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The Philadelphia Story (film)
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==Production== {{quote box|width=30em|bgcolor=#c6dbf7|align=right|quote="Everyone had enormous fun on the movie. The days and nights were sweltering that summer of 1940, but nobody cared. Cary got along very well with Kate Hepburn. She enjoyed him pushing her through a doorway in one scene (so she fell over backward) so much that she had him do it to her over and over again. There was a scene in which she had to throw Cary out the door of a house, bag and baggage, and she did it so vigorously he fell over and was bruised. As he stood up, looking rueful, Kate said, "That'll serve you right, Cary, for trying to be your own stuntman."|source=—Cameraman [[Joseph Ruttenberg]], recalling ''The Philadelphia Story'' (1940).{{Sfn|Higham|Moseley|1990|p=129}}}} Broadway playwright [[Philip Barry]] wrote the play specifically for Hepburn, who financially supported the play and declined a salary in return for a percentage of the profits.<ref name=tcmarticle /> Her costars were [[Joseph Cotten]] as Dexter Haven, [[Van Heflin]] as Mike Connor and [[Shirley Booth]] as Liz Imbrie.<ref name=ibdb /> The original play, starring Hepburn, ran for 417 performances.<ref name=ibdb /> Hepburn had hoped to create a film vehicle for herself that would erase the label of "box office poison" that she had acquired after a number of commercial failures (such as ''[[Bringing Up Baby]]''). [[Howard Hughes]] purchased the film rights for the play and gave them to her. Hepburn then sold the rights to MGM's [[Louis B. Mayer]] for $250,000 and the power of final approval of the film's producer, director, screenwriter and cast.<ref name=tcmnotes /><ref name=tcmarticle /> [[File:Philadelphia Story 13.jpg|thumb|275px|Hepburn as Tracy Lord and Stewart as Mike Connor]] Hepburn selected director [[George Cukor]], with whom she had worked for ''[[A Bill of Divorcement (1932 film)|A Bill of Divorcement]]'' (1932) and ''[[Little Women (1933 film)|Little Women]]'' (1933), and Barry's friend [[Donald Ogden Stewart]], a writer experienced with adapting plays to the screen.<ref name="tcmarticle">{{Cite web |last=Melear |first=Mary Anne |date=February 27, 2023 |title=The Philadelphia Story |url=https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/12778/the-philadelphia-story#articles-reviews |access-date=January 10, 2024 |website=Turner Classic Movies}}</ref> Stewart, who won an Oscar for the script, said that "getting an Oscar for ''The Philadelphia Story'' was the easiest Oscar you could imagine. All you had to do was get out of the way." He wrote the script while listening to a tape recording of a live performance of the play to ensure that he preserved the lines that received the most laughter.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Eyles |first1=Allen |title=Backstory: Interviews with Screenwriters of Hollywood's Golden Age |last2=Gillet |first2=John |publisher=University of California Press |year=1986 |isbn=978-0520056893 |editor-last=McGilligan |editor-first=Patrick |pages=344–345 |chapter=David Ogden Stewart: Politically Conscious}}</ref> Hepburn wanted [[Clark Gable]] to play Dexter Haven and [[Spencer Tracy]] to play Mike Connor, but both had other commitments.<ref name=":1" /> The pairing of Cukor and Gable might have been problematic in any case, as they had clashed during the filming of the recent ''[[Gone with the Wind (film)|Gone with the Wind]]'', with Cukor replaced by Gable's friend [[Victor Fleming]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Smith |first=Dinitia |date=2005-03-22 |title=The Antic Birth Pangs of 'Gone With the Wind' |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/22/theater/newsandfeatures/the-antic-birth-pangs-of-gone-with-the-wind.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20230426174315/https://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/22/theater/newsandfeatures/the-antic-birth-pangs-of-gone-with-the-wind.html |archive-date=April 26, 2023 |access-date=2023-04-26 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Grant agreed to play the part only if he were afforded top billing and that his salary would be $137,000, which he donated to the [[British War Relief Society]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Page |first=Eric |date=December 1, 1986 |title=Cary Grant, Movies' Epitome of Elegance, Dies of A Stroke |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/12/01/obituaries/cary-grant-movies-epitome-of-elegance-dies-of-a-stroke.html |access-date=August 4, 2019 |work=The New York Times}}</ref> According to the documentary ''MGM: When the Lion Roars'', after Mayer purchased the film rights, he was skeptical about Hepburn's box-office appeal and took the unusual precaution of engaging two top male stars (Grant and Stewart) to support Hepburn. The film was in production from July 5 to August 14, 1940,<ref>IMDB [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0032904/business Business data]{{unreliable source?|date=September 2024}}</ref> five days under schedule,<ref name="tcmnotes" /> at MGM's studios in [[Culver City, California|Culver City]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Garbarino |first=Steve |date=May 25, 2024 |title=The Estate That Inspired "The Philadelphia Story" Hits the Market |url=https://airmail.news/issues/2024-5-25/red-white-and-blueblooded |access-date=2024-09-09 |website=[[Air Mail (magazine)|Air Mail]] |language=en}}</ref>
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