Helen Hope Montgomery Scott (1904 – January 9, 1995) was a socialite and philanthropist whom Vanity Fair once called "the unofficial queen of Philadelphia's WASPoligarchy." She is most famous as the inspiration for Tracy Lord, the main character in the Philip Barry play The Philadelphia Story, which was made into the film of the same name as well as the musical-film High Society. Mrs. Scott was a longtime chairman and executive director of the Devon Horse Show and sponsored other events to raise money for the Bryn Mawr Hospital, her favorite charity. She was considered the epitome of Main Line high society and symbol of an aristocratic, free-spirited elegance.
Edgar Scott had been a classmate of future New York playwright Philip Barry while at Harvard, and the Scotts were lifelong friends of Barry and his wife, Ellen. The idle rich were a source of inspiration to Barry, who had also become interested in the then-new phenomenon of the tabloid newspaper. Tabloids, then as now notorious for gossip and scandal, were anathema to conservative, high-society families, and while on a visit to St. Paul, Minnesota, Barry had heard of a local criminal enterprise in which prominent wealthy families were blackmailed with threats of exposing family scandals. His wife Ellen had also suggested basing a play on Philadelphia's social elite. The result was The Philadelphia Story, a comedy of manners about a tabloid's invasion of a society girl's second wedding, which appeared on Broadway in 1939 starring Katharine Hepburn. The motion picture rights were purchased by Hepburn's then-boyfriend, Howard Hughes, and her reprise of the role in the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayerfeature film is said to have jump-started her stalled movie career. A later remake of the film, High Society, starred Grace Kelly. Ironically, Kelly was also the daughter of a wealthy Philadelphia family but as an Irish-American Roman Catholic was barred from the debutante ball.
Mrs. Scott became a noted figure in the international social scene of the 1920s and 1930s. She danced the Charleston with Josephine Baker in Paris and the foxtrot with the Duke of Windsor at El Morocco. Confident and high-spirited, she is said to have convinced Edward VIII to stand on his head and reveal what was beneath his kilt (long johns), and claimed to have had to fight off the advances of a lecherous Augustus John. On one occasion she seated her dog as a guest at a formal dinner party. Her insouciance was to make her indirectly responsible for James Stewart's only Oscar, Katharine Hepburn's development into a major film star and, it is said, the popularity of "Tracy" as a girl's first name.
Edgar Scott had been a classmate of future New York playwright Philip Barry while at Harvard, and the Scotts were lifelong friends of Barry and his wife, Ellen. The idle rich were a source of inspiration to Barry, who had also become interested in the then-new phenomenon of the tabloid newspaper. Tabloids, then as now notorious for gossip and scandal, were anathema to conservative, high-society families, and while on a visit to St. Paul, Minnesota, Barry had heard of a local criminal enterprise in which prominent wealthy families were blackmailed with threats of exposing family scandals. His wife Ellen had also suggested basing a play on Philadelphia's social elite. The result was The Philadelphia Story, a comedy of manners about a tabloid's invasion of a society girl's second wedding, which appeared on Broadway in 1939 starring Katharine Hepburn. The motion picture rights were purchased by Hepburn's then-boyfriend, Howard Hughes, and her reprise of the role in the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayerfeature film is said to have jump-started her stalled movie career. A later remake of the film, High Society, starred Grace Kelly. Ironically, Kelly was also the daughter of a wealthy Philadelphia family but as an Irish-American Roman Catholic was barred from the debutante ball.
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