James Curtis
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10 “Do you remember”: Dorothy Gopadze to Katharine Hepburn, 6/14/67 (KHLA).
11 “DEAREST GIRL”: Vivien Leigh to Katharine Hepburn, 6/10/67 (KHLA).
12 “blinded with sorrow”: Vivien Leigh to Katharine Hepburn, Saturday (KHLA).
13 “wholehearted devotion”: J. J. Cohn to Katharine Hepburn, 6/13/67 (KHLA).
14 “Your letter”: Katharine Hepburn to J. J. Cohn, 6/12/67 (courtesy of Judy Samelson).
15 “The estate”: Details of the Tracy estate are from Los Angeles Probate File P523809.
16 “terrible shock”: Carroll Tracy to Katharine Hepburn, 3/11/68 (KHLA).
17 “run out of gas”: Robert C. Jones to the author, via telephone, 5/20/09.
18 “How possible”: Sidney Poitier, in AFI’s 100 Years 100 Cheers (Gary Smith Company), 2006.
19 “Who says”: Spoto, Stanley Kramer, Film Maker, p. 277.
20 “I’m getting nicer”: New York Times, 10/27/67.
21 “one of the finest”: Los Angeles Times, 11/26/67.
22 “HOW WONDERFUL”: Barry Day, ed., The Letters of Noël Coward (New York: Knopf, 2007), p. 747.
23 “torrid b.o.”: Variety, 12/6/67.
24 “glisten with style”: Harper’s Magazine, January 1968.
25 “faultless”: New Yorker, 12/16/67.
26 “gives his blessings”: Newsweek, 12/25/67.
27 “repeats the charge”: Village Voice, 12/6/67.
28 “I liked him”: Interview with Ardmore, 7/5/72.
29 “pat on the back”: Katharine Hepburn to Lewis W. Douglas, 5/5/68, Lewis W. Douglas Collection, University of Arizona, Tucson.
30 “disgusted”: Katharine Hepburn to Ella Winter, n.d., Ella Winter Collection.
31 “I think”: Stanley Kramer to Katharine Hepburn, 5/7/68 (KHLA).
32 “can be friends”: Details of the call are from Hepburn, Me, p. 407; and Susie Tracy, who remembered her mother’s account of it.
33 “straighten things out”: Hepburn, Me, p. 407.
34 “Spencer’s faith”: Eugene Kennedy to the author, via e-mail, 2/3/10.
35 “always thrilled”: Katharine Houghton to the author, via e-mail, 2/18/10.
36 “enormously vulnerable”: Anthony Harvey to the author, via phone, 10/25/07.
37 “fulfilled something deep”: Katharine Houghton to the author.
38 “last speech”: Katharine Houghton to the author, via e-mail, 10/4/05.
39 “Is anyone coming?”: Hepburn, Me, p. 409.
40 “fuss”: In interviews, Katharine Hepburn always maintained that she never had any intention of attending Tracy’s funeral. Within days of his death, however, she told Bill Self that she and Phyllis had indeed started for the church “and then decided not to go. She didn’t want any fuss, she said. No doubt her appearance would have caused one.”
Selected Bibliography
BOOKS
Andersen, Christopher. An Affair to Remember. New York: Morrow, 1997. A dual biography of Tracy and Hepburn, focusing on their twenty-six-year relationship. Relying heavily on the Bill Davidson book (see below), Andersen falls for every outlandish fabrication and ends up making a muddle of Tracy’s life. (See notes for this page and this page for additional commentary.)
Davidson, Bill. Spencer Tracy: Tragic Idol. New York: Dutton, 1988. A blatant fraud of a book, presumably written for quick money after The Spencer Tracy Legacy appeared on public television in 1986. Davidson’s M.O. was to take legitimate interviews (Don Taylor, Robert Wagner, Walter Seltzer), cook the quotes to make them as sensational as possible, then intermix them with “interviews” that were entirely—and obviously—fictional. (See notes for this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, and this page for particularly egregious examples.) Edward Everett Horton is quoted describing the preview of Six Cylinder Love at the Loyola Theater in Westchester a full fifteen years before that theater was built. Louise Tracy is quoted as saying it was she who was offered a job with Stuart Walker’s company in Cincinnati, not Spencer, and that it was she who subsequently told Walker she “wanted Spencer Tracy as my leading man.” Gene Kelly describes his friend Spence as a “right wing conservative” when Kelly would certainly have known better. Davidson also quotes from interviews he supposedly conducted with the likes of Clark Gable, Humphrey Bo-gart, Eddie Mannix, Charles Jehlinger, and a host of other figures who died years—if not decades—prior to the book’s appearance. According to Davidson, Tracy discovered his son’s deafness in Brooklyn, not Grand Rapids, and he disappeared into the Hotel St. George as a result. Toots Shor, a bouncer at Billy LaHiff’s, is quoted as telling Davidson that Tracy got “loaded” and beat up one of the girls at a neighborhood whorehouse called Lu’s—but Shore didn’t even arrive in New York until 1930, the year Tracy filmed Up the River and relocated to California. Though every page brings a fresh distortion, this crude exercise in biography has been regarded as a primary resource on Tracy for more than twenty years.
Deschner, Donald. The Films of Spencer Tracy. New York: Citadel Press, 1968. The first book-length study of Tracy’s career.
Fisher, James. Spencer Tracy: A Bio-Bibliography. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1994. An academic approach to Tracy’s life and career, admirably balanced.
Hepburn, Katharine. Me. New York: Knopf, 1991.
Kanin, Garson. Tracy and Hepburn. New York: Viking, 1971. A self-described “intimate memoir” derived from “written records + journals and memorandums of telephone conversations + of correspondence” kept by the author over a period of some thirty years. Though Kanin’s memoir, on the whole, is remarkably accurate, Katharine Hepburn considered it a betrayal of their friendship—as did many of their mutual friends—and refused to speak to him for a number of years. “[T]aking detailed notes on private conversations … then publishing them … and not very accurately I’m afraid … is hardly the act of a friend,” she wrote. “I think had I been dead and S[pence] alive he would not have dared.”
Kartseva, Elena Nikolaevna. Spenser Tresi. Moscow: Isdatelstvo Iskustvo, 1970.
King, Alison. Spencer Tracy. New York: Crescent, 1992.
Newquist, Roy. A Special Kind of Magic. Skokie, Ill.: Rand McNally, 1967. Interviews with Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Sidney Poitier, Katharine Houghton, Stanley Kramer, and George Glass on the set of Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner.
Packer, Eleanor. Private Lives of Movie Stars. Los Angeles: Bantam, 1940. Tracy is one of ten stars whose biographies are accorded a chapter apiece in this early paperback.
Swindell, Larry. Spencer Tracy. Cleveland: NAL/World, 1969. The first book-length Tracy biography, admirably written yet sketchy in places, due, no doubt, to the tight deadline on which the book was produced. Nevertheless, Swindell’s book has been the gold standard on Tracy for over forty years.
Tozzi, Romano. Spencer Tracy. New York: Pyramid Publications, 1973.
PERIODICALS
Albert, Dora. “Hollywood’s Most Enduring Triangle.” Modern Screen, November 1963.
Ardmore, Jane. “Mrs. Spencer Tracy’s Own Story.” Ladies’ Home Journal, December 1972.
Back, J. Gunner. “What You Should Know About Spencer Tracy.” Modern Screen, May 1932. Tracy’s first fan magazine profile.
Bangs, Bee. “He’s an Actor’s Actor.” Movie Show, July 1945.
Biery, Ruth. “Worry! Who Me? Say!” Photoplay, December 1932.
Black, Peggy Hoyt. “That Tough Tracy Kid.” Picture Play, February 1937.
Bruce, Carter. “Fated for Unhappiness.” Modern Screen, November 1934.
———. “I’m Glad I Married Before I Came to Hollywood.” Modern Screen, October 1933.
Callahan, Kitty. “Spencer Tracy.” Family Circle, June 5, 1942.
Carroll, Jean. “Finally! The Facts About Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn.” Confidential, November 1963.
Chapman, John. “Once There Were Two Irishmen.” Chicago Sunday Tribune, April 6, 1941.
Coons, Robin. “Plain Guy.�
�� Screen Guide, February 1948.
Craig, Carol. “Hollywood Goes to Sea Again.” Motion Picture, March 1937.
Crawford, Jed. “It’s Simple—It’s Modest—It’s Spencer Tracy.” Our Home, Volume 3, Number 3. A photo tour of the Tracy home in Encino.
Darnton, Charles. “Down with Romance!” Screenland, February 1937.
Davidson, Bill. “Spencer Tracy.” Look, January 30, 1962.
Davidson, Judith. “Once There Were Two Irishmen …” Movies, May 1940.
De Vane, Tom. “Hollywood’s New Bogey Man.” Hollywood, July 1941.
Dillon, Franc. “Meet Father Tracy.” Picture Play, December 1938.
Dufy, Lisette. “That Tracy-Hepburn Affair.” Inside Story, October 1956.
English, Richard T. “I’m a Mug[g] and Proud of It!” Hollywood, September 1934.
Erskine, Chester. “Spencer Tracy: The Face of Integrity.” The Movie No. 7 (UK), 1980.
Erskine, John. “The Private Mind of Spencer Tracy.” Liberty, August 24, 1940.
Flanagan, Monsignor E. J. “I Meet Myself in Spencer Tracy.” Liberty, October 8, 1938.
———. “The Story Behind Boys Town.” Photoplay, November 1938.
“Flood Tide for Spencer Tracy.” Hollywood, January 1937.
French, William. “The Greatest Friendship in Hollywood.” Modern Movies, February 1938.
Friedman, F. “The Gal Who Loves to Be Hated.” Motion Picture, August 1957. A profile of Katharine Hepburn which alludes to her relationship with Tracy.
Frings, Kay. “Because She Loved Him So Much.” Modern Screen, August 1938.
Gable, Clark, as told to James Reid. “My Pal, Spencer Tracy.” Screen Life, July 1940. Derived from a fascinating interview with Gable on the subject of Tracy.
Gammie, John. “The Two Tracys.” Film Weekly, July 23, 1934.
Goldbeck, Elizabeth. “Some New Evidence About Spencer Tracy.” Movie Classic, December 1932.
Grant, Jack. “Why Loretta Young Broke Up Her Romance.” Movie Mirror, October 1934.
Hall, Gladys. “Good Advice from Spencer Tracy.” Screenland, July 1940.
———. “I Have No Regrets.” Movie Classic, September 1936.
———. “Spencer Tracy Faces Forty.” Photoplay, March 1938.
———. “Spencer Tracy’s Love Confession.” Movie Mirror, March 1934.
———. “Spencer Tracy Speaks His Mind.” Modern Screen, December 1935.
———. “Spencer Tracy Tells ‘Why My Wife and I Are Together Again.’ ” Movie Mirror, May 1935.
———. “We Know Tracy.” Modern Screen, May 1940.
———. “You Can Only Defeat Yourself.” Motion Picture, July 1940.
———. “You Can’t Put Spencer Tracy into Words.” Motion Picture, November 1937.
Hamilton, Jack. “Last Visit with Two Undimmed Stars.” Look, July 11, 1967.
Hasso, Signe. “Spencer Tracy.” Movies, October 1944.
Hersey, Captain J. M. “The Log of the We’re Here.” Woman’s Home Companion, April 1937.
James, Antony. “The Untold Story of Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn.” Inside Story, March 1964.
Janisch, Arthur. “Fighting Irishman.” Hollywood, July 1937.
Johnson, Van. “Spencer Tracy.” Screenland, May 1948.
Keene, Harold. “How Spencer Tracy’s Love Survived the Greatest Test.” Movie Mirror, October 1937.
Keethe, Larry. “I Call It Heart.” Photoplay, September 1948.
———. “Tracy the 4 AM Man.” Photoplay, June 1953.
Kramer, Stanley. “He Could Wither You With a Glance.” Life, June 30, 1967.
Lang, Harry. “Good Guy of the Movies.” Screenplay, April 1937.
Lewis, Frederick. “Spencer Tracy Conquers Himself.” Liberty, October 9, 1937
Magee, Ted. “It’s Undeclared War.” Hollywood, February 1938.
Marshal, Flo. “Six Characters in Search of Spencer Tracy.” Movies, November 1940.
McEvoy, J. P. “Will They Get Wise to Him?” This Week, May 24, 1942.
Moak, E. R. “We Actors are Overpaid!” New Movie, November 1933.
Mook, S. R. “Checking Up on Spencer Tracy.” Screenland, April 1942.
———. “Every-Day Tracy.” Silver Screen, January 1933.
———. “For More Than Money.” Screenland, May 1938
———. “He’s Often Been Hungry.” Movie Mirror, August 1932.
———. “The Man Who’s Had Everything.” Screenland, October 1943.
———. “Master Mugg.” Screenland, April 1933.
———. “Spencer Tracy as I Know Him.” Screen Book, March 1938.
———. “Spencer Tracy’s Home Life.” Screenland, March 1940.
———. “Spencer Tracy Talks About His Past.” Screen Book, April 1936.
———. “Tough to You.” Picture Play, September 1932.
———. “Tracy Fights Through.” Screenland, May 1935.
———. “Tracy Talks.” Screenland, January 1934.
———. “The Truth About the Tracy Separation.” Movie Mirror, November 1933.
Moore, Jim. “This Guy Tracy.” Hollywood, August 1932.
“The Movie Life of Spencer Tracy.” Movie Life, September 1942.
“Mr. and Mrs. Spencer Tracy: Hollywood’s Prize Love Story.” True Experiences, October 1938. A largely fictionalized account of the Tracy marriage with manufactured quotes throughout.
O’Brien, Pat. “Himself.” Modern Screen, November 1947.
———. “Spencer Tracy As Is.” Screenland, November 1951.
———, as told to S. R. Mook. “My Pal, Spencer Tracy.” Screen Book, March 1939.
Parkes, Mary. “Never Out of Character.” Modern Screen, November 1938.
Peter, Michael. “It Seems There Were Two Irishmen.” Modern Screen, March 1935.
Proctor, Kay. “Ex-Bad Boy.” Screen Guide, April 1937.
———. “Fame Makes You Behave.” Picture Play, March 1940.
———. “ ‘Northwest Passage’—Tracy’s Toughest Assignment.” Screen Life, March 1940.
Ramsey, Walter. “The Life Story of a Real Guy.” Modern Screen, June and July 1934.
Rathbone, A. D., IV. “Out of Spencer Tracy’s Yesterdays.” Photoplay, October 1940.
———. “Spencer Tracy Learns His Lines.” Outdoors, April 1941.
Reid, James. “Even Barrymore Calls Him the Best.” Motion Picture, November 1938.
Reynolds, Colin. “He’s Afraid of Women.” Screenland, July 1932.
Rooney, Mickey, as told to Marian Rhea. “Uncle Spence.” Movie Mirror, October 1940.
St. Johns, Adela Rogers. “Man of Conflict.” Photoplay, February 1945.
Samuels, Charles. “Spencer Tracy—Nothing But the Best.” Motion Picture, July 1946.
Service, Faith. “His Son Made Spencer Tracy What He Is Today.” Movie Classic, August 1933.
Shane, Ted. “He Should Worry.” Liberty, December 15, 1945.
Sharpe, Howard. “The Adventurous Life of Spencer Tracy.” Photoplay, February, March, April 1937.
———. “The Startling Story Behind Spencer Tracy’s Illness.” Movie Mirror, July 1937.
Shawell, Julia. “Tellin’ on Tracy.” Modern Screen, September 1939.
Shearer, Lloyd. “Spencer Tracy: Hollywood’s Least Known Star.” Parade, December 11 and 18, 1955.
Skolsky, Sidney. “Things I Never Knew About Spencer Tracy.” Motion Picture, April 1944.
Smith, Frederick James. “Courageous Irishman.” Picture Play, March 1938.
“Spencer Tracy Meets the Press.” Film Weekly, May 6, 1939.
“Spencer Tracy’s Fight for Life!” Motion Picture, December 1965.
Steele, Joseph Henry. “Portrait of a Man Who Has What He Wants.” Photoplay, May 1939.
Sullivan, Ed. “The Best Bet of the Year.” Silver Screen, September 1936.
———. “A Prediction That Came Doubly Tr
ue.” Silver Screen, April 1940.
Thompson, Jerry. “Spencer Tracy’s Lost Weekend in Havana.” Uncensored, May 1957.
Tracy, Carroll. “My Kid Brother Spence.” Photoplay, August 1943.
Tracy, John. “My Complicated Life.” Volta Review, June 1946 and July 1946.
Tracy, Louise Treadwell. “The Women Take to Polo.” Polo, June 1935.
Tracy, Spencer. “Deflating Your Ego.” Movies in Review, September 1946.
———. “Dress Suit.” American Magazine, December 1942.
———. “Film War Too Real to Suit Private Tracy.” New York Daily Mirror, May 8, 1937.
———. “For Relaxation, Spencer Tracy Will Take Polo.” Oakland Tribune, January 31, 1937.
———. “The Grand Guy Cohan.” Modern Screen, December 1932.
———. “A Great Graduation Message.” Movie Mirror, July 1939.
———. “I Arrive in Hollywood.” Picturegoer, June 11, 1938.
———. “I Learned About Life from Them.” Picturegoer, April 10, 1937.
———. “I’ve Been to Boys Town.” Screen Guide, November 1938.
———. “The Log of the We’re Here.” Picturegoer, December 11, 1937.
———. “Long Runs Wear.” New York Telegraph, April 6, 1930.
———. “My Modest Friend.” American Magazine, March 1945.
———. “My Pal, Will Rogers.” Picture Play, December 1935.
———. “Professor Boody Pointed My Nose Toward the Stage.” The Forensic, January 1936.
———. “The Secret Deal I Made with Hemingway.” Photoplay, November 1956.
———. “There Was a Guy …” Screen and Radio Weekly, December 1937.
———. “This Is My Life Story.” Picturegoer, May 28, 1938.
———. “The Unknown Will Rogers I Know.” New Movie, December 1933.
———. “Van Johnson.” Screenland, May 1948.
———. “When I Shared Pat O’Brien’s Dress Suit.” Picturegoer, June 4, 1938.
———, as told to James Reid. “My Pal, Clark Gable.” Screen Life, May 1940.
———, as told to Frank Whitbeck. “The Power of the Pass.” Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus Magazine and Program, 1949.
Tully, Jim. “Spencer Tracy.” The Scribbler, February 1937.