I've got my head, I've lost my leopard!

Bringing Up Baby, 1938

One of the funniest movies ever made and quite possibly the zaniest, Bringing Up Baby is the definitive screwball comedy. It centers around stodgy paleontologist, Dr. David Huxley (Cary Grant), whose only aspiration in life is to finish putting together the Brontosaurus for the museum he works for, and marrying his equally stodgy fiancee, Alice.  Upon learning that a Mrs. Carlton Random is going to donate one million dollars to a museum, Huxley meets up with her representative, a Mr. Peabody for a golf outing. On the green, he runs into a woman who steals first his golf ball, and then his car. She turns out to be Susan Vance (Katharine Hepburn), niece of the same Mrs. Carlton Random. And she just so happens to have a leopard. Somehow, she convinces him to help her take the leopard, whose name is Baby, to her home in Connecticut. And so begins the craziest twenty-four hours ever captured on film, involving a missing dinosaur bone, a dog, two leopards, a big-game hunter, a drunk groundskeeper, and a couple of flustered cops. 

One of the things that makes Bringing Up Baby so great is the pairing of Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant. They work so well together, and they've never been better than here. Their different personalities fit together perfectly. They compliment each other beautifully.  While he's stuffy and overwhelmed, she's ever optimistic, and completely unflappable. Nothing ever fazes her, no matter how out of the ordinary the situation. She's always cool as a cucumber, as if the insane events are nothing new to her. One realizes that they're probably not.

Another great thing about the film is the dialogue. Not only is it some of the funniest ever spoken on film, but it's literally spoken a mile a minute. It actually takes quite a few viewings to be able to catch all of the lines and jokes because of the sheer speed of the dialogue. There are lines spoken on top of lines, and it's not unusual to hear two conversations going on at once. (This is a bit of a Howard Hawks trademark- His Girl Friday also exhibits this style of dialogue)
Due to her utter zaniness, Susan has the majority of the funniest lines in the movie. During her meeting with David on the golf course, after he informs her that she's playing his ball, she doesn't seem to understand. 
David: What ball are you playing?
Susan: PGA.
David: Well, I'm playing a CrowFlight.
Susan: Mmhmm, I like PGA better.
David: I'm just trying to prove you you that you're playing my ball. You see, a PGA has two black dots, and a CrowFlight has a circle.
Susan: Mmmhmm, I'm not superstitious about things like that.
David: There, you see, it's a circle.
Susan: Well of course it is, do you think it would roll if it were square?

Don't be irrelevant the point is I have a leopard. The question is what am I gonna do with it?

While on the subject, let's discuss Katharine Hepburn. This was her first foray into slapstick, and she was lucky to be paired with Grant and directed by Howard Hawks. Watching her in this film, it's difficult to believe that she wasn't very good at first, and that she had to be coached in being funny. But she learned quickly, and played her role perfectly. She dove headfirst into the part, and went about a thousand miles an hour for the whole duration of the film, never letting up once. She plays the role of Susan with a silly absent mindedness that is absolutely hysterical. What's incredible is how she speaks her lines with such sincerity and honesty, never batting an eye at the funniest of lines.Whatever misfortune occurs is honestly not her fault. Grabbing on to Grant's jacket, it rips as he walks away from her. He turns and glares accusingly, her eyes widen, and she says sympathetically, "Oh, you've torn your coat." 

I'm not quite myself today.

Cary Grant does the exact same thing with his lines. While a lot of them aren't exactly funny, the way he says them and the sincerity in his voice make them so. Probably the most well known scene is when Susan steals David's clothes, and so he is forced to wear her negligee. Shortly after, the doorbell rings, and he unknowingly opens the door to Susan's aunt Elizabeth, one Mrs. Carlton Random. The following conversation is pure gold. 
David: What do you want?
Elizabeth: Who are you?
David: What do you want?
Elizabeth: Who ARE you?
David: I don't know, I'm not quite myself today. 
Elizabeth: Well, you look perfectly idiotic in those clothes. 
David: These aren't my clothes.
Elizabeth: Well, where are your clothes?

David: I've lost my clothes.
Elizabeth: But why are you wearing those clothes?
David: Because I just went gay all of a sudden!
Elizabeth: Do you want to wear these clothes?
David: No, I don't want to wear these clothes, I just want to get married!

Quiet, George!

This entire conversation is accompained by the barking of Aunt Elizabeth's dog George, who just so happens to be my favorite character in the movie. (I'm sure you'll recognize him as Asta from the Thin Man series, and as Mr. Smith from The Awful Truth).  He brings yet another series of hilarious scenes when he runs off with the bone that David needs to finish the Brontosaurus skeleton, resulting in a chase around the grounds to find where the bone is buried. Susan is having a grand old time while David is trying his best not to strangle the dog. George indeed digs something up, but it's not exactly what they're searching for: 

Isn't he a strong little man, David?

Susan: Oh, look. David. a boot!
David: A boot!
Susan: Don't hit George, David!
David: I wasn't going to hit GEORGE!



Bringing Up Baby is one of the most perfect movies ever made and one of the funniest in history. It takes you on a hundred mile an hour ride from start to finish, and it doesn't slow down for anything. It is a true jewel, and is definitely worth the watch.
 

Katharine the Great

 

 One hundred and four years ago today, in Hartford Connecticut, a baby girl was born to Dr. Thomas Hepburn and his wife. The baby was called Katharine Houghton, after her mother, and she grew to become the best screen actress the world has ever seen. 

My fascination with Katharine Hepburn began in May of 2007, with the Centenary of her birth. Turner Classic Movies (TCM) www.tcm.com celebrated with airing many of her films all month and I would stay up until the wee hours of the morning and refuse social invitations to be able to make sure that I could  see as many of these films as I could. It wasn't long until I understood why many people refer to Hepburn as Katharine the Great. 

Katharine Hepburn died in 2003 at the age of ninety-six. In a way, I'm glad that I didn't know of her at the time of her death. For if I did, I'm quite sure that I would have mourned her loss as if she were a dear friend. 

In honor of Katharine Hepburn's birthday, and of her work, I present my top five favorite Katharine Hepburn movies:

5. Woman of the Year (1942) This was the movie that paired her with Spencer Tracy for the first time. They would go on to make eight more films together. In this film, Kate plays the typical "independent woman" journalist who falls in love and marries the sportswriter of the newspaper she works for. It isn't long before husband and wife begin to clash over what makes a successful marriage. 

4. Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967)  In this film, Hepburn and Tracy worked together for the last time. They were joined by Sidney Poitier and Kate's real-life niece Katharine Houghton, and they played liberal thinking parents having to come to terms with their daughter's engagement to a black man. At the time, the subject of interracial marriage was unheard of, and quite honestly, was a very brave move on the part of everyone who was involved.

3. The Lion in Winter (1968) Hepburn played Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine to Peter O'Toole's King Henry II. Although she has much less screen time than anyone else in the film, she dominates it. And I must say that it is an absolute disgrace that Barbra Streisand tied with her for the Best Actress Academy Award. 

2. The Philadelphia Story (1940) With this film, Hepburn returned to box office stardom after being labeled box office poison. Paired with Cary Grant and Jimmy Stewart and directed by George Cukor, she proved that she was a force to be reckoned with. She had the most delicious way of biting off a line and smiling as she spat venom.

1. Bringing up Baby (1938) My all time favorite Katharine Hepburn movie and the ultimate screwball comedy involving a stodgy paleontologist, a zany heiress, two leopards, and a dog. It was a failure on its initial release, because, according to director Howard Hawks, "Everybody was crazy." It is now considered the definitive screwball comedy, and in my opinion, one of the funniest movies ever made. And Kate had never been better. 

   Happy birthday, Kate. Thank you for  leaving behind such an amazing body of work for the world to enjoy. Thanks for being you. Thank you for just being. You are my hero.

Katharine Houghton Hepburn

1907-2003

Love has nothing to do with what you're expecting to get, but what you're expecting to give, which is everything.

Day 01 — Your favorite song
Day 02 — Your favorite movie
Day 03 — Your favorite television program
Day 04 — Your favorite book
Day 05 — Your favorite quote
Day 06 — Whatever tickles your fancy
Day 07 — A photo that makes you happy
Day 08 — A photo that makes you angry/sad
Day 09 — A photo you took
Day 10 — A photo of you taken over ten years ago
Day 11 — A photo of you taken recently
Day 12 — Whatever tickles your fancy
Day 13 — A fictional book
Day 14 — A non-fictional book
Day 15 — A fanfic
Day 16 — A song that makes you cry (or nearly)
Day 17 — An art piece (painting, drawing, sculpture, etc.)
Day 18 — Whatever tickles your fancy
Day 19 — A talent of yours
Day 20 — A hobby of yours
Day 21 — A recipe
Day 22 — A website
Day 23 — A YouTube video
Day 24 — Whatever tickles your fancy
Day 25 — Your day, in great detail
Day 26 — Your week, in great detail
Day 27 — This month, in great detail
Day 28 — This year, in great detail
Day 29 — Hopes, dreams and plans for the next 365 days
Day 30 — Whatever tickles your fancy

  Me: Stories of my Life is one of my favorite non-fictional books ever written. Katharine Hepburn wrote it and it's all pretty much just little stories about herself and the people she knew. When you're reading, you can almost hear her voice coming out of the pages. It's really simply written and really unpretentious, but her writing style feels almost animated. I think that's why I like it so much. And, it's really nice to have someone who was as private as Kate to come out and actually share personal things about herself. I would definitely recommend this book not just to anyone who's interested in Katharine Hepburn but also to people just looking for a good read.