Spencer Tracy_ A Biography - James C. Curtis [330]
and then I should play the father of Miss Hepburn. I can’t stay young and act romantic heroes forever. Actually, a critic in the east who praised very highly our work in various pictures together also indicated that he hoped the matching of our personalities would not be carried to the point where audiences might ever weary of us. Therefore, I believe that it is safer that we should rest on laurels gained, rather than try for new ones, and that probably Sea of Grass, which I believe will be a very great picture, should be the final one for a time. It has been a pleasure to work in various pictures with Miss Hepburn. Her honesty in her acting is a remarkable thing. She is the tops.
According to Schallert’s report, which was picked up by the wire services and carried nationally, Hepburn had agreed to a new term contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer “which still permits her to return to the stage.” Langner had advised so strongly against such a commitment that either Tracy, or money, or both were likely factors in her decision. Certainly the quality of the material wasn’t a major consideration; since Woman of the Year Hepburn had appeared in one troubled M-G-M production after another, and her next, A Love Story, in which she was to play Clara Schumann, would be yet another missed opportunity. When the contract was formally signed on September 15, 1946, it specified a term of three years at $4,792.33 a week, a bump in compensation of more than $1,200 a week from what she was paid for The Sea of Grass.
On August 29 Tracy responded to a note from Langner by saying that it seemed “impossible” to find out “anything definite regarding my plans for the full year” but that he was keeping at it and would know something shortly. Kate was going east for the month of September, and Tracy was due to start a six-week vacation himself, after which he was committed to Cass Timberlane. He was back in Los Angeles in time for a clinic board meeting on October 1—his seventh in the space of three years.
In August Louise had unveiled plans for a $500,000 fund-raising campaign to cover the cost of a new building to “meet the needs of the constantly expanding program.” The clinic also obtained the services of a full-time psychologist, Mrs. Alathena Smith, in order to offer psychological counseling, group therapy, and psychological testing for children—a big step in rounding out the program. Another meeting on the eighteenth further clarified the future included a wealth of new programs, extended outreach on an international level, and ongoing refinement of the JTC correspondence course. It was more than one man could ever hope to support, and fourteen new members were added to the board. It was time to bring the public, the community at large, into the grand scheme of what John Tracy Clinic was to become.
Spence took off for Arizona as Kate began filming Love Story1 at M-G-M, but was back before long and present on the lot for much of its production. “He would come on the set every morning,” recalled Paul Henreid, Hepburn’s costar on the picture, “say hello, and then, with a half-smile, ask me, ‘Is she behaving herself?’ Without smiling, I’d say, ‘Oh yes, Spence. She’s being marvelous.’
“ ‘Good, good.’ He would turn to Hepburn. ‘Now Kate, have you learned your lines?’ Rather demurely, she’d say, ‘Yes, dear.’ He’d go on: ‘Now don’t forget. Say the lines loud and clear. Don’t grin and make faces—just say the words.’ And, grinning at him like a child, she’d say, ‘Yes, Spence, I will.’ ”
Observing all this, Clarence Brown, who was directing the picture, once asked her, “Why the hell don’t you find a guy you can marry and raise a family? Otherwise, one of these days when you’re older you’ll be all alone.”
“Yes,” she replied, “and I’ll look back at all the fun I had.”
With the exception of a trailer for the American Cancer Society, Spencer Tracy was entirely offscreen for the year 1946 and his popularity with the public plummeted. End-of-year surveys placed him well out