Description:

Katharine Hepburn ALS 4 Months Before "Adam's Rib" Casting Re: West Hartford & NYC Homes

A 4pp autograph letter signed by American actress Katharine Hepburn (1907-2003) as "Kate" on the third page at lower right. January 7, 1949. [Hartford, Connecticut.] On blue-flecked bifold stationery with Hepburn's address "201 Bloomfield Avenue / Hartford / Connecticut" blind-embossed at the letterhead. Expected wear including flattened paper folds and a few scattered wrinkles, small stains, or smudges. Else near fine. 5.75" x 7.5." The accompanying transmittal envelope is also engrossed in Hepburn's hand, bearing two cancelled U.S. stamps and several philatelic markings. The envelope is neatly letter-opened at top.

Katharine Hepburn wrote this letter to Laura Dubman (ca. 1925-1993), the classically trained concert pianist who had mentored Hepburn during the production of "Song of Love" (1947). In the MGM romantic drama about the life and work of tragic German composer Robert Schumann, Hepburn portrayed Clara Schumann. Hepburn and Dubman (later Fratti) remained friends and correspondents during the following decades.

The casting of real life partners Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy in the upcoming MGM romantic comedy "Adam's Rib" was announced four months after Kate's letter, in April 1949. In fact, screenwriters Garson Kanin and Ruth Gordon specifically wrote the screenplay for Tracy and Hepburn, in what would be their sixth on-screen collaboration. The couple would portray Adam and Amanda Bonner, husband-and-wife lawyers who serve as opposing counsel during a domestic violence attempted murder case. Directed by George Cukor, "Adam's Rib" was filmed on location in New York City, Newtown, Connecticut, and on stages in Culver City, California between June and September 1949. The movie was released to great fanfare on November 18, 1949.

After filming "Adam's Rib," Hepburn signaled her desire to relocate to the East Coast in order to focus more on the theatre. Hepburn had three residences which she could call home in the tri-state area: two family homes in Connecticut and a townhouse in New York. Two of these places are described in Hepburn's letter: 201 Bloomfield Avenue, Hartford [now West Hartford], Connecticut; and 244 East 49th Street in New York City.

Hepburn wrote in full:

"Dear Laura -

You are a wicked girl - but very sweet - It is the most beautiful pink cyclamin [sic] + never never have I seen so many blossoms - It is going absolutely mad with blooming in the south window of the living room here at 201 - I did not take it to N.Y. as I hated to have it smothered in all that dirt -

You would be amazed if you could see the front bedroom at 244 - it is positively enchanting and so clean + dirt free that the air is of a mountain purity - I had all the window frames taken out - new windows - also storm windows outside + on one a ventilator - it is a sensation - quiet and effective so that you never have to open the windows - I didn't believe that anything could be such a success -

The furniture has arrived from California + is to be delivered Tuesday while I can't wait to see it in the house - I'm sure they will be hoisting through windows and generally tearing things up -

I hope all is well with you + Bob - Thank you very much for my present -

Kate."

Hepburn's family lived in a spacious Tudor-style home located across from the University of Hartford campus at 201 Bloomfield Avenue from 1930-1962. Upon her father's death in 1962, Hepburn donated her family home to the University of Hartford, which today headquarters its Catholic Campus Missionary Center there.

Hepburn lived in a townhouse at 244 East 49th Street in the Turtle Bay Gardens neighborhood of a nationally recognized historic district in Midtown East from 1931 until the mid-1990s. Hepburn's residence, now a renovated 4-storey 4,600-sq-ft single-family home, can be rented for $35,000 a month.

Over Katharine Hepburn's 66-year-long acting career, she would star in dozens of films, television movies, and stage productions. Named the leading female actress of Hollywood Classic Cinema by the American Film Institute, Hepburn also won four Academy Awards (1934's "Morning Glory," 1968's "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner," 1969's "The Lion in Winter," and 1982's "On Golden Pond") and racked up eight further Oscar nominations. Hepburn was as comfortable in serious theatrical dramas as she was in screwball comedies or period pieces.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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