Movie Time! Katherine Hepburn and Screwball Comedy: Bringing Up Baby (1938) and Pat and Mike (1952)

It’s Calcopia’s Movie Time! Podcast! Listen as movie nerds Ethan Brehm and Nate Evans deep dive into their favorite films and cinematic scenes for your listening delight. On this Golden Age episode it’s a celebration of Katherine Hepburn, one of the most beloved actresses of all-time, in two comedies showcasing not just her considerable talents and comedic timing, but also her special relationships with two of Hollywood’s leading men, Cary Grant and Spencer Tracy. But it’s ever so much more than that. First up is 1938’s Bringing Up Baby, Howard Hawks’ definitive screwball comedy starring Hepburn, Cary Grant, and the adorable Nessa the leopard in dual roles. Next is 1952’s Pat and Mike, a prototypical sports comedy directed by George Cukor and starring one of the most enduring and beloved pairings in cinema history, Hepburn and Spencer Tracy. Listen as our hosts trace the genesis of screwball comedy from early hits like Frank Capra’s It Happened One Night and Hawks’ own Twentieth Century (both 1934), becoming one of Hollywood’s most reliable genre in blockbusters like Holiday (1938), His Girl Friday (1940), The Philadelphia Story (1940), and Arsenic and Old Lace (1944). Did screwball comedy pave the way for the classic Merry Melodies / Looney Tunes cartoon classics? (speaking of Looney Tunes, did you know Bugs Bunny’s first appeared the same year Baby was released?) Is Peter Bogdanovich’s 1971 screwball comedy What’s Up, Doc? just a quasi-remake of Baby? Is Meryl Streep the heir apparent to Hepburn’s legacy? All this and more when you listen today!