been observed since the turn of the 20th century, back when the early feminist movement was working tirelessly for women's suffrage. Now, 100-and-something years later, women are still fighting to be recognized on equal grounds as men in all fields of endeavor. The film industry has some of the worst statistics concerning gender inequality. Not only are films not being made by women, but comparatively few movies tell women's stories.

When considering film roles Katharine Hepburn never played for the Imaginary Film Blogathon, I got to thinking about how few biopics there are about female historic figures. Not only do movies about the lives of our significant citizens teach us about the great men of history, they also give us role models and teach us how much a human being can do with a single lifetime. We've seen dozens of pictures about the world's famous statesmen, sportsmen, and military men, but as Abigail Adams once entreated to her husband:

"remember the ladies, and be more generous and favorable to then than your ancestors... If particular care and attention is not paid to the Ladies we are determined to foment a Rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any Laws in which we have no voice or Representation."

I have put together a list of notable women whose stories should be told on film. Some of these women do make cursory appearances in our history textbooks, but it is very difficult to grasp the enormity and significance of their contributions without the full narrative arch of their stories. A lot of these women can be found in the National Women's Hall of Fame. If you would like to submit names to this list, let me know in the comments section below and I will add your contributions as they come in. READ MORE

Why LITTLE WOMEN (1933) is a very big deal

“There’s one thing George and I agree on. Actually, we agree on almost everything. I don’t know anything we don’t agree on. One thing we really agree on is, we love LITTLE WOMEN. We loved doing it. And we love the film we made.” (Katharine Hepburn in Chandler, 83)

LITTLE WOMEN (1933) was nominated for three categories in the 6th annual Academy Awards (1932/33): George Cukor for directing, RKO studios for best production, and Sarah Y. Mason and Victor Heerman for writing (adaptation). Though the film came in third for direction and best production, husband and wife writing team Mason and Heerman walked away with the Oscar. Funnily enough, Katharine Hepburn was nominated, not for her performance as Jo, but for her role as Eva Lovelace in MORNING GLORY (1933), her first of four Oscar wins. Hepburn always insisted she was nominated for the wrong film.

Oscar-Winning Director George Cukor (as in "cucumber")

George Cukor was nominated for five Academy Awards for Best Director, ultimately winning in 1965 for MY FAIR LADY (1964). His first nominations were for two of the 10 films he made with Katharine Hepburn, LITTLE WOMEN (1933) and THE PHILADELPHIA STORY (1940).

Producer Jack Warner, Audrey Hepburn, Rex Harrison,
and George Cukor at the 1964 Academy Awards

Although Cukor was known primarily as a "women's director," he actually holds the record for having directed the most male Oscar winners: James Stewart in THE PHILADELPHIA STORY (1940), Ronald Coleman in A DOUBLE LIFE (1947), and Rex Harrison in MY FAIR LADY (1964). (TCM Classic Movie Trivia)

Katharine Hepburn's One and Only Academy Awards Appearance

Katharine Hepburn was nominated for a whopping 12 Academy Awards for Best Actress in a Leading Role, more than any other actress in her time. Although Hepburn won the Oscar for four of her film roles (MORNING GLORY (1933), GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER (1967), THE LION IN WINTER (1968), and ON GOLDEN POND (1981)), she never once attended an Academy Award ceremony to accept an award. It wasn't until she presented Producer Lawrence Weingarten the Irving G. Thalberg Award at the 46th awards ceremony in 1974 that Hepburn ever appeared at the Oscars.

"I've never been to an Academy Award [ceremony]. Now, if I sit here, in my chair, where I must be honest with myself so I'll progress and my character will improve, why don't I go to the Academy Awards? It has to be because I'm afraid that I'm gonna loose. Doesn't it? I don't approve of my attitude, of not going. I think that's cheap of me. Second rate. Second rate, not to go. It's a group activity." (interview with Morley Safer for "60 Minutes")

Remembering Shirley Temple: From "Kid in Hollywood" to International Ambassador

Shirley Temple was only four years old when she made her first short picture for Universal Studios in 1932. She was featured in several shorts between 1932 and '34 with a group of other child actors. One of her more popular shorts was entitled "Kid in Hollywood," in which Temple plays aspiring young actress Morelegs Sweettrick who's career is a failure, "it went flippity flop."

Luckily for us, Temple's real acting career didn't go flippity flop until many many years later, after she'd made some 60 films. She would embark a new new career in politics and international diplomacy throughout the 1960s, '70s, and '80s, serving as Ambassador to Ghana (1974-76) and Czechoslovakia (1989-92).

In the early 1970s Shirley Temple Black became one of the first to speak openly about her struggle with breast cancer, having undergone a radical mastectomy. She lived a full and rich life before passing away of natural causes early this week at her home in California. She was 85 years old. Black is survived by her three children and several grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Obituary

Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin write for the silver screen's dream team

When Garson Kanin published Tracy & Hepburn: An Intimate Memoir in 1972, Katharine Hepburn was furious and refused to talk to him for years. But after time went by and many of her friends started passing away, including Kanin's wife and writing partner Ruth Gordon, Miss Hepburn came to value his friendship once again.

Most scholars have since dismissed Kanin's memoir as too biased to be considered a dependable account of the affair. Scholar Andrew Britton is most perceptive when he states the purpose of the book "suggests only that the authors of PAT AND MIKE wish to make it clear to the spectator that they are in the habit of addressing the leading actors by their abbreviated forenames." (Britton 170)

Mae West: The Original Blonde Bombshell

This post is written in conjunction with Classic Chops - Blonde Bombshells, hosted by The LAMB.

Mae West made some of the raciest films of the studio era, single-handedly necessitating the instigation of censorship in the motion picture industry. This voluptuous blonde almost exclusively played over-sexed madams on screen, but her golden tresses did nothing to conceal the capacity of West's active mind.

Hepquote! Tracy Lord is going crazy!

One of the coolest things about Katharine Hepburn is her athleticism. She just loved standing on her head and could do so well into old age. I've never been able to stand on my head. One of the many ways I am not as cool as Katharine Hepburn. Alas.

Life, Love, and the Movies Blogathon

THIS POST MAY ALSO BE READ AT MARGARETPERRY.ORG 

This post is written in conjunction with the Life, Love, and the Movies blogathon hosted by My Filmviews. This blogathon is a lot like the 7x7 Link Award or the Liebster Award. These awards are handed to new bloggers so that they can share a little about their movie experience with the rest of the film blogosphere. It's a great way to network and to get to know the people with whom we blog everyday. Awards and blogathons like these are also a personal reminder of why we love the movies, why we love watching them and why we enjoy writing about them. I was pleased to see that none of the questions for the LLM blogathon are doubles from either of the previous awards, so I'll just dive straight in!

"Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!" Saturday Morning Memories blogathon

This post is written in conjunction with the True Classics' 4th anniversary Saturday Morning Memories blogathon:

"The rules are simple: on your own site, post a brief piece about one beloved cartoon short that you remember from childhood. If you can find a video and embed it on your site, that’s wonderful; if it’s so obscure that no video clip exists, no worries. But here’s the important part: tell us why that cartoon is particularly memorable to you. Are you a Popeye patron? A Droopy devotee? A Bugs booster? A Woody Woodpecker worshiper? A Fudd fan? A Donald disciple? (Stop me; I could go on all day.) Simply put: what is a favorite cartoon from your youth, and why?"

Although my mother enjoyed Saturday morning cartoons when she was a kid, she did not allow the tradition to continue in her adult household. My brother and I were more or less forbidden to watch cartoons at home. However, there was a whole different set of rules at Grammie's house. We were spoiled rotten with ice cream, candy, soda pop, and all the television and Disney movies our little minds could handle. Bliss!

We always visited Grammie's on Sunday afternoons after church, so my memories of cartoons aren't of the Saturday morning variety. At any rate, growing up in the 1990s, our supply of vintage toons was broadcast 24/7 on Cartoon Network and Boomerang. For us, vintage toons meant the original 1969-72 series "Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!"

Hepfact! Diana Barry is related to Katharine Hepburn!

Did you know that Schuyler Grant (pronounced "Skyler"), who played Diana Barry in the Anne of Green Gables TV movies, was Katharine Hepburn's grand-niece? Schuyler Grant is the granddaughter of Katharine Hepburn's younger sister Marion, who married her high school sweetheart Ellsworth Grant. The couple had two sons, Schuyler's father John and uncle Toby. Their daughter Kathy Houghton co-starred with Katharine Hepburn in GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER (1967). Marion and Ellsworth were heavily involved in the historical preservation of Hartford, the Hepburn family's hometown.

Katharine Hepburn appeared in a TV movie with Schuyler Grant in LAURA LANSING SLEPT HERE (1988). Just as she encouraged her niece Kathy Houghton in her acting career, Hepburn helped Grant get the role of Diana. Hepburn had been asked to play Marilla Cuthbert, which she turned down (sadness), but she suggested her grand-niece for the role of Diana.

According to IMdB, Schuyler Grant was raised by her hippie parents in California. She majored in history and minored in theatre at Columbia. She is now a vegetarian and director of the Kula Yoga Project in New York. Sounds like a pretty cool chick.

CMBA Film Passion 101 Blogathon: THE WOMEN (1939)

This post is written in conjunction with the Classic Movie Blog Association (CMBA) Film Passion 101 Blogathon.

Old movies were a natural part of my childhood. My parents have always enjoyed classic films, so I grew up with AMC, Turner Classic Movies, and movies from our own VHS collection. My mother's best friend from college would hand down her old movies whenever she upgraded to a digital edition. The first classic movie I ever saw was THE WIZARD OF OZ (1939) at my aunt's house. As a kid, movies were just movies, and it wasn't until my teenage years that I made my love for classic movies my own.

I remember watching THE WOMEN (1939) on TCM with my mom. I was probably about 13 years old and I was eating jelly beans (it's funny what you remember, isn't it?). I remember laughing my head off at the fast-paced dialogue. I remember the costumes. The movie can be viewed in full on YouTube.

Joan Fontaine, Norma Shearer, Rosalind Russell, Mary Boland, and Paulette Goddard