The Philadelphia Story
February 16 / 2:00 pm
Starring Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn and James Stewart
The staff and volunteers at The Strand are happy to present this film in partnership with The Pittsburgh Classic Movie Club. Club President, Wendy Whittick, will make a short presentation before the film begins.
After a rich woman’s ex-husband and a tabloid-type reporter turn up just before her planned remarriage, she begins to learn the truth about herself.
Cary Grant demanded top billing and $137,000 salary, a huge amount at the time (the equivalent of $2,860,325 in 2020 dollars.) As it turned out, however, he donated his entire earnings to the British War Relief Fund.
The film was shot in eight weeks, and required very few retakes. During the scene where James Stewart hiccups when drunk, you can see Cary Grant looking down and grinning. Since the hiccup wasn’t scripted, Grant was on the verge of breaking out laughing and had to compose himself quickly. Stewart (apparently spontaneously) thought of hiccuping in the drunk scene, without telling Grant. When he began hiccuping, Grant turned to Stewart, saying, “Excuse me.” The scene required only one take.
Stewart never felt he deserved the Best Actor Oscar for his performance in this film, especially since he had initially felt miscast. He always maintained that Henry Fonda should have won instead for The Grapes of Wrath (1940), and that the award was probably “deferred payment for my work on Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939).”
Katharine Hepburn starred in the Broadway production of the play on which this film was based and owned the film rights to the material; they were purchased for her by billionaire Howard Hughes, then given to her as a gift.
The Philadelphia Story
Sunday ONLY, February 16, 2:00pm
1940 | Unrated | 1hr, 52min