SYLVIA SCARLET (1935) starring Katherine Hepburn and Cary Grant


Early in their careers,
Cary conjures the crooked rogue
and Katherine the gender bender.

When the crooked rogue
and the gender bender
don't end up in bed together

you have nice sequences
but a misdirected picture,
and three times Grant and Hepburn

must couple up
to make up for this mistake:
once in 1940 and twice in 1938

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The Philadelphia Story (1940)


If you were Katherine Hepburn
and labeled "box-office poison"
what would you do?

Get your newly-sober ex
and James Stuart
competing for you?

And what if, say, some guy
who used to be a miner
slipped a rock around your finger?

When you're in it, and the sun's
in your blodshot eye--
and people are calling you

"remote," "goddess" and "heartless"
left and right--
it's hard to know who'll win

but admit, it's elementary:

Dismiss the stiff with the diamond,
have a dalliance with young James,
and re-marry Cary--

just like in the play.

That's how you save
an acting career
and win the day--

not to mention, an Oscar

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