Adam's Rib (1949) and Pat and Mike (1952)

Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn

Directed by George Cukor

Written by Garson Kanin and Ruth Gordon

Both available to stream on Prime Video (Adam's Rib and Pat and Mike)

We end our month of 50's Favorites with a Tracy-Hepburn double feature!

The inimitable team of Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn were at their peak in these two great movies, both written for them by their friends, the husband-and-wife writing duo of Garson Kanin and Ruth Gordon, and both directed by another old friend George Cukor.

Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn in "Adam's Rib"

In Adam's Rib Tracy and Hepburn play married lawyers who end up on opposing sides of the same case.  Tracy is the district attorney prosecuting Doris Attinger (Judy Holliday) for shooting her unfaithful husband, while Hepburn is the lawyer defending the wife.  "One of Hollywood's greatest comedies," says critic Leonard Maltin.

In Pat and Mike Katharine Hepburn is a prize-winning golfer who freezes up whenever her fiancé is watching.  Along comes trainer Spencer Tracy who takes Hepburn as a client, builds up her confidence in her athletic performance, and takes her away from her fiancé.

Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn in "Pat and Mike"

Why we love them both:  There were many famous pairings in Hollywood's Golden Era, but Tracy and Hepburn top them all for their on-screen chemistry, no matter what roles they are playing, and no matter how dated some of the situations may seem today.  Watching Tracy and Hepburn together is always entertaining.

Fun Facts:

• The husband-and-wife screenwriting team, Garson Kanin and Ruth Gordon, were real life friends of Hepburn and Tracy and they wrote both of the films specifically for them. The screenplays for Adam's Rib and Pat and Mike were both nominated for Academy Awards.

• At the time of filming Adam's Rib, Judy Holliday was appearing on Broadway in "Born Yesterday." She hoped to reprise her role in the film version of Born Yesterday, but the head of Columbia Pictures didn't like her and wouldn't even test her for the role. Katharine Hepburn was determined to help her by allowing her to steal some scenes and by spreading rumors that Holliday was outshining her more experienced co-stars. Garson Kanin recalled: "In the course of the shooting of Adam's Rib, Kate and Spencer involved everyone necessary in our master plan: the costume designer, Orry-Kelly; the hairdressers; the make-up people; the cameraman, Joe Ruttenberg; the supporting players; everyone and everything was aimed toward Judy's making a hit." (Garson Kanin, Tracy and Hepburn: An Intimate Memoir, p. 160). There's one long scene in Adam's Rib where Judy Holliday explains to Hepburn why she shot her husband. Hepburn and director George Cukor arranged the camera angle so that it was focused on Holliday over Hepburn's shoulder, and Hepburn refused to film the traditional reaction shots, forcing the scene to be all Holliday's. That scene and this movie convinced the production chief of Columbia to cast Holliday in Born Yesterday. She ended up winning an Academy Award for Best Actress for it. Hepburn would later explain her generosity to Kanin: "It was the kind of thing you do because people have done it for you...You never get a chance to repay them, really, so what you do is repay them by doing what you can for someone else when the opportunity comes up." (Garson Kanin, Tracy and Hepburn: An Intimate Memoir, p. 161).

Judy Holliday and Katharine Hepburn in "Adam's Rib"

• The song, "Farewell, Amanda", featured in Adam's Rib supposedly took Cole Porter only eight days to write. Originally Hepburn's character was called "Madeleine" and Garson Kanin had written a song to use in the film, but no one liked it, so he dared Katharine Hepburn to find a better one. She called up Cole Porter and asked him to write a song. He replied that he couldn't write a song about Madeleine but if they would change the name to Amanda, he could do it. So they did.

Babe Didrikson Zaharias and Katharine Hepburn in "Pat and Mike"

• Katharine Hepburn was a fantastic athlete in real life -- a great golfer and one of the best tennis players in Hollywood. Screenwriter Garson Kanin got the idea for the movie Pat and Mike while he was watching Hepburn play tennis. Kanin and Gordon wrote this script to showcase Hepburn's athletic abilities and to capture the real-life personalities and relationship of Hepburn and Tracy. Hepburn often cited this film as her favorite of the nine that she and Tracy made together.

• Pat and Mike also features cameos from some of the top female athletes of the time, including golfer Babe Didrikson Zaharias.

  
  

For reviews from the time, go to the Fan Magazine Reviews page.

Featured Cocktail:

Sazerac

This drink originated in New Orleans in the mid-1800s. It was originally made with brandy, but bourbon or rye is much more common these days. Occasionally, it is made with a mixutre of cognac and rye. It is traditionally stirred with ice and served in a glass without ice—a nod to its beginnings as a medicinal drink. It is delicious served on the rocks, as well.

2 oz (60 ml) bourbon/rye or cognac (or a mixture of the two)

½ oz (7.5 ml) sugar syrup

Absinthe, to rinse glass

1 dash Angostura bitters

2 dashes Peychaud’s bitters

Fill a rocks glass with ice (preferably crushed ice). Pour all ingredients except absinthe into a mixing glass two-thirds full of ice cubes. Stir well. Discard the ice from the rocks glass and rinse with absinthe. Strain the drink into the rocks glass and garnish with lemon twist. Traditionally served without ice.

Cheers to the Classics!