Spencer Tracy_ A Biography - James C. Curtis [576]
55 “fiercely jealous”: Katharine Houghton’s memory of what stylist Helen Hunt told her during the making of Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner is from a conversation with the author, New York City, 5/4/06.
56 “afraid of emotion”: Norman, The Hollywood Greats, p. 89.
57 “lower his libido”: Eugene Kennedy to the author, via e-mail, 6/29/07.
58 The original Sheilah Graham story, a discussion of the stars on the top-ten list of the Motion Picture Herald, ran in January 1943. “Spencer Tracy has already been mentioned as Number 10,” Graham wrote. “He used to be higher on the list. Spencer is losing out because he is losing interest in his film career, putting private affairs in top place.” The following month, Tracy berated Graham on the set of A Guy Named Joe for writing about his personal life. “No one is interested in that,” he said. “There’s so much else going on in life, who cares what I do on my own time? And even if they did, it’s none of your business … Mind you, I’m not saying yes and I’m not saying no in regard to some of the things you implied. That’s beside the point, which is that you shouldn’t have mentioned my private life at all.” Graham was so unnerved by the exchange that she devoted her entire column of February 24 to it.
59 “M-G-M grapevine”: Zinnemann, An Autobiography, pp. 50–51.
60 “easiest thing”: Signe Hasso to James Fisher, 7/29/93 (SW).
61 “happy all the time”: New York Morning Telegraph, 1/21/44.
62 “virtually explode”: Spokane Spokesman-Review, 5/7/44.
63 “there can be debates”: Hollywood Reporter, 12/24/43.
64 “foolish”: New York Times, 12/24/43.
65 total billings: According to the Mannix ledger, A Guy Named Joe cost $2,627,000 and returned a profit of $1,066,000.
66 “eleven straight months”: Los Angeles Evening Herald and Express, 1/10/44.
67 “certain number of weeks”: F. L. Hendrickson, internal memo, 2/5/44 (Turner Entertainment/SW).
68 “Anybody could go on”: Ardmore, “Tracy.”
69 “smart boy”: Los Angeles Examiner, 11/20/43.
CHAPTER 20 THE BIG DRUNK
1 “bronzed from his first”: Milwaukee Sentinel, 5/19/44.
2 “I did”: Sister Ann Willits, OP, to the author, via e-mail, 8/11/05.
3 New York: M-G-M records show that Tracy returned to the studio at some point during his vacation period to do one additional day of retakes on Thirty Minutes Over Tokyo, but exactly when this occurred is unknown.
4 “closest three people”: Bertha Calhoun to the author.
5 “having to meet Spencer”: Fay Kanin to the author, Santa Monica, 1/9/07.
6 “member of the family”: Nancy Reagan, My Turn (New York: Random House, 1989), p. 78.
7 “she had a friend”: Katie Treat to Conrad Oakerwohl, 7/1/85, SobrietyTalks.com. Mrs. Treat remembered that Nancy Davis was in her early twenties at the time. Born Anne Frances Robbins on July 6, 1921, Davis (the future Mrs. Reagan) would have been twenty-two years old in May 1944.
8 “certain people”: Katharine Hepburn to Selden West (SW).
9 “very private floor”: Bob Colacello, Ronnie and Nancy (New York: Warner Books, 2004), p. 182.
10 “artistic success”: Baltimore Sun, 5/21/44.
11 “two weeks”: Port Arthur News, 8/19/44.
12 “I recall the liquor”: Dan Alexander to Katharine Hepburn, 9/29/91 (SW).
13 “song and dance”: Los Angeles Examiner, 10/19/44.
14 “he believed”: St. Johns, “Man of Conflict.”
15 “All the film companies”: Time, 6/14/43.
16 “submerging herself”: Dr. Robert Hepburn in Katharine Hepburn: On Her Own Terms, CBS News Productions/A&E Network, 1995.
17 “begin shooting next week”: Katharine Hepburn to Theresa Helburn, n.d. (TGC).
18 “As always”: Higham, Kate, p. 126.
19 “we stopped”: Patricia Morison to the author, via telephone, 7/17/04.
20 “I lay on the floor”: Katharine Hepburn to Phil Donahue.
21 “finish the picture”: Katharine Hepburn to Ellen Barry, n.d., Philip Barry Papers, Georgetown University.
22 “practical man”: Katharine Hepburn to Selden West.
23 “didn’t publicize him”: June Dunham to the author, via telephone, 3/30/05.
24 “What goes on”: Chicago Daily News, 12/4/44.
25 “I don’t frighten”: Katharine Hepburn to Selden West.
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