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Post by karina on Jul 27, 2006 14:57:34 GMT -5
I'm looking forward to the new book - I'm sure it'll include some new interview material and I'm definitely going to buy it. I agree with Catherine - "passionate friendships with women" aren't necessarily sexual and I hope WM won't disappoint.
BTW - I have 3 friends born 10th October, all different generations - 8, 20, and 77!
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Post by Cate on Jul 27, 2006 23:34:09 GMT -5
I found out the other day that my grandmother, my sister's mother (we're half-sisters) and my sister's mother-in-law were born on July 25. How crazy is that? lol I know, I'm random. But it sort of has to do with the topic. . . yeah, William Mann's new book. lol
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Post by smith on Jul 28, 2006 7:24:20 GMT -5
Well William Mann is a very entertaining author and writes well . Its amazing how many books about Katharine have been written whether the authors couldn't actually write properly . And that's ignoring the issues of historical accuracy . Any book written for example before 1991 is always completely inaccurate when it comes to Luddy - before that most writers knew so little about him that he only rated a footnote in most biographies .
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Post by wishingonastar on Jul 28, 2006 13:28:29 GMT -5
wassup, not to get off topic...can't wait for the Mann book...yeah libra's do r ule..lol. I wonder if Mann was able to gather any resarch from the collection that kate left to the Academy? Does anyone know what I'm referring to?
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Post by smith on Aug 19, 2006 5:34:22 GMT -5
Film biographer/historian Mann (Edge of Midnight, 2005, etc.) considers the vibrant life of a 20th-century icon with encyclopedic scrutiny and a pinch of whimsy.
While the author states that he considers himself a fascinated bystander rather than a Hepburn fan, this engaging, comprehensive biography certainly gives the impression that he is quite enamored of the celebrated actress (1907–2003) who was immortalized in Mary of Scotland, Bringing Up Baby, The Philadelphia Story, The African Queen and dozens of other cinematic classics. Mann never interviewed Hepburn herself, but canvassed a bevy of directors, close friends and intimate acquaintances for their perspectives, in addition to utilizing his subject's newly available private documents. "I don't want to rehash the familiar," writes the author, who throws chronological logic to the wind and opts for a more textured approach. In his depiction, the fearless, eccentric actress eschewed classic Hollywood movie-star norms and tacitly challenged social, sexual and gender standards. An Oscar-winner at 26 (for Morning Glory), Hepburn nonetheless had an image problem; Mann's examination reveals a proud, private woman who throughout the early 1930s dared to continuously don trousers while never managing to completely embody the mass media's manufactured image of her. The author also takes risks, acknowledging the frequent speculations about Hepburn's lesbianism and the sexual ambiguity of her wide yet closely knit inner circle of friends. Mann, who's written several books about gay Hollywood (Behind the Screen, 2001, etc.), avoids labeling the actress and does justice to her odd marriage to Ludlow Ogden Smith. Mann recounts the untold stories of Hepburn's life: her intrepid ascent from persnickety tomboy in Hartford, Conn., to performance royalty; her drinking; her loyalty to friends like lifelong confidante (and rumored lover) Laura Harding, among many others; and the ardent, transcendent affection she held for Spencer Tracy. Tapping into a wellspring of sources, the author has managed to reanimate with great skill and dexterity this shrewd, sophisticated woman.
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Post by Shaun on Aug 19, 2006 12:51:42 GMT -5
hmm maybe this man isn't another Darwin Porter.
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Post by smith on Aug 19, 2006 17:56:29 GMT -5
From Publishers Weekly Starred Review. Mann, a skilled chronicler of gay Hollywood (Wisecracker: The Life and Times of William Haines), says at the onset it doesn't make sense to try to pin down Katharine Hepburn with modern labels of sexual identity. Mann's careful research on the longstanding rumors about Hepburn's lesbianism suggests that the notoriously feisty and tomboyish actress lived her life as a man with little empathy for women's issues. This interpretation also shatters the legend of her romance with Spencer Tracy—instead, Mann establishes a pattern of relationships in which the sex-averse Hepburn played emotional caretaker to a series of alcoholic, closeted homosexuals that, in addition to Tracy, included director John Ford. Yet the portrait is constructed so carefully that it never feels shocking. Mann also devotes significant attention to Hepburn's rocky relationships with Hollywood studios and with the press, revealing that the self-styled renegade wasn't above collaborating to shape her public image, and depicts her final decline into alcoholism and depression with sensitivity. Hepburn's siblings and contemporaries (now free to speak after her death) make major corrections to earlier Hepburn biographies, creating a picture of a complex woman rather than the icon she worked hard to become in the public's eye. This will surely be the definitive version of Hepburn's life for decades to come, as it is an outstanding example of painstaking research matched with splendid writing. (Oct. 3)
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Post by HollywoodHepcat on Aug 19, 2006 19:23:01 GMT -5
Well, there it is folks, we can all rest easy knowing we won't have to throw away 20 bucks on another Kath bio.
DIE &*^!#%. that is all/
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Post by Shaun on Aug 20, 2006 12:33:51 GMT -5
Did you ever hear about the straw that broke the camel's back? Well it just happpened again. Right on this thread!
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Post by Cate on Aug 20, 2006 18:04:58 GMT -5
LOL
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Post by Cate on Aug 20, 2006 18:09:30 GMT -5
I guess if we had done our research (as I just did), we would have found that probably 99% -- if not 100% -- of Mann's books are about gays and lesbians/gay erotica/"secretly gay" celebrities. Hmph. I've noticed that it seems it's mostly gay men that like to make up stories about closeted lesbians/gay men. What is that about? That's not a sexist comment is it. . . ? Oh well. It seems to be fact.
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Post by HollywoodHepcat on Aug 20, 2006 20:39:44 GMT -5
LMAOOO.
OMG AR is the answer to all things in life.
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Post by Cate on Oct 12, 2006 14:07:18 GMT -5
OK, so... in People Weekly there's a review of his book and it got three out of four stars. It amazed me. So I went to B&N because I figured if People did a review then surely they have it. They did! It's a really fat book. I read the preface just to, you know, see... and while he does try to convince everyone that Kate wasn't what everyone thought she was -- that it was all her image that she was trying to uphold. That even she couldn't live up to it... he writes in a much more intelligent manner. I'll give him that. I didn't read the whole thing. I also read the acknowledgments just to see if he really did mention the Kate the Great site and the forum and he did. He also named Judy and Kerrie... which I know Judy didn't want to be named... Pretty cool all the same though that this forum is in a Kate "biography."
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Hepburner
Full Member
'Enemies are so stimulating'
Posts: 180
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Post by Hepburner on Oct 12, 2006 17:07:35 GMT -5
Yeah, I gotta say, that new book sounds hideous. I hate books that make lousy guestimates about peoples lives. Plus, they often place so much importance on irrelevant things.
It seems like its the "thing to do", to glorify Kate's relationships with women in a way that suggests it was more than freindships. Lesbian, bisexual, straight...so what? To me it's not at all an issue either way. Kate was still Kate, and thats all that matters. Also...
"suggests that the notoriously feisty and tomboyish actress lived her life as a man with little empathy for women's issues" ... I absolutely adore this because it's so blatantly obvious that its not true. In fact its not true of any of the Hepburn's - the opposite is true. I also love "Mann establishes a pattern of relationships in which the sex-averse Hepburn played emotional caretaker to a series of alcoholic, closeted homosexuals that, in addition to Tracy, included director John Ford".
Yeah...this book sounds awful. Wild allegations can only be so entertaining, and not about Kate.
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Post by Cate on Oct 12, 2006 18:40:20 GMT -5
Shane -- I agree except I think what they mean by "little empathy" for women's issues is the fact that Kate rarely did any partaking in her mother's movement. She supported her but never made it a major part of her own life which, understandably, makes people who are not all that knowledgable about Katharine Hepburn assume that a.) she really did live like a man -- as a man who didn't believe women should work and at the same time have a family (which she did actually state but most likely not in the context that is assumed by Mann) or b.) she was a lesbian/bisexual and didn't want to draw attention to it by outwardly supporting women's rights. But... who really does care? I think it's just another dose of something we haven't read much about Kate and that's what makes it interesting whether it's true or not. We can draw our own conclusions. We didn't know Kate (no matter how much information you may have read/how long you have been a fan) but we do know that she liked to create a public image. I adore her nonetheless.
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