SPENCER TRACY - October, 2012 SOTM

[JackFavell]

Oh my gosh, yes! Sometimes he just looks so tired of the foolishness, it's definitely a stifle.

[RedRiver]

I may be one of the few who just loves this movie

PAT AND MIKE is my favorite Tracy/Hepburn collaboration. Quirky and hilarious!

I just love the expressions that cross Tracy's face in all of these movies, mostly when he's just listening.

Acting is reacting.

[movieman1957]

Favorite Tracy/Hepburn pairing - "Adam's Rib."

[Sue Sue Applegate]

Mine, too, Chris!


But Pat and Mike and Woman of the Year are tied for a very close second!

[charliechaplinfan]

Guys, the Curtis book on Spencer Tracy is quite a tome, 1024 pages, gulp. I know a couple of you have read it and Spencer was a hell of a guy. Should I be put off by the length or buy it and plunge in?

[Western Guy]

Alison, if you're a fan of Tracy's, I'd suggest you buy the Curtis book. Personally, it kind of left me cold, and I really hate to say that about another biographer, especially since I know how much work and research has to go into such a book. But, and this is strictly my own opinion, it just didn't quite do it for me. Bill Davidson's book is a much faster read - though it suffers from sensationalism. Seems to focus on all the negativity in Tracy's life. How deep do you want to dwell into the dark matter? Matter of personal preference. My fave was a book written back in the 70s, I believe, by Larry Swindell. Just a nice read - or "Tracy and Hepburn" by Garsin Kanin.

[moira finnie]

Having read each of the earlier Tracy books, I recommend the James Curtis book very highly. By comparison it is a detailed portrait of the man in full while the earlier books seemed like sketches to me. I did not find the length of the Curtis book to be daunting, but appreciated the fact that the author did his research and had the full cooperation of Susie Tracy, the last remaining member of the immediate family, who encouraged Curtis to be as honest as possible. It is one of the best books on an actor I've ever read.

[moira finnie]

If anyone missed Dante's Inferno last week, it is on youtube with Portuguese (?) subtitles. I forgot how much fun it was to see Tracy "put hell on a paying basis":
[youtube][/youtube]

[MissGoddess]

brilliant!!

[charliechaplinfan]

Larry Swindell wrote a biography of Charles Boyer that was good. I like well researched biographies, I don't mind detail about films or lives, I like it when the biographer takes time to invoke the time and some social history of the time so that the reader can appreciate the person in the context of their time and business. I've got my head turned by an author called Xinran at the moment but I think Mr Curtis's book will be my next purchase. Spencer Tracy is too big a name not to have read about, I did read a biography on Katharine Hepburn last year that put a different spin on the Tracy Heoburn romance, I wonder if Curtis's book concurs?

[moira finnie]

I did read a biography on Katharine Hepburn last year that put a different spin on the Tracy Heoburn romance, I wonder if Curtis's book concurs?

The Tracy-Hepburn relationship had times when it ebbed away and then came back, according to Curtis. It may sound strange, but loneliness during their long liaison drove him to pursue others (often hopelessly). He was not entirely faithful (except emotionally, as he was with Louise as well). Hepburn put up with a great deal, but kept her emotional distance from him at times by vigorously pursuing her own career goals, such as trying to learn to be a Shakespearean stage actress or going off to Africa to shoot The African Queen. Their romance evolved, apparently, becoming at times rocky. They often had quite separate lives, and at other times their ties became an abiding consolation. Maybe it wasn't as romantic as it was once perceived by the public, but it seems to have been quite real.

The real revelation in this area in the Curtis book is the flesh and blood that the author gives to the shadowy "long-suffering" image of the stoic Louise Tracy. The parts of the book that are particularly revelatory are about Tracy and Louise's tender courtship, their early married life, the fear and sorrow they experienced when they realized their son John's predicament, and the way that they learned to live with their problems. It was particularly touching to read about her later relationship with Tracy, and her evolution as a ground-breaking pioneer in the treatment of the deaf. While for many reasons Tracy and his wife could not live together (guilt, booze, infidelity, emotional wounds that never entirely healed, her steeliness, his resentment), they were close in many ways. He would come out to their house often and stay overnight, though in some periods he stayed in touch by phone. The couple tried to come back together more than a few times, but maybe preoccupation with his career and hers with their son and daughter may have also played a role in their estrangement.

The book also highlighted the significance of Tracy's Roman Catholic faith in his life. Apparently that core belief was one of the reasons he never completely spiraled down the drain. It also ensured that he walked around with an enormous sense of responsibility for every failing, big and small.

[MissGoddess]

thanks for those insights, moira. i doubt i'll get around to reading that book but i have read a couple of the others years ago. it all sounds in keeping with what i surmised about tracy and his wife. what wouldn't work for some as a marriage, can work for others. it's purely subjective and no one really knows (or should) what goes on behind closed doors. it's ironic both tracy and ford fell for hepburn.

[JackFavell]

I loved the Curtis book, it is long, but really doesn't seem it. It covers some things that were very murky for me in Tracy's personality, is not judgmental, and really helps me to understand Louise Tracy much much better. I ended up liking both Spence and Louise very much. And it's a book that stays with you enough to be able to put it down and pick it up again later and still understand what's going on (not to liken it to Holly Martins' western novels, lol). I thought it was a great bio.