by Thilo Wydra
And then the relevant questions were asked:
Reporter: “How are you today?”
Grace: “I certainly do not have to stress that I am very happy.”
Reporter: “Miss Kelly, when is the wedding?”
Grace: “There is no certain date yet.”
Reporter: “Your Highness, you denied everything at an earlier time. Was this because you were being careful or because you did not know yet?”
Rainier: “I was honest. I did not know.”
Reporter: “A surprise?”
Rainier: “Just like for you, I suppose.”
Reporter: “Did it surprise you too, Miss Kelly?”
Grace: “Yes.”
John B. Kelly: “Of course, he is Prince Charming.”272
On the following day, the engagement was the headline story of the International Herald Tribune. The article was illustrated with a large-scale photograph of Grace and Rainier sitting on the bench in the house on Henry Avenue. The headline over the extensive article read: “Grace Kelly’s Romance.”
That evening, Grace and Rainier attended a benefit ball at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York. The theme of this year’s ball was Monte Carlo. Grace appeared in a Dior gown of white satin with an orchid decoration on the bodice. On this night of January 6, the New York public witnessed Grace in the company of the Prince of Monaco for the first time. Margaret and Jack Kelly were also with them, as well as Rainier’s loyal companion and adviser, the Catholic priest Father Francis Tucker, and the young Dr. Robert Donat from Nice.
Originally from Wilmington, Delaware, Father John Francis Tucker (1889–1971) was of Irish heritage, and in early 1951, he was sent by the Vatican to Monaco at the special request of Prince Rainier. Here he worked as parish priest of St. Charles, as court chaplain, and as a friend and confessor for Rainier. Prior to coming to America, Father Tucker had investigated Grace Kelly’s Catholic heritage and had found it suitable for his prince. Behind the scenes, Father Tucker, who was a central and significant figure in the principality for twelve years, pulled the strings behind the second meeting between Grace and Rainier, and he acted as the caring and informed mediator between the Old and New Worlds.
Until May 1962, Father Tucker served the prince and the Vatican. At this time, he retired and left Monaco due to advancing age. First, he went to Rome, but eventually he returned to the United States in 1963. On November 2, 1971, he died at the age of eighty-three.
A short time later, on January 10, 1956, Grace and Rainier held another press conference, this time in New York. It was only seven days until the filming was to begin for High Society, and at this conference, the question of the possible end of her acting career came up. To the question, “Will you continue your career after the wedding?” Grace answered: “The Prince will decide that.” When asked if “Miss Kelly” would make other films, Rainier said: “I don’t think so!”273
Two issues had to be dealt with next. Grace was required to undergo a fertility test. And through mediators, Jack Kelly and Prince Rainier had to take care of the financial transaction that stood behind the engagement: the dowry paid by the bride’s father to the future husband. These were two delicate procedures that were not allowed to be made public.
The fertility test would reveal that Grace was no longer a virgin, and she was afraid, “believed that she was,” as Don Richardson once related.274 This was an embarrassing and uncomfortable situation for her, since she did not know how Rainier would react. She was very worried about this, as confirmed by her friends at the time.275 Although the examination did not take place in the presence of Dr. Donat, he would be the mediator between the examining physician (a gynecologist from the woman’s clinic in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, whom Grace knew) and the Monegasque delegation that sat waiting in the neighboring room of the clinic. The medical findings confirmed that Grace was fertile and could bear an heir for Monaco. Naturally, there was also the unspoken finding that she was no longer a virgin. This situation was not communicated further nor made public. They deliberately did not discuss this second point with Prince Rainier. Grace considered—with input from her New York friends—simply telling him that she had once had a sports accident, should the subject come up. Considering Grace’s lack of interest in sports, her friends decided that this lie would not be very convincing. However, the conversation never took place. Perhaps Rainier had already had Grace’s premarital relationships investigated, or perhaps he really believed she was yet untouched—a belief which would not have been especially unusual for the prudish 1950s.276
Through his mediators, Prince Rainier III of Monaco demanded from Jack Kelly a $2 million dowry. It was the tradition. Grace’s father was initially outraged and unwilling to pay such a high sum. He refused to pay anyone to marry his daughter, who furthermore was a Hollywood star. Many discussions were held. Loudly argumentative, Jack Kelly stormed out of several of these negotiations, and Grace was deeply ashamed of her father’s uncontrolled behavior. Father Tucker talked to the Kellys, Grace called Don Richardson, and Rainier’s mediators spoke with father Jack. In the end, they agreed—internally and unofficially, discreetly and diplomatically—that father Jack would pay $1 million, and Grace herself would pay the other million, for which she sold some of her stocks.277 The public never heard about this; it was shocking. It was too compromising. It was a development that brought with it the negative perception that the upwardly mobile, ambitious Kellys of Philadelphia had had to pay to marry into European aristocracy.
After both of these hurdles were overcome, there remained one third and—at this time—final point that stood on Monaco’s agenda: the marriage contract. And even this was the source of new conversations and new arguments, especially in reference to the paragraph that specified that in the case of divorce, any children would remain with the Regent. This clause shocked Grace and her entire family. However, Prince Rainier’s attorneys, who along with Jack Kelly’s attorneys in New York drew up the contract in the presence of Grace, Jack, and the prince, would not yield on this point. Grace now knew that if her marriage did not last, regardless of who wanted to end it, she would lose her children. This was very difficult for the future bride and mother to accept. As Grace now saw, the contractual negotiations for her marriage were even worse than those she had had with MGM.278
In early 1956, Grace still had one film before her, High Society. This was her eleventh and final movie. Filming began on January 17 and ran through March 6, 1956. The locations were to be Bel Air, Los Angeles, and Newport, Rhode Island. On behalf of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the producers were Sol C. Siegel and, interestingly, Bing Crosby through his company, Bing Crosby Productions. In mid-January, Grace once again flew from New York to Los Angeles to prepare for High Society, which was being directed by Charles Walters. The New York–born Walters had previously directed The Glass Slipper (1955) and The Tender Trap (1955). John Patrick wrote the screenplay, which was based on the Philip Barry play The Philadelphia Story (1939). The play had opened in Broadway’s Schubert Theatre with Katherine Hepburn in the role of Tracy Lord. Shortly after the play’s publication, George Cukor adapted the work for screen. The black-and-white film The Philadelphia Story (1940) had Cary Grant, James Stewart, and Katherine Hepburn in the main roles. The script was written by Donald Ogden Stewart, who won the Academy Award for Best Screenplay. James Stewart also received an Oscar as Best Actor for the film. For High Society, John Patrick and Charles Waters decided to relocate the 1930s screwball comedy to Rhode Island. The screenplay writer and the director, thus, abandoned some of the screwball elements from the earlier version in favor of diverse musical numbers typical of other contemporary, lightly tragic-comedic musicals; Cole Porter music pervades the entire film.
It is music that has become legendary and unforgettable. Cole Porter wrote both the music and the lyrics, which were then arranged and orchestrated by Johnny Green and Saul Chaplin. Among the numbers are such songs as “High Society Calypso” (Louis Armstrong and His All-Stars)
, “Little One” (Bing Crosby, Louis Armstrong), “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” (Frank Sinatra, Celeste Holm), “True Love” (Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly), “You’re Sensational” (Frank Sinatra), “I Love You, Samantha” (Bing Crosby, Louis Armstrong), “Now You Has Jazz” (Bing Crosby, Louis Armstrong), “Well, Did You Evah?” (Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra), and “Mind If I Make Love to You?” (Frank Sinatra). Charles Walters was responsible for the staging and choreography of the separate musical numbers. High Society received two Oscar nominations for the 1957 Academy Awards: Cole Porter for Best Original Song for “True Love” and Johnny Green and Saul Chaplin for Best Score for a Musical.
In mid-December, Prince Rainier had hoped to visit his future bride on the set of The Swan, but that had not worked out. Now he wanted to visit this next set, and for six weeks, he rented a mansion in Bel Air in Los Angeles, living there until mid-March. He took Grace out for supper and watched her on set. In terms of the plot, it rotates around a love triangle or a love “square” depending on how you view it. The protagonist Tracy Lord must decide between two men (and for a short while, between three men), much as Grace had to choose in her real life between Oleg Cassini and Prince Rainier of Monaco. Perhaps this was not the best film set for Rainier to visit.
On one of the days of filming, Grace, Rainier, and a small group of others went out for lunch. This group included Celeste Holm, who played Frank Sinatra’s companion in High Society, and the unavoidable MGM studio chief Dore Schary. When Schary asked how large the Riviera principality actually was, he was told that the area encompassed less than one square mile and was smaller than the area covered by New York’s Central Park. At the top of his voice, the amused and insensitive Schary declared that even the back lot area of MGM Studios was bigger than this. An uncomfortable situation. Everyone at the table felt embarrassed for this faux pas against Rainier. According to Celeste Holm, it was as if a large chandelier had fallen to the floor.279
In light of this boastfulness, it comes as no surprise that in his 1979 book Heyday: An Autobiography, as well as in a piece published in the October 20, 1956, issue of The Saturday Review, Schary ventured to ascribe Grace Kelly’s entire success as a film actress to MGM alone. For this, he credited both John Ford and, of course, himself.280
High Society is set in Newport, where there are two big events exciting the snobbish high society there. First is the Newport Jazz Festival, which has attracted C. K. Dexter-Haven (Bing Crosby), a popular jazz composer, as well as Louis Armstrong and his five-member band. Second is the upcoming marriage of Tracy Samantha Lord (Grace Kelly), daughter of a wealthy family, to George Kittredge (John Lund). The wedding plans are fully underway in and around the palatial house. However, it is not an accident that Dexter has arrived at this time. He was Tracy’s first husband and—as he admits—is still in love with her. Tracy is not at all happy when her ex-husband suddenly appears on the scene. Furthermore, this is an affront to her future husband, the respectable George. In addition, reporter Mike Conner (Frank Sinatra) and photographer Liz Imbrie (Celeste Holm) arrive, sent to the Lords’ by Spy. In exchange for not publishing a humiliating story about Tracy’s father’s romantic affairs, they have been allowed to cover the upper-class wedding. Now the carousel of characters begins to turn. Over the course of the movie, three men are interested in Tracy. Even reporter Mike finds himself enchanted by Tracy’s coolness and noblesse. In one scene, he serenades her with the Cole Porter song “You’re Sensational” and gradually becomes increasingly intoxicated. The spontaneous tête-à-tête with an equally inebriated Tracy ends later that evening, the day before the wedding, in the spacious garden. At the end of this romp, Dexter is the one who stands in George’s place and marries Tracy a second time. Playing himself, Louis Armstrong, accompanied by his “All Stars” band, functions as an individualized version of a Greek chorus. He interjects musically throughout the film and provides occasional outside commentary.
Filmed in Technicolor and in the VistaVision format, High Society opened on July 17, 1956, in the American cinemas. Over the following months, it premiered in other countries as well. Contemporary reviews were generally positive: “A perfectly staged musical . . . thanks to witty dialogues and peppy music, (highlight: Louis Armstrong) an entertaining genre classic.”281
As for the MGM film The Swan, costume designer Helen Rose was responsible for the dresses and evening gowns for this musical. At the beginning of the film, Grace wears a beige blouse along with beige pants and a wide, dark brown belt. Later she dons a pale blue chiffon dress and a white, Greek-style toga.
In High Society, Grace seems pronouncedly feminine. It is a femininity that masks a degree of brokenness. This pain is the result of the chasm between her self-perception and the way she is perceived by others. In Tracy Lord, everyone sees an untouchable, unapproachable, cool, beautiful goddess without a heart—even her own father. Tracy wants only to feel loved, yet she does not feel noticed, recognized, or even seen (when her father talks to her, he wears sunglasses). Tracy Lord’s haughtiness only functions to conceal her uncertainty in terms of her approaching wedding—and the unexpected situation of being caught between three men—and of her problematic relationship with her restrictive father. It is a protective shield for her pain.
The film’s central scene is divided into three parts, a triptych of sorts that acts as a three-act play condensed into ten minutes and positioned in the middle of the film. In this scene, Tracy Lord finds herself alone in the swimming pool at her family’s estate in Newport. Behind the azure pool is a slightly curved, cream-colored building ornamented with white columns. Statues stand here and there. Columns, statues—the scenery is classical. In contrast, Grace is robed in a white, floor-length robe.
Then Dexter-Haven (Crosby), her ex-husband, comes by to give her his wedding gift. Tracy removes her robe, under which she is wearing a bathing suit. The suit is also white and very short; the pleated skirt nicely emphasizes her long legs. The dialogue that follows is full of wordplay and ambivalence, subtext, and nostalgic allusions to Dexter-Haven and Tracy’s past. The dynamic is almost identical to her relationship with Oleg Cassini, who described his one and a half—almost two—year relationship with Grace as the “most enchanting years of my life.” Just like The Swan, fiction closely mirrors reality. After Dexter leaves Tracy at the swimming pool, she sinks wistfully into her memories of their early days together, of the honeymoon spent on True Love, Dexter’s boat. Dexter has actually given her a miniature model of the boat as a wedding present, and she sails the boat out over the water of the pool. This is the scene that also contains Grace’s only musical number.
Then the second part of the scene begins. Her future husband, George, appears at the end of the pool. He discovers a completely distant and dreamy Tracy, who resembles the Grace that her friends often found, sitting for hours cross-legged in front of the fireplace or gazing dreamily out of a window. The third segment pertains to Tracy’s relationship with her parents, particularly the difficult, distant one with her father. Seth Lord (Sidney Blackmer) and his wife (Margalo Gilmore)—whose name was even Margaret, just like Grace’s own mother—come to the swimming pool. Instantly an argument arises between father and daughter.
All three scenic segments handle, in an obvious way, themes from Grace Kelly’s own life. The choice of the right life partner and husband. The external image of unapproachable coolness that starkly contrasted with her internal, sensitive self. The problematic relationship with her father John B. Kelly, who never really saw her as she truly was. Also, another parallel existed: the hurt his wife Margaret faced due to his long history of infidelity. Margaret Majer-Kelly always deliberately ignored his affairs at all cost, since the well-being of her four children was more important to her than the state of her own marriage.
Grace spoke with great enthusiasm about the making of her final film as follows. She had always wanted to do a musical and greatly admired the skills of her costars, Sinatra and Crosby.282
Bi
ng Crosby recalled working a second time with Grace, after The Country Girl: “She is a great woman with a huge talent . . . friendly, considerate and nice to everyone. She was great with the crew . . . she always brought them little gifts . . . For me she was one of the loveliest women I knew and with whom I have ever worked.”283
With accordion accompaniment, the song “True Love” that Bing Crosby and Grace Kelly sing as a duet became a classic. Millions of records were sold worldwide. While it was Crosby’s twentieth golden record, it was Grace’s first and only one.
Both Grace Kelly and Bing Crosby long remembered the not-so-easy making of the world renowned song: “I am very proud of my gold record. Of course Bing basically carried it.” She went on to say that her brother even teased her, saying that having her voice on a gold record was one of the “wonders of the modern age.” As for her recording session with Bing, he “was completely relaxed [and] all so used to it . . . For me it was a fairly intimidating experience, with a big orchestra in the studio [with us] . . . but Bing [eased] my fear and helped me through it. He has a very deep voice, and my voice is rather bright and a bit thin—that was a problem with the recording. Actually, I should have sung the melody, but our vocal ranges were just too far apart, so ultimately I had to sing the harmony instead.”284
The famous “True Love” scene—the song having been recorded separately in a studio—took place on March 6, 1956. It was the last day of filming for High Society. And the last day Grace Kelly would ever perform on a movie set.
Instead of returning directly to New York afterward for the cast party and to prepare for her transatlantic trip to Europe in early April, Grace stayed in Los Angeles for two weeks. For one thing, she wanted to say good-bye to all of her friends and colleagues who lived there. In addition, she still had one obligation. Since she had received the previous year’s Oscar as Best Actress, she was to fulfill tradition by giving the statuette to the winner of the Best Actor award at the 28th Oscar ceremony on March 21, 1956. That year it went to Ernest Borgnine for his role in Delbert Mann’s Marty (1955).