The Secret of the Wednesday’s Haul

During the course of The Philadelphia Story, Tracy Lords (Katherine Hepburn) is given many titles and roles. First off, there’s her own last name- “Lords” and everything that it implies. She’s also called a “goddess,” “Justice with her shiny sword,” and even “virgin goddess.” Tracy has set up this image of herself that other people can’t help but interpret as regal and even godly. George Kittredge, her fiance as the movie opens, doesn’t sound like he’s marrying a woman but an ideal. He holds her up on that same pedestal that everyone else does. She’s not so much his partner or lover as a means to something bigger and better for himself. He’s marrying into a position, a social standing.

On the eve of their wedding, Tracy’s first husband C.K. Dexter Haven (Cary Grant) arrives at the Lords’ house with two “guests” in tow, MacCauley Connors (Jimmy Stewart) and Liz Imbrie (Ruth Hussey.) Posing as guests of a brother who couldn’t make the wedding, the pair are really there to cover the wedding for a tabloidish magazine, Spy. For his own reasons, Haven agrees to get them into the wedding.

Dexter as played by Grant seems like a bit of a lout at first. His own drunkeness and alcoholism is what part of what broke up his and Tracy’s marriage. Both parties were equally to blame though; he couldn’t fight his own weaknesses and she couldn’t stand to see weakness in other people. They’re opposites that way but even from when Dexter first shows up at the Lord estate, you can tell that there’s something between these two.

Everyone identifies Tracy as some title but to him, she’s just “Red,” an affectionate nickname left over from their marriage. But it personalizes her, makes her human in ways that everyone else doesn’t. It allows Tracy to be a person, not a perfect shining “goddess.”

Director George Kukor has an interesting job here balancing the roles of four romantic leads; Tracy, Dexter, Connors & Imbrie. At times, Connors and Imbrie are secondary characters who don’t know that they’re not the leading characters in this movie. Their story is as fascinating as Dexter and Tracy’s and could have been it’s own movie– two struggling journalists who aren’t quite honest with each other. They’re partners who look out for and protect the other but they both suppress they’re own feelings, believing that there will be time later on.

Maybe that’s what everyone believes– that there will be time later on for what they want; for marriage, for happiness, for love. There are sacrifices that need to be made and time is one of them. People have both past mistakes and current responsibilities that get in the way of their wants and desires. That’s the way it is with life.

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