Garson Kanin (November 24, 1912 – March 13, 1999) was an American writer and director of plays and films.
31-673: Garson Kanin was born in Rochester, New York; his Jewish family later relocated to Detroit then to New York City. He attended James Madison High School in Brooklyn, dropping out to take up a career on the theatre stage. He subsequently became a professional saxophone player and leader of his own band that went by the name Garson Kanin and His Red Hot Peppers. During this period, he attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts pursuing an acting career. Garson Kanin began his show-business career as
62-508: A La France (French-language version) by Garson Kanin. Kanin was married to his frequent collaborator, Academy Award-winning actress Ruth Gordon from 1942 to her death in 1985. In 1990, he married stage actress Marian Seldes . Kanin died in 1999, age 86, of undisclosed causes. James Madison High School (Brooklyn) James Madison High School is a public high school in Midwood, Brooklyn . It serves students in grades 9 through 12 and
93-508: A dark patch personally, culminating with a stay in hospital, and Katharine Hepburn felt that a play would help restore his focus. Tracy told a journalist in April, "I'm coming back to Broadway to see if I can still act." The play was The Rugged Path by Robert E. Sherwood , which first previewed in Providence, Rhode Island , on September 28, to a sold-out crowd and tepid response. The Rugged Path
124-416: A director was A Man to Remember (1938), which The New York Times considered one of the 10 best films of 1938. Kanin was 26 at the time. His other directing credits include Bachelor Mother (1939), The Great Man Votes (1939), My Favorite Wife (1940), They Knew What They Wanted (1940), and Tom, Dick, and Harry (1941). Kanin's Hollywood career was interrupted by the draft. He served in
155-417: A friend: "I couldn't say those goddamn lines over and over and over again every night ... At least every day is a new day for me in films ... But this thing—every day, every day, over and over again." Kanin's 1946 play Born Yesterday , which he also directed, ran for 1,642 performances. After the draft turned in by the credited screenwriter, Albert Mannheimer proved unworkable an uncredited Kanin
186-616: A jazz musician, burlesque comedian, and actor. He graduated from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City and made his Broadway debut in Little Ol' Boy (1933). In 1935, Kanin was cast in a George Abbott play and soon became Abbott's assistant. Kanin made his Broadway debut as a director in 1936, at the age of 24, with Hitch Your Wagon . In 1945, Kanin directed Spencer Tracy in Tracy's first play in 15 years. Tracy had been through
217-602: A musical comedy, was inspired by his experience directing the 1964 musical Funny Girl and was adapted into the 2012 television series Smash . He was a colleague of Thornton Wilder , who mentored him, and an admirer of the work of Frank Capra . Kanin said, "I'd rather be Capra than God, if there is a Capra." Kanin and Katharine Hepburn were the only witnesses to Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh 's wedding in California on August 31, 1940. In 1941, Hepburn and he worked with his brother Michael Kanin and Ring Lardner, Jr. , on
248-700: A tune he had written during his 1940 adventure in the South Pacific and later discarded as mediocre — "So Long, Samoa." In June 1949, Hollywood Reporter wrote that Porter and MGM agreed to donate all profits from the song, rechristened "Farewell, Amanda," to the Runyon Cancer Fund . Although set in New York, Adam's Rib was filmed mainly on MGM's stages in Culver City , California. However, location shooting occurred in various parts of New York City, including at
279-462: Is delightfully saucy. A better realization on type than Holliday's portrayal of a dumb Brooklyn femme doesn't seem possible." On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes , Adam's Rib has a "Fresh" score of 96% based on 28 reviews, with an average rating of 8.04/10; the consensus for the film says: "Matched by Garson Kanin's witty, sophisticated screenplay, George Cukor, Spencer Tracy, and Katherine [ sic ] Hepburn are all in top form in
310-516: Is in Region 6 of the New York City Department of Education . Established in 1925, the school has many famous graduates, among them the late United States Supreme Court Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg , Judge Judy Sheindlin , two sitting U.S. senators , Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and former Senator Norm Coleman (R-MN). In January 2024, the school building
341-481: Is returned, Amanda's plea to the jury to "judge this case as you would if the sexes were reversed" proves successful, and Doris is acquitted. That night, Adam, who has left their upper-floor apartment, looks through its window and sees the silhouettes of his wife Amanda and their neighbor Kip Lurie, a popular singer, songwriter and piano player who has shown a keen interest in Amanda all along, and repeatedly taunted Adam, as
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#1732872502360372-457: The Spencer Tracy - Katharine Hepburn film comedies Adam's Rib (1949) and Pat and Mike (1952), as well as A Double Life (1947), starring Ronald Colman . In the 1950s through the 1980s, Kanin adapted several of his stories and plays for television, most notably Mr. Broadway (1964), and Moviola (1980). Kanin's best-selling novel Smash (1980), about the pre-Broadway tryout of
403-644: The United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." Doris Attinger follows her husband with a gun in Manhattan one day, suspecting he is having an affair with another woman. In her rage, she fires wildly and blindly around the room and at the couple multiple times. One of the bullets hits her husband in the shoulder. His lover escapes unscathed. The following morning,
434-763: The United States Army from 1941 to 1945. During this time, Kanin and Carol Reed co-directed General Dwight D. Eisenhower's official record of the Allied invasion, the Academy Award-winning documentary The True Glory (1945). During this time, he began writing what would become regarded by many as his greatest play, Born Yesterday . Kanin's best-remembered screenplays, however, were written in collaboration with his wife, actress Ruth Gordon , whom he married in 1942. Together, they wrote many screenplays, including six that were directed by George Cukor . These included
465-597: The Women's House of Detention where Doris Attinger is imprisoned after shooting her husband, and at Gordon and Kanin's farm in Connecticut. Hepburn and Kanin encouraged Judy Holliday to play the role of Doris, and Columbia Pictures president Harry Cohn considered her performance a screen test for the lead role in the planned film adaptation of Kanin's play Born Yesterday , in which Holliday had starred during its Broadway run. Receiving positive notices for Adam's Rib , Holliday
496-421: The case. When Amanda hears this, she seeks out Doris and becomes her defense lawyer. Amanda bases her case on the belief that women and men are equal, and that Doris had been forced into the situation by her husband's adultery and emotional and physical abuse. Adam thinks Amanda is showing contempt for the law, since there should never be any excuse for such criminal behavior. Tension increasingly builds at home as
527-518: The classic comedy Adam's Rib." Leonard Maltin gives the film four out of four stars, describing it as "[o]ne of Hollywood's greatest comedies about the battle of the sexes, with peerless Tracy and Hepburn supported by movie newcomers Holliday, Ewell, Hagen, and Wayne." Ruth Gordon (later of Rosemary's Baby and Harold and Maude fame) and Garson Kanin were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Story and Screenplay in 1951. The film
558-536: The early drafts of what became Woman of the Year right before Garson enlisted in the army. He is also quoted as saying, "When your work speaks for itself, don't interrupt." His most famous quote, from his hit play Born Yesterday , is on a New York City Public Library plaque on a 41st Street sidewalk: "I want everyone to be smart. As smart as they can be. A world of ignorant people is too dangerous to live in." The Academy Film Archive preserved Ring of Steel and Salut
589-496: The gun and chews it. It is made of licorice. Amanda is furious with this prank and a three-way fight ensues. Now in the midst of a divorce, Adam and Amanda reluctantly reunite for a meeting with their tax accountant. Going through their expenses for the year, they talk about their relationship in the past tense. They talk about the farm they own and recall burning the mortgage. Tears begin to roll down Adam's cheeks. Astonished and touched, Amanda gently bundles her sobbing husband out of
620-461: The married New York lawyers Adam and Amanda Bonner read about the incident in the newspaper. Adam is an assistant district attorney, while Amanda is a solo-practicing defense attorney. They argue over the case. Amanda sympathizes with the woman, particularly noting the double standard that exists for men and women regarding adultery. Adam thinks Doris is guilty of attempted murder. When Adam arrives at work, he learns that he has been assigned to prosecute
651-514: The office and to the farm. That night, Adam announces that he has been selected as the Republican nominee for County Court Judge. Amanda jokes about running for the post as the Democratic candidate. Adam says it would make him cry and demonstrates how easily he can turn on the tears, remarking that men can use crocodile tears to manipulate people too. Amanda says there really isn't any difference between
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#1732872502360682-413: The plot for Adam's Rib was developed. Other titles for the film were Love is Legal and Man and Wife . The MGM front office quickly vetoed the latter as dangerously indiscreet. Kanin also recalled that Cole Porter refused to write a song for Madelaine, as Hepburn's character was originally named, but proceeded when the character's name was changed to Amanda. The change allowed Porter to quickly revise
713-419: The sexes as Adam jumps in bed and closes the curtains, exclaiming otherwise. The screenplay was written specifically as a Tracy-Hepburn vehicle (their sixth film together) by Garson Kanin and actress Ruth Gordon , married script writers who were friends of the couple. Kanin claimed that Judy Holliday initially declined her role because her character is called "fatso" in the script. According to Kanin,
744-490: The story of Adam's Rib was based on the lives of Gordon's friends Dorothy and William Dwight Whitney, and of actor Raymond Massey . The Whitneys were married lawyers who represented opposing sides in Massey's high-profile divorce from actress Adrienne Allen before pursuing their own divorce in order to marry their clients from the Massey case. Kanin and Gordon saw great potential in the idea of married lawyers as adversaries, and
775-472: The third lead in her second credited movie role. Also featured are Tom Ewell , David Wayne , and Jean Hagen . The music was composed by Miklós Rózsa , and the song "Farewell, Amanda" was written by Cole Porter . The film was well received upon its release and is considered a classic romantic comedy . It ranked at No. 22 on the AFI's 100 Years...100 Laughs list. In 1992, this film was selected for preservation in
806-404: The two battle each other in court. The situation comes to a head as Adam feels humiliated during the trial when Amanda encourages one of her witnesses, a woman weightlifter, to lift him overhead. Later at home that evening, Adam still angry, gives Amanda an earful; he doesn't want to be married to a liberated "new woman." Having just packed his bags, he storms out of their apartment. When the verdict
837-407: The two of them seem to be dancing and drinking together. Adam breaks into the apartment enraged, pointing a gun at the pair. Amanda is horrified and says to Adam, "You've no right to do this – nobody does!" Adam feels he has proven his point about the injustice of Amanda's line of defense. He puts the gun in his mouth, as Amanda and Kip scream in terror. Then Adam bites a large piece off
868-457: Was a difficult production, with Kanin later writing, "In the ten days prior to the New York opening, all the important relationships had deteriorated. Spencer was tense and unbending, could not, or would not, take direction". Tracy considered leaving the show before it even opened on Broadway, and lasted there just six weeks before announcing his intention to close the show. It closed on January 19, 1946, after 81 performances. Tracy later explained to
899-504: Was brought in by Harry Cohn to adapt his play into the script used to shoot the 1950 film adaptation . His other stage work includes directing The Diary of Anne Frank (1955), which ran for 717 performances, and the musical Funny Girl (1964), which ran for 1,348 performances. Kanin wrote and directed his last play, Peccadillo , in 1985, the same year he was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame . His first film as
930-602: Was cast in the Born Yesterday film, for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress . According to MGM records, the film earned $ 2,971,000 in the US and Canada and $ 976,000 elsewhere, resulting in a profit of $ 826,000. Variety staff reviewing the film on December 31, 1949, praised the "...bright comedy success, belting over a succession of sophisticated laughs...This is the sixth Metro teaming of Tracy and Hepburn, and their approach to marital relations around their own hearth
961-529: Was temporarily turned into a shelter for asylum seeking migrant families, and students from the school were temporarily switched over to remote learning. Notable alumni of James Madison High School include: Adam%27s Rib Adam's Rib is a 1949 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by George Cukor from a screenplay written by Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin . It stars Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn as married lawyers who come to oppose each other in court. Judy Holliday co-stars as