Phillip Barry’s play The Philadelphia Story premiered on March 28, 1939 at the Shubert Theatre
on Broadway. The show ran for 417 performances and was so popular that before the show
closed to go on the road in March 1940, the film version was already in the works. In December
1940, less than a year after the play closed on Broadway to go on tour, the film premiered in
New York and was later generally released in January 1941 so as not to compete with the
touring stage production.
The character of Tracy Lord was based on the real socialite, Helen Hope Montgomery Scott who was married to one of Phillip Barry’s friends. He wrote the part specifically for Katherine Hepburn. In 1938 Katherine Hepburn was considered "box office poison" but Barry’s play helped revive her career. Along with her partner at that time, Howard Hughes, Hepburn bought out her own contract with RKO Radio Pictures and acquired the film rights to The Philadelphia Story, which she sold to MGM Pictures on the condition that she be the star and have the right to choose her co-stars, Cary Grant and James Stewart. (They were the second choices as Hepburn’s first choices, Clark Gable and Spencer Tracy, were unavailable.)
The Philadelphia Story is considered one of Barry’s most popular plays. Philadelphia Ledger wrote it was “the season’s most sparkling comedy” and Barry “the best manipulator of light dialogue in American theatre.” The play also inspired a musical remake in 1956 called High Society starring Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly and Louis Armstrong.
The character of Tracy Lord was based on the real socialite, Helen Hope Montgomery Scott who was married to one of Phillip Barry’s friends. He wrote the part specifically for Katherine Hepburn. In 1938 Katherine Hepburn was considered "box office poison" but Barry’s play helped revive her career. Along with her partner at that time, Howard Hughes, Hepburn bought out her own contract with RKO Radio Pictures and acquired the film rights to The Philadelphia Story, which she sold to MGM Pictures on the condition that she be the star and have the right to choose her co-stars, Cary Grant and James Stewart. (They were the second choices as Hepburn’s first choices, Clark Gable and Spencer Tracy, were unavailable.)
The Philadelphia Story is considered one of Barry’s most popular plays. Philadelphia Ledger wrote it was “the season’s most sparkling comedy” and Barry “the best manipulator of light dialogue in American theatre.” The play also inspired a musical remake in 1956 called High Society starring Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly and Louis Armstrong.
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