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The Philadelphia Story: A Comedy In Three Acts

Comedy / 9m, 6f / Int./Ext. This Broadway hit starred Katharine Hepburn as Tracy Lord of the Philadelphia Lords, an inhibited and spoiled daughter of the privileged. Divorced from C.J. Dexter Haven, she is engaged to a successful young snob. A gossip weekly sends a reporter and a camera woman to report the wedding arrangements and they are injected into the house by Tracy's brother who hopes to divert their attention from father's romance with a Broadway dancer. Tracy finds herself growing interested in Connor, the fascinating reporter. At the end of a pre wedding party, Tracy and Connor take a moonlight dip in the pool and meet her ex husband and finance on their way back to the house. The following morning her intended agrees to forgive her, but his smug attitude enrages Tracy and she breaks off the engagement. Connor offers to marry her, but she turns him down and remarries Dexter, to the satisfaction of everyone.

Paperback: 136 pages

Publisher: Samuel French, Inc. (June 8, 2010)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0573613974

ISBN-13: 978-0573613975

Product Dimensions: 5 x 0.3 x 8 inches

Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)

Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)

Best Sellers Rank: #110,663 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #30 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Dramas & Plays > Anthologies

Philip Barry's "The Philadelphia Story" opened on Broadway at the Shubert Theatre in March 1939 and ran an entire year for 417 performances. Katharine Hepburn played the lead Tracy Lord and Shirley Booth (TV's Hazel) played photographer Liz Imbrie. It was one of Barry's biggest successes. It was revived again on Broadway in 1980 for 60 performances with Blythe Danner as Tracy Lord, Edward Hermann as Mike Connor and a young Cynthia Nixon (TV's "Sex & the City") as younger sister Dinah.The play has a climactic plot structure and is telescoped within a day period at the rural estate of the Lord family outside Philadelphia. Father Seth is separated from his wife Margaret; and an unflattering article is about to be published by "Destiny," a sensational tabloid. Brother Sandy brings this news home just as preparations are being made for Tracy's second marriage. Her ex-husband Dexter Haven, originally played by Joseph Cotton, has returned to the neighborhood for the event. Tracy's new beau is the very sensible George Kittredge. To ward off the story on their father, Sandy has made a deal that his father's article won't be published if he provides the magazine with another scoop. He invites two reporters to the house "undercover" to write about high society and get "The Philadelphia Story" regarding his sister's wedding. Precocious sibling Dinah meanwhile keeps trying to stick her nose into everything and enjoys saying the just the perfectly wrong thing whenever possible. Tracy Lord is a glib character, written by Barry for Hepburn. Her witty urbane intelligence, word play and flare make her an interesting lead character.

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