40 Secrets From 'Philadelphia Story' That Prove There's More To The Classic Than Meets The Eye

Katherine Hepburn’s star was seriously on the wane before The Philadelphia Story came along. Her most recent string of films had been flops, leading the media to dub her “box office poison.” When George Cukor was announced in 1939 to be directing the unlucky actress, the Associated Press reported, “Cukor’s next job is Philadelphia Story. And that means his next problem is Katharine Hepburn.”

Hepburn first played the lead role of Tracy Lord on stage, helping to make The Philadelphia Story a big hit on Broadway. And as soon as she decided to take the story to the big screen, her famous and super-rich boyfriend Howard Hughes stepped in. He purchased the movie rights and gifted them to Hepburn, granting her full control of the production.

Costume designer Adrian Adolph Greenburg — usually known as just Adrian — was the man who translated the original play’s costume design to the big screen. And he added some sparkle and glitz to the outfits. Tracy’s pre-wedding party dress was supposed to be plain white, but Adrian gave it some gold sequins and created one of the best movie gowns of the era.

Before signing on for The Philadelphia Story, George Cukor was the third person to take on directing duties of The Wizard of Oz back in 1938. He created some of the now-iconic designs for characters including Dorothy and the Scarecrow. And he worked a little tribute to Oz into The Philadelphia Story as well. When Jimmy Stewart carries Katharine Hepburn in his arms, he sings the famous song “Over the Rainbow.”

Spencer Tracy and Clark Gable were both considered to star in The Philadelphia Story, but in the end, Cary Grant was cast opposite Hepburn as C.K. Dexter Haven. He had some requirements before he came on board, though — he wanted top billing, and he also wanted to work no more than three weeks on the movie. Perhaps surprisingly, these demands were met.

Katharine Hepburn’s Tracy was heavily based on a wealthy socialite named Helen Hope Montgomery Scott. Scott was the “it girl” of her time, throwing wild parties for her friends and mixing with royalty. The producers even wanted to film some of the movie at her estate, but they changed their minds. In the end, they thought audiences would never buy a character living in so much luxury.

Moviemaking was very different in the ’40s. Scripts were checked over by professional censors, and anything objectionable had to be removed — and plenty of things were objectionable back then. In The Philadelphia Story, for instance, when Hepburn’s character hears the fairly innocuous words “virginal” and “chaste,” she describes them as “foul.” That’s because the censors demanded “bad language” be depicted as such.

When Jimmy Stewart was given the script for The Philadelphia Story, he thought he was playing the part of Hepburn’s fiancé. Fresh off an Oscar nomination, he decided to play his luck and ask for the bigger role of the reporter Macaulay Connor. He called up producer Joseph L. Mankiewicz and was informed that Connor was the part he already had.

If you were “box office poison,” as Hepburn was, no studio would touch you with a bargepole. So, when plans for the movie version of The Philadelphia Story got going, MGM wanted Joan Crawford or Norma Shearer in the lead role. MGM head Louis B. Mayer even attended the play accompanied by Shearer. But seeing as how Hepburn owned the rights, the movie simply couldn’t be made without her.

Right at the beginning of the movie, there’s a scene where Hepburn and Grant’s characters argue. Hepburn breaks one of his golf clubs over her knee and throws it aside, so he retaliates by grabbing her face and shoving her to the ground. Grant objected because he didn’t want his character to strike a woman, but the scene was put in the film anyway.

The Philadelphia Story gained six Academy Awards nominations in all. Three of the actors got nods: Jimmy Stewart, Ruth Hussey, and Katharine Hepburn herself. Hepburn didn’t win in her category and Stewart did, but Hepburn seemed fine with it. She wrote in her 1991 autobiography Me: Stories of My Life, “We all got nominated and Jimmy won the award.”

In the original play of The Philadelphia Story, Hepburn’s character had a brother called Alexander Lord. Just as Tracy Lord was based on Helen Hope Montgomery Scott, Alexander was based on her brother. But this character never made it into the film version, and his lines were given to Cary Grant’s C.K. instead.

When The Philadelphia Story began its life as a play, multiple people were absolutely desperate for it to be a success. Both Hepburn and the playwright, Philip Barry, badly needed a hit, while the producers Theater Guild were on the verge of bankruptcy. Luckily, their hard work on the production all paid off.

You might remember that during one scene Jimmy Stewart has a discussion with Cary Grant, where he drunkenly hiccups. This was entirely unscripted, and Grant just went with it, ad-libbing, “Excuse me?” Both actors were able to keep a straight face and that was the only take needed for the scene.

Things were looking good for Hepburn just before rehearsals started on The Philadelphia Story... but then suddenly disaster struck. On September 21, 1938, a massive hurricane swept through the Hepburn family home and virtually leveled it. Hepburn’s precious first Oscar was lost in the debris, but luckily it was later found.

As the years passed, The Philadelphia Story refused to fade away. So Hollywood did its thing and commissioned a remake — a musical remake, in fact. This was the movie High Society, starring Grace Kelly, Frank Sinatra, and Bing Crosby. Its plot is almost the same as the original, but the setting is Rhode Island instead.

Stewart was pretty casual about receiving a Best Actor Oscar nomination. He wasn’t even going to attend the ceremony… but then suddenly he got a call from his people telling him to get into a suit and hurry to the venue. They knew in advance that he’d win, as that was the way the Oscars worked back then.

Back when The Philadelphia Story was being made, it was unusual for real jewelry to be used on movie sets. Seemingly, Katharine Hepburn changed that, though. Her engagement ring and diamond bracelets are, as far as anyone can tell, pieces from Italian jewelry company Verdura — and no-one’s sure how Hepburn secured them.

In the original play, Hepburn acted opposite Van Heflin as Mike and Joseph Cotton as Dexter. But when it came to the movie, she wanted established film stars instead. Heflin and Cotton simply didn’t have the name recognition, so Hepburn unceremoniously ditched them. Heflin especially was upset by that move.

The film’s famous first scene could have been very different. The original script for the movie stated the opening shot was to be an aerial one passing over wealthy Philadelphians going about their day. A narrator, meanwhile, would declare that the district was, “as unknown and inaccessible to the average American as though it were a strange kingdom at the bottom of the sea.”

Among Hepburn’s many fabulous Philadelphia Story outfits, there’s a sophisticated white pantsuit. But audiences were almost deprived of its glory. MGM’s Louis Meyer didn’t want to show a woman wearing (gasp!) trousers. He was eventually talked round, but it’s bizarre to modern-day film fans that pants on women were ever controversial.

Audiences went wild for The Philadelphia Story as word spread about how good it was. It played to full houses at the Radio City Music Hall, selling more tickets than any production prior. By the end of its run, it’d played at the Hall for six weeks — longer than Disney’s smash hit Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. And to top it off, it made a whopping $600,000.

It’s fascinating to see which actors got the most reward for their performances. Cary Grant was paid $137,500, while Hepburn got only $75,000. On the other hand, she was making money from owning the rights. It was Jimmy Stewart who lost out, as he made a mere $15,000. He did get an Oscar, though.

It was once reported that the scene in the swimming pool was shot at the Academy of Notre Dame de Namur, but it wasn’t. The whole movie was actually filmed entirely on sound stages, and the swimming pool was on MGM’s Stage 30, a set specifically designed for water. Film and TV productions still utilize Stage 30 today.

Many were surprised when Grant took the less “showy” role in The Philadelphia Story, but it turned out to be the correct choice. Both he and Stewart played against type — Grant wasn’t usually witty and Stewart wasn’t usually sexy. But here they were proving they could be. And audiences absolutely ate it up.

Hepburn was very unpopular with audiences before The Philadelphia Story, and she knew it. Scott Berg’s 2003 biography Katharine Hepburn: Kate Remembered quotes her as saying, “Moviegoers haven’t seen me in over a year, and they already made it clear that they think I’m too la-di-da or something. A lot of people want to see me fall flat on my face.” So, she decided that in the opening scene, she would literally be pushed onto the floor.

Putting a movie on the radio sounds pretty odd, but that was a popular practice back in the ’40s, when radios were easy to come by and TVs weren’t. In 1942 the cast got together and read their parts for an hour-long radio version of the movie. And then they did the same thing in 1947 for a half-hour version.

Before The Philadelphia Story, Jimmy Stewart had done the 1939 film Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and failed to win an Oscar for it. He was positive, then, that his Philadelphia Story award was more of a consolation prize for not winning before. He also said he believed Henry Fonda should’ve taken it that year for his role in The Grapes of Wrath.

One person who did feel they deserved their Oscar, though, was screenwriter Donald Ogden Stewart. When accepting his award for Best Adapted Screenplay he declared, “I have no one to thank but myself.” It’s funny in hindsight and went down in Oscars history, but it completely ignored the writing contributions of everyone else.

When Philip Barry wrote the original play for Hepburn, he wasn’t sure what to call it. At first, the script was titled Gentle Reader, and if things had been different that’s what the movie might have been called. After both the play and film were hits, Hepburn joked it should’ve been titled The Answer to This Maiden’s Prayer.

There was only one man Hepburn wanted to direct her in The Philadelphia Story, and that was George Cukor. She already credited him with “discovering” her back in the ’30s, and they were good friends. The pair actually did ten films together from 1932 to 1979, including Little Women, Holiday, and Adam’s Rib.

Famous writer Noël Coward had a hand in the making of the movie. He dropped by during shooting of the swimming pool scene, and Cukor requested he give the nervous Jimmy Stewart a hand with his lines. Coward apparently reassured Cukor that he was a fantastic actor, bolstering Stewart into giving his Oscar-winning performance.

The Philadelphia Story is such an iconic movie classic that in 1995 it officially joined the ranks of “culturally, historically, or esthetically important” films. It was placed in the Library of Congress’ U.S. National Film Registry, a high honor indeed since only 25 films make it in there every year.

Howard Hughes may not have appeared in the film or helped write it, but he definitely made his presence felt behind the scenes. Hughes demanded that Joseph L. Mankiewicz give him the finished script in a face-to-face meeting. And then he made him wait while he leisurely scanned it in his limousine.

Hope Scott, the woman Tracy Lord was based on, apparently very much enjoyed Hepburn’s portrayal of “her.” The two ladies fast became friends. In 1981 Scott sent a letter to Hepburn reading, “You and The Philadelphia Story have almost made me famous!” And that same year she attended a revival of the original play.

The man responsible for censoring movies in 1940 was Joseph Breen, enforcer of the infamous Hays Code. And he had some very strong feelings about what moral standards The Philadelphia Story had to live up to. In 1939 he sent a note to Paramount Pictures demanding that in the film, “there should be nothing that would reflect unfavorably on the institution of marriage.” Whether there actually is or not might depend on your point of view.

One of the weirdest stories from the set of the film involves a dead skunk. No, really. While filming the movie Hepburn took it upon herself to collect the deceased animal from the side of the road, put it in a pretty box, and present it to the script clerk. Why? We just don’t know. Inexplicably, this actually improved her standing in the media.

By 1940 the specter of World War II was hanging over Hollywood. Some stars ended up doing military service eventually, but others contributed to the war effort at home. Cary Grant was one of these. He handed over his whole salary from The Philadelphia Story to the British War Relief Fund.

The actors got up to some dangerous activities when the cameras weren’t rolling. Stewart wanted to impress Hepburn, so he decided to take her up in his plane. She did not enjoy it and barked orders at him all the way. They landed awkwardly, with Hepburn snapping a simple “thank you” and storming off to her car.

Well, her own stunt. Hepburn only had one thing to do in the movie that required a stunt double: a jump from a diving board into a swimming pool. She happily did it herself, clad in swimwear, and it looked great. No matter what, she was going to prove her naysayers wrong with this film.

In fact, over the entire span of her 60-year career Hepburn demanded to do her own stunts — including the scene in On Golden Pond where she jumped into the freezing water even though she was 74. Age couldn't slow her down!

Hepburn was famous for her use of the American-British hybrid that was the popular mid-Atlantic accent. Truth be told, she worked tirelessly with a vocal coach to perfect this accent early on in her career.

When Hepburn was growing up it wasn't always common for women to debate politics and express their opinions so freely. She was outspoken and bold, which she attributes to the encouragement of her progressive parents.

When Hepburn was a young actress, she worked with John Barrymore on A Bill of Divorcement. The veteran actor invited her to come read lines with him in his dressing room. When she arrived, he was lounging totally naked on the sofa.

For a famous actress, Hepburn was fiercely private. She often refused to do press or sign autographs. Earning her the arguably harsh nickname "Katharine of Arrogance" by members of the press.

At the age of 9, Hepburn shaved her head, wore her brother's clothes and only answered to the name "Jimmy". Hepburn never let her beauty or femininity dictate her life or her choices.

She was often criticized for being indelicate and had a simple response. "I have not lived as a woman. I have lived as a man. I’ve just done what I damn well wanted to and I ain’t afraid of being alone.”

When she was working for RKO Pictures, Hepburn would wear jeans on set. This was not acceptable behavior for women at the time, so they stole her jeans from her dressing room. She responded by showing up on set in her underwear.

While filming Bringing Up Baby, Hepburn gave her input to director Howard Hawks on how she thought certain scenes should be done. The incessant suggestions led Hawks to shout, "Katie, will you please shut up!”

Producer David O. Selznick didn't want to cast Hepburn in one of her early roles because he thought the audience wouldn't like her. Of course, he proved to be very wrong.

Katharine Hepburn met businessman Ludlow Ogden Smith when she was only 21-years-old. He was so enamored with her, he changed his name to S. Ogden Ludlow because she didn't want a boring name like Kate Smith if they married.

She ended up marrying Smith and after their honeymoon briefly considered buying a farmhouse in Philadelphia. She came to her senses and realized that not only did she belong in New York City, but she didn't want to be married.

After her first marriage ended, Hepburn decided she never wanted to marry again because she "like the idea of being her own single self." She turned down proposals from various suitors throughout her life including millionaire Howard Hughes.

Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn engaged in a relationship for almost 25 years. The only problem was that Tracy was still married. As a strict Irish Roman Catholic, divorce was out of the question.

When Tracy and Hepburn first met she remarked "Mr. Tracy, I believe I am too tall for you.” Tracy was unimpressed with the actress and believed she was gay. Obviously, they were both wrong.

Despite her many romances and affair with Tracy, many people believed that Hepburn was homosexual. One tell-all by Scotty Bowers says that Tracy and Hepburn were both gay and their relationship was a cover up.

When Tracy became sick, Hepburn took care of him up until his death. Then, out of respect for his legal wife and children, she didn't attend his funeral. When she tried to make amends with his wife, she got a surprise.

After his death in 1967, Hepburn confronted Tracy's wife about the affair. She responded by saying "I thought that you were a rumor!" The women never spoke again.

Because she lived til she was 96, she had to witness the death of most of her family and friends. She is quoted as saying, "They’re all dead. It’s very queer. It’s amazing how many of them have died, isn’t it?”

Hepburn knew she never wanted to have children. In her own words, she was a “very selfish human being" and she was sure this quality would make her a terrible mother.

Over her career, Hepburn won four Best Actress Oscars. She holds the record for most wins of all time. However, she never showed up to a ceremony to accept an award saying, "My prize is my work.”