Broadway and Hollywood "Movies" (Jan - Nov 1933)

HOLLYWOOD MOVIES 9 HEPBURN’S “HOP” Hartford to Hollywood By A. R. Roberts ANOTHER meteor has flashed across the Hollywood skies. A bright star in her own right, she thrilled all who saw her screen debut in “Bill of Divorcement.” Nothing quite like this exotic youngster has ever happened to Hollywood, and they still seem unable to account for the phenomenon. It is next to impossible to adequately describe Katherine Hepburn. Modern to the nth degree, yet possessed of a rare charm and simplicity, she stands alone as the favorite of to-morrow’s film public. Her face reminds one of some of Benda’s masks; in fact might be a mask, but , her eyes, bright grey and large, instantly fascinate you. A natural brunette, she wears her hair in a rather long bob, with the ends curled. Tall and slim bodied, she has the lithe grace of a jungle queen. A fine wide brow, betokens the keen intelligence beneath. Her nose reminds one of Nazimova, and her mouth is a combination of Garbo and Crawford, with a dash of Dietrich. Pure magic, would probably convey what I am attempting to describe. Her amazing acting in her first screen appearance baffled even the cynics who saw her do the hitherto impossible trick of stealing scenes from John Barrymore. Her finest scenes in the film were so magnificent that a sentation overnight in a city notoriously slow with recognition. Where did this glamorous creature conae from, you ask? Well, to go back a few years, Hartford, Conn, is the town called home. After four years at Bryn Mawr, Katherine decided to crash her way into professional histrionics. Four days after leaving her Alma Mater, her vibrant personality won for her a place in a Baltimore, Md. stock company. At the close of this engagement, came a long, wearisome round of the agencies and booking offices to find a job in New York. After trying every place she knew, she managed finally to get a part in “The Big Pond.” This venture closed at the end of a week, so she was again free to travel from office to office. Some time later, when Hope Williams opened in “Holiday,” Katherine was able to secure a small bit and act as Miss Williams’ understudy. Unfortunately for Katherine’s chapces, however, Miss Williams, remain unflaggingly industrious and robust, leaving the Hepburn girl with no scope but her own small part. Then Katherine took a minor role in the road show of “Death Takes a Holiday.” Miss Hepburn was running to Holiday plays — in fact was adding lavishly tq her string of holidays, for just before the play came to Broadway, Katherine was taken from the cast. But the resourpeful Miss Hepburn was indeed “improving each shining hour” in spite of the discouraging layoffs. She studied dancing under Mordkin, and it was her astounding feats of jumping in “The Warrior’s Husband” that had the customers on the edge of their seats. Not all of her time was devoted to the study of terpsichore, for she was also interested in voice cqlture and developed her diction to a really high quality. In between time she studied the violin. Following this she was cast for an ingenue role in the successful “Art and Mrs. Bottle,” and in the course of months was cast for the leading role in “Warrior’s Husband,” which was ope of those chance events that crystallize careers. Broadway sat up and rubbed its eyes at this youngster in fifteep foot leaps across the stage in amazon tin habiliments in sometimes hostile, sometimes amorous onslaughts against Greek warriors. Her dynamic feminism lead to just about as good a break as a girl could ask for — she won herself a screen test and was awarded a contract with RKO Radio Pictures. She was selected to play the role of Sydney, which Katherine Cornell had created in Clemence Dane’s play “Bill of Divorcemept.” John Barrymore and Billie Burke, widow of the late Flo Ziegfeld, and David Manners had the other leading parts. It was her marvelously sympathetic interpretation of the unbalanced Hilary ip “Bill of Divorcement” that won her the five year contract with RKO, calling for two pictures a year, and permitting Miss Hepburn to either produce or appear in legitimate stage productions. David Manners and Kathryn Hepburn in “A Bill of Divorcement”