Tag Archives: Garson Kanin

The Books: Garson Kanin’s Hollywood, by Garson Kanin

Next book on the Hollywood shelf: Garson Kanin’s Hollywood, by Garson Kanin Garson Kanin wrote. Boy, he wrote. He wrote screenplays, and plays, and books. He wrote gossipy books about his famous friends (some of whom never forgave him for … Continue reading

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Love Before Breakfast (1936); Dir. Walter Lang

Carole Lombard plays ditzy and impulsive, but she doesn’t play dumb. One of her greatest gifts as a comedienne is her craftiness, how well she creates cunning selfish women, heedless, manipulative, who do not know their own minds (or, to … Continue reading

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2008 Books Read

… in the order in which I finished them, understanding that very often I read many books at the same time. I count re-read books, by the way. I’ll include links to any posts or book excerpts I might have … Continue reading

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The Books: “Tracy and Hepburn: An Intimate Memoir” (Garson Kanin)

Daily Book Excerpt: Entertainment Biography/Memoir: Tracy and Hepburn: An Intimate Memoir, by Garson Kanin Garson Kanin, screenwriter, director, raconteur, husband of Ruth Gordon, author (did the man ever sleep?) was dear friends with both Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn – … Continue reading

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Judy Holliday: “She Dominates”

David Thomson wrote: The story goes that Adam’s Rib was a conspiracy between Cukor, Katharine Hepburn, and Garson Kanin to convince Harry Cohn, the boss of Columbia, that Judy Holliday should play the dumb blonde in the film of Born … Continue reading

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Garson Kanin on Cary Grant: “He Worked Very Hard.”

From Evenings With Cary Grant: Recollections in His Own Words and by Those Who Knew Him Best: Sylvia Scarlett was the first inkling of the success that was to come but the movie itself was a flop. The Awful Truth … Continue reading

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Spencer Tracy Could Act Unshaven

Garson Kanin, from Tracy and Hepburn: An Intimate Memoir: Spencer had an aversion to makeup. To most actors, beards and mustaches, putty noses and tooth work, wigs and contact lenses are not only tools, but toys. Spencer shuddered at the … Continue reading

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