Lucky

[Cate]

Hey... my reply that I posted yesterday isn't on here. Probably the perpetual connection issues I have. Anyway, thanks Judy for the transcripts! I find it funny that Howard Hughes could write such semi-romantic telegrams and in the midst of it all, Kate writes a rather impersonal : REDECORATING CONKSHELL AND HAVE REMOVED WINTER COVER – WOULD SUGGEST REPLACING RED FIR TREES ON FRONT BORDER – WILL YOU WANT AN ELEVATOR. Such a romantic. But then there's the : ARRIVED ONE ITEM MISSING ONE BOSS LONELY ONE MOUSE-EMPTY ONE CONKSHELL. So she redeemed herself.

Catherine

[karina]

Three cheers for Judy - thanks so much for taking the time & trouble to transcribe all those telegrams. The pan & scan feature was driving me mad, taking ages before i could see the required effect, so it's a real bonus to be able to read them all so easily here.

That's what I call real Kate love - wanting to share all Kate related info with other fans

[karina]

Catherine, an interesting quote. What do any of you think all this conkshell/conchshell business means - simply a reference to the house they shared or something altogether more "naughty"? The terms seem to pop up in various places, with several possible connotations......

[smith]

Yep I think there are some definite sexual connotations in the telegrams ...Like they are having a private joke

[Cate]

HA! Wow my naive mind didn't even pick that up. I'm thinking... she's redecorating something... but how do you redecorate a conkshell? ...and it just went over my head. That's hilarious. So, maybe it wasn't so impersonal after all! Thank you for teaching me the basics of dirty telegram writing

Catherine

[smith]

I think there are definite sexual connotations in some of the telegrams but I doubt that anybody else can decipher them . Probably they were transcribed to somebody as well so they couldn't be too explicit .

[karina]

Yes - red fir trees indeed

Oh the power of writing. What amazes me is that when I first started reading about KH, it wasn't that difficult to convince myself that she had only a platonic relationship with ST and that she was perhaps even celibate all her life. Mind you, I was rather young and naive myself at the time, and some of the biographies around then were purposely (?) misleading. Just goes to show though.....

The first indication I had of Kate's sexuality was her talking about "riding high, wide and handsome with the one you love" - in the original Higham bio I think. (Not had the opportunity to read the update yet.)

[Cate]

Yeah, I'm trying to decipher that one. The only thing I'm pretty sure about is red fir trees... but removed winter cover? And will you need an elevator? I have some ideas but I'm not brave enough to put them in writing

Karina -- it's interesting that when you first started reading about Kate that you thought she might have been platonic her whole life. I never got that out of it. My first impression was that she had a certain sexuality about her, not a Marilyn Monroe type of sexuality but a more intelligent one. I can't think of another way to put it... I also thought she was gay until I read about her relationships with men. Or at least bisexual. Perhaps my terrific gay-dar was wrong this time ;D

Catherine

[farewellamanda]

Hahahahahaha oh lord I'm sitting in the college library trying SO HARD not to giggle out loud re-reading these REALLY DIRTY telegrams.

Ohhh my.

::snort::

[CrazyForKate]

Oh my goodness those telegrams are hysterical. I love it. That's wonderful.

Wasn't there a story where two burglars broke into a place Kate was renting in London (poss. during The Corn is Green) and when they saw who it was, immediately left? There was also something about her climbing London rooftops.

[HollywoodHepcat]

Both of those happenings are TROO FACTS.

Except, in regards to the latter, something tells me she was on the rooftop of the American [possibly French?] Embassy. Circa The Madwoman of Chaillot? All onaccounta there was a rather harsh wind that night, and the violent blowing of the flag above her suite was keeping her awake. So naturally, she scaled the building like a spider and cut it down. Only to have crawled back into the wrong room and, thusly, the wrong BED, scaring the living daylights out of those occupying said bed that weren't Katharine Hepburn.

I mean, that's nothing unordinary.

[CrazyForKate]

Another telegram just for fun:

At the Billy Rose Theater Division of the New York Public Library, would-be Cyranos can peruse notes and telegrams Katharine Hepburn received from her many admirers. The sender of this 1937 telegram is unclear: Stephen was one of many pseudonyms used by Howard Hughes, the reclusive businessman who courted Ms. Hepburn. But it could easily have just been from a cast member with a crush.


documents.nytimes.com/love-letters#p=3

[HollywoodHepcat]

I'M THINKING OF YOU STOP. WANT TO MAKE ANYTHING OF IT STOP.

OH, EW. THIS THOUGHT.

Way to be subtle, HOW-wHAd.

[HollywoodHepcat]

"Feel my muscle. I can lick any cripple anywhere. She, the wife, has no eyes and no head." -Signed, some stalker with bad taste.

I AM GOING TO HELL [Not news...] BUT THIS IS THE FUNNIEST GODDAMN THING I HAVE EVER READ. [And I'm not referring to "The Millionairess," 'though that, too, is pretty funny.]

Edit: Well, of course it's hilarious, because Zero Mostel penned this love-letter of sorts to his wife, also named Kate. I love this man.

[CrazyForKate]

At least three of the women in the article were called Kate- two were Katharines. Guess there's something about 'em that inspires strange love letters...

Also- gotta love ee cummings and the elephant.