|
Every morning I follow the same routine: rise at six, feed the cat, put on coffee, take the dog out, pour a cup, and then sit for a glorious hour with whatever book I am currently reading. I'm disciplined about allotting only one hour --- just enough to truly sink into the story but not long enough to make me late for work.
Katharine Hepburn would have approved. She swam everyday, read her newspapers in bed in the morning, had drinks at 6PM and dinner at 7PM. She believed in routine. And so it chagrins me to admit it, but for the three days that I woke to read KATE REMEMBERED, my willpower slipped. Not only did I lose track of time, I was late for work. I suspect Kate Hepburn would not have approved.
Scott Berg is a self-confessed diehard fan of Ms. Hepburn's. When he first met her in 1983, assigned to write a piece on the mega-star for Esquire magazine, he was nervous. He held her in great esteem and considered her the greatest actress of all time. He opens his memoir by describing himself standing outside her door, readying himself for his entrance: "I've never felt so intimidated ringing a doorbell." But in just seven short introductory pages --- their first meeting --- Berg overcomes his anxiety, succumbs to her charms, and launches what would grow to be a twenty-year friendship.
Star biographies normally fall into the category of guilty pleasure. They give the reader peaks into the glamorous lives of those who are bigger than life, providing tantalizing tidbits (if not downright tell-all facts) and even everyday mundanities. In KATE REMEMBERED, there are fewer of the former and plenty of the latter. Sure, there are celebrity names sprinkled throughout the book and references to seductions and affairs, most notably her relationship with Spencer Tracy. But as Berg would say himself, KATE REMEMBERED is not intended to be a biography; it is a memoir of their time together, the meals they shared, the conversations that transpired, and the reminiscences she offered him.
KATE REMEMBERED is about a life "lived large --- and largely according to her own rules." And so while Berg retells Ms. Hepburn's memories of getting sick while filming The African Queen, being pursued by germ-conscious Howard Hughes, rebuffing Michael Jackson's request for publicity shots (yes, the begloved one!) and struggling with Spencer Tracy's alcoholism, the real joy in KATE REMEMBERED, in my opinion, is found in her moments at home at Fenwick, her family stead in Connecticut.
It's there --- out of the limelight --- that her bond with Berg grows and cements. It's there --- in her own element --- that she confides in him and learns to rely on him, in the way that only a vital, strong, independent person can: under her own terms. (In other words, Berg is welcome to help in the kitchen, but only if he cuts the grapes her way.) It's there that we see her interact with her family and her companions with trademark sarcasm, wit, intelligence and great care. It's there that Berg becomes a member of her close knit circle, dining on hot dogs and ice cream sundaes, making beds together, and picking Queen Anne's Lace.
A black-and-white movie fan myself, I often suspected that her character in The Philadelphia Story, Tracy Lord, revealed a lot about the real Kate Hepburn. And now I'm convinced. Tracy Lord had dignity, grace, spunk, a splash of tomboyishness, more than her share of stubbornness, independence and, ultimately, class. That was Kate Hepburn. Berg's book does a wonderful job of showing off her (often biting) sense of humor. When Hepburn met Warren Beatty and Annette Bening for the first time, she asked Berg, "Who is the girl?" Berg explained that she was his wife. Hepburn replied, "He has a wife?" Berg goes on to tell her that after years of his being the most eligible bachelor, with countless romances, they were married. Her reply, "Poor girl." Berg continues saying that they are very much in love. To which Hepburn replied, "With the same man." Her voice dominates KATE REMEMBERED, and what a pleasure it is to hear that unmistakable voice uttering such funny unscripted lines.
Kate filtered little of what she was thinking about others, but in her lifetime held her personal confidences. In Berg, Katharine Hepburn found a venue for her confidences and a good friend. Doubters need only look at the picture on the back of the book --- Hepburn and Berg fixing a screen window --- to see the intimacy of their friendship.
Throughout the book, one question kept asking itself over and over again for me: Did Berg fall just a little in love with Hepburn over the course of all those years? The final paragraph of the book answers that question, in my opinion, and so another question comes to mind: Who wouldn't have?
--- Reviewed by Roberta O'Hara
• Click here now to buy this book from Amazon.
© Copyright 1996-2009, Bookreporter.com. All rights reserved.
Back to top.
|
